Diamantina Carnival

Diamantina's Carnival plays out inside a former diamond-mining town perched in the Serra do Espinhaco mountains, where UNESCO-listed colonial streets double as the parade route. Small blocos, brass marchinhas and a cooler mountain climate set it apart from coastal Carnivals, and local pride draws on the legend of native son Juscelino Kubitschek returning to dance in these same alleys. Expect a walkable, historic-center celebration rather than a stadium-scale show.

Diamantina sits high in the Serra do Espinhaco, a former eighteenth-century diamond-mining town whose steep cobbled streets and baroque churches earned it UNESCO World Heritage status in 1999, and for a few days each February or March those same alleys fill with Carnival blocos instead of tour groups.