Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations begin next month, and if you plan to go to Oaxaca, you should be making plans before you arrive. Visiting Oaxaca for Day of the Dead is a bucket list experience for people from around the world, and the city can get extremely busy; therefore, it is essential to plan your trip well ahead of time.
Day of the Dead is a cultural event where families honor departed ancestors through altars with their favorite foods and marigolds, decorating graves, and gathering in cemeteries for late-night vigils filled with song and dance. The principal days are the first and second of November, but celebrations begin as early as mid-October and continue into early November each year. There are many activities that you can discover just by being present in the city, such as the vibrant street parades known as comparsas (or muerteadas), or the beautifully decorated panteons (cemeteries), where people celebrate their ancestors wth flower and favourite foods, while sharing stories about the departed.
If you’re planning on being in town for the big week, it is essential to book transport and accommodation in advance. If you want to take one of the various organized tours or attend ticketed events, you will need to book as soon as possible. Many tour operators also provide specialized experiences to help appreciate the diversity and nuance of Oaxaca’s Day of the Dead celebrations.
Here are some of the most popular, and the links to book them today.
Ticketed Events:
Día de los Muertos with Salvadores Mezcal
An immersive experience of art and music with plenty of mezcal!
Salvadores is produced in Tlacolula, Oaxaca at the family-owned Destilario Palacios. To welcome in Day of the Dead this year, they will be launching a limited edition bottle designed by Oaxacan artist Bouler.
During the eventt, Bouler will be painting an interactive mural. Guests will be invited to participate in the painting, as well as see the mural evolve through a virtual reality filter. As guests arrive, there will be an agave oven in process, so that people can experience the process of making mezcal, while tasting a range of different sips from the Salvadores range. The mezcal tasting will be followed by cocktails and dinner accompanied by a performance from Hector Diaz, before a traditional calenda, dancing, and music from DJ Blacktape.
Also includes: Catrina facepainting, Building a Día de Muertos Altar
Where: Salvadores Distillery, Tlacolula, Oaxaca
Cost: 3500 pesos with limited tickets
When: 18 October, pick up from Oaxaca city center at 4 p.m.
25 October: SET Underground “Tierra de los Muertos”
A multi-day festival out by Mitla, Oaxaca, which combines electronic music, visual arts, and cultural experiences to celebrate the spirit of Día de los Muertos. Mitla was known as the “Place of the Dead” because it was a sacred royal burial site and an important religious center for the Zapotec people, who believed the site contained an entrance to the underworld. The name itself, Mitla, comes from the Nahuatl word “Mictlán” or “Mictlan” (meaning “place of the dead”) The festival features live music, dance, theatrical performances, a boutique market, local food, and wellness experiences like sound baths and cacao ceremonies.
The festival aims to celebrate the life, creativity, and spirit of Oaxaca while honoring the tradition of Día de los Muertos. This year’s festival promises to be a feast for the senses, with mesmerizing live music, captivating dance performances and stunning visual art installations.
Headliners: Aera, Ali Farahani, shan nash, Andre VII, Armen Miran, Cabizbajo, Goldcap, Ivory, Konvex, Marques Wyatt, Nandu, Roderic, Theus Mago, Yamagucci, Colossio
Where: Mitla
When: 24 – 26 October
General pass: Early Bird 3500 pesos ends Sep 28
Day of the Dead tours
Where Side Walks End
This award-winning tour provides authentic Catrina makeup workshops, guided visits to the flower-adorned cemeteries, and cemetery visits, providing a deeper understanding of the local customs that make this event so poignant. They also offer a women-only immersive day on November 1st, with a local expert in the history and mysticism surrounding the practices of local women during the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca.
With a range of popular tours, here are some of the major events you won’t want to miss out on:
- Marigold Fields Experience
Walk the fields where families source cempasúchil to guide their loved ones home, learning why the harvest happens before Day of the Dead, as a photographer quietly documents the moments you’ll want to remember. Context and respectful guidance are part of the journey.
- Mask-Making Workshop
Sit with master artisans who craft the masks seen in local parades, hear the stories that shaped each design, then paint your own piece to carry that story forward. It is hands-on learning with gentle mentorship and lots of meaning.
- Cooking Class & Market Experience
Meet vendors in a neighborhood market and learn how food becomes memory during Day of the Dead, then cook dishes like mole, tamales, and chocolate that families prepare to honor their dead. You leave with skills and the context that gives those recipes life.
- Mitla & Pan de Muertos Experience
Stand inside Mitla, the city of the dead, and hear how its patterns speak to the afterlife, then decorate your own pan de muerto at a local bakery as an offering you understand from the inside out. History and empathy to traditions keep the emphasis
- Oaxaca Day of the Dead Event
Share a table for stories, mezcal, and altar building, learning how remembrance is practiced today before a guided walk to a cemetery where we participate with care. It is an evening about meaning first, then presence.
Various events between October 28 and November 2
Cost: US $135-150 per person
Coyote Adventures
Experiences that connect you with local families from indigenous communities, where you can live the ancestral traditions of Oaxaca.
- The Teotitlán del Valle tour takes visitors to communities outside of the glamor of Oaxaca City’s Day of the Dead celebrations. Guests are invited to examine the relationship with death, and deepen their understanding of the impacts of the Spanish conquest on this holiday, how the conquest has molded traditions and rituals, forming a type of syncretism which combines elements of Catholicism with ancient indigenous beliefs. The day begins in the local square and market, then visiting local host families before finally walking to the cemetery to celebrate the ancestors with flowers and candles.
- San Gabriel Etla is a small community with approximately 500 inhabitants situated in the municipality of San Juan Bautista Guelache. Here, local families will share their unique cultural customs and Day of the Day rituals. Guests will get to visit a sacred field of marigold flowers in the community and create a bouquet as the sun sets, before walking to the San Gabriel cemetery.The night will end with an exuberant murteada.
Various Dates available from November 1, but are likely to fill soon
Cost: 3000 pesos
Rambling Spirits
Full disclosure, as well as writing for Mexico News Daily, I facilitate bespoke experiences beyond Oaxaca city, typically with a focus on mezcal. If you and your friends are interested in visiting artisanal mezcal distilleries during a visit for Day of the Dead, we can plan a trip for you. This will include mezcal tasting, Oaxacan lunch, and learning about the traditional components of Day of the Dead, including how an altar is prepared.
This is by far the busiest time of year for tours, but various dates are available.
Cost: From 3000 pesos
Anna Bruce is an award-winning British photojournalist based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Just some of the media outlets she has worked with include Vice, The Financial Times, Time Out, Huffington Post, The Times of London, the BBC and Sony TV. Find out more about her work at her website or visit her on social media on Instagram or on Facebook.
