Oaxaca Day Of The Dead – Cooking Class & Market Experience

Experience Day of the Dead in Oaxaca through your senses, with a hands-on cooking class, and specialty dia de los muertos foods

Connect Through Cuisine: Itinerary for Oaxaca’s Day of the Dead Cooking Experience

This is a half-day tour.

Explore the spirit of Oaxaca’s Day of the Dead by preparing the dishes that bring families together across generations. This culinary experience connects you to one of Mexico’s most meaningful traditions—through flavor, memory, and hands-on creation. Learn to prepare ancestral recipes like Mole, Tamales, Oaxacan Hot Chocolate, and other festival staples that carry deep cultural resonance during this sacred time.

What to Expect

Explore the Local Market

Your day begins with a visit to a neighborhood market, where your guide will help you engage with local vendors and explore the ingredients that define Day of the Dead cooking. This is where the experience starts—with colors, aromas, and conversations that bring the season’s offerings to life.

Experience the Traditions

Back at our kitchen space, you’ll be welcomed with an introduction to the culinary roots of Día de los Muertos. Learn how each dish connects to ancestral beliefs and how food plays a central role in honoring the lives of those who have passed. Your local hosts—culinary experts in both technique and tradition—will guide you throughout.

Connect Through Cooking

You’ll prepare several traditional recipes using tools and methods still found in many Oaxacan homes today. Whether crafting tamales, blending mole, or frothing chocolate by hand, every step is designed to connect you to Oaxaca’s food traditions in a respectful and participatory way. Dietary needs, including vegetarian and vegan options, are always considered.

Experience the Communal Table

After cooking, we sit to eat—sharing stories and the dishes you’ve helped create. This meal is more than food—it’s a space to reflect, connect, and honor the memories celebrated during Day of the Dead. A drink is included to complement the meal, with additional options available for purchase.

Why Join This Experience?

This is more than a cooking class—it’s an opportunity to engage with the values and traditions that define Oaxaca’s Día de los Muertos. You’ll walk away with new culinary skills, a deeper cultural connection, and a taste of something truly special to this time and place.

Good to Know:

• Suitable for all levels of cooking experience.
• The experience includes all ingredients, a communal meal, and one beverage.
• Please bring comfortable clothing you don’t mind working in.

Limited spots available. Connect with the traditions of Oaxaca through its cuisine—reserve your place today to guarantee your place at the table.

Please note: There is no Dress Code! You will be visiting local markets and your host chef, so dressing respectfully is appreciated. You don’t need to dress to impress – it is recommended to bring modest, comfortable clothes.

What to bring to the Oaxaca Day Of The Dead Mitla and Pan de Muerto Experience?

Oaxaca generally has hot days and fairly cool nights at this time of year. It is not uncommon to get some rain, as this is the end of the rainy season.
– Jeans or long pants (this is most customary in Mexico, though shorts/dress are fine if you are most comfortable with that).
– Sneakers/comfortable shoes.
– Long sleeves
– Dresses are ok too – many choose to dress in local textiles during this event
– Cash. Should you choose to buy any additional food, drinks, or souvenirs while on tour, most market vendors only accept cash (in Mexican Pesos).  Also, ensuring you have enough for a taxi back to your hotel, or on to the next party/event after is always a good idea. Only bring enough cash for what you think you will need, and leave the rest in your hotel room’s safe.

What is included with the Oaxaca Day Of The Dead cooking class?

Your cooking class and market experience includes:
– information provided before your experience to educate you and properly prepare you
– a specially trained Oaxacan English-speaking host who will facilitate your experience in the market and the kitchen
– the dia de los muertos-themed cooking class ingredients
– a meal (cooked by you) and a non-alcoholic drink.

What is not included when on your Day Of The Dead Experience?

– Travel Insurance (Compulsory)
– International flights
– Transportation (to the meeting point, and back from the endpoint – both inside Oaxaca’s city center)
– Accommodations in Oaxaca
– Alcoholic beverages
– Gratuities and tips
– Spending money if you wish to purchase additional drinks or food

Need a place to stay for Day of the Dead in Oaxaca?

To make things easier, we’ve created an interactive map below to help you explore accommodation options in and around Oaxaca City during this sacred and celebrated time. The map is pre-set for the week of Day of the Dead, though you can adjust your travel dates and number of guests to suit your trip. It displays both hotels (from Booking.com, Hotels.com, Agoda, etc.) and short-term home rentals (via VRBO and others), so you can compare availability, location, and reviews at a glance. We’ve also pinned a central point that marks the meeting location for most of our group events — the closer you stay to this marker, the easier it will be to access our experiences and most of the action in Centro Oaxaca.

Please note: accommodation fills up incredibly early for Day of the Dead. Hotels and home-stays often begin selling out as early as February, with prices rising sharply as the dates approach. Booking as far in advance as possible is highly recommended to avoid limited choices or higher rates. If accommodations near the pin are no longer available, you may need to stay further out — which isn’t always a bad thing, especially for a quieter night’s rest.

Please double-check the currency displayed, as it may vary depending on your device settings or the website you’re viewing.

Supporting Local Projects with our TRiP Foundation

For every TRiP that you go on with WSE Travel, we will donate 2% of the total sales price to an environmental or community-based project in the country you’re visiting. We want to ensure that every guest we help, in turn, helps support and preserve the destination we’re experiencing together as a direct result. We live by an ethos to Travel Responsibly & Impact Positively (TRiP).

For more information on the projects supported by this experience, please visit our Mexico TRIP projects.

Cancellation & Rebooking Policy

All tours, services, and experiences booked through WSE Travel are bound to our Terms and Conditions, which were modeled after most other travel services such as flights, hotels, and other tour operators.

At Where Sidewalks End, your reservation is more than a transaction — it’s a direct contract with local professionals who rely on this work as a primary source of income. As such, we are obligated to honor the livelihoods of our local partners — including guides, Ajarns (masters), and drivers — who dedicate their time exclusively to your experience.

In many of the destinations where we operate, labor protections and fair wage commitments are upheld by local laws — and we are both ethically and contractually required to adhere to them. Once a booking is confirmed, the service providers committed to your experience are financially compensated for reserving their time — even in the event of cancellation. This ensures fair and dignified treatment for all involved in delivering your experience.

If You Need to Cancel or Reschedule

All bookings are subject to the following terms:

More than 14 Days’ Notice

Your payment will be placed into a Lifetime Deposit (Safety Deposit Box). This can be:

• Used for a future date
• Transferred to a friend or family member

Refunds are not available unless WSE Travel cancels your booking due to reasons beyond your control.

7–14 Days’ Notice

A 50% rebooking fee will apply. This helps offset the compensation obligations to your dedicated team of local guides and service providers, who have reserved their day exclusively for your private tour and may not be able to secure alternate work with us or others on short notice.

Less than 7 Days’ Notice

The full cost of the tour is retained to pay the locals contracted in full. As this is a private experience, your local team’s time is fully dedicated to your session. A new team will be hired for any future rebooking.

These policies are a compassionate extension of our official Terms & Conditions, designed to support both our guests and the ethical standards of responsible tourism.

Travel Insurance or Liability Waiver Required

Because life can be unpredictable — and because we are required to uphold our commitments to local partners — all guests must either:

• Provide proof of comprehensive travel insurance, or
• Sign a Liability Waiver Form at the start of their trip

We highly recommend SafetyWing Nomad Insurance — trusted by global travelers for its flexible, affordable coverage and very competitive rates.

Travel insurance can help protect you from financial losses related to:

• Illness
• Missed flights
• Emergency cancellations
• Non-refundable bookings

If you choose to travel without Travel Insurance, you will be required to fill out a Liability Waiver Form at the beginning of your trip. 

Thank You for Traveling Responsibly

We deeply appreciate your understanding and support of ethical tourism. Your booking directly sustains local communities and helps preserve cultural traditions in a meaningful and lasting way.

If you have any questions or need help rescheduling, please contact us — we’re always happy to assist.