Private Cultural Oaxaca Day of the Dead Heritage Tour

The tour was thoughtfully planned, allowing us to witness the depth of celebration during this significant time. From intricate altars to colourful festivities, every moment was a feast for the senses. I particularly enjoyed participating in creating a small offering, which gave me a hands-on appreciation of the tradition. The tour provided a deep understanding of the cultural significance of the region.

A great way to learn and take in culture and traditions of Los Muertos. Angel was kind, gracious and informative.

i was extremely disappointed that i needed to change my plans for the day because of their oversight in not offering the 6:00 tour (but leaving it in the website for me to book) and then failing to get back to me with a proper solution when i said i couldn’t make the earlier tour. to discuss the tour itself - first of all, i couldn’t reach the guide prior to meeting with the group - he was not responsive to messages or calls, which worried me because i barely had reception and was using up my battery power to try. secondly, the guide invited anybody we encountered along the way to join the tour without charging them. this is absolutely unfair; as i paid over $3500 mxn for my tour (which is a LOT of money), but others got to join for free. third, guide shows up smelling like alcohol and already drinking a large beer, which he kept drinking throughout our tour. after the tour, he tried to follow one of us women back into town. then, he messaged me on whatsapp after 12:30AM for no reason at all, which is 100% inappropriate to contact a customer like this after the tour is over.

Carlos was a fantastic host. Super knowledgeable, kind and accommodating. We loved learning everything he had to teach us

The tour was thoughtfully tailored for our small group of family members, allowing us to enjoy the vibrant atmosphere at our own pace. One of the highlights was witnessing families coming together to honor their loved ones. It was a privilege to be part of this intimate setting. It was a beautiful experience.

First, the positives: Xoxocotlán on Oct 31 is very festive. In and around the Centro there were live bands and children’s performances and food booths and crafts. It was very fun. The sand painting down the street was very cool. We met our guide at 5pm, which was great. We got to view the alter and the sand paintings while they were being worked on by the artists, we loved that. It was also before the crowds. We also walked through the two cemeteries before the crowds. Yes, the cemeteries are beautiful and the way the families decorate them is beautiful. Now the negatives: once it got dark and crowded, we peeked back in the bigger cemetery, it was packed with tourists. The tourists were the majority. In the minority were the families gathered around the graves of people they loved. Many of the tourists were being very disrespectful. They Walked on and over the graves, when locals were specifically asking people to not. Locals were coming in with arms of flowers and supplies to decorate graves and groups of tourists were bumping and pushing passed them. Some of the locals embrace the party experience, but others were clearly distressed. Also, from a selfish “tourist” perspective, it isn’t any kind of “authentic” experience and there are much more grand and beautiful alters and displays around Oaxaca. We would not tour a cemetery again as part of a Dia de Muertos experience. If you do really want to tour a cemetery, go with a local guide and be respectful. One other comment about our specific experience, our guide was not local and didn’t know much. She was really nice and lovely to hang out with, but She wasnt qualified to be a guide of this experience and I would not recommend her.

Really informative tour around the traditions and cultures for Day of the Dead. We were talked through how some of the traditions have come about and taken around some graveyards with further explanations. The guides kept it engaging all the way through and were super helpful.

Alex and Danny were fantastic guides and provided an informative, fun, and well thought out tour of Xoxocotlan and the cemetery. They taught us about the history of day of the dead, the meaning of each day in the celebration as well as the individual elements of the altars. We all would highly recommend this tour, and be sure to request Alex & Danny as guides!

It was a great experience. Visiting the cemeteries during Day of the Dead is something you can do without a tour, but when you have someone to take you who knows and lives the culture, you will learn more, and it feels a lot less intrusive to the practices of everyone else. Well worth it.

Decent tour, but certainly not worth the $100 per person charge for a 2 hour cemetery tour, not including transportation to the meeting site. Also tried to change the date of the tour 2 hours after I booked it, and was told I couldn't. No refunds or changes, even though the tour operator had not even received my reservation yet. My recommendation - use another company.