Day of the Dead in Oaxaca 2023

One of my long held ambitions was to spend Day of the Dead in Mexico - specifically in Oaxaca, where I'd pored over the gorgeous pics of the festivities in the past. One of the main reasons we chose Mexico as a destination was because our Day of the Dead fell in to our travel dates (and once I'd realised that there was really no going back!).

For years I've been fascinated by the whole concept of Day of the Dead (or Dia de los Muertos to give it it's proper name) - the idea that families come together to remember their loved ones and their ancestors and to celebrate their lives and their love for them has always seemed (to me anyway) to be a really interesting approach to death and remembrance.

Getting to Oaxaca

I looked at various different ways of getting to Oaxaca from Mexico City and after ruling out flying (too expensive) and driving (slightly terrifying) we ended up booking an ADO bus. We went for the pretty luxurious Platino service on the way there - the seats reclined and leg rests came up to form a pretty comfy spot to chill out, plus the fare included botted water and entertainment (albeit it dubbed in Spanish on the little screens). It took about 6hours 45mins in total but it flew past to be honest as it was such a comfortable journey. On the way back we booked the cheaper standard bus but it was still a pretty good experience (and saved us some cash!).

Oaxaca

Oaxaca itself is a decent sized city in the South West of Mexico, down towards the Pacific side. We stayed in the old town part (to be close to the action) in a family room in Paulina Youth Hostel. This was pretty budget friendly (we paid £58.50 a night for the four of us), with a decent sized room and a massive bathroom. Our room was though on the corner of two streets, and the windows faced right out on the street so it did get a bit loud at times. This was the one place I booked right back in January (as soon as we'd booked the flights to Mexico) as Oaxaca is insanely popular for Day of the Dead and gets booked up really early. 

I loved Oaxaca as soon as we arrived - the streets were very busy in the old town but there were Day of the Dead decorations and music everywhere and clearly a party vibe going on (this was on Sunday 29 October so a couple of days before the Day of the Dead itself). We wandered down to the main square and were almost immediately caught up in a huge parade full of elaborate costumes, brass bands, huge puppets and endless fireworks. 

It was a huge assault on the senses and immediately sucked us in to the festival! We found out later that we had accidentally stumbled on the biggest parade in Oaxaca over the Day of the Dead festivities - there's lots of parades going on during the week but this one had the biggest set-up with constructed stands around the square and generally lots more organisation. All the parades had amazing costumes (ranging from ones that looked much more Halloween/horror based to the more traditional sugar skulls).

We spent our four days in Oaxaca just wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere. The old town was full of stalls selling all kinds of handicrafts, there were art markets set up in little plazas, face painters everywhere, candyfloss sellers, people dressed in amazing costumes - and every so often a brass band would pitch up out of nowhere and start a mini-party (often with flares going up and shaving foam being sprayed around). The word that kept popping in to my head throughout our stay was 'intoxicating' - and it really was. The streets were packed and it was hard to get anywhere quickly in the crowds, but the atmosphere was amazing.

On the 31st October (All Saints Eve) we visited one of the bigger cemeteries in Oaxaca - this is the night when the spirits of children are believed to return. Because we had the boys with us we didn't want to go too late in the evening but we did take a quiet wander through and saw the tombs decorated with lights and marigold petals and families sharing food and drinks. 

The other amazing sight all over Oaxaca were the ofrendas - the altars that are decorated by families with pictures of their loved ones, their favourite foods and drinks and marigold petals (which are believed to help guide the spirits home). There were huge ofrendas in the main square, but also smaller ones in homes, supermarkets, restaurants - they really were everywhere and it was fascinating to see. The smell of marigolds was also EVERYWHERE we went that week, and I feel like I'll never be able to see or smell marigolds again without being transported back to Oaxaca!