Where to celebrate Mardi Gras around the world

Mardi Gras, also known as Carnival, season is nearly here, bringing flowers, music and colour to the months of February and March.

Read on to discover the biggest and best Mardi Gras celebrations around the world.

New Orleans, USA

The New Orleans’ annual festivities are the mother of all Mardi Gras. Two weeks worth of parades and wild parties lead up to the grand finale, Fat Tuesday. This hedonistic flurry of floats lit by torches is accompanied with dancing in the streets and showers of MoonPies thrown over the crowds. Processions are organised by the Mardi Gras ‘krewes’, clubs who organise the floats and outrageous costumes and inject a whole lot of character into the proceedings. Some of the most famous of these are the Zulu, Rex, Bacchus and the Krewe of Muses (an all-female club named after the daughters of the Greek God, Zeus, and known for their tongue-in-cheek parade themes). Head to the French Quarter for the most extravagant and kitsch displays. Stay in luxury amid the Carnival action in the French Quarter’s Omni Royal Orleans Hotel.

Binche, Belgium

For the three days leading up to Lent each year, the otherwise subdued streets of the medieval city of Binche descend into one big party. The celebrations here are so historic (dating back to the 14th century, it’s believed to be the oldest carnival in Europe) they’ve been recognised by UNESCO as a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’. Performances and parties take place in the preceding months but the arrival of the ‘Gilles’ – locals dressed up in bizarre, traditional costumes – is the main event. These clown-like characters wear wooden clogs, ostrich feather hats and wooden masks painted with curled moustaches. They run around the town hurling oranges at onlookers (being hit by a flying orange is a sign of good luck here) and shaking sticks to ward off evil spirits. In the evening, the crowds gather to see the town lit up by a huge Carnival bonfire and a fireworks display. Check into Les Remparts guest house in Binche, with a beautiful garden and free bike hire.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro hosts one of the world’s biggest carnivals for Mardi Gras. Taking over the city each February, processions full of scantily-clad characters in gaudy, glittery costumes samba their way through the streets alongside enormous floats and in front of a two million-strong crowd of revellers. It’s essentially a month-long, tropical party; spend days on the beach sipping caipirinhas, attend the daily ‘blocos’ (block parties with live bands that span entire neighbourhoods), and then head to one of the hundreds of Carnaval club nights available. Stay at Americas Copacabana Hotel and recover in between parties on the rooftop pool overlooking the beach.

Nice, France

The biggest carnival in France happens on the French Riviera, arriving in a flurry of music and colour in the sunny city of Nice in mid-February, and lasting until early March. 2018’s theme is the ‘King of Space’, so you can expect floats, costumes and effigies depicting the discovery of planets, galaxies and constellations. Enjoy a chilled rosé on the Promenade-des-Anglais while watching the Carnival’s ‘Battle of the Flowers’, where thousands of flowers are thrown from floral floats onto cheering spectators. Check into Le Grand Sud, a highly rated apartment on the Promenade-des-Anglais with views from your private balcony of the parade and the Mediterranean.

Venice, Italy

The Carnival of Venice is said to date back to 1162, when the first event was held in celebration of the Republic of Venice’s victory over the Patriarch of Aquileia. It’s famous for the porcelain masks worn by cloaked figures who prance through the city posing and attending balls, exhibitions and events. One of the most anticipated spectacles is the ‘Volo dell’Angelo’ (flight of the angel), where a beauty pageant winner flies on a zipwire from the top of a bell tower above the crowd to officially open the festivities. Then there’s a competition for the best-dressed carnival-goer each year, with daily public votes and the winner appearing in all their finery on a stage erected in St Mark’s Square. Spend days exploring confetti-covered piazzas, watching historic reenactments, street artists and live bands, enjoying Venice at its most colourful. Just a few hundred metres from St Mark’s Square, Ca’ Maria Callas has Venetian antique-filled suites with canal views, perfect for watching the Carnival pass by.

Sydney, Australia

Mardi Gras in Sydney is a joyous celebration of diversity, with a pride parade taking over the city’s streets and attracting hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic revellers. It’s impossible not to be swept up in the excitement as the decadent and debaucherous floats move through the city. And 2018 is the 40th anniversary of the event, with Cher confirmed as a headline act. As with many other carnivals, celebrations extend for a month-long period, so there’ll be theatre, performances and parties for you to enjoy in between wandering the festive streets on balmy summer Sydney nights. Stay at the Arts Hotel in the Paddington area, the epicentre of the Mardi Gras parties and parades.