revelers planning to attend formal carnival parades in the sambódromo can only but costumes directly from the 'samba schools'.

alternatively, if already in rio de janeiro, these costumes can also be purchased with the aid of a local travel agent or company.

in general, costumes will vary significantly in price, depending on the class of the samba school, and the complexity of the costumes.

a typical fantasia for a grupo a samba school with range between 200 to 600 dollars, while costumes for schools in the grupo especial could easily cost twice that amount.

for carnival parades in the sambódromo, the shop rio costumes is a good first step in seeing what fantasias are available, and at what cost - purchases can be made on-line on this link and costumes picked up at the company's office.