Beija-Flor is the Rio Carnival samba school based in Nilópolis, a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The school’s full name, Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Beija-Flor de Nilópolis, identifies its home municipality. Although the championship parades take place in Rio’s Sambadrome, Rio Carnival schools can represent communities outside the city proper.
Beija-Flor is one of the most successful schools in the modern Special Group era. It is especially associated with elaborate visual presentation, strong thematic storytelling and the long influence of the Beija-Flor community in Nilópolis.
Nilópolis is in the Baixada Fluminense region. That geographic detail matters because the school is often casually described as a Rio school, even though its registered community base is in another municipality in the metropolitan area.