The 5 Best Street Parties From Around The World

The world is not short of breath­tak­ing extrav­a­gan­zas each year.

They will offer you more than just a beau­ti­ful spec­ta­cle: you get to wit­ness the local cul­ture, min­gle with lots of hap­py peo­ple, sam­ple the local cui­sine, enjoy the music, dra­ma and, throw in drinks and you got your­self mem­o­ries to last a life­time.

Here are the five best street par­ties around the world that every par­ty enthu­si­ast should have in their buck­et list!

1. Rio Carnival, Brazil

Source: tum­blr

Chris­tened the car­ni­val cap­i­tal of the world, the Rio Car­ni­val is held to cel­e­brate the com­ing of East­er and Lent. The world famous car­ni­val com­mences exact­ly 40 days before the hol­i­day, with most par­ties con­tin­u­ing around the clock for a lit­tle under a week.

An absolute must-see is the spec­tac­u­lar Sam­ba Parade. Nowhere else on earth will you wit­ness such an exu­ber­ance of col­or and sen­sa­tion­al cos­tumes that would put the Play­boy bun­nies to shame as scant­i­ly-clad Brazil­ian women dance and groove to the infec­tious rhythm of the per­cus­sion bands.

The empha­sis though is on pure fun and spon­tane­ity . The Rio Car­ni­val is sure to give you a dev­il of a good time that will last two life­times.

2. Songkran Festival, Thailand

Source: flickr

The Songkran Fes­ti­val is a cel­e­bra­tion of the Thai New Year held every 13–15th of April (the hottest month of the year). The three-day pub­lic hol­i­day in this Asian nation involves among oth­er indul­gences, beau­ty pageants, wild par­ties (they also kick up a heel over there) and the crème de la crème itself – water fights!

Songkran means ‘a change’, and this is a peri­od in which the Thais clear the house, call on fam­i­ly and ful­fill oth­er reli­gious com­mit­ments as they drench away the evil and sin of the past year in antic­i­pa­tion  of a clean slate for the forth­com­ing year.

Of course, a lot of the fun is that this fes­ti­val allows “grownups” like you and me to play with water pis­tols and squirt guns!

To make things bet­ter: It all cul­mi­nates in a boozy affair (and a beau­ty pageant graced with a bevy of hot Asian girls) as rev­el­ers par­ty the three nights away under the stars on the rooftop bars.

3. Mardi Gras in New Orleans, USA

Source: flickr

Should you feel the need to shake things up a bit right around March, then a get­away to New Orleans, Louisiana will get you start­ed pret­ty notably.

Host to Mar­di Gras (aka Fat Tues­day or Shrove Tues­day) this is a car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tion held every year the day before Ash Wednes­day. The par­ty­ing is con­cen­trat­ed for about two weeks pri­or to and through Fat Tues­day and is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to indulge in balls (mas­querad­ing balls too), parades and king cake par­ties.

4. Trinidad Carnival

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If there is one word that can sum up the Trinidad Car­ni­val, ‘epic’ would be it. The Trinidad Car­ni­val dates back many cen­turies and this blowout is reput­ed­ly so intense and wild it would make some pop­u­lar fes­ti­vals look like a Vet­er­ans Day parade. No kid­ding.

Non-stop dirty danc­ing to Calyp­so and Soca music that would rival the girls on that Ana­con­da video are the norm, with volup­tuous beau­ties that include Miss Uni­vers­es bar­ing paint­ed breasts and mer­ry­mak­ers drink­ing them­selves to a stu­por.

Peo­ple from the world over con­glom­er­ate here every year on the Mon­day and Tues­day before Ash Wednes­day to par­take in one of the best street par­ties on Plan­et Earth. An explo­sion of col­or, rev­el­ry, cre­ativ­i­ty, and music make up for a euphor­ic spec­ta­cle.

It has spawned sim­i­lar fes­ti­vals in sev­er­al coun­tries but there can only be one Trinidad Car­ni­val. There is noth­ing quite like it (trust this to be an under­state­ment).

5. The Mazatlan Carnival and Street Party, Mexico

Source: flickr

The Mazat­lan Inter­na­tion­al Car­ni­val is one of the biggest and best street par­ties the world over. Thou­sands of cos­tumed par­ty­go­ers throng the beach­es and streets in Mex­i­co in yet anoth­er car­ni­val held before Lent (five days before, this one).

The reli­gious affil­i­a­tion seems to have been ditched for flesh flash­ing \ as throngs let their hair down  and fill the streets for sev­en days of non-stop par­ty­ing that cul­mi­nates the day before Ash Wednes­day.

When it comes to par­ty­ing, few do it bet­ter than the Mazat­lan.

These are seri­ous­ly some of the best street par­ties in the world.

C’mon, life is wait­ing… which street par­ty would you like to go to the most? Got a tip for an even bet­ter par­ty? Tell us about it in the com­ments.