One of the winter highlights along the French Riviera is the Nice Carnival. Each year, a million visitors attend Carnaval de Nice enjoying the fun, sea, sunshine and Niçoise cuisine.
The 2016 theme was King of Media (Roi des Médias). The floats this year didn’t disappoint with their big head construction, jabs at over consumerism and even portrayed our obsession with cellphones. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Queen had cellphones coming out of her head!
The carnival parade included a procession of 16 floats and entertainment from over 1,000 musicians and dancers from across the world. The high energy event takes place day and night on the Place Masséna with adults and children dancing, throwing confetti and spraying of silly string. Your senses will be awash of thumping music and an array of colors splashing across the sky.
Take a look below at some of our favorite floats and entertainment from the event. The carnavaliers are true masters of their craft and incorporate impressive details into the floats.
A few interesting facts:
- There were 44 performing groups from 10 countries including Colombia, Korea, Croatia, Spain, France, Italy, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, and UK.
- The 16 carnival parade floats were 12 m long by 3 m wide (39.4 ft X 9.8 ft) and from 8 to 17 m (26.2 ft – 55.8 ft) high!
- There were 180 animation elements including the traditional big heads.
Pictures of the Nice Carnival Parade:
Starting off the Carnaval de Nice:
Floats, floats and more floats
Keeping the fun going
Planning to attend the Nice Carnival Parade in 2017? Next years theme is King of Energy (Roi des Energies) and will take place February 10 – 26.
Don’t miss:
Disclosure: We were guests of the Nice Tourism board during Carnaval. As always, all opinions are 100% my own and may differ from others.
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