31 Oct to 2 Nov 2026
Book your room by spring and plan for the nights of 31 October and 1 November, when families keep candlelit vigils at the village cemeteries until morning. Ask before you photograph anyone.
31 Oct to 2 Nov 2026. Times are approximate and can change from year to year.
Altars and monumental sculptures go up along the centre's pedestrian streets, and the markets fill.
The city's Día de Muertos verbena in the historic centre, in recent years on this date.
Street parades in the city; vigils begin at Xoxocotlán and Atzompa.
The longest night at the cemeteries, and the Etla muerteada from about ten.
Processions to the cemetery at Teotitlán del Valle.
In Oaxaca the dead are expected home, and the whole valley gets ready for them. Altars go up in houses, shops and churches, the markets are heaped with marigolds and bread, and comparsas, costumed street bands, parade through the centre after dark.
What makes it different is the cemeteries. In the villages around the city, families spend the night at the graves with candles, flowers and food, and outsiders who come quietly are let in to walk among them.
Families decorate the tombs with marigold petals, candles and food, and sit with them from early evening until dawn. Visitors are welcome to walk through, quietly. Ask before taking any close-up picture, and never use flash. In Xoxocotlán the large new cemetery, Mictlancíhuatl, is the one to spend time in, and the old one nearby is smaller and calmer. Santa María Atzompa is quieter still, with fewer visitors. In the days before, the markets fill with marigolds, pan de muerto, candles and copal, and comparsas parade through the centre in costume after dark.
Book by April or May for the best rooms; the centre sells out first. Stay within walking distance of the Zócalo so the parades are on your doorstep, and use taxis for the cemeteries.
Where to base yourself, and what else is on
The Oaxaca City guide has the rest of the valley.
Sixteen days of beer tents and brass bands on a Munich meadow. Get there on a weekday morning and a bench is yours without a booking.
Lima's purple month: a float carried through the old centre from dawn into the night on five days in October.