What to Do in Rio in October 2026: Festival do Rio and Five Weeks of Bossa Nova
Rio de Janeiro · Culture
October opens with the Festival do Rio in cinemas across the city, João Bosco and Joelma take the first weekend’s big stages, and a Leblon theatre starts five weeks of bossa nova. The month, day by day.
RIO DE JANEIRO — There is a great deal to do in Rio in October, and very little of it is written down anywhere in English. This guide is the monthly selection for people who live here rather than visit: what is on, where, when, what it costs, and why it might be worth crossing the city for.
The first eleven days belong to the 28th Festival do Rio, the city’s own film festival, which takes over cinemas from Copacabana to Niterói. The first weekend adds João Bosco and Joelma on the big stages in Barra. From 2 October the Teatro Café Pequeno in Leblon runs eighteen bossa nova concerts over five weeks, and from 14 October the musical A Cor Púrpura returns for a short run in Barra. Monday 12 October is a national holiday — Nossa Senhora Aparecida, celebrated as Children’s Day — so plan around closed shops and full cinemas. Here is the month.
1 to 11 October: the 28th Festival do Rio
Thursday 1 to Sunday 11 October
Festival do Rio — 28th edition
Cinemas across the city and in Niterói · Price from the festival
The city’s own festival is the one that matters most to people who live here: eleven days of Brazilian and international premieres, retrospectives and free outdoor screenings, with the industry market RioMarket running 1 to 10 October alongside it. Foreign films screen in their original language with Portuguese subtitles, so English speakers can follow everything not made in Brazil. The programme and daily grid appear at festivaldorio.com — our festival preview is here.
The first weekend of October
Friday 2 October, 9.30pm
João Bosco — 80 Anos at the Qualistage
Qualistage, Via Parque Shopping, Av. Ayrton Senna 3000, Barra da Tijuca · From R$90 · 18+
One of the great guitarists and songwriters of Brazilian music celebrates his eightieth birthday with this tour — he turned eighty in July. Bossa, samba and Afro-Brazilian rhythm from a musician who has carried all three for five decades. Music needs no translation.
Saturday 3 October, doors 7.30pm, show 9.30pm
Joelma — Festival Calypsoul, with Natália Sarraff
Qualistage, Via Parque Shopping, Av. Ayrton Senna 3000, Barra da Tijuca · From R$97.50 (half price), full from R$195, tables and boxes to R$360 · 18+
Three hours of calypso from Pará — a genre that exists only in Brazil — with a new stage set and the singer’s daughter Natália Sarraff sharing the bill. We covered the show in detail here. Tickets through Ticketmaster.
2 October to 8 November: five weeks of bossa nova in Leblon
Fridays and Saturdays 8pm, Sundays 7pm
Bossa Nova Sessions at the Teatro Café Pequeno
Teatro Café Pequeno, Av. Ataulfo de Paiva 269, Leblon · From R$50
Eighteen concerts over five weekends in the neighbourhood where the genre was born. The line-up runs from harmonica player Maurício Einhorn and singer Ithamara Koorax to guitarist Victor Biglione, who marks fifty years on stage this year — his 1995 Montreux live album, co-produced by Quincy Jones, has just been reissued. Small room, reserved tables, the most accessible October programme in the city for a listener without Portuguese.
Mid-October
Friday 9 October
Tom Zé at the Circo Voador, two days before he turns ninety
Circo Voador, Lapa · Advance R$80–100
The great eccentric of the tropicália generation plays the Lapa tent on 9 October and turns ninety on the 11th. Irregular, funny and unlike anything else you will hear this year. Details here.
Wednesday 14 to Sunday 25 October
A Cor Púrpura — The Color Purple, the musical, fifth Rio season
Teatro Multiplan, Shopping VillageMall, Av. das Américas 3900, Barra da Tijuca · From R$60 · Wednesday to Friday 8pm, Saturday 4pm and 8pm, Sunday 3.30pm and 7.30pm
Fourteen performances only of the Brazilian production of the Alice Walker musical, with Suzana Santana again as Celie and Tadeu Aguiar directing. English-speaking audiences know the story from the novel and the films, which makes this the easiest musical in town to follow in Portuguese. Tickets through Sympla and the box office; every section also has a solidarity ticket at a special price against one kilo of food.
Friday 16 October, 8pm
Ira! — twenty years of Acústico MTV at the Circo Voador
Circo Voador, Lapa · Price from the venue
São Paulo’s long-running rock band marks twenty years of its acoustic live record — close to a million copies sold — under the Arcos da Lapa. The crowd sings everything. Details here.
Sunday 18 October
Vanessa da Mata at Vivo Rio
Vivo Rio, Av. Infante Dom Henrique 85, Parque do Flamengo · Price from the venue
One of the defining voices of Brazilian pop of the last two decades, in the big auditorium inside the Flamengo park. Her catalogue crosses MPB, pop and reggae, and most of the room will know every word.
Late October
Friday 23 October
John Pizzarelli at Vivo Rio
Vivo Rio, Av. Infante Dom Henrique 85, Parque do Flamengo · Price from the venue
The American jazz guitarist and singer, a regular visitor to Brazil, with the songbook between Nat King Cole and bossa nova. The month’s most expat-friendly evening in a big room.
Saturday 24 October, 8pm
Black Pantera open their Brazil tour at the Circo Voador
Circo Voador, Lapa · Price from the venue
The trio from Uberaba — Rock Artist of the Year 2025 — starts its Continental tour in Rio. Hard, political rock from the interior of Minas Gerais. Details here.
Saturday 24 October, 9.30pm
Oswaldo Montenegro at the Qualistage
Qualistage, Av. Ayrton Senna 3000, Barra da Tijuca · Price from the venue
The songwriter and filmmaker with the melodic catalogue that half of Brazil grew up on. Melodic, unhurried, and a good introduction to mainstream Brazilian songwriting.
Free at the CCBB through October
Until Monday 12 October
Vik Muniz — last days
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rua Primeiro de Março 66, Centro · Free
The season by Brazil’s most internationally recognised living visual artist ends on the holiday Monday. If it is still on your list, the first week of October is the moment.
Until Monday 19 October
Soy Loco por Ti, Centroamérica — Central American cinema
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rua Primeiro de Março 66, Centro · Free
Twenty-one features and shorts from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, most of them never before screened in Brazil, in their original languages with Portuguese subtitles. It runs three weeks into October and costs nothing.
Until 16 November
Amazônicas — Poéticas Femininas
Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rua Primeiro de Março 66, Centro · Free
Women artists from the North of Brazil, curated by Sissa Aneleh, with Afro-indigenous ancestry at the centre and virtual- and augmented-reality elements. It runs well past the end of the month, so there is no rush.
Running all month
Every Saturday, from midnight
Rock-blues at the Bukowski, the oldest rock bar in the city
Bar Bukowski, Rua Álvaro Ramos 270, Botafogo · R$39.90 at the door, free from 1am on the guest list
The Saturday-night residency continues through October: the Charles Zanol Trio from midnight, with Pedro Leão on guitar and Dawton Mendes on drums and cajón. R$39.90 at the door includes a drink if you arrive before 10pm; R$99.90 gives you R$80 back in food and drink. Names on the guest list through @barbukowski enter free from 1am. The bar runs from 7pm to 5am.
Until 4 December
The Jazz Room: a Sinatra and Armstrong tribute
Teatro Rival Petrobras, Rua Álvaro Alvim 33, Cinelândia · From R$100
The Rival’s long-running tribute evening — the American songbook with a live band in the Art Deco theatre off Cinelândia. The reliable option when nothing else on this list fits the night.
October football: the big clássicos
Wednesdays and Sundays through the month
Three derbies in October
Nilton Santos, Maracanã and São Januário · Tickets from the clubs
Botafogo meet Vasco at the Nilton Santos on Wednesday 7 October at 8.30pm. Sunday 11 October brings the Fla-Flu — Flamengo against Fluminense at the Maracanã at 5.30pm, the fixture that fills the city even when little is at stake. Vasco then host Flamengo at São Januário on Wednesday 28 October at 6pm. Buy only through the clubs’ own sites, and go early.
Planning your Rio in October
Sunday 4 October is the first round of the general election, so expect restricted alcohol sales and a quieter city that day. Monday 12 October is a national holiday, and many venues and museums adjust their hours around it. Where we have not printed a ticket price, the organisers had not published one at the time of writing — check with the venue before you travel. Programmes at the CCBB and the theatres change during the month, so confirm on the day.
This guide to Rio in October runs monthly, and returns in November. If you run a venue, a gallery or a production in Rio and would like to be considered, write to the newsroom with the date, the time, the address and the ticket price. Those four things are what get an event into the list.
More on living here: our Rio de Janeiro coverage and Expats in Brazil.
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