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The best way to go to the Sambadrome is
to take a taxi. When you ask the taxi
driver to drop you off at the Sambadrome
during the carnivals days most of them
won't put the meter but charge you flat
rate R$ 40 no matter whether you are
alone or 4 people.
They will drop you off at the main
entrance and you walk to your section.
When you purchase your ticket you get 2
magnetic cards. One with the necklace to
wear in front of you and the other is a
regular card like your ATM card. This
last one is to open the turnstile by
sliding in it and the card itself will
be retained in the machine. You then
walk a bit then arrive to a second
turnstile which is your section gate.
This time you slide your necklace card
vertically to past the gate. Once you
are in your section, in my case since we
purchased sector 5 it is in the upper
section of the sector 5. We proceeded to
the first line of seats clasping the
handrail as we climb the steps.
We arrived there at 6:00 pm so we were
able to get the lower seats. Later on
when the parade started we will be
standing to 1st row against the handrail
in order to get a better view.
We choose the 1st row of seats so we
can have a good peripherical view of the
entire parade as it passes. The floats
are long and wide and a strategic place
from the top of the sector stand will
have a commanding view of the entire
scene good for wide angle lens coverage.
Buy a pillow to seat while waiting and
keep it as a souvenir. It's carnival
printed cushion.
When the parade starts everybody is
standing up, singing, dancing with the
beat of music so it is not possible for
you to seat constantly.
Every samba school on queue to parade
will throw their banners to the crowd
amid the rambunctious cheers of the
audience. The audience go crazy for
every paraphernalia or parade souvenirs
thrown at them at no cost.
 The
crowd has the option to watch the parade
for the entire evening and morning. Some
watchers may leave early and then come
back to see the floats scheduled at the
early morning hours. The best samba
school and the last year’s winner are
always at the last 2 slots of the parade
which is happening at 5- 7 am. Yes it is
an overnight parade, not just for a few
hours of the evening.
My companions were from Paris and since
they miss some hours of sleep we had to
leave earlier. In 2005 I watched in
entirety the whole parade but this time,
the spell of the night is to sleep when
it is 3 AM. Unfortunately that is when
the best floats dazzle in front of your
eyes.
Some people leave Sambadrome before the
parade finishes to get in line with the
transportation ahead or to avoid the in
flux of crowd trying to catch ride to go
home. Also it provides a chance to go
closer to the parade participants left
at the gate and really touch the amazing
costumes they hand made.
The 2 Parisian girls had almost fallen
asleep but were awake to take pictures
of the gorgeous costumes in front of our
eyes.
Getting an early exit from the parade
means that you better get the first taxi
available otherwise there will be less
and less taxis at the closing time.
Around the parking you still have
security guards but going further is
quite dark. I noticed that my cab driver
didn't stop at the red light at this
time even in front of a police car
parking right at the corner. I thought
at that time you don't need to stop at
the red light as long as you don't have
another coming vehicle.
The taxi driver knows how to fidget with
time in order to get the next
passengers. He can zoom you to the hotel
or try to zig-zag and skip the red
light. They know that after they let you
alight from your destination, there is
another business they have to deal with.
Time is of the essence during festival
for taxis. The taxis costs R$ 40 ride
from Sambadrome to Copacabana’s end . I
stayed in Copacabana so I don't know the
fee for other places. So please update
me if you know something else.
The following is the direction "getting
in and out the Sambadrome" while the
main parade sequences are not included.
For the main parade
please go
here.
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Get to the Sambadrome
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Rio 2008 Index
Street Parade •
Sambadrome Parade •
Get in & out Sambadrome
Ilha Grande •
Sugar Loaf •
Corcovado by taxi •
Botanical Garden
Apartment/Flat •
Tourists transportation •
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