Venice Carnival 2027: the dates and the days to go

When is Venice Carnival 2027? It runs from Saturday, January 23 to Tuesday, February 9, 2027, and I'd go for the four days from Thursday, February 4 to Sunday, February 7. Those are the dates on the Carnival's official site, checked October 31, 2026, and the last six days, February 4 to 9, are the one unbroken run of the program: the city's street shows play every day, and the official dinner show runs every night.

The end date follows the calendar. Carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins, 47 days before Easter. Easter 2027 falls on March 28, so Carnival closes on February 9, early in the year. Expect winter in Venice: short days, cold evenings on the water and the chance of high tide.

The full program, with parades and events by day, was not posted on October 31, 2026. The Carnival opened its call for street performers on October 19, with applications due November 20 and answers by December 23, so the program should follow after that.

Because the program runs every day from February 4, and the opening weekends are two days each with gaps after them. Between January 25 and 29, and again between February 1 and 3, the Carnival posts no public Street Show dates. A visit in those weekdays is Venice in winter with some masks in the shops, not Carnival.

Thursday to Sunday gives you the start of the final stretch, a weekend in it, and a Sunday departure before the last two days, Monday and Tuesday, February 8 and 9. Stay through Tuesday if the closing night is the point of the trip. Choose January 30 and 31 instead if you want a Carnival weekend with the dinner show and fewer days off work, and accept that the city will be quieter around it.

Book it if you will wear a costume; skip it if you will not. The Official Dinner Show is the Carnival's own costumed dinner with live performers at Ca' Vendramin Calergi, a palace on the Grand Canal, from 9pm on January 30 and 31 and every night from February 4 to 9. The official page lists premium tables from 650 euros, and the dress code is a period costume: evening gowns and tuxedos are not allowed.

That rule is the catch. A costume means a fitting, so book one of the costume makers the page lists, who offer reduced rates to dinner guests, before you book the flights. The palace is a 10 minute walk from the train station and on the San Marcuola stop of vaporetto line 1, the public waterbus.

The hotel, now, for February 4 to 7. The dates are fixed and posted, and every Carnival visitor who reads the program will pick the same days. Then the dinner show and the costume, then the flights. Sleep in the historic center, not on the mainland: the evenings are the reason to be there, and a hotel in Mestre puts a train ride between you and every one of them. Where to stay in Venice with luggage picks the area by how you arrive.

Check the official program again once it is posted, likely after the performers are chosen in late December, before you book any single day around one parade.

Three days in Venice fits the February 4 to 7 dates with a day on the lagoon islands, and two days in Venice is the shorter version. For the rest of an Italy trip in spring, Easter 2027 in Rome has the next set of dates that fill a city.