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Published October 9, 2026 · By the Maka Hostel team · 8 min read

The Day of the Dead parades in Oaxaca are called comparsas, and there are three kinds worth knowing apart. The city’s big organised one, the Gran Comparsa, is set for the evening of Saturday 31 October 2026, reported to start at 18:00 on Calzada Porfirio Díaz and come down García Vigil towards the centre. The barrio comparsas, in Jalatlaco, Xochimilco, Cinco Señores and Trinidad de las Huertas, go out on the nights of 31 October and 1 November, and they are the better experience. Then in the Etla valley, about forty minutes north of the city, the all-night muerteadas start late on 1 November and run until the morning of 2 November. All of it is free, none of it needs a ticket, and nobody checks anything at a gate.

Everything below was checked in October 2026. The state’s official programme covers 26 October to 3 November this year. Beyond the Gran Comparsa, exact routes and start times are decided by each barrio and are usually not published anywhere, so most of this post is about how to find a comparsa rather than a timetable you can plan a night around.

What a comparsa actually is

It is not a parade with floats and a grandstand. A comparsa is a neighbourhood that has spent weeks making costumes and pooled its own money to hire a brass band, then walks its own streets behind that band from late evening until the sun comes up. People bring the band into their courtyards, feed it, and send it on.

Most of them follow the same shape. They gather at the barrio church, sing to the local saints, and then act out a short play: a man dies, a spiritist is called to bring him back, and a crowd of devils interferes. El caporal and el chivero are other standing roles. The devil costumes carry mirrors and bells, which participants will tell you are there to push dark energy away, and the point of the whole night is to make fun of death and then resurrect the dead at the end of it. In the Etla valley the tradition is said to go back around three hundred years.

So when you turn up, you are joining a street party that belongs to the people living on that street. That single fact answers most questions about how to behave.

A guest with half her face painted as a catrina and a flower crown, ready for a Day of the Dead night in Oaxaca — Face paint is normal in the city comparsas. In the villages, read the room first.

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The 2026 dates, and how solid each one is

The state government presented an official agenda of more than a hundred activities running 26 October to 3 November 2026, which includes monumental altars, a sand carpet, comparsa and catrina contests, and the Gran Comparsa itself. Here is what is published and how much weight to put on it.

What	When	Where	How solid
Official Day of the Dead programme	26 Oct – 3 Nov 2026	City and valley villages	Announced by the state government
Gran Comparsa	Sat 31 Oct, reported 18:00	Calzada Porfirio Díaz towards García Vigil	Reported from the official agenda; confirm the route in the final week
Catrina contest	Sat 31 Oct, evening	Alameda de León, beside the cathedral	In the announced agenda, no exact hour published
Barrio comparsas	Nights of 31 Oct and 1 Nov	Jalatlaco, Xochimilco, Cinco Señores, Trinidad de las Huertas, Santa Lucía del Camino	Reliable as nights; start times are word of mouth
Muerteadas, Etla valley	From about 22:00 on 1 Nov until mid-morning 2 Nov	San Agustín Etla and barrios of Villa de Etla	Community-run, no tourist schedule

One thing to know about the Gran Comparsa route. Two sets of reports describe it slightly differently, one saying Calzada Porfirio Díaz towards García Vigil and another, for the 2025 edition, saying from the Fuente de las Ocho Regiones to the Alameda de León. Those are the same corridor: the Fuente de las Ocho Regiones sits on Calzada Porfirio Díaz up in Reforma, and the route comes down into the historic centre. You do not need to find the start. Stand anywhere on García Vigil above Santo Domingo an hour after it sets off and it will come to you, with a better view than you would get in the crush at the front.

Check the final programme on the Oaxaca state government site or the state tourism portal, oaxaca.travel, in the last week of October. Routes and hours genuinely do move.

The barrio comparsas: how to find one

This is the part most guides skip, because there is no list to copy. The method is simple and it works.

Pick a barrio and walk to its church around 20:00 on 31 October or 1 November. Jalatlaco is about fifteen minutes on foot east of Santo Domingo and is the easiest one to reach from the centre. The official agenda this year puts a large sand carpet in the Jalatlaco church atrium, so there is something to look at while you wait.
Then listen. A comparsa is a brass band at close range; you can hear one three or four streets away. Follow the sound, not a map.
Ask anyone. “¿Dónde sale la comparsa?” gets you a straight answer from almost anyone standing outside their door on those two nights.
Do not commit to one for the whole night. They move slowly and stop a lot. If one has gone quiet, walk back to a main street and find another.

If you only have one night and you want the oldest version, Cinco Señores, in the Barrio del Polvo, is generally described as the city’s oldest comparsa. If you want the easiest, Jalatlaco. Travel guides put the Jalatlaco comparsa at around 20:00 on 1 November, but that is not an official time, so treat it as a window rather than a departure.

The Etla muerteadas, and the problem of getting back

San Agustín Etla is the muerteada most visitors have heard of, and it deserves the reputation: a full night of devils, a hired band, and a village that does this for itself rather than for an audience. Barrios of Villa de Etla, San José among them, also have strong claims to the tradition and their own nights.

Getting there

Colectivo taxis to the Etla valley leave from the west side of the Mercado de Abastos; ask for a colectivo a Etla. The ride is around forty minutes. The usual quoted fare is in the fifteen to twenty peso range per person, but those figures come from older sources, so take small change and confirm at the stand rather than trusting the number. Colectivos leave when they are full, not on a timetable, and they fill fast on 1 November. Go in the late afternoon, not at ten at night.

Getting back

This is the thing that catches people out, so plan it before you leave. At three in the morning there are very few cars going back to the city from a village in the hills, and ride-hailing coverage out there is thin to nonexistent. You have three honest options: stay until the morning colectivos start, agree a return with a driver before you go up, or go as a group and split a taxi both ways. Deciding this at 2am, cold, with a dead phone, is the version of the night nobody enjoys.

One more thing to check locally: some Etla barrios have, in past years, set up a filter at the village entrances in the evening and asked visitors who join in costume for a contribution towards the band. That is a report from several years ago and we cannot confirm it for 2026, so carry cash and ask when you arrive rather than assuming either way.

How to behave, and what to bring

You are a guest at a neighbourhood party. The rules follow from that.

Ask before taking close-up photographs of people in costume, especially children. Wide shots of the crowd are fine; a flash in a devil’s face during the play is not.
Stay out of the middle of the performance and out of the band’s way. They are working.
If a family hands you mezcal, take it or decline warmly. Both are normal. Pacing yourself matters more than you think over six hours.
Face paint and a costume are welcome in the city comparsas. In the villages, look at what visitors around you are doing before you join the line.
Shoes you can walk in for six hours, cash in small notes, a jacket. The nights cool off hard once the sun has been down a few hours, and there is no ATM on a comparsa route.
Watch your pockets in the crush on García Vigil on 31 October. It is the one night of the year when the centre is genuinely shoulder to shoulder.

La Octava: the comparsa a week later

If you arrive after 2 November and think you have missed it, ask around. Some places repeat the whole comparsa a week after the original, same streets, same band, same play. It is called la octava, and it draws almost no visitors, which for some people is the better night. There is no published calendar for these, so this is a question for the people at the barrio church rather than for the internet.

Doing it from Maka

We are in the Centro, a few blocks from the Zócalo and Santo Domingo, which matters more on these two nights than on any others in the year. The Gran Comparsa comes down García Vigil, about ten minutes’ walk from our door. Jalatlaco and Xochimilco are walkable. You can leave at nine, lose the night, and come back at four without paying for a taxi or worrying about how to get home.

What we do not do is run a bus to the Etla muerteada. Our trips are Hierve el Agua, Monte Albán, Tlacolula and the rest, listed on /activities and /day-trips, and they run as normal through the week. For comparsas, what is useful is the bar at about eight in the evening: someone on reception or on the terrace will usually know which comparsa is out that night and which street it is on.

The rooftop pool and terrace at Maka Hostel above the centre of Oaxaca at dusk — A sensible place to start the night before walking out to find a comparsa.

If you are still working out the rest of the week, we have written the full backpacker’s guide to Day of the Dead 2026, a night guide to Xoxocotlán cemetery for 31 October, and a list of what costs nothing across the week. Our own programme is on /day-of-the-dead.

On where to sleep: these are the busiest nights of the Oaxaca year and the centre sells out, which we go into properly in where to stay for Day of the Dead. If you already know you want a bed in the Centro for those nights, check what is open at /book and use DIRECT10 for ten per cent off the booking-site rate. Rooms are described on /rooms.

Frequently asked questions

What is a comparsa in Oaxaca?

A comparsa is a Day of the Dead street procession organised by a neighbourhood or village. Residents make costumes, hire a brass band, act out a short play in which a dead man is brought back to life by a spiritist while devils interfere, and then walk their own streets behind the band until dawn. The village version in the Etla valley is called a muerteada.

When is the Gran Comparsa in Oaxaca in 2026?

It is set for the evening of Saturday 31 October 2026, reported to start at 18:00 on Calzada Porfirio Díaz and head down García Vigil towards the historic centre. Routes and hours are confirmed late, so check the Oaxaca state government or state tourism programme in the final week of October.

Do you need a ticket for the Day of the Dead parades in Oaxaca?

No. The Gran Comparsa and the barrio comparsas are free and open to anyone standing in the street. Some village muerteadas have in past years asked visitors who join in costume for a contribution towards the band, so carry some cash and ask when you arrive.

Is the Etla muerteada worth the trip from Oaxaca?

Yes, if you have sorted out how you are getting back. It starts late on 1 November and runs through the night, and it is a village doing this for itself rather than for visitors. The catch is transport: colectivos from the west side of the Mercado de Abastos take about forty minutes, but there is almost nothing going back to the city at three in the morning. Agree a return before you go up, or plan to stay until the morning colectivos.

Can I wear a costume or face paint to a comparsa?

In the city comparsas, yes, and plenty of people do. Painted faces and catrina make-up are normal on 31 October and 1 November in the Centro. In the villages be more careful: look at what other visitors are doing, and if you want to walk with the comparsa itself rather than watch it, ask first.

Which Oaxaca comparsa should I go to if I only have one night?

If it is 31 October, stand on García Vigil for the Gran Comparsa and then follow a barrio comparsa afterwards. If it is 1 November, go to Jalatlaco around 20:00, which is fifteen minutes on foot from Santo Domingo. If you want the oldest one in the city, Cinco Señores in the Barrio del Polvo is generally described as that.

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