Mexico: Day of the Dead in Mexico City and Oaxaca

Arrive in Mexico City

Mexico City International Airport to your hotel, then a short walk to the Palacio de Bellas Artes

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Mexico City
• Environ 45 min de route

Après-midi

Mexico City sits at about 2,240 m, so take the afternoon slowly.

Soir

At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short walk along pedestrian Madero street to the white marble Palacio de Bellas Artes and the Alameda, then a briefing on the week: how the festival unfolds day by day, what to wear at night, and how we behave as guests at altars and in cemeteries. Dinner together follows at a local restaurant.

Compris

• Pick-up at Mexico City International Airport (MEX)
• Evening walk to the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the Alameda with your guide
• Briefing on the festival and on conduct at altars and cemeteries
• Welcome dinner

Marigolds at Jamaica, ofrendas in the Centro

Mercado de Jamaica, then the Centro Histórico on foot

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Mexico City
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

We leave the hotel at 7:30 am for the Mercado de Jamaica, the city's great flower market, before the morning rush. In the days before 1 November its aisles are banked with orange cempasúchil marigolds and purple cockscomb, the flowers families carry home for their altars, and your guide explains what goes on an ofrenda and why: water for the thirst of the journey, salt, candles to light the way, a photograph of the person remembered and the food they liked. From there it is a short drive to the Centro Histórico. On foot we cross the Zócalo, where in most years the city sets up large Day of the Dead installations, see the Metropolitan Cathedral and visit the Templo Mayor, the excavated great temple of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.

Après-midi

Lunch is at a traditional fonda near the square.

Soir

The afternoon and evening are free: Coyoacán and the Roma and Condesa neighbourhoods fill with altars this week. If the city's Day of the Dead parade falls today, we plan the afternoon around it.

Compris

• The Mercado de Jamaica flower market with your guide
• The Zócalo and the Metropolitan Cathedral
• The Templo Mayor (entry included)
• Lunch at a fonda in the Centro Histórico
• The Mexico City Day of the Dead parade, if it falls today

Activités en option

• The Frida Kahlo Museum (Casa Azul) in Coyoacán, timed tickets booked ahead and priced at booking

Xochimilco, a Tláhuac ofrenda and Mixquic

Mexico City to Xochimilco, San Pedro Tláhuac and San Andrés Mixquic, and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Mexico City
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

A boatman poles us along the canals to a working chinampa, one of the raised fields built on the old lake bed that farmers still plant, and we have lunch among the beds of vegetables and flowers. In the afternoon we continue to San Pedro Tláhuac, where a host family invites us in to help finish their ofrenda: arranging marigolds, candles, bread and fruit, and hearing about the relatives it honours.

Soir

At dusk we go on to San Andrés Mixquic, a town known across Mexico for its Day of the Dead, before the crowds arrive. Its cemetery wraps around the church of San Andrés, and this week families are cleaning and dressing the graves while stalls sell sugar skulls and bread. The biggest candle-lit nights come on 1 and 2 November, after we leave; tonight is a quieter visit, not the festival peak, which makes it easier to talk with people. We are back at the hotel by about 9 pm.

Compris

• Trajinera on the Xochimilco canals to a working chinampa
• Lunch at the chinampa
• An afternoon with a host family at their ofrenda in San Pedro Tláhuac
• San Andrés Mixquic and its cemetery at dusk with your guide

Fly to Oaxaca, into the markets

Mexico City to Oaxaca by air, then the markets of central Oaxaca

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Oaxaca
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

After breakfast, about 7:30 am, we leave the hotel for the airport for the flight to Oaxaca, about an hour and a quarter in the air. By road it is about 460 km and six hours or more, so the flight gives you back most of a day; it is included, with a checked bag. Oaxaca sits lower, at about 1,550 m, and feels warmer.

Après-midi

We drop bags at our central hotel and walk to the Mercado 20 de Noviembre for lunch in the Pasillo de Humo, the smoky grill aisle, where you choose your meat and eat it at long tables with tortillas and salsa. Next door, the Benito Juárez market and the streets around it turn into a market for the dead at this time of year: marigolds and cockscomb by the armful, pan de muerto stamped with little faces, slabs of chocolate, sugar skulls, candles and papel picado. Your guide shows how a Oaxacan altar differs from the ones you saw in Mexico City.

Soir

The late afternoon and evening are free; the Zócalo and the Andador Macedonio Alcalá are a short walk away.

Compris

• Flight from Mexico City (MEX) to Oaxaca (OAX), with a checked bag
• Transfers to and from both airports
• Lunch in the Pasillo de Humo at the Mercado 20 de Noviembre
• The Benito Juárez market and the market for the dead with your guide

Cooking for the ofrenda, comparsas at night

Oaxaca: a market and cooking class, then a barrio comparsa

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Oaxaca
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

We shop with the cook at a local market and prepare the dishes families place on the ofrenda: a mole, tamales wrapped in leaves, and hot chocolate whisked by hand, then sit down to eat them for lunch. The afternoon is free to rest, which we recommend, because the next two evenings run late.

Soir

Around dusk the city's comparsas come out: costumed groups dressed as devils, skeletons and characters from village stories, dancing behind brass bands through the neighbourhoods. Your guide takes the group to one of the barrio comparsas and keeps everyone together in the crowd. The night of 31 October is also the great vigil at the old and new cemeteries of Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, south of the centre, which fill with candles, flowers and thousands of visitors. It is very crowded, so it is an option, not the plan: those who want to go travel there with the guide in our vehicle, and anyone can head back to the hotel at any point.

Compris

• Market shopping and a cooking class: mole, tamales and hot chocolate
• Lunch at the cooking class
• A barrio comparsa with your guide in the evening

A village cemetery night with a local host

Oaxaca to a village in the Tlacolula valley and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Oaxaca
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

The morning is free: walk to the church of Santo Domingo, sit in the Zócalo or sleep in after the comparsas.

Soir

In the mid-afternoon we drive about an hour east into the Tlacolula valley to a Zapotec village, where our local host has arranged for us to spend the evening with a family. We are their guests, not an audience. We help light candles at the family ofrenda, share a meal of the dishes cooked for the dead, often a mole with tamales, chocolate and bread, and hear who is being remembered. As night falls we walk with the family to the village cemetery, where graves are dressed with marigolds, candles and the favourite foods of those buried there, and families sit with them into the night, some with music. It is a quiet, personal evening, so we keep together, ask before taking photos and follow our hosts' lead. We leave around 10 pm and are back at the hotel by about 11:30 pm. The village is chosen each year with our host so that its cemetery night falls on 1 November.

Compris

• An evening with a host family in a Zapotec village in the Tlacolula valley
• Dinner at the family's home
• The village cemetery at night with the family and your guide
• Return transfer to Oaxaca

The Panteón General and home

Oaxaca's Panteón General de San Miguel, then Oaxaca International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

After a late breakfast, those who want walk with the guide to the Panteón General de San Miguel, the city's old main cemetery, whose walls are lined with arched burial niches. Today its paths are full of families cleaning and decorating graves, with flower sellers at the gate and, in most years, music during the day. We stay about an hour, quietly, then walk back for checkout. Transfers to Oaxaca International Airport (OAX), about 10 km south of the centre, run from late morning; book a flight leaving after about 1 pm to join the cemetery walk, or take an earlier transfer if you need to. Oaxaca has limited international routes, so most travellers connect through Mexico City, so leave at least two hours for the connection. If you have more time, ask us about extra nights in Oaxaca, or about Monte Albán and the valley villages from our Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca trip.

Compris

• Morning walk to the Panteón General de San Miguel with your guide
• Drop-off at Oaxaca International Airport (OAX)