Welcome the spring in Crete and spread colors in your life visiting Rethymno Carnival, a period of time where the island of Crete transform in a magical way, celebrating along the cobbled streets and squares of the medieval city of Crete. The 2020 edition of Rethymno Carnival takes place from 30 of January until 2 of March.
The Carnival of Rethymno is one very good reason to visit Crete the off-season: the festival of Apokries in Crete at the end of the winter, during which, locals and visitors of all ages disguise themselves for masquerades and celebrate with parties and dancing. Rethymno Carnival is the ultimate Cretan Carnival, as some 20.000 participants and more than 100.000 guests attend the annual carnival events, including street parties and performances, parades, treasure hunts, old Cretan serenades, etc.
The carnival period called Apokries will last for three weeks starting from 13th February with a spectacular opening ceremony and finishing on Sunday 1st March with the Grand parade of Rethymno Carnival teams. Together with the Children's Carnival parade & Night Parade on Saturday 29th of February, you can expect beautifully colors, many humoristic events and lots of fun.
For more than two months all over the city, companies and artistic teams with an optimistic mood and open heart meet and work together to accomplish the spectacular events. There are all kinds of costumes and you can hire the one you prefer, however, the masquerader's costumes in Rethymno have either a humouristic "sense" or a Venetian "aroma".
If you plan to visit Rethymno during Carnival, don't miss to visit Meronas, Melidoni or Gerani villages, known for folk street parties with many traditional ‘happenings’. These pageants take place at Clean Monday, another special holiday for Greeks that marks the last carnival celebrations and the beginning of the Lent until Greek Easter.
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