The Pokémon GO Road to Kalos event has officially launched today, February 23, 2026, kicking off a week-long celebration leading up to the highly anticipated Kalos Tour. Niantic has pulled out all the stops, introducing a daily rotation of regional bonuses that begins right now with the Kanto region. With the Pokémon GO Remote Raid limit 30 increase active and rare costume Pokémon making their debut, Trainers have a short window to capitalize on these bonuses before the focus shifts to Johto tomorrow.

1. Maximize the 30 Remote Raid Pass Limit

One of the most significant changes for this event is the temporary expansion of the Remote Raid Pass cap. From today through Friday, February 27, the daily limit has been tripled to 30 passes per day. This is a massive opportunity for rural players and shiny hunters alike to grind Legendary Raids without leaving home.

For Day 1 (Kanto Day), the five-star raids feature the legendary birds: Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. While these Pokémon have been in rotation before, today offers a unique incentive: the chance to catch them with Special Backgrounds themed after Team Mystic, Team Instinct, and Team Valor. Prioritize using your expanded raid limit to hunt for these background variants, as they are likely to become rare collector's items. Remember, the limit resets daily, so if you don't use your 30 passes on the Kanto birds today, you cannot roll them over to the Johto beasts tomorrow.

2. Hunt for Shiny Red Hat & Leaf Hat Pikachu

Collectors should drop everything and focus on the wild spawns today. The Road to Kalos Kanto tips heavily favor hunting the new costumed Pikachu variants. Today specifically features the debut of Pikachu wearing Red's hat and Pikachu wearing Leaf's hat, celebrating the original protagonists of the Kanto games.

These aren't just standard costume spawns. Reports confirm that these specific Pikachu can also be caught with the new Team-themed Special Backgrounds, but only during the Kanto rotation. Use your Incense and Lure Modules to maximize spawns, as these specific hat variants will vanish from the wild once the event rotates to Johto at midnight. If you encounter a Shiny Red Hat Pikachu 2026, you’ve arguably secured one of the rarest trophies of the year.

3. Exploit the 1/2 Egg Hatch Distance Bonus

While raids and wild spawns are flashy, don't sleep on the egg bonuses. The event features a global 1/2 Egg Hatch Distance bonus for eggs placed in incubators during the event hours. This is the perfect time to clear out your old egg inventory to make room for the event-exclusive 2km eggs.

During the Road to Kalos, 2km eggs have been updated to contain highly valuable pseudo-Legendary pre-evolutions like Larvitar, Bagon, Beldum, and Deino. With the half-distance bonus, you can hatch a 2km egg in just 1km. We recommend running your infinite incubator constantly to farm these candies and high-IV specimens, saving your Super Incubators for any lingering 10km or 12km eggs you need to clear. This is one of the most efficient ways to farm XL Candy for top-tier raid attackers like Metagross and Salamence.

4. Master the Kanto Wild Rotation

The wild spawns today are strictly Kanto-themed. Beyond Pikachu, you should focus your capture efforts on Pokémon that have future Mega Evolutions or high PvP relevance. Key targets include:

  • Gastly: Farm for Mega Gengar energy and XL candy.
  • Machop: Essential for building a team of Shadow Machamps (if you have Frustration removed) or standard Machamps for raids.
  • Magikarp: With Gyarados always being relevant in Master League and PvE, catching every floppy fish you see is crucial for the 400-candy evolution cost.
  • Eevee: Stockpile candies for its many evolutions, specifically Sylveon (Kalos native) once the tour fully begins.

Keep an eye out for "Road to Kalos" Timed Research tasks that refresh daily. Today's tasks will require you to catch these specific Kanto species, rewarding you with items and encounters that will help you prep for the weekend's global tour.

5. Prepare Your Item Bag for Tomorrow

The "Road to..." events are marathons, not sprints. While it's tempting to go all-out on Pokémon GO February 2026 events immediately, resource management is key. The event rotates to the Johto region tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb 24), which will bring Raikou, Entei, and Suicune back to raids.

Before you finish your session today, ensure you have:

  • Restocked Pinap Berries: You'll need them for the Johto starters (Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile) tomorrow.
  • Cleared Pokémon Storage: Transfer low-IV catches from today to make room for tomorrow's rotation.
  • Saved Gym Coins: If you aren't desperate for the Kanto birds, save some of your budget for the Hoenn (Wednesday) or Sinnoh (Thursday) rotations, which feature meta-heavyweights like Rayquaza and Dialga/Palkia.

By following these Pokémon GO Kalos Tour preparation tips, you'll maximize your gains on Day 1 without burning out before the main event this weekend.