San Miguel de Allende’s Day of the Dead Program: October 31–November 2, 2026

If you are choosing which evenings to spend in San Miguel de Allende, the municipal program gives you a day-by-day outline. It runs from Saturday, Oct. 31 through Monday, Nov. 2, 2026.

The program mixes workshops, music and dance, ofrenda displays and film screenings, plus the traditional Desfile de Muertos y Catrinas through the historic center. Most entries come with a start time and a place.

Saturday, Oct. 31: workshop, music and films

The first day opens at 5 p.m. with Pinta tu Calaverita, a calavera-painting workshop at the Casa de la Cultura del Chorro.

Music and poetry are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on the Jardín Principal esplanade. At 8 p.m. the same space turns to flamenco with Muerte que te quiero muerte.

Two films are listed at Casa de la Cultura Mesones, number 71: the family film El extraño mundo de Jack at 8 p.m. and the horror film La noche del demonio at 10 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 1: ofrendas, puppets and open-air films

The ofrenda exhibition opens in the Jardín Principal at noon. At 4 p.m., the Municipal Library holds a workshop on decorating your own ofrenda.

A theater-and-puppet show featuring the Catrín and Catrina starts at 6 p.m. on the Jardín Principal esplanade. A musical show, Muertos en el aire, follows in the same place at 7 p.m.

Two outdoor films close the day in front of the old cemetery of San Antonio Abad: Coco at 8 p.m. and Macario at 10 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 2: the parade

The ofrenda exhibition continues in the Jardín Principal from 9 a.m. The Desfile de Muertos y Catrinas is scheduled for 5 p.m., with a route from the Cardo to the Jardín Principal.

Casa de la Cultura Mesones, number 71, screens the family film Hocus Pocus at 8 p.m.; It is scheduled there for 10 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., the Jardín Principal esplanade hosts Calacas, a contemporary circus show.

What is announced for the whole period

Workshops, shows, ofrendas and films make up the three-day program, but the broad activity categories are not daily schedules. The parade has one announced slot, on Nov. 2; the ofrenda exhibition has separate opening times on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.

For evening planning, the venues matter as much as the times. Saturday's flamenco and El extraño mundo de Jack both start at 8 p.m., in different places. Monday's circus starts at the Jardín Principal esplanade after the scheduled start of Hocus Pocus at Mesones. These are choices within the public program, not a single sequence to follow from beginning to end.

A city calendar is not every family's day

The municipal program is a cultural agenda for residents and visitors. Family remembrance follows its own rhythm. Accounts of Día de Muertos among Indigenous peoples show how much dates and customs vary. In one Oaxacan town, preparations begin on Oct. 31 as people buy the ofrenda items; in another community it describes, the festivities begin that afternoon with the setting of the altar.

That variety is why one list of shows and screenings cannot stand in for the many ways families honor their dead.

Before you go

The announced program offers public cultural activities. Family altars and graveside remembrances may be private; visitors are guests and should ask first, accepting that the answer may be no. An outdoor screening in front of the old cemetery is not an invitation to enter a family's remembrance. If invited, follow the family's lead, including its wishes about photographs.

La noche del demonio and It are listed as horror films, so consider the ages of any children with you. The family-film listings offer other choices within the announced program. Before booking, check Guanajuato tourism's program and the municipality's listings for updates.