The Day of the Dead in Sayulita

What the days are for

An ofrenda is an altar set up at home, in a shop or in the plaza to welcome the dead. It usually holds photos of the people being remembered, candles, water, the food and drink they liked, pan de muerto, papel picado and bright orange cempasúchil, the marigold whose colour and scent are said to guide the souls home.

By the popular calendar, different souls arrive on different nights over the last days of October: pets, those who died suddenly, those who drowned, the souls in limbo. Children who have died, the angelitos, come on October 31 and November 1, and the adults on November 2. Customs vary from family to family and town to town, and many families put up their altar some days before and take it down on November 3.

Día de Muertos isn't a sad Halloween: it's a reunion, with music and the dead's favourite dish on the table.

1. Oct 31 – Nov 1The angelitos, children who have died, are welcomed with sweets, toys and white flowers.
2. Nov 2The adults' day: their favourite dishes and drinks go on the altar, and families visit the graves.
3. Nov 3Many families take the ofrenda down; some say the souls leave at three in the afternoon.

The parade and the catrinas

La Catrina, the elegant skeleton in a big hat, is everywhere in these days: in shop windows, on altars and walking down the street. In 2025 the festival opened in Sayulita with a parade of catrinas in which hundreds of residents, visitors from Mexico and abroad and local artists took part, followed by a catrina contest with cash prizes for the best costumes, inspired by Mexican symbols and folk art.

Expect the town's streets and plaza to be dressed in flowers, candles, papel picado and altars from the start of the festival. If you'd like to paint your face, you'll be in good company; go to a proper face painter rather than improvising, and wear it to celebrate, not to clown around.

Several of the folk-art shops on Avenida Revolución sell Day of the Dead figures and painted skulls made by Mexican artisans, a better souvenir than anything plastic.

1. 

   Sayulita Plaza

   park · Centro · 1 min walk from the plaza

   Where the parade ends and the plaza's altars stand through the festival.

2. 

   Esto Es Mexico

   folk art shop · Centro · 1 min walk from the plaza

   Folk-art shop whose owners make painted catrinas, skulls and other Mexican icons themselves.

3. Laughing Jaguar

   folk art gallery · Centro · 1 min walk from the plaza

   Mexican folk art, including Day of the Dead figures by artisans from around the country.

The night walk to the cemetery

Sayulita's cemetery sits on the wooded hillside south of town, on the path down to Playa los Muertos, which takes its name from it. The graves are painted in bright colours and, for these days, families clean them and cover them with cempasúchil, papel picado and offerings.

The festival's most moving moment is the night procession to the cemetery. In 2025 it left the centre of town at 11pm on November 1: a large crowd walked up by torchlight carrying flowers, candles and photos of the people they were remembering, with mariachis playing songs like Amor eterno on the way and at the graves. The 2026 programme includes a night procession to the cemetery again; check the time when the timetable comes out.

In the daytime, the cemetery is a quiet place to walk through on the way to the beach. Families may be working on their graves; a nod and a buenas tardes go a long way.

1. 

   Los Muertos Cemetery, Sayulita

   cemetery · Los Muertos · 13 min walk from the plaza

   The hillside cemetery with painted graves, decorated by families for these days.

Being a good guest

The public celebrations are for everyone. The graves and the ofrendas belong to families, many of them remembering someone who died recently. A little care is all it takes.

Around the bay

The municipal festival also has events in Bucerías, San Pancho, San Juan de Abajo and Valle de Banderas. In 2025 San Pancho's programme was a performance by local artists about the town's history, with art and acrobatics, and Bucerías had a traditional altar exhibition and contest with music and food.

Across the bay in Puerto Vallarta, the Festival de las Almas turns the Malecón and downtown into an open-air gallery of giant catrinas and altars from October 31 to November 2, 2026, with a lit boat parade and a record-sized catrina. The Vallarta Symphony Orchestra plays a Day of the Dead concert with choirs on October 31 at 7pm at the Haramara auditorium of the Universidad Tecnológica de Bahía de Banderas, on the Nayarit side of the bay (tickets through IAMPV).

Practical: beds, crowds and the beach

The town is quiet for most of October and then fills from about the 29th, as the festival and the surf tournament draw visitors from around Mexico. The Día de Muertos weekend is the first part of the low season to book up, so book your stay early.

The surf tournament takes over part of the main beach from October 29 to November 1. For a swim, the calmer water at the south end or at Playa los Muertos is a short walk away, and you can come back up through the cemetery.

1. 

   Playa Sayulita

   beach · Centro · 5 min walk from the plaza

   Where the Día de Muertos surf tournament runs, October 29 to November 1, 2026.

2. 

   Playa los Muertos

   beach · Los Muertos · 13 min walk from the plaza

   The small cove below the cemetery, calm on most days for a swim.