What's on in Búzios, Brazil through the year

Peak crowds — High summer, Summer holidays in Brazil

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Cold-water upwelling (1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually)), High summer (20 Dec – 28 Feb)

Peak crowds — Carnaval week, High summer

• Festival

  Carnaval week

  14–18 FebCarnivalCrowdedBook earlyClosures

  Carnaval is Brazil's biggest holiday: banks, offices and many shops close from Monday to midday on Ash Wednesday, and Brazilians travel in huge numbers, so flights, buses and rooms sell out and cost the most of the year. Book well ahead. Source ↗

Still on: Cold-water upwelling (1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually)), High summer (20 Dec – 28 Feb)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Holiday

  Semana Santa long weekend

  3–5 AprEaster & Holy WeekCrowdedBook early

  Good Friday is a national holiday and the Easter weekend is one of the year's busiest for domestic travel: roads and bus stations jam, beach towns and country retreats fill with Brazilian families, and prices rise. Many shops close on Good Friday. Source ↗

Still on: Carnaval week (14–18 Feb), Cold-water upwelling (1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually))

Busy — Semana Santa long weekend

• Festival

  Búzios Jazz Festival

  1–3 MayMusic festivalCrowded

  Three days of free stages on the beaches and in the square over the May Day weekend, timed to give the peninsula one busy weekend between the summer and the winter quiet. Source ↗

Still on: Semana Santa long weekend (3–5 Apr)

Busy — Búzios Jazz Festival

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Búzios Jazz Festival (1–3 May)

Busy — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

• Nature

  Humpback whales off Arraial

  15 Jun – 15 Oct · usuallyWhale season

  Humpbacks pass the Cabo Frio coast on their way north to breed. Sightings from Búzios boats are hit and miss; the dedicated whale trips leave from Praia dos Anjos in Arraial do Cabo, about an hour away, best in July. Source ↗

Busy — July winter break in Brazil, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Festa de Sant'Anna

  24–26 JulReligious feast

  The patron saint's days at the old church above the harbour, kept by the fishing families rather than by the beach clubs, and one of the few times the town looks like the village it was. Source ↗

Still on: Humpback whales off Arraial (15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Humpback whales off Arraial (15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Humpback whales off Arraial (15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Humpback whales off Arraial (15 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

• Nature

  Cold-water upwelling

  1 Nov – 31 Mar · usuallySea warm enough

  A hard north-easterly pushes the surface water offshore and cold water comes up behind it, so an ocean-facing beach can be far colder than a bay beach one headland away. It settles again a day or two after the wind drops.

Peak crowds — High summer, Summer holidays in Brazil

• Season

  High summer

  20 Dec – 28 FebSchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  A town of forty thousand runs at many times that between Christmas and Carnival. Rua das Pedras is shoulder to shoulder after dark and the single road in backs up for hours on the big weekends.

Still on: Cold-water upwelling (1 Nov – 31 Mar (usually))