Travel + Leisure: The Best Carnival Celebrations Around The World ...

Costumed revelers board a New Orleans streetcar and ride down St. Charles Avenue, waving banners, throwing beads, and shaking their rumps to the beat of a brass band. These are the Phunny Phorty Phellows--and their antics kick off the pre-Lenten celebrations.

Carnival is a worldwide phenomenon, an outburst of tradition and joy that engulfs locals while providing photogenic entertainment for travelers lucky enough to crash the party. It flourishes in New Orleans and other places that have strong Catholic or Orthodox religious traditions (the Fasnacht celebration in Basel, Switzerland, is a notable Protestant exception). Immigrants export Carnival with them: witness the celebration in Goa, India, a holdover from that community's Portuguese rule, or the street festivals that have sprung up among the West Indian diaspora in New York and London.

Those familiar with photos of scantily clad partiers in Rio or Trinidad might not appreciate that the Carnival debauchery stems from religious roots. To gain converts, the early Christian church incorporated pagan practices, tying them to the period of abstinence known as Lent. The idea has always been to get your feasting and sinning out of the way, before the repentant 40-day Easter season begins on Ash Wednesday.

Carnival has always been about spectators as much as participants. So should you find yourself at one of the following parties around this year's Fat Tuesday (February 12), don't be afraid to grab a mask and join in.

--Chris Gray Faust

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• Basel, Switzerland

  <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-carnival-celebrations-around-the-world/9" target="_hplink">See More of the Best Carnival Celebrations Around the World</a><br><br> Known as Fasnacht, the largest Swiss popular festival is unusual for two reasons. It starts the week after Carnival everywhere else, a possible holdover from the Reformation (Basel?s carnival is one of the world?s few Protestant celebrations). And ridiculous amounts of confetti are involved, thrown by riders on floats or dumped on unsuspecting passersby.<br><br> <strong>Insider Tip:</strong> Follow the Cliquen (Carnival cliques) and accompanying bands and musicians as they journey through Basel?s narrow streets with transparent lanterns made from wood and canvas, most more than nine feet high.<br><br> <em>Photo ? Claudio Maimone</em><br>

• New Orleans

  <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-carnival-celebrations-around-the-world/9" target="_hplink">See More of the Best Carnival Celebrations Around the World</a><br><br> The lewd bead-begging behavior seen in the French Quarter is generally restricted to Bourbon Street and out-of-town tourists (native New Orleanians often have bags of their own at home). For the real fun, seek out the neighborhood parades, where passersby fight for the throws flung from floats, and work your local sources to finagle tickets to the private balls put on by the krewes. Admission to some, such as Krewe of Orpheus? Orpheuscapade, are open to the general public.<br><br> <strong>Insider Tip:</strong> Dream up a costume?the more elaborate the better?and join the egalitarian Society of St. Anne on its Mardi Gras parade through the arty Bywater neighborhood.<br><br> <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/exploring-the-new-new-orleans#video" target="_hplink">Video: Tour the New New Orleans</a><br><br> <em>Photo &copy; <a href="http://NewOrleansOnline.com" target="_hplink">NewOrleansOnline.com</a></em><br>

• Panama City, Panama

  <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-carnival-celebrations-around-the-world/9" target="_hplink">See More of the Best Carnival Celebrations Around the World</a><br><br> Panama City?s version of Carnival tends toward the casual. Expect street parades full of dancing, drinking, and culecos, large 18-wheel trucks carrying water tanks that spray down the crowd. Put any expensive electronics away, as water balloons and buckets are also common (the sensation is more pleasant than it sounds; February is the dry season here).<br><br> <strong>Insider Tip:</strong> While the party crowds wear summer clothing (or very little at all), Carnaval is also a time for women to don the pollera?the traditional embroidered dress that?s native to Panama?along with family heirloom jewelry. For the best photos of this finery, go to the Cinta Costera on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday.<br><br> <em>Photo &copy; <a href="http://globetrottergirls.com" target="_hplink">globetrottergirls.com</a></em><br>

• Rio de Janeiro

  <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-carnival-celebrations-around-the-world/9" target="_hplink">See More of the Best Carnival Celebrations Around the World</a><br><br> The world?s largest Carnival drew 850,000 hard-partying tourists in 2012. Imported originally by the Portuguese and later garnished with French embellishments, Rio?s Carnival took on a different flavor when the city?s poorer residents, many of them descendants of African slaves, became involved after abolition in 1888. Now the rivalries between the samba schools are the high point of the Sunday and Monday before Fat Tuesday, with the city?s main parade culminating in the Sambodromo.<br><br> <strong>Insider Tip:</strong> You can march in costume with a samba school, if you?re in the mood to splurge (<em>$300?$700; costs vary by group; <a href="http://rio-carnival.net" target="_hplink">rio-carnival.net</a></em>). <br><br> <em>Photo courtesy of <a href="http://VisitBrasil.com" target="_hplink">VisitBrasil.com</a></em><br>

• Venice

  <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-carnival-celebrations-around-the-world/9" target="_hplink">See More of the Best Carnival Celebrations Around the World</a><br><br> Costumed and cloaked figures, their faces unseen, glide mysteriously through the side streets during Carnevale, a tradition that emerged from the city?s centuries-old facility with mask-making (the mascherari formed their own guild in 1436). Hit the streets with your camera, as the piazzas turn into a photographer?s dream. Locals don their finery primarily for private balls; while most are off-limits to tourists, you can get tickets to the Doge?s Ball, held annually in the Palazzo Pisani Moretta on the Grand Canal, if you have about $1,900 to spare.<br><br> <strong>Insider Tip:</strong> Pick out your own mask at Il Canovaccio, the supplier of the disguises used for the sexy-creepy Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman flick, Eyes Wide Shut.<br><br> <em>Photo &copy; <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergavitto/" target="_hplink">Vittorio Bergamasco</a></em><br>

• Trinidad

  <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-carnival-celebrations-around-the-world/9" target="_hplink">See More of the Best Carnival Celebrations Around the World</a><br><br> Soca and calypso music, fueled by the beat of steel pans, provide the soundtrack for the biggest Carnival in the Caribbean, which combines slave celebrations with Catholic traditions. The weekends leading up to the final celebration are filled with opportunities to see music competitions?only the best go on to play at Panorama, held the Saturday before Ash Wednesday. <br><br> <strong> Insider Tip: </strong>Many Trinidad bands accept visitors for J?Ouvert (Monday morning?s dedication to monsters) and Carnival. Keep in mind that Trinidadian costumes are notoriously skimpy, and many residents train all year to be able to strut their stuff with confidence.<br><br> <em>Photo &copy; <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/missmass" target="_hplink">Lesley Middlemass | Flickr</a></em><br>

• Goa, India

  <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-carnival-celebrations-around-the-world/9" target="_hplink">See More of the Best Carnival Celebrations Around the World</a><br><br> The Portuguese ruled this corner of India from the 16th century through 1961, importing their Carnival traditions and guitar music, including mournful fado. The four-day-long celebrations now have more of an Indian twist, with Hindus participating along with those of Christian descent; fireworks, for example, are used to wake the gods. The highlight is the procession of King Momo (the King of Chaos) through Goan villages.<br><br> <strong>Insider Tip:</strong> If you?re not in costume, wear old clothes to the parades, as people often dump buckets of colored water on the spectators or douse them with squirt guns.<br><br> <em>Photo &copy; <a href="https://twitter.com/ShivamSharma" target="_hplink">Shivam Sharma</a></em>

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