6 of Mexico's best festivals
Day of the Dead may be Mexico's most famous festival, but it's just one of 5,000 that take place in the country each year. These celebrations blend the culture of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica with rituals brought by their Catholic colonisers: some are devoted to God, others to the devil; some celebrate life, others death. Processions form to mark everything from saints to particular professions, and no event is too small — even a girl's quinceañera, or 15th birthday party, might turn a town on its head. Here's our pick of the festivals worth travelling for.
For weeks leading up to Day of the Dead, traditionally celebrated on 1 and 2 November, the walls of Oaxaca are flushed bright orange with freshly cut marigolds — fixed to doors, hung in garlands or, in some cases, cloaking entire buildings. According to legend, the flowers act as guides to souls revisiting the land of the living, where they're greeted by raucous street parties, decorated ofrenda (altars), painted faces and skeletal puppet parades. Join in by adding a picture of a lost loved one to a communal ofrenda and, typically, a sweet treat or drink they can enjoy on their journey home. Half an hour south of the state capital, you'll find the candlelit cemeteries of Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán — one of several surrounding settlements that hosts its own festivities.
Celebrations of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint — as she appeared to Juan Diego, the first Indigenous person of the Americas to be canonised — begin on 12 December. Across the country, crowds carry flower-wrapped representations of the Holy Virgin and worshippers don colourful headdresses to perform the Dance of the Matachines in her honour, with live music and fireworks to follow. Morelia, the capital of the central state of Michoacán, has the most fervent festivities — each year, around 150,000 pilgrims take part in a procession towards the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, its interior gleaming with gold.
Guelaguetza (meaning 'offering') is a 3,000-year-old festival that traditionally honoured the Zapotec goddess of agriculture but now serves as a celebration of the state's dazzlingly diverse Indigenous culture. Oaxaca's 16 Indigenous groups are represented, with dancers, musicians and costumed carousers from each group travelling to the state capital for the last two Mondays of July. Their processions mainly take place in an open-air amphitheatre built into the Cerro del Fortín hilltop, for which tickets are required — but the festive spirit tends to spill over into city streets.
This annual festival, held in January, is inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List and is the chief claim to fame of this Chiapas highlands town. Honouring three Catholic saints (Saint Anthony Abbot, Our Lord of Esquipulas and Saint Sebastian), it sees parachico dancers wearing painted masks spinning amid crowds donned in folkloric costumes. Participants wear designs specific to their place of origin, with men parading in neon-woven serapes (traditional shawls) and women in meticulously embroidered pluming skirts. Soundtracked by beating drums and children's chattering maracas, the procession makes its way towards the grand doors of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo de Guzmán for a dedicated mass.
This Pacific Coast city's multi-day Carnaval celebrations, held in the lead-up to Lent, has the same roots as its famous counterparts in Brazil and the Caribbean — but today, Mazatlán's iteration is mostly an excuse for a city-wide party. Neon lights shine from the sides of grand parade floats and dancers wearing bedazzled bikinis and feathered headdresses twirl to pounding tunes late into the night. The daytime procession tends to be calmer and more family-friendly, with fairground rides and the coronation of the Carnaval King and Queen.
Among the few festivals tagged neither to pre-Hispanic ritual nor the Catholic calendar, this celebration of Spanish-language arts takes place in the central Mexican city of Guanajuato each autumn. Named after the Spaniard Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, its packed programme of live events includes performances of traditional Mexican folkloric ballet in the central hub Plaza de la Paz, music in repurposed baroque churches and pop-up nightclubs in subterranean catacombs.
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Los Angeles Times
14 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
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New York Times
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National Geographic
21 hours ago
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This article was adapted from National Geographic Traveller (UK). Is there a better month to feel a surge of travel spirit than September? As the summer holiday crush eases, Europe gets back to business and harvest time brings a bevy of the continent's stellar produce to restaurant tables, from young wines to olives, Greek figs, British apples, Spanish almonds and so much more. The change of season signals new beginnings and new adventures — perhaps a trip where you can try something to improve your skills or a hobby, or just to indulge some creative curiosity. From mindfulness courses to cookery classes, more purposeful travel can resume once the summer beach season is over. Further afield, there are some stellar wildlife spectacles to see, from the big game that gather around dry-season watering holes in Africa to turtle spotting in Costa Rica, or watching humpback whales, blue whales and pods of orcas patrolling for sea lions along California's coast. 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Responsible travel tip: It's easy to get to Munich by train. The simplest route takes just over nine hours from London, with a change in Paris. More info. Oktoberfest is one of the world's largest festivals, with over six million revellers joining the festivities every year. Photograph by Nikada, Getty Images 2. Sicily Italy's southernmost island sheds beach holiday crowds opening up for those looking for some late-season sun coupled with buzzy city breaks. The capital, Palermo, reanimates as residents return from coastal resorts, and some of the island's best harvest fare starts making its way onto restaurant tables, including fresh figs, pistachios, almonds and mushrooms. September's temperatures make a Mount Etna hike more feasible, while tickets for ferries to the volcanic Aeolian Islands become more readily available. It's also a great time to explore the island's little-known hilly backcountry. Responsible travel tip: In recent years, the medieval hilltop villages of Sicily's interior have been abandoned by youngsters seeking work on the coast and mainland. You can support these struggling rural economies and see some spectacular countryside while hiking the Via Magna Francigena. This long-distance route weaves across the middle of the island from the Tyrrhenian Sea at Palermo to the Mediterranean city of Agrigento, with a growing network of locally run hotels, hostels and homestays en route. (How chocolate went from rough to refined in one Sicilian town.) 3. Cornwall, UK September is a fine time to visit Cornwall, when sea temperatures are at their warmest, honeypot towns such as St Ives and Padstow are freed from log-jam traffic and summer crowds, and beaches are also far less busy. For two weeks every September, St Ives celebrates the arts with a festival of film screenings, art exhibitions, comedy and concerts — from folk to rock, classic to choral — as well as talks and guided walks in and around town, taking in everything from local history to megalithic tombs and Virginia Woolf's Talland House. September is also the time of Heritage Open Days (12-21 September), when landmark buildings across the country that are usually closed to the public throw open their doors for tours. There are some notable addresses in Cornwall. Responsible travel tip: Ditch the car and explore by bike. Cornwall has a growing number of coastal and rural cycle trails linking its many Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The West Kernow Way is a 143-mile looped route starting in Penzance and taking in such landmark spots as Land's End, St Michaels Mount and Lizard Point. (Where to eat the best fish and chips in Cornwall.) The dramatic coastline at St Ives, Cornwall. Photograph by James Ms, Getty Images 4. Namibia Dry season in Namibia (June to October) is a good time to spot the desert-dwelling elephants of the country's northern Damaraland, which are otherwise somewhat invisible against the vastness of purple-red inselberg hills. But as the pachyderms gather at diminishing river systems and springs, sightings are more frequent. As temperatures rise, other animals are also found congregating around drying waterholes, including giraffes, rhinos, hyenas and sometimes leopards. Thanks to warm and sunny days — when cobalt blue skies contrast with orange sand dunes — and nights that are clear, star-studded but not too chilly, travellers will also appreciate Namibia's dry season. Responsible travel tip: Take a silent safari and ditch the game-drive vehicle in favour of e-bike tours available at select lodges. Or head to Grootberg, the first lodge in Namibia to be entirely owned and run by the local community. It's a pioneer in Namibia's progressive approach to conservation. And always look up; the night sky here is among the least light-polluted in the world. (See southern Namibia in a new light—on a lake cruise.) Dry season in autumn is perfect for spotting springbok antelopes in Etosha National Park, Namibia, among other animals. Photograph by EcoPic, Getty Images 5. Slovenia It's last call for hiking in the Alps, where the walking season winds down in autumn as weather reduces mountain access. September is a spectacular month to be at altitude, being still warm, dry and sunny, while the trees form a fiery seasonal display. Slovenia's Julian Alps, at the mountain range's easterly end, are defined by jagged limestone peaks offering an ever-expanding range of waymarked hiking routes. At the heart of the mountains, 9,400ft-high Mount Triglav is Slovenia's loftiest peak, towering above the beautifully glacial lakes of Bohinj and Bled. The Juliana Hiking Trail is a recently mapped network of pathways across 168 miles of northwest Slovenia, taking in Triglav National Park and traversing some of the country's most spectacular Alpine terrain in 16 10-mile sections. Responsible travel tip: To find the most eco-minded hosts and campsites, consult Slovenian Tourism's Green Scheme listings. (The step-by-step guide to the Juliana trail in Slovenia.) To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
