Mexico: Day of the Dead in Mexico City and Oaxaca

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Mexico City

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

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Mexico City
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Mexico City International Airport (MEX), where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall with your name and your tracked flight time, so nobody waits at the kerb. The drive to our central hotel takes 30 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic. Plan to land by about 3 pm. In the last week of October the city is already dressing for its dead: marigold garlands on shop fronts, papel picado strung across streets and pan de muerto in the bakery windows. Mexico City sits at about 2,240 m, so take the afternoon slowly. 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

   Temps libre : Free until the 5 pm walk

   Activité : Mexico City is at about 2,240 m: drink water and go easy on alcohol the first evening.

   

2. Jour 2 : Marigolds at Jamaica, ofrendas in the Centro

   Mercado de Jamaica, then the Centro Histórico on foot

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Mexico City
   Détail du jour 2

   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. Lunch is at a traditional fonda near the square. 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

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 5 km on foot, much of it in crowded market aisles and on stone paving.

   

3. Jour 3 : Xochimilco, a Tláhuac ofrenda and Mixquic

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

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

   We drive south about an hour to Xochimilco and board a trajinera at a quieter landing near Cuemanco, away from the party boats. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Skip Mixquic and ride back to the hotel after the Tláhuac visit; your guide arranges the car.

   Activité : A long day, about 8:30 am to 9 pm, with about 3 hours in the vehicle in city traffic, broken into four legs of under an hour each. If traffic or a parade on day 2 runs late, we shorten the Mixquic stop first, then the Tláhuac visit; the Xochimilco lunch stays.

4. Jour 4 : Fly to Oaxaca, into the markets

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

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Oaxaca
   Détail du jour 4

   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. 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. 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

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free

   Activité : We leave the hotel about 7:30 am for a mid-morning flight; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary.

   

5. Jour 5 : Cooking for the ofrenda, comparsas at night

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

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Oaxaca
   Détail du jour 5

   A slow start, then a cooking class in Oaxaca. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Watch the comparsa for an hour and take a taxi back to the hotel, which the guide arranges, or skip the evening altogether.

   Option plus active : Join the guide for the late vigil at the Xoxocotlán cemeteries, back at the hotel after midnight.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : Comparsas move on foot through narrow, crowded streets with loud bands; keep valuables to a minimum.

6. Jour 6 : A village cemetery night with a local host

   Oaxaca to a village in the Tlacolula valley and back

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Oaxaca
   Détail du jour 6

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

   Option plus facile : Return to Oaxaca after dinner, before the cemetery; a second car takes early leavers back.

   Temps libre : Morning and early afternoon free

   Activité : Cemetery paths are uneven and dark: wear closed shoes, bring a warm layer and a small torch.

7. Jour 7 : The Panteón General and home

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

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 7

   On 2 November, the day for the adult dead, families across Oaxaca spend time at their graves. 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)

   Option plus facile : Stay at the hotel for the morning and go straight to the airport.

   Activité : Book a flight leaving Oaxaca after about 1 pm to join the cemetery walk.

Faune et météo : Late October is the start of the dry season in central Mexico: mostly clear, mild days, cool nights at altitude and a small chance of a late-season shower. The cemetery nights get cold, so bring a warm layer.

• Mexico City3 nuits
• Oaxaca3 nuits