5.5 miles of roses and waves: Here’s the 2026 Rose Parade route, and some rosey parade rules to go with it

Call it the route for the roses, where year after year, mile after mile, Colorado Boulevard transforms from a commercial thoroughfare into some surreal floral spectacle.

Jan. 1, 2026, will be yet another of those years, another one of those transformations as thousands gather to see the beloved Rose Parade first-hand.

It’s still 5.5 miles beginning to end. Still, there’s a certain freshness to it every year, with new crowds, new grand marshals, Rose royal courts, and new floats converging on Colorado Boulevard every year.

This Jan. 1, that’ll happen once again, starting at 8 a.m.

Get your notebook out. Here’s the plan.

The Rose Parade route begins at the corner of Green Street and Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena.

It travels north for short stretch on Orange Grove at a 2 1/2-miles-per-hour pace and then, in what’s called “The Turn,” turns east onto Colorado where the bulk of the parade viewing takes place moving east on Colorado passing all your favorite businesses – and certain landmark museum – in Old Town.

Near the end of the route, the parade turns north onto Sierra Madre Boulevard and concludes at Villa Street.

Be advised: Officials note that Colorado Boulevard will close early for parade staging. Colorado will close beginning at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31, and will remain closed through the clean-up following the parade – until 2 p.m. Jan. 1.

This closure impacts Colorado Boulevard, from Orange Grove Boulevard to Sierra Madre Boulevard, and Sierra Madre Boulevard, north to Paloma Street.

The closer of the route means that residents and merchants hosting watch parties or receiving deliveries during the closure should let their guests or vendors know to arrive before 10 p.m. Otherwise they’ll be caught up in the crowd. Access will be restricted, and guests and vendors may need to park in nearby areas with unrestricted parking.

You can camp curbside along the parade route starting at noon on the day before the parade, Dec. 31. At 11 p.m. the night before, you can move up to the “blue honor line,” but not past it. In other words, all persons and property, such as blankets, chairs and personal items, must remain on the curb until 11 p.m.

Remember, something new the last three years, before the parade, is the New Year’s Lululemon 5K, which happens on a stretch of Colorado Boulevard in Old Town. The race begins at midnight to ring in the new year.

The route will be transformed back into a regular street for vehicle traffic by 2 p.m. Jan. 1.

And life will go back to four-wheeled vehicles not adorned with roses and people waving as they go by.