Mexico: The Maya, Aztecs & Conquistadors Day of the Dead | Exodus Travels | The Day of the Dead Festival in Oaxaca, and exploring Mayan and Aztec ruins — with culture, cuisine and Caribbean beaches
Current Status: Check with operator (link below)
There’s a good chance you already know this, so please excuse if I’m stating the obvious (for those who may not!): every year, millions of Mexicans at home and around the world celebrate the Day of the Dead Festival (Dia de Muertos), in tribute to family and friends who have passed away. The colourful festival dates back perhaps thousands of years, and includes brilliantly decorated skulls and skeletons as well as feasts, visits to cemeteries, flowers, food and parades.
This robust and fantastic tour of Mexico includes the festival as well as many of the country’s greatest highlights—with history, architecture, culture, cuisine and Caribbean beaches all on offer, and with special departures scheduled to coincide with the unique opportunity to celebrate Day of the Dead in Oaxaca!
You will explore sprawling Mexico City with its museums and city squares, colonial architecture and markets, and cruise the Xochimilco Canals, once the waterways of the Aztecs. And spend a day at the incredibly vast and ancient archaeological site of Teotihuacan. If you thought Chichen Itza was big, wait till you see Teotihuacan: once the sixth-largest city in the world, and still home to the planet’s third- and fourth-largest pyramids.
You visit the largest pyramid base in Mesoamerica at Cholula, and the city of Puebla with its colonial buildings, blue and white pottery, and superb cuisine. Take a cooking class in the World Heritage city of Oaxaca, and visit some woodcarving, black clay and handwoven rug workshops in and around the area.
You will see tombs of ancient kings and priests, take in the quaint town of San Cristobal de las Casas, and emerge from the Chiapas jungles to see the waterfalls near Palenque. And stop in the colonial town of Campeche and eat in a local Mayan restaurant. Continue on to the Yucatan Peninsula with stops at the archaeological Mayan sites of Uxmal and Chichen Itza, and the Mayan Riviera’s white-sand beaches and flawless Caribbean waters!
For those who time their trip correctly, Dia de Muertos will be spent with a local family, getting an authentic feel for the annual festival that, in part, sprung to worldwide attention after the James Bond movie Spectre featured it in its opening sequence. Ah, now you remember!
Booking Info
EXODUS TRAVELS
- Phone: 800.267.3347
- Length/Departs: 15 days/Feb., Apr., Sept., Oct.
- Accommodation: Hotels
- Price: check with operator for current pricing
- Difficulty: Easy
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