Carnival of Aalst
Carnival of Aalst
4
About
The lead-up to Ash Wednesday is an internationally celebratory time, especially at Belgium’s Carnival of Aalst. Over the course of 3 days, the streets and businesses of Aalst become home to dancers, musicians, actors, festive parades, and an amazing collection of costumes. The most infamous event of the weekend is when various performance groups provide satirical takes on world events from the past year. Attendees are encouraged to join in the fun by dressing up, face painting, and donning wacky accessories!
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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4.0
24 reviews
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Vassilis G
3 contributions
Feb 2023
A mixture of Rio and Venice 40 min from Brussels.
Great fun, a huge number of participants (mostly locals as I was told) and chariots depicting and making relentless fun of all major Belgian and international public figures and institutions. A lot of religious satire as well, don't go if you feel your religion might be offended (all major religions ... represented)
Nice food all around the city and cheerful, festive atmosphere.
The only problem is that everything is written in dutch, so many of the satire cannot be understood by foreigners. Maybe some english translation would help, as all inhabitants of Aalst are fluent speakers of the english language.
Great fun, a huge number of participants (mostly locals as I was told) and chariots depicting and making relentless fun of all major Belgian and international public figures and institutions. A lot of religious satire as well, don't go if you feel your religion might be offended (all major religions ... represented)
Nice food all around the city and cheerful, festive atmosphere.
The only problem is that everything is written in dutch, so many of the satire cannot be understood by foreigners. Maybe some english translation would help, as all inhabitants of Aalst are fluent speakers of the english language.
Written March 5, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
3njoyLif3
Aalst, Belgium76 contributions
Mar 2019 • Friends
Again a year of fun and pleasure. All carnavalist mock with reality and are not scared to make fun of every taboo or caricatures. These days foreign individuals and unions who do not like to smile and have fun use this festival to spam their hatred to the festival people. If you do not understand sarcasm do not watch the parade and better go live on the island of hatred and frustration...
Written March 21, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nick Schamp.
Erondegem, Belgium67 contributions
Feb 2018 • Friends
If you wanna see what Aalst is like you should visit the carnival.. on sunday there are more than 200 parade cars, all looking very nice, all the people in the parade wear beautiful costumes, ... they work a whole year on the cars and outfits and all look great! The people from Aalst party 3 days on the streets and in bars. The music sounds happy and is sang in their own dialect. People from Aalst all know the songs by heart.
On tuesday the locals dress up as "Voil Janet", which is a phenomenon in Aalst.
I go every year on sunday and always have a lot of fun, my girlfriend is from Aalst and she goes three days :) last year she got home three times around 8 in the morning so if you wanna party hard you are in the right place!
good hint: if you wanna stay the whole night and if you wanna go dressed up, make sure your costume is big enough so you can wear a lot of warm clothes underneath your costume, because at night it gets cold that time of the year. We always wair 2 pair of socks, two or three pair of thermal underwear, good shoes, bring a rain coat or wear it underneath your costume so you dont get wet if it rains, ...
On tuesday the locals dress up as "Voil Janet", which is a phenomenon in Aalst.
I go every year on sunday and always have a lot of fun, my girlfriend is from Aalst and she goes three days :) last year she got home three times around 8 in the morning so if you wanna party hard you are in the right place!
good hint: if you wanna stay the whole night and if you wanna go dressed up, make sure your costume is big enough so you can wear a lot of warm clothes underneath your costume, because at night it gets cold that time of the year. We always wair 2 pair of socks, two or three pair of thermal underwear, good shoes, bring a rain coat or wear it underneath your costume so you dont get wet if it rains, ...
Written October 7, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
tooto
New York City, NY66 contributions
Mar 2019 • Solo
Scandalous hateful float showing puppets dressed as orthodox Jews with rats and bags of money. Worthy of Nazi germany...
Written March 11, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bernie B
Minneapolis, MN23 contributions
Feb 2020
There is satire and then there is racism and hatred. Don't people know the difference? What a horrific and vitriolic display of antisemitism. Do not go to this carnival. Belgium has lots of other great ones, sans racism.
Written February 23, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Voyager15738389864
37 contributions
Feb 2024 • Friends
Aalst carnival is unique and an experience that you will certainly enjoy, there is a beautiful foor, delicious food, a fantastic procession on Sunday and Monday and on Tuesday the dirty people go out in the afternoon and in the evening there is the pop burning that marks the end. of the carnival
Written February 12, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Buongiorno a tutti!Sabato pomeriggio e seraa (domani) ci sara' animazione e feste carnevalesche in giro per Aalst?
Grazie!
Written March 1, 2019
Hkdent how do you know ? From massassssjusjets ? People with low iq should not get on the internet and certainly not give comments!
Written March 21, 2019
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