What's on in Manaus, Brazil through the year

Busy — Summer holidays in Brazil, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in January.

Busy — Summer holidays in Brazil, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in February.

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in March.

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

• Festival

  Festival Amazonas de Ópera

  10 Apr – 31 May · usuallyMajor festivalBook early

  Full stagings in the Teatro Amazonas across April and May, sung largely by the city's own orchestra and chorus. Tickets are cheap by any standard and the good nights go the day they are released. Source ↗

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Season

  Rivers at their highest

  1 May – 31 Jul · usuallyHigh water

  The Rio Negro tops out around the end of June and the floating neighbourhoods and jetties rise with it. Flooded igapó forest can be paddled through the canopy, which is the main reason to come now.

Still on: Festival Amazonas de Ópera (10 Apr – 31 May (usually))

Busy — Festival de Parintins, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Festival de Parintins

  22 Jun – 2 Jul · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Two rival bumbá teams, Garantido and Caprichoso, stage three nights of enormous floats in a purpose-built arena on an island a long boat ride or short flight downriver. Beds there sell out a year out. Source ↗

Still on: Rivers at their highest (1 May – 31 Jul (usually))

Peak crowds — Festival de Parintins, July winter break in Brazil

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Rivers at their highest (1 May – 31 Jul (usually)), Festival de Parintins (22 Jun – 2 Jul (usually))

Busy — one of its best months for weather

• Hazard

  Burning-season smoke

  15 Aug – 15 Nov · usuallySmoke season

  The end of the dry season is when the forest and pasture around the city burn, and the smoke settles over Manaus. In a bad drought year the haze sits for weeks and the air, not the heat, is what you notice. Source ↗

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

• Season

  Rivers at their lowest

  1 Sep – 30 Nov · usuallyHigh waterRisk

  Sandbanks come out of the water, the port extends its gangways a long way down the bank, and in the harder years channels upriver get too shallow for the boats that supply the communities on them.

Still on: Burning-season smoke (15 Aug – 15 Nov (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Burning-season smoke (15 Aug – 15 Nov (usually)), Rivers at their lowest (1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Burning-season smoke (15 Aug – 15 Nov (usually)), Rivers at their lowest (1 Sep – 30 Nov (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Brazil, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.