Venice Carnival 2027: Dates, Parades, Tickets and Travel Tips

Venice Carnival 2027 runs from Saturday 23 January to Tuesday 9 February 2027, according to the official carnival site ¹. The final day is Martedì Grasso, Fat Tuesday, and the last full week opens on Fat Thursday, 4 February 2027 ⁷. As of 14 October 2026 the organisers had published the dates but not the day-by-day programme, so individual events are still expected rather than confirmed.

The dates move every year because the carnival is tied to Lent. It always ends on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and Ash Wednesday depends on the date of Easter, which shifts between late March and late April. That is why one edition can start in mid-January and the next in early February.

For anyone searching the last edition: Venice Carnival 2026 ran from 31 January to 17 February 2026 under the theme "Olympus – The origins of the game", dedicated to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics ³. It opened with a costume parade and a Gran Ballo in Piazza San Marco on Saturday 31 January 2026 ¹⁸.

The calendar has a clear rhythm that repeats each year:

• Opening weekend: the first Saturday brings the opening party in Piazza San Marco, and the Sunday brings the Festa Veneziana water parade.
• Middle weekdays: quieter, with street theatre, mask workshops and exhibitions.
• Fat Thursday to Fat Tuesday: the last six days, with the biggest crowds, the costume contests and the nightly dinner shows.

Tip: If you can only manage one weekend, choose the final one. The 2027 Official Dinner Show runs every night from 4 to 9 February 2027, which tells you where the organisers expect the peak ⁷.

The carnival's roots are old: the official site traces the first written evidence to 1094, and the festival was revived in 1979 after almost two centuries of absence ⁸. Much of today's programme, from the Marie to the water parade, reconstructs traditions from the Republic of Venice.

The Official Dinner Show at Ca' Vendramin Calergi starts at 650 EUR per person for Premium tables at Venice Carnival 2027, and it is the only official ticketed evening on the programme ⁷. Everything else that makes the carnival famous, from the costumed crowd in Piazza San Marco to the Grand Canal parade, is free to watch ⁷.The 2027 dinner shows run on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 January, then every night from Fat Thursday, 4 February, to Fat Tuesday, 9 February 2027, all starting at 21:00 ⁷. The palace stands on the Grand Canal in Cannaregio, a short walk from Piazzale Roma or the railway station, and guests get a free water shuttle from Piazzale Roma; Line 1 to San Marcuola also works ⁷.The rules are strict and worth reading before you pay:

• Costume: a period costume is mandatory; evening gowns and tuxedos are refused at the door ⁷.

• Costume hire: four Venetian ateliers give discounted rates if you quote your booking voucher number ⁷.

• Age: nobody under 18 is admitted ⁷.

• Refunds: tickets are personal, non-transferable, non-refundable and cannot be changed ⁷.

Bookings go through the online ticket partner linked from the official site or through Venezia Unica sales points, including those at Piazza San Marco, Rialto, the railway station, Piazzale Roma and Marco Polo Airport ⁷.

Tip: Book your costume fitting for the afternoon before your dinner, not the same day. Ateliers in the final week are busy, and alterations take time.

The free side of the carnival needs no ticket at all. You do not pay to stand in Piazza San Marco, watch the costume contests or line the Fondamenta for the Festa Veneziana. What you will pay for is transport: a single vaporetto ride costs 9.50 EUR for 75 minutes, and a 24-hour Venezia Daily Pass costs 25 EUR (fares as of October 2026) ¹⁰. Private palace balls run by independent organisers exist too, but they sit outside the official programme and set their own prices.

The quickest public route into Venice is ACTV AeroBus line 5, which reaches Piazzale Roma in about 20 minutes from the bus lane a few metres from the arrivals exit at gate B of Venice Marco Polo Airport ¹¹. A 75-minute AeroBus ticket costs 10 EUR one way or 18 EUR return (fares as of October 2026) ¹⁰.

Piazzale Roma is the last point a road vehicle can reach. From there you walk over the Constitution Bridge or board a vaporetto down the Grand Canal. If you are buying a Venezia Daily Pass or a multi-day pass anyway, add the airport bus as a supplement for 7 EUR one way at the time of purchase, because the passes otherwise exclude airport buses ¹⁰.

Your main options from the airport:

• AeroBus line 5: cheapest and fastest to Piazzale Roma; tickets are sold at Venezia Unica machines in the baggage hall ¹¹.

• Alilaguna Blue line: a slower water bus via Murano, Fondamente Nove, Lido, San Zaccaria and San Marco Giardinetti ¹².

• Alilaguna Orange line: runs down the Grand Canal with stops including Guglie, San Stae, Rialto, Sant'Angelo and Ca' Rezzonico ¹².

Alilaguna is a separate operator, so ACTV passes do not cover it ¹⁰. It does, however, offer direct water access to stops closer to hotels in Castello or around the Rialto, potentially reducing the need for a long walk with luggage.Tip: On carnival weekends the Constitution Bridge and the Strada Nova fill quickly. If your hotel is in Castello or near San Marco, the Alilaguna Blue line saves you dragging a suitcase through the busiest calli.

Arriving by train, you step out of Venezia Santa Lucia station straight onto the Grand Canal, with vaporetto stops in front of the steps. Inside the city, a 75-minute vaporetto ticket costs 9.50 EUR, and on board you can buy one by card if you ask when you board (fares as of October 2026) ¹⁰. Line 1 is the slow boat along the whole Grand Canal and the one to take for the San Marcuola stop near Ca' Vendramin Calergi ⁷.

For Venice Carnival 2027, the airport bus and vaporetto are the routes most visitors will use between 23 January and 9 February 2027, from Marco Polo Airport to the Grand Canal ¹.

Getting back late is the hard part. Night boats run less often than daytime ones, and after a dinner show many visitors simply walk; check the night timetable on your phone before the last course.

The programme opens with a water parade on the first Sunday and builds to the costume contests of the final week, with free street events in Venice, Mestre and the lagoon islands throughout ³. The Venice Carnival 2027 schedule for Piazza San Marco and the Grand Canal had not been published by 14 October 2026, so the pattern below comes from the 2026 edition.

Festa Veneziana. At 11:00 on Sunday 1 February 2026, around 100 decorated rowing boats left Punta della Dogana for the Rialto behind the papier-mâché Pantegana, a giant lagoon rat, finishing with a party in the Erbaria market ². Good free viewpoints include the Fondamenta along the Grand Canal near the Rialto and the steps of the Erbaria itself.Festa delle Marie. The parade remembers twelve Venetian brides kidnapped by pirates from San Pietro di Castello in 973 and rescued by Doge Pietro Candiano III ⁴. Revived in 1999, it now selects twelve young Venetian women, and in 2026 the Maria of the Year was elected on 16 February in the Sale Apollinee of La Fenice ⁴.

The flights from the bell tower. The Volo dell'Angelo, an acrobat sliding down a cable from the Campanile of San Marco to the crowd, was dropped in 2023 because Piazza San Marco was a set of building sites ¹⁹. Neither it nor the Volo dell'Aquila took place in 2026 ²⁰. Do not plan a trip around it unless the official programme lists it.

What else to look for:

• the Contest della Maschera più bella, the best-mask contest on the Piazza stage ¹⁸

• the Venice Carnival Street Show with jugglers, aerial acts and concerts in the campi ²

• allegorical float parades in Mestre, Burano, Lido and Pellestrina ³

• mask-making workshops and a seasonal ice rink in Campo San Polo ²

Tip: The costume parades are best in the morning, when the professional costumed walkers pose along the Riva degli Schiavoni and around San Giorgio Maggiore views before the day crowds arrive.

The carnival closes on Fat Tuesday with float parades on the mainland, including Zelarino, and the last night of the dinner show ¹⁸. On Ash Wednesday the masks come off and the city empties fast.

February in Venice is cold and damp: the long-term average at Venezia Tessera is a 9.2°C high and a 0.8°C low, with 56.5 mm of rain spread over 5.2 rainy days ¹⁴. Snow is not unusual between late November and early March, and fog off the lagoon can hang over the Grand Canal until midday ¹⁴.

The damp matters more than the number on the thermometer. Stone paving holds the cold, and if you stand still waiting for a parade, your feet go first. Layer under your costume rather than over it, so the cloak or gown still shows.

High water is the other winter risk. The MOSE barriers protect the lagoon only when a tide of 110 cm or more is forecast ¹⁶, so lower tides can still push water up through the drains of Piazza San Marco. When that happens, raised walkways appear and the square is crossable but slow.

What to pack:

• waterproof boots or rubber overshoes for acqua alta mornings

• thermal layers that fit under a costume

• gloves you can use a touchscreen with

• a compact umbrella that will not catch a feathered headdress

• a power bank for long days of photos

When to arrive. Venice Carnival 2027 builds to its peak between Fat Thursday, 4 February, and Fat Tuesday, 9 February 2027 ⁷. Weekends in that stretch are the busiest days of the whole season in the historic centre. The opening weekend is lively but noticeably calmer, and weekdays in between are quiet enough to find a table in a bacaro.

Tip: For photos of costumed walkers, consider being in Piazza San Marco or on the Riva degli Schiavoni soon after sunrise. Later in the morning, the light can be less dynamic, and crowds may make clear shots challenging.On the busiest afternoons, the route from the Rialto to San Marco slows to a shuffle. Plan to cross early, or use the vaporetto to San Zaccaria.

Cannaregio is the easiest carnival base for most visitors: it is close to Venezia Santa Lucia station and Piazzale Roma, Ca' Vendramin Calergi stands on its stretch of the Grand Canal ⁷, and its canals stay calm enough to sleep while San Marco is still singing. The trade-off is a long walk to the Piazza, slower still when the Strada Nova is packed.

Each area suits a different trip:

• San Marco: steps from the action, but the most expensive rooms and the loudest nights.

• Castello: walkable to the Piazza along the Riva degli Schiavoni, quieter behind the Arsenale, and on the Alilaguna Blue line from the airport ¹².

• Dorsoduro: student bars around Campo Santa Margherita and the Zattere for sunny February walks; a short crossing to San Marco by vaporetto.

• San Polo: central, close to the Rialto markets and the Erbaria where the Festa Veneziana ends ².

• Lido or Mestre: cheaper, but you depend on boats or the bridge every night.

Book early for the final weekend. For Venice Carnival 2027, the Official Dinner Show plays every night from 4 to 9 February 2027 at Ca' Vendramin Calergi in Venice ⁷, and those nights draw costumed visitors from across Europe who reserve rooms months ahead. For the final weekend, aim to book in the summer; for midweek stays in the opening fortnight, autumn is usually enough.

Day visitors face one more rule outside the carnival season. In 2026 the Venice access fee applied on 60 days between 3 April and 26 July, at 5 EUR booked at least four days ahead or 10 EUR later, and overnight guests registered but did not pay ¹³. February carnival days fell outside that window in 2026; check the city's calendar for 2027 if you are visiting for the day.

Tip: Ask your host whether the room is on a ground floor. In Venice a ground-floor room near a canal can see water at the door on a high-tide morning.

Expect it to slow down. When Piazza San Marco and the Riva degli Schiavoni fill on a carnival weekend, thousands of phones share the same cells, and photo uploads stall first. Messages and maps usually still get through if you have a direct mobile data plan rather than relying on Wi-Fi.

Public Wi-Fi is not a plan in Venice during carnival. The Venezia Unica citypass includes Wi-Fi among its services ⁹, but hotspots near landing stages and squares struggle once tens of thousands of visitors arrive at once, and many need a fresh login each time you move.

The things you will actually use your phone for at Venice Carnival 2027:

• live maps through calli that dead-end at canals
• ACTV timetables and diversions on parade mornings ²
• tide forecasts before walking to San Marco ¹⁶
• translation of menus in bacari and of handwritten notices on the Erbaria stalls
• location sharing to find friends behind identical masks
• bank approvals when you pay a costume atelier or a vaporetto fare by card ¹⁰

Tip: Upload your best costume photos from your room at night instead of in the Piazza. You keep data and battery for maps, boats and tide alerts during the day.

A local eSIM installed before you fly gives you mobile data from the moment you land at Marco Polo, so you can check the AeroBus and your route to Piazzale Roma before you reach the arrivals hall. Plan data use around navigation, live timetables and messaging rather than video; heavy uploads are what drain an allowance during carnival week. Plans for the whole country are listed on the Italy eSIM page. In an emergency, 112 works free from any mobile phone across the EU, including Italy ¹⁷.