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Carnival in Switzerland 2027: 40 days between the first and the last carnival — who celebrates when

People assume carnival has a date. Switzerland doesn't. Chiasso is already over before Lucerne opens its Dirty Thursday, Basel only starts once Lucerne has stopped, and Moudon is still celebrating long after almost every other carnival in our survey has ended. We read every carnival where it is published — at the committee, the guild, the society: 24 events in 15 cantons, and the rule each committee uses to work out its date.

Key takeaway
Dirty Thursday falls on 4 February 2027 and Ash Wednesday on 10 February 2027. Basel carnival opens with the Morgestraich on Monday, 15 February 2027 at 4 am. By then the first recorded carnival is already over: Carnevale Nebiopoli in Chiasso ends on 24 January 2027; the last, Brandons de Moudon, runs until 28 February 2027.
📅 Carnival 2027 list: every checked event
·Every date checked individually at the source
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Carnival in Switzerland 2027: 40 days between the first and the last carnival — who celebrates when
24
carnivals checked
in 18 municipalities, 15 cantons
40
days of carnival
Chiasso to Moudon
7
places after Ash Wednesday
while others fast
2
pre-dawn openings
Einsiedeln and Basel
🇬🇧

This article will soon be available in English.

Translation coming soon

🇨🇭 Read in German

🎭 When is carnival? The 2027 dates — and why there is no single date

Dirty Thursday falls on 4 February 2027, Shrove Monday (Güdismontag in Lucerne) on 8 February 2027 and Ash Wednesday on 10 February 2027. There is no shared date: 7 places on our list only start after Ash Wednesday.

Almost every Swiss carnival hangs on Easter. Ash Wednesday always falls 46 days before Easter Sunday, and because Easter moves, carnival moves with it — early in 2027, while in 2028 Dirty Thursday doesn't come until 24 February 2028, 20 days later in the calendar. Even within one year, Switzerland doesn't celebrate together. Most carnivals run in the days before Ash Wednesday — Lucerne stops on Shrove Tuesday, 9 February 2027. 7 places on our list only start afterwards: Bern, Biel/Bienne, Zürich, Winterthur, Liestal, Basel and Moudon. And two outliers set their own dates: Chiasso is done 11 days before Dirty Thursday, Moudoncelebrates until 28 February 2027.

The mistake that costs a trip

Anyone who thinks Basel and Lucerne share «the same carnival» arrives a week too early or a week too late. Between the end of Lucerne carnival on 9 February 2027 and the Morgestraich on Monday, 15 February 2027 there are five days. You can do both: the dates don't clash, they follow each other.

📅 Carnival 2027 list: every checked event

24 carnival events in 18 municipalities — filter by canton, weekday and evidence status, with the source where we read the date.

Every entry comes from the committee, guild or society that runs the carnival — never from an aggregator. Where a time is published, it's listed; where it isn't, we don't guess one.

Evidence status
25 of 25 events
verified · ConvivaPlus

🗓️ Carnival calendar: when is carnival 2028, 2029 …?

Pick a year: the ConvivaPlus Carnival Calendar works out every carnival whose committee publishes a rule, up to 2035 — and shows, for any day, which carnivals are on.

Bern's table of dates lists the year 2038 twice — by the Easter rule, one of the two rows is 2037. That is exactly why we recalculate. The rule comes from the committees themselves: Lucerne publishes its dates up to 2060, Bern up to 2038, Solothurn up to 2033. We ran the Easter rule against each of those tables — it matches to the day. A calculated date still stays marked «calculated» until the committee confirms it for that year.

🎭 ConvivaPlus Carnival Calendar

Calculated dates follow the Easter rule: Ash Wednesday = Easter Sunday minus 46 days. Cross-checked against the date tables of the committees in Lucerne, Basel, Bern and Solothurn.

Carnival 2027 at a glance
Dirty Thursday
Thursday, 4 February 2027
Ash Wednesday
Wednesday, 10 February 2027
Basel Morgestraich
Monday, 15 February 2027, 04:00

Pick a date — the calendar shows every carnival running that day.

25 events 2027, by date

DatePlaceEventFormSource
20 January 2027 – 24 January 2027confirmedChiassoTICarnevale Nebiopoli🎭 Carnival daysSource
3 February 2027 – 9 February 2027confirmedOltenSOOltner Fasnacht🎭 Carnival daysSource
4 February 2027 – 10 February 2027confirmedBadenAGBadener Fasnacht🎭 Carnival daysSource
Thursday, 4 February 2027 · 04:00confirmedEinsiedelnSZItrichlä der Buebätrichler Einsiedeln🌑 Pre-dawn openingSource
Thursday, 4 February 2027 · 14:00confirmedLuzernLUFritschiumzug am Schmutzigen Donnerstag🎺 Main paradeSource
4 February 2027 – 9 February 2027confirmedMontheyVSCarnaval de Monthey🎭 Carnival daysSource
4 February 2027 – 10 February 2027confirmedSolothurnSOSolothurner Fasnacht🎭 Carnival daysSource
5 February 2027 – 9 February 2027confirmedBassecourtJUCarnaval du Jura🎭 Carnival daysSource
5 February 2027 – 9 February 2027confirmedFribourgFRCarnaval des Bolzes🎭 Carnival daysSource
Sunday, 7 February 2027 · 14:00confirmedSt. GallenSGSt. Galler Fasnachtsumzug🎺 Main paradeSource
Monday, 8 February 2027 · 14:00confirmedLuzernLUWey-Umzug am Güdismontag🎺 Main paradeSource
11 February 2027 – 13 February 2027confirmedBernBEBärner Fasnacht🎭 Carnival daysSource
Friday, 12 February 2027 · 20:30confirmedBiel/BienneBENachtumzug Bieler Fasnacht🌙 Night paradeSource
12 February 2027 – 14 February 2027confirmedZürichZHZüri-Carneval🎭 Carnival daysSource
Saturday, 13 February 2027 · 14:00confirmedBiel/BienneBEKinderumzug Bieler Fasnacht🧒 Children's paradeSource
Saturday, 13 February 2027 · 18:45confirmedWinterthurZHGuggenumzug Winterthur🌙 Night paradeSource
Sunday, 14 February 2027 · 14:00confirmedBiel/BienneBEGrosser Umzug Bieler Fasnacht🎺 Main paradeSource
Sunday, 14 February 2027 · 19:15confirmedLiestalBLChienbäse-Umzug Liestal🔥 Fire customSource
Sunday, 14 February 2027 · 13:45confirmedLiestalBLFasnachtssonntag-Umzug Liestal🎺 Main paradeSource
Sunday, 14 February 2027confirmedWinterthurZHGrosser Umzug Fasnacht Winterthur🎺 Main paradeSource
15 February 2027 – 17 February 2027 · 04:00confirmedBaselBSBasler Fasnacht mit Morgestraich🌑 Pre-dawn openingSource
Monday, 15 February 2027 · 14:00confirmedWinterthurZHKinderumzug Winterthur🧒 Children's paradeSource
Wednesday, 17 February 2027 · 13:45confirmedLiestalBLKinderumzug Liestal🧒 Children's paradeSource
25 February 2027 – 28 February 2027confirmedMoudonVDBrandons de Moudon🎭 Carnival daysSource
Date to comedate to comeFleurierNECarnavallon🎭 Carnival daysSource
verified · ConvivaPlus
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🗺️ Carnival by canton: where the events are

We list checked carnivals from 15 cantons and all three main language regions — Fasnacht, carnaval, carnevale.

In the canton of Zurich the Böögg burns twice: at Sechseläuten in April — and already in February at the carnival in the canton of Zurich, when Winterthur lights its own on the Zeughauswiese. In Liestal, burning brooms are carried through the darkened old town (Basel-Landschaft carnival), and in the canton of Bern carnival only starts once Lucerne has already tidied up. A pale canton doesn't mean nobody celebrates there — only that we haven't yet been able to read a date at the source. Many committees only publish in January.

Where the turnips burn across the country

…
14

Source: ConvivaPlus Carnival Calendar 2027

CantonEventsof which confirmedFirst date
BernBE44Thu 11 Feb
ZurichZH44Fri 12 Feb
Basel-LandschaftBL33Sun 14 Feb
LucerneLU22Thu 4 Feb
SolothurnSO22Wed 3 Feb
AargauAG11Thu 4 Feb
Basel-StadtBS11Mon 15 Feb
FribourgFR11Fri 5 Feb
JuraJU11Fri 5 Feb
NeuchâtelNE10–
SchwyzSZ11Thu 4 Feb
St. GallenSG11Sun 7 Feb
TicinoTI11Wed 20 Jan
VaudVD11Thu 25 Feb
ValaisVS11Thu 4 Feb

🎒 Carnival with kids: what to know beforehand

The most famous moment of Swiss carnival is the least suited to children: the Morgestraich starts at 4 am, in complete darkness. All 3 children's parades in our survey start in the afternoon instead, between 1.45 pm and 2 pm.

  1. 1
    Children's parades run in the afternoonIn Liestal the children's parade starts at 1.45 pm, in Biel and Winterthur at 2 pm. With small children, plan the afternoon — not the Morgestraich at 4 am.
  2. 2
    At the Morgestraich, darkness rulesThe Basel Comité asks people not to open curtains, not to set off fireworks and to take photos without flash. At four o'clock it gets very crowded — a fixed meeting point beats any map.
  3. 3
    Free ear protectionIn Basel, the Comité points on Marktplatz, Barfüsserplatz and Claraplatz hand it out for free. Guggen bands don't play quietly.
  4. 4
    In Lucerne, the route mattersBoth big parades start at 2 pm on Schweizerhofquai and end at the Helvetiagarten; on Dirty Thursday the parade takes an extra loop to the Fritschi fountain on Kapellplatz.
  5. 5
    Fire instead of confettiLiestal's Chienbäse carries burning brooms and fire wagons through the darkened old town. Spectacular — but with small children the afternoon parade on the same Sunday is the calmer choice.

🌍 Fasnacht and Carnaval: one carnival, many names

The ConvivaPlus analysis distinguishes 6 forms — from the pre-dawn opening to the fire custom. The early opening exists in several regions, each time under a different name.

In Basel it is called the Morgestraich, in Einsiedeln the Itrichlä — both start at 4 am. In German-speaking Switzerland carnival is Fasnacht, in French-speaking Switzerland carnaval, in Vaud Brandons, in Ticino carnevale — and the Brandons in Moudon come so late that they don't even follow the Easter rule: in 2031 and 2032 the committee sets its date about a week after the calculation. Einsiedeln, by contrast, starts on Epiphany, four weeks before Dirty Thursday. And Geneva? The Ville de Genève writes that Calvin's city «ne célèbre pas le carnaval catholique» — the Escalade is a «sorte de carnaval genevois» there: people dress up in December rather than February.

🔍 What's missing — and why it says so here

Of 25 recorded events, one has no published 2027 date yet. It is listed anyway — as open, not as an estimate.

Lucerne knows its carnival dates up to 2060. In October, Bellinzona doesn't even know next year's programme yet — the Rabadan says only that it is coming «presto». Every Swiss carnival sits somewhere between those two poles. So we show three states: confirmed — the organiser publishes the date for this year; calculated — the committee publishes a fixed rule and we derived the date from it; open — neither date nor rule. The whole winter, from turnip lanterns to carnival, is in the season calendar. We keep checking — and if you know a date, send us the link, not the date.

Is your municipality's parade missing?
We invent no dates – we only list what is documented. Send us the link to the organiser's page, we check it and add the event. Report a date

Common questions about carnival 2027

Short and sourced — every answer rests on the committees or on the Easter rule.

🔍

People also ask

Related questions from our magazine

To the Escalade in Geneva →
50+ outings under 20 francs →
To the outing radar →

Carnival by canton

A canton page appears as soon as the canton has enough checked events. All others are listed in full above.

BE
Carnival in the canton of Bern 2027 →4 · Thu 11 Feb
ZH
Carnival in the canton of Zurich 2027 →4 · Fri 12 Feb
BL
Carnival in the canton of Basel-Landschaft 2027 →3 · Sun 14 Feb

Cantons without their own page don't yet have enough documented events. Once there are enough, the page is created automatically.

Related

Culture
Escalade in Geneva →Genevans dress up in December — Calvin's city has its own carnival.
Outings
50+ outings under 20 francs →Free and cheap days out across Switzerland.
Outings
Christmas markets in Switzerland →Checked periods instead of a list of places.
Outings
The outing radar →Filter destinations by profile, not advertising budget.
🏆 The ConvivaPlus verdict

The ConvivaPlus verdict on carnival 2027

24 carnivals documented40 days of carnivalEaster rule cross-checked1 still open
Swiss carnival isn't a date, it's a sequence. Know it, and you can see three different carnivals in one winter without double-booking a single day: Central Switzerland before Ash Wednesday, Basel and Bern afterwards, Vaud last. The reliable guide isn't last year's memory — Easter shifts everything — but the rule your own committee publishes.

Freshness note: This analysis is based on the events we found with a readable source up to the check date. It is not a full census — Switzerland has no official register of carnival events.

Check the latest: ConvivaPlus Carnival Calendar 2027 →

💎 Golden nuggets
The non-obvious — researched, not copied
  • ◆Basel starts when Lucerne stops. Lucerne carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday, 9 February 2027; the Morgestraich is on Monday, 15 February 2027. Two carnivals that never overlap.
  • ◆Chiasso finishes first. Carnevale Nebiopoli ends on 24 January 2027 — before Dirty Thursday begins anywhere in German-speaking Switzerland.
  • ◆Moudon ignores the Easter rule. The Brandons only arrive at the end of February in 2027, and in 2031 and 2032 their date falls about a week after the calculation.
  • ◆The same pre-dawn opening, two names. Morgestraich in Basel, Itrichlä in Einsiedeln — both at 4 am, both in the dark.
  • ◆Geneva celebrates in December. Calvin's city has no Catholic carnival; its dressing-up is called the Escalade.
Written by
Jana Meier
Jana Meier

ConvivaPlus Editor · Family & Day Trips

Writes about day trips, family and local life – honestly assessing what's worth it.

  • Day trips
  • Family
  • Local
  • Cities & regions
Researched & sourced · for Switzerland
Profile & all articles →Our editorial teamUpdated
Sources & methodology29
Researched & source-checked · for Switzerland
As of: As of 6 October 2026 — every event read individually at its committee, guild or society.
Bern (4)
01
Bärner Fasnacht — Verein Bärner Fasnacht →Bern · Altstadt · checked on 6 October 2026
02
Nachtumzug Bieler Fasnacht — Faschingszunft Biel →Biel/Bienne · checked on 6 October 2026
03
Kinderumzug Bieler Fasnacht — Faschingszunft Biel →Biel/Bienne · checked on 6 October 2026
04
Grosser Umzug Bieler Fasnacht — Faschingszunft Biel →Biel/Bienne · checked on 6 October 2026
Zurich (4)
05
Züri-Carneval — Züri-Carneval →Zürich · Altstadt · checked on 6 October 2026
06
Guggenumzug Winterthur — Fasnachtskomitee Winterthur (FAKOWI) →Winterthur · Altstadt · checked on 6 October 2026
07
08
Basel-Landschaft (3)
09
10
11
Kinderumzug Liestal — Fasnachtskomitee Liestal →Liestal · checked on 6 October 2026
Lucerne (2)
12
Fritschiumzug am Schmutzigen Donnerstag — Lozärner Fasnachtskomitee (LFK) →Luzern · Schweizerhofquai · checked on 6 October 2026
13
Solothurn (2)
14
Oltner Fasnacht — FUKO Olten →Olten · checked on 6 October 2026
15
Aargau (1)
16
Badener Fasnacht — VFGB Badener Fasnacht →Baden · checked on 6 October 2026
Basel-Stadt (1)
17
Basler Fasnacht mit Morgestraich — Fasnachts-Comité Basel →Basel · Innerstadt · checked on 6 October 2026
Fribourg (1)
18
Carnaval des Bolzes — Association du Carnaval des Bolzes →Fribourg · Basse-Ville · checked on 6 October 2026
Jura (1)
19
Carnaval du Jura — Carnaval du Jura →Bassecourt · checked on 6 October 2026
Neuchâtel (1)
20
Carnavallon — Association Carnavallon →Fleurier · Val-de-Travers · checked on 6 October 2026
Schwyz (1)
21
St. Gallen (1)
22
Ticino (1)
23
Carnevale Nebiopoli — Associazione Nebiopoli →Chiasso · checked on 6 October 2026
Vaud (1)
24
Valais (1)
25
Carnaval de Monthey — Carnaval de Monthey →Monthey · checked on 6 October 2026
Context & tradition
26
Fasnachts-Comité Basel — calendar →Basel carnival dates up to 2030, Morgestraich at 4 am, Bummelsonntag outings.
27
Lozärner Fasnachtskomitee — dates up to 2060 →Dirty Thursday and Güdismontag up to 2060 — the cross-check for the Easter rule.
28
Verein Bärner Fasnacht — dates →Bern carnival up to 2038, always Thursday to Saturday after Ash Wednesday.
29
Ville de Genève — La Fête de l'Escalade →Calvin's city does not celebrate the Catholic carnival; the Escalade as a «sorte de carnaval genevois».

All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch

💡Did you know?

Swiss carnival 2027 lasts 40 days: Chiasso is done before Lucerne starts — and Moudon is still celebrating until 28 February 2027.

Source: ConvivaPlus Carnival Calendar 2027
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🎭 Traditions · 7 October 2026