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.

Cheerful music, beautiful costumes and parades

There are 5 major carnival groups marching in the parades. During these parades, children, teens and adults walk and dance to perfection and in the finest costumes. In addition to the participants, festive floats will also pass by. This year’s carnival theme in Curacao is “nos Karnaval” (our carnival). If you want to watch the beautiful parades, you can easily do so by just picking a nice spot along the route. Keep in mind that you may (probably) be out in the sun for a while, so bring sunscreen, a bottle of water and, if possible, something like a cap.
If you really want to immerse yourself in the Curaçao Carnival, you can sign up to join one of the carnival groups in the parades. For this you will then pay (minimum) about US$ 750 and for this you will get a magnificent costume + participation in the Gran Marcha, the big parade, among other things.

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?

The listing of parades below also includes the formally determined start and end times. 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, 16:00 to 21:00
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 splendor. If you want to know exactly what the routes are, check out the map further down this page.
Note: all other parades go from north to south (toward the center of the city), but the horse parade is the only one that goes the other way around: starts in the center and then heads north.

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 build 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

The city’s parades all have the same route. Start is just before the Frank D. Rooseveltweg/Jan Noorduynweg intersection, and then basically just straight ahead to the terminus at the Pontjes Bridge. The route follows the Frank D. Roosevelt Road to the large Palù Blanku traffic circle. There, take the first exit onto Schottegatweg West, continue straight onto Weg naar Welgelegen, and via Roodeweg walk out of Breedestraat until you reach St. John’s. Anna Bay.
Please note that the horse parade takes the same route, but in the opposite direction: starting point is downtown and then the route runs north.
You can watch the parades anywhere along the route. Bring a folding chair and your own cooler and you’re all set. Not sure yet where you want to look? Our advice is to park your car at the Palù Blanku traffic circle, about halfway along the route. Parking is easy here and the parades come by relatively early (except the horse parade). If you go with children, it’s nice if you don’t have to wait too long for the parade to pass by because it sometimes wants to be delayed.

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.