Puerto Vallarta sets 2026 Día de Muertos events

Puerto Vallarta will host the 2026 Día de Muertos Festival as part of Jalisco’s Festival de las Ánimas. The festival’s complementary events are scheduled from October 28 to November 8, while its primary festivities run from October 31 through November 2.

The first installation is an open-air display of 50 giant Catrinas along the Malecón on Wednesday, October 28. Local artists, neighborhood businesses, and institutions crafted the figures, which will remain on display through November 3. Activities will also take place in the Historic Center, on Cuale Island, and in the Romantic Zone. There, local shop owners, hotel operators, and residents are taking part in Fachadas y balcones que guardan memoria by decorating doorways and balconies with marigold flowers and hand-cut papel picado banners. On October 28 at 7:30 pm, an ancestral ceremony and offering will be held at the La Isla Shopping Mall amphitheater.

On Friday, October 30, a Catrina fashion showcase is scheduled for 7:00 pm at Los Arcos del Malecón, followed there by the Ballet Folclórico Gente Buena of Aguascalientes from 8:00 to 9:00 pm. Live music is scheduled for 7:00 pm at the Plaza de Armas kiosk, and a video mapping show will be projected opposite the Plaza de Armas from 7:30 to 10:30 pm. Multimedia students from the University Center of the Coast (CUCosta) created the projection. An outdoor Mexican horror film will be screened inside the 5 de Diciembre Municipal Cemetery at 7:00 pm.

La Marea de las Ánimas is the festival’s Grand Day of the Dead Parade. It will feature colorful Catrinas, dynamic dance troupes, live musical groups, and traditional cultural displays, with musical performances taking place at the same time at Lázaro Cárdenas Park and the Plaza de Armas. The parade will finish around 8:00 pm near the Los Muertos Beach Pier.

November 3’s program centers on remembered pets under the Huellas que vuelven a casa theme. The Huellitas del más allá community dog walk will leave from 31st of October Street at 6:00 pm and head toward Los Arcos del Malecón. A dedicated pet altar will be inaugurated at 7:15 pm on the esplanade of the Vallarta Institute of Culture on Cuale Island. Ballet Xiutla will present a special holiday showcase at Lázaro Cárdenas Park on Friday, November 6. On Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8, the Yolotl Atlapech Folkloric Ballet will present Xantolo: la fiesta grande de la Huasteca hidalguense at Los Arcos del Malecón at 7:00 pm.