Niantic has announced a new round of City Safari events for Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. local time. Six cities are hosting this round: Boston (USA), Brisbane (Australia), Lisbon (Portugal), Marseille (France), Munich (Germany), and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). If you don’t live near one of them, this one mostly isn’t for you — City Safari is a ticketed, location-based format, not a global event — but if you do, here’s what’s actually on offer.
What is City Safari?
City Safari is Niantic’s recurring format for smaller, single-day-per-location events that rotate through cities that don’t usually get a full GO Fest or Community Celebration. Each city gets the same event content — the same featured Pokémon, the same Special Research, and the same bonuses — just on local dates and at local venues. It’s effectively a way to bring in-person, ticketed content to a wider spread of cities without the scale (or cost) of a flagship event.
The exclusive Pokémon: Mudbray, again
Mudbray is the featured exclusive for this round, continuing a trend from 2025 where Mudbray anchored City Safari’s roster without getting a full global release. 2023’s City Safari cycle featured Skiddo in the same role, and Skiddo was later released worldwide during a subsequent GO Fest — so there’s a reasonable chance Mudbray eventually gets the same treatment, though Niantic hasn’t confirmed anything for 2026 or beyond. For now, City Safari (and its shiny form) remains the only way to add Mudbray to your Pokédex.
Eevee Explorers Expedition
Ticket holders will work through Special Research alongside Professor Willow, and the event opens with an encounter with Eevee wearing an explorer hat. From there, the Explorer Hat carries over through evolution — evolving an Explorer Hat Eevee into any of its eight Eeveelutions (Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon, or Sylveon) keeps the hat on the finished evolution, with each evolution requiring the standard 50 Candy (plus, in some cases, the usual special requirements like buddy walking distance or time-of-day conditions). A separate footnote from Niantic notes that a second Explorer Hat Eevee can also be produced by spending 25 Eevee Candy on an existing Explorer Hat Eevee, so trainers chasing a full hatted set have more than one path to get there.
City Safari Stamp Rally replaces Timed Research
This round uses the newer GO Stamp Rally format instead of a traditional Timed Research list. Approaching a participating PokéStop shows a stamp icon on the map; spinning it triggers a stamp sheet where you press and hold to apply a stamp (the ink density scales with how long you hold, and stamps can’t be redone once placed). Trainers can collect up to eight stamps per day during event hours, and each stamp awards an Eevee Explorer Hat encounter — with a chance at a shiny each time. Progress is tracked in the in-game Scrapbook, and the full rally can only be completed once per day.
How to actually get a ticket
City Safari tickets go on sale through the in-game shop ahead of each date, tied to the specific city you’re attending — a Boston ticket won’t get you into the Munich event and vice versa. Niantic typically opens ticket sales several weeks before the event and caps quantities per location, so if you’re planning to attend, don’t wait until the week of to buy in. Keep an eye on the official event page for your city once ticket sales go live.
If you’re not near one of the six cities
Unlike GO Fest or a global Ultra Unlock, City Safari doesn’t currently ship with a smaller companion event for players outside the host cities. That may change as Niantic finalizes the announcement, but based on how prior City Safari rounds have run, the safest assumption is that Mudbray and this specific Special Research stay exclusive to ticket holders in Boston, Brisbane, Lisbon, Marseille, Munich, and Rio de Janeiro. If Mudbray matters to your Pokédex completion goals, the realistic paths are attending in person, trading with a friend who did, or waiting to see if a future GO Fest gives it the same global release Skiddo eventually got.
How this fits the rest of the September calendar
City Safari lands three weeks after Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Mega Finale on September 5-6, giving trainers who attended (or missed) the Finale a second reason to keep an eye on their calendar this month. The two events don’t overlap and aren’t connected mechanically, but both are part of the same busy stretch closing out the year’s 10th Anniversary programming. Check our Event Calendar to see exactly how City Safari lines up against everything else on the books for September.
Should completionists prioritize this?
If you’re chasing a complete Pokédex and live within reasonable travel distance of one of the six host cities, yes — Mudbray has stayed exclusive to this format for two years running with no confirmed global release date, and shiny Mudbray specifically has no other current source. If travel isn’t realistic, the honest answer is to wait: Niantic’s own history with Skiddo suggests exclusivity like this isn’t necessarily permanent, just unpredictable in timing. Either way, run any Mudbray you do get your hands on through our IV Calculator to check its IVs, since a City Safari catch is likely to be your only shot at this species for a while.
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