Aruba Carnival

Aruba Carnival is the island's biggest festival: a season of parades, music contests and street parties that peaks in January and February and ends just before Ash Wednesday. The two Grand Parades run through San Nicolas and Oranjestad, and the Aruba Tourism Authority has already published the 2027 parade calendar, from the Torch Parade on 9 January to the Grand Parade in Oranjestad on 7 February 2027.

When is Aruba Carnival 2027?

The official parade schedule for 2027 lists the Torch Parade on 9 January, the Fantasy Parade on 17 January, the children's parades in Noord (23 January), Oranjestad (24 January) and San Nicolas (31 January), J'ouvert Morning and the Grand Lighting Parade on 30 January, the San Nicolas Lighting Parade on 4 February, the Grand Parade in San Nicolas on 6 February and the Grand Parade in Oranjestad on 7 February. The season formally opens much earlier: since the Stichting Arubaanse Carnaval was founded in 1966, it starts every 11 November at 11:11 a.m. Start times and routes are confirmed closer to the date, and several 2026 events were listed as "TBA" until shortly before, so check the official calendar in the week you travel.

How did Carnival start in Aruba?

According to the Aruba Tourism Authority, the first small street festivals were held in 1954, and in 1955 clubs and districts joined forces for the first public island-wide Carnival, which also crowned the first official Carnival queen. Steel and brass bands followed, and by 1957 the Grand Parades had become a fixture. Tivoli, Aruba's oldest social club, began producing the Lighting Parade in 1981. In 2026 the Grand Parade in Oranjestad was billed as the 72nd.

Which events are worth planning around?

• Lighting Parades are night parades in which floats and costumes are covered in thousands of lights; Oranjestad and San Nicolas each have one.
• J'ouvert Morning in San Nicolas is the "pajama party" jump-up that starts in the evening and runs until sunrise.
• Grand Parades are daytime marathons: in 2026 the Oranjestad parade started at 10 a.m. and continued into the early evening.
• Music contests (Tumba Festival, Calypso and Road March, Soca Monarch) run in January; winning songs often become the anthems of the season.
• Burning of King Momo, a life-size effigy, marks the end of the season.

Practical advice for visitors

The Grand Parades are long, hot and crowded, so treat them as a full-day outing: arrive early to find a spot along the route, carry water and sun protection, and expect road closures and diversions around the route in Oranjestad and San Nicolas. The Monday after the Oranjestad Grand Parade is Carnival Monday, an official holiday (8 February in 2027), when many shops and offices close. If you want to stay near the action in the south, read our San Nicolas area guide, and see the Oranjestad guide for the capital. Carnival season also overlaps with the dry, breezy high season — our best time to visit Aruba guide explains what that means for prices and booking.