Where to go for Día de Muertos

The city cemetery at its fullest on 1 and 2 November, with families eating and singing at candlelit graves.

The museum beside Santo Domingo anchors the altar exhibitions and explains the Zapotec roots of the festival.

The smoke-filled market hall where Oaxaca buys pan de muerto, mole negro and everything an ofrenda needs.

A landmark Centro restaurant for a proper mole negro dinner between comparsas and cemetery nights.

Patzcuaro's basilica is lit and decorated through Muertos and anchors the town's altar trail.

The artisan convent complex in the centre, full of Muertos figures and lake crafts in festival week.

The five round Purepecha pyramids above the lake explain who built the tradition Tzintzuntzan still keeps.

The main dock for boats to Janitzio, where the crossings leave through the night of 1 November; watch the butterfly net fishermen on the lake by day.

The vast Morelos statue crowning the island, with the climb and the view that orients the whole lake.

The small hillside cemetery where island families keep the candlelit vigil on the night of 1 November.

The island dock where the lantern-lit crossings arrive and where the long return queue forms after midnight.

The village church whose working churchyard cemetery hosts La Alumbrada on the night of 2 November.

The crowded churchyard graves fill with thousands of candles as families sit with their dead until late.

The street fair around the church serves pozole, tamales and pan de muerto late on 1 and 2 November.

The folk art museum that runs the monumental alebrije parade and holds a fine Muertos collection.

The main square hosts the Ofrenda Monumental from 29 October to 2 November and the parade's end point.

Reopened in 2026, the Xochimilco museum long famous for the city's most elaborate museum ofrenda.

The Centro gourmet market is the adventurous eat of Muertos week, minutes from the Alameda.

The sixteenth-century Franciscan ex-convent at the town's heart is the right first stop before the houses open.

The parish church whose bells toll at 14:00 on 1 November to mark the arrival of the souls.

On 2 November families move to the cemetery to decorate graves in the town's quiet closing rite.

The great cemetery families ready for Hanal Pixan, and the starting point of the Paseo de las Animas.

The main square hosts the Grand Altar and the centre of the Festival de las Animas programme.

The market sells everything a Hanal Pixan altar needs, including mucbipollo in season.

The square whose restaurant row is the reliable dinner base through the festival nights.

The cemetery of ossuary niches where families clean and dress their relatives' bones each Hanal Pixan.

One of the bakeries that make Pomuch famous across Campeche, busiest on festival mornings.

The town market is the place for mucbipollo and fonda cooking in Hanal Pixan season.

Posada's prints and plates, including La Calavera Garbancera that became the Catrina, in the Encino neighbourhood.

Mexican art and ritual about death from pre-Hispanic times to today, at its best in festival week.

The garden square at the heart of the Centro festival crowds, by the San Marcos church and fairground.

The fairground island that hosts much of the Festival de Calaveras programme of stalls and concerts.

The pink parish church on the Jardin, the backdrop and meeting point of the Catrinas parade.

The leafy park that hosts much of the La Calaca Festival programme of art and performance.

The town market is the traditional, good-value lunch counterpoint to the festival's rooftop scene.