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-mile