Carnevale in Venice has been on Brian’s bucket list for years and this last Europe trip was planned around being in Venice during one of the busiest weekends of Carnevale. Venice is already enchanting with all the canals, architecture, and gondolas and Carnevale took it to the next level! It was a magical experience—like a giant, extravagant costume party and the event location is the entire city of Venice!

Walking around and seeing all the costumes was my absolutely, positively, favorite part of Carnevale. I left main events to go people-watching. You never knew who or what you would run into (grapes to winged lions to traditional masquerade). These are some of our favorite photos from our weekend.

The San Marco Piazza was madness with people taking photos, asking for photos, trying to get photos of somebody in costume only for them to politely start walking to their intended destination, yet at the same time clearly willing and wanting to take photos. 

I imagine that if you’re in costume and need to go to the bathroom, you have to plan at least an hour in advance because it’s going to take you that long to make it from the piazza while getting stopped for photos! 😉

Even resting and eating were photo ops for all! It could seem like by taking a photo of costumed people during their espresso break would be rude, but it should be noted that they chose to sit at the tables closest to the crowds. Just sayin’.

Ahhh!! It was so incredible. I’m still seeing pictures pop up in my search feed on Instagram and I find myself being sucked in and searching for pictures so I can see ALL the costumes. I need to see them ALL. It is as amazing as it looks (+ lots of people that you don’t see in these photos). Add this to your list. It’s amazing and so worth it. Plus, it’s winter—cheap flights to Europe!