Notting Hill Carnival Tips and Advice!

Last year nearly two million people attended the incredible Notting Hill Carnival, so it definitely deserves the title and reputation of Europe’s biggest street festival! An annual celebration with the Caribbean community at heart, it’s a huge street festival for everything Caribbean. This festival has been going since 1966 and it’s amassed itself to an existing two day event, with 36 static sound systems, soca floats, steel bands, and a whole lot of delicious food! Still, the sheer size of this event can be pretty daunting, so here’s some tips and advice for how to make the most of this bank holiday weekend!

Even though there are some great events and outside pre carnival fun we will be starting off with Sunday the 25th. The party starts at 10am with an opening ceremony then the parade starts at 10:30am. As Sunday is a family day at the carnival it is very busy but not as crazy as Monday can get. There will be entertainment all throughout the day on several stages so look out for those. You can expect steel bands parading through the streets as early as 6am though, so let’s hope you get some good sleep before that if you live anywhere near the carnival. 

Now over to Monday, the parade starts at 10am this time, and on Monday the carnival goes big. There will be 60 bands in incredible costume wandering through the streets in the main parade. There will be entertainment across multiple stages like the same on Sunday as well, with all of the sound systems putting out great music. 

Even though there is an official programme to the weekend, don’t stick to it like glue, go wherever it takes you, and you may not have much choice, especially if you get caught in the crowds. A great part of the carnival being a street festival is you may find a random guy with his own sound system but he’s putting out great music, so why move on?

You’re probably super hungry at this point, but there’s no reason to stress, now is where you’re going to get the best Caribbean food, there will be dozens of food and drink stalls dotted all across the event. You can expect to see curried goat, jerk chicken, ackee and salt fish, and a ton more. Don’t think you’re going anywhere without a queue though, and remember cash! 

Whilst the carnival is going to be lively fun, and welcoming make sure to stay aware of your drink, and any valuables on you. Make sure to keep your valuables out of sight, and never put your drink down. There will be lots of police across the entire event, so if you have any worries you can always speak with them. Another thing to keep note of is that if you’re going to be seeing friends, meet up before going into the area, as you’ll most likely never find them once you're in the thick of it. That many people, little signal, and there's hundreds of people putting their hands up to find friends, you may as well find new friends. Finally, the toilet situation, there will be toilet blocks everywhere but with queues and likely no toilet paper, so keep tissues and hand sanitiser with you just in case. 

Please note that on both Sunday and Monday, there will be a 72-second silence at 3pm in memory of the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, so don’t be shocked when the music stops.

We hope you can enjoy everything Carnival has to offer this year, enjoy it, and be safe!