Saturday, January 10, 2026, the Curacao Carnival season will be festively opened at the Curacao Festival Center. Carnival will be celebrated in Curacao on a grand scale and various events will be organized until February 21, 2026.

Curacao carnival: different from the Netherlands

There is one thing for sure, Carnival in Curacao is completely different from those in the Netherlands. That starts with the music. Where cheerful hoempapa music can be heard in the Netherlands, in Curacao, people party to Tumba. Tumba is an upbeat style of music and dance in which you will hear many instruments. The message of Tumba songs is always positive. Besides the music, the way of dressing up is also completely different. In the Netherlands, depending on each region, you see mostly people in crazy costumes or homemade themed clothing. In Curacao, people walk in beautiful costumes with headdresses, glitter, feathers and lots of color, which are usually worked on all year to make the costumes for the whole carnival group. What is also different is the way Carnival is celebrated. In the Netherlands everyone goes to the pub, in Curacao Carnival is all about Tumba and parades in the streets.

Curacao Carnival 2026 group street — Curacao Carnaval 2026 group

Cheerful music, beautiful costumes and parades

Er lopen 5 grote carnaval groepen mee met de parades. Tijdens deze parades lopen en dansen kinderen, tieners en volwassenen tot in de puntjes verzorgd en in de mooiste kostuums. Naast de deelnemers komen er ook feestelijke praalwagens langs. Het carnavals thema van dit jaar op Curacao is ‘nos Karnaval’ (ons carnaval). Wil je de mooie parades bekijken, dan kan dat eenvoudig door gewoon langs de route een mooi plekje uit te zoeken. Denk er dan van tevoren wel aan dat je mogelijk (waarschijnlijk) een tijdje vol in de zon komt te staan, dus denk aan zonnebrandcrème, een fles water en als het even kan iets van een petje o.i.d.

Zelf meelopen?

Wil je écht helemaal opgaan in het Curaçaose Carnaval, dan kun je je aanmelden om bij één van de carnavalsgroepen (bijvoorbeeld met Corendon) mee te lopen in de parades Hiervoor betaal je dan (minimaal) zo’n € 700 en daarvoor krijg je o.a. een schitterend kostuum + deelname aan de Gran Marcha, de grote parade.
> Meer info over aanmelden bij carnavalsgroep

Curacao carnival 2026: the parades

This year’s parades are on the following dates, with indicative start times:

Horse parade: Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, 4 p.m.
Children’s parade: Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, 1 p.m.
Teen parade: Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, 6 p.m.
Bandabou parade: Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026

Gran Marcha: Sunday, February 15, 2026, 11:00 a.m.
Farewell parade teens: Monday, Feb. 16. 2026, 15:00
Farewell parade: Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, 5 p.m.

More info below for each parade.

What time are the parades?

In de opsomming van de parades hieronder worden ook de formeel bepaalde start- en eindtijd vermeld. But…. it’s Curaçao 😉 so “poko poko” (Papiamentu for ‘take it easy’). So it may happen that a widely communicated start time of 14:00 means that around 15:00 only the first participants of the parade show up at the start location to start the parade around 15:30.
The times mentioned below are the times as we get them from the Curaçao authorities, but be prepared that the start may turn out to be 1 or 2 hours later than communicated.

Parade real-time tracking on your phone

Want to join the parade but don’t feel like waiting a long time before it arrives? Then download the Und’e Kabes Ta?-app. With it, you can keep a perfect eye (including push notifications) on where the parade is or when it comes near a location you specify. The app is available for Android and iPhone.

Horse Parade

Sunday, February 1, 2026, 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Most parades take place in the western part of Curaçao. On Sunday, February 1, the first parade starts in the center of Willemstad, the horse parade (. Marcha di Kabai’). The parade lasts from 16:00 to 21:00. You can stand near the start on Pater Euwensweg in Otrobanda (near SVB) or along Roodeweg. The parade follows north along Avenue to Welgelegen and continues on F. D. Roosevelt Road. The parade ends at the intersection at Jan Noorduynweg.
You can sit for free along the entire route to enjoy all the pomp and circumstance. If you want to know exactly what the routes are, check out the map further down this page.
Let op : alle overige parades gaan van noord naar zuid (naar het centrum van de stad), maar de paardenparade gaat als enige andersom: start in het centrum en dan richting het noorden.

Children’s Parade

Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 8, all youngsters pull out their best outfits for the Children’s Carnival Parade. From 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., they walk and dance the carnival route in their costumes. The children’s parade starts at the Palù Blanku traffic circle and is about 5 km long. The route heads south, follows Schottegatweg West and turns left toward Roodeweg in Otrobanda. The ending point of this parade, like all subsequent parades, is Brion Square in Otrobanda, located right next to the Pontjes Bridge.

Teen Parade

Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 13, it’s the teens’ turn. From 6 to 11 p.m., teens will make a party during the Teen Parade. The route is the same as the horse parade, but the other way around: the teen parade heads toward downtown. Start is at the intersection of F.D. Rooseveltweg and Jan Noorduynweg (4 kilometers south of Hato Airport) and the parade ends at Brionplein in Otrobanda.

Bandabou carnival parade

Curacao Carnival Grand Parade Gran Marcha

Saturday, February 14, 2026, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The only parade not in town is the Bandabou Carnival parade and takes place on Saturday, February 14, at 3 p.m. This is a route along the Kaminda Popo Royer. The parade starts halfway down Kaminda Prospero Popo Rojer and heads toward the road to Westpunt. On the Road to Westpunt, the parade turns right and ends at Barer’s soccer club, Centro Social Deportivo Barber. Keep in mind traffic jams and delays if you want to get to West Point on this Saturday.

The big parade: Gran Marcha

Sunday, February 15, 2026, 11:00 to 19:00
The Gran Marcha, on Sunday, February 15, is the big carnival parade. From 11:00 to 19:00 you can pick a spot along the route and enjoy the party, dancing and watching the participants with their beautiful costumes. The route of the parade is exactly the same as that of the teen parade.

Farewell Parades

Monday, Feb. 16 14:00-20:00 / Tuesday, Feb. 17 18:00-01:00
Monday, Feb. 16, the youth and teens get to shine one more time in the farewell parade from 14:00-20:00. They will walk the same route as on Friday, Feb. 13.
On Tuesday, Feb. 17, the adults will walk the Gran Marcha route one more time during the main farewell parade from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. The latter is also called the parade of lights and is always very popular among tourists and local visitors.

On Saturday, March 21, the festival season will conclude with a grand farewell party at the Curaçao Festival Center.

Route Carnival parades

De parades in de stad hebben allemaal dezelfde route. Start is net voor de kruising Frank D. Rooseveltweg/Jan Noorduynweg, en dan eigenlijk alleen maar rechtdoor tot aan de het eindpunt bij de Pontjesbrug. De route volgt de Frank D. Rooseveltweg tot aan de grote rotonde Palù Blanku. Daar de eerste afslag de Schottegatweg West op, rechtdoor de Weg naar Welgelegen op en via de Roodeweg loop je de Breedestraat uit tot aan de St. Annabaai.
Let op: de paardenparade gaat over dezelfde route, maar in tegengestelde richting: startpunt is in het centrum en dan loopt de route naar het noorden.

Waar ga jij kijken?

Je kunt overal langs de route naar de parades kijken. Neem een klapstoeltje mee en je eigen koelbox en je bent er helemaal klaar voor. Let wel op: sommige plekken zijn al gereserveerd door lokale bevolking die daar met hun familie en vrienden komen kijken. Dan is een stukje afgezet met lint, zand of krijt. Voorkom gedoe en respecteer dat; ga 10 meter verderop staan en dan zie je het ook goed.
Weet je nog niet waar je wilt gaan kijken? Ons advies is om je auto te parkeren bij de rotonde Palù Blanku, ongeveer halverwege de route. Parkeren gaat hier gemakkelijk en de parades komen relatief vroeg langs (behalve de paardenparade). Als je met kinderen gaat is het fijn als je niet al te lang hoeft te wachten tot de parade langskomt want deze wil nog wel eens vertraging oplopen.

Want to watch the Bandabou parade on Saturday? Which goes from just outside Barber to the middle of the village. Check out the route here.