What's on in Guanajuato, Mexico through the year

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in January.

Busy — one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in February.

Busy — Viernes de Dolores and Holy Week, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Viernes de Dolores and Holy Week

  15 Mar – 20 Apr · usuallyEaster & Holy WeekCrowdedClosures

  On the Friday before Palm Sunday the old mine works, plazas and shop doorways fill with flower altars and people hand out ice water and paletas in the street. Holy Week itself brings processions and a full city. Source ↗

Busy — Viernes de Dolores and Holy Week

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Viernes de Dolores and Holy Week (15 Mar – 20 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Busy — Fiestas de la Presa de la Olla, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Rainy season

  15 Jun – 30 SepMonsoon

  Rain arrives as short heavy afternoon storms rather than all-day weather, and the hills around the city turn green for the only months of the year. The tunnels under the centre flood briefly in the worst of it.

• Festival

  Fiestas de la Presa de la Olla

  24 Jun – 10 Jul · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  The city walks up to the reservoir for the opening of the dam gates on the first Monday of July, after a fortnight of neighbourhood dances and the flower parade. It is a local festival, not a visitor one. Source ↗

Busy — Fiestas de la Presa de la Olla, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Rainy season (15 Jun – 30 Sep), Fiestas de la Presa de la Olla (24 Jun – 10 Jul (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Rainy season (15 Jun – 30 Sep)

Busy — Independence days, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Independence days

  13–17 SepNational holidayCrowdedClosures

  The independence war effectively started here at the Alhóndiga, so the middle of September carries more weight in Guanajuato than almost anywhere: the grito on the night of the 15th, then a full military and student parade. Source ↗

Still on: Rainy season (15 Jun – 30 Sep)

Peak crowds — Festival Internacional Cervantino, Día de Muertos

• Festival

  Festival Internacional Cervantino

  5–28 Oct · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  The largest performing arts festival in Latin America takes over the city's theatres, plazas and church steps for most of October, with a guest country each year. Rooms go months out and prices roughly double. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Día de Muertos

  30 Oct – 3 NovMajor festivalCrowded

  Altars in the university and the plazas, marigolds on the graves at the Santa Paula cemetery, and the mummy museum next door doing brisk trade. It lands straight after the Cervantino, so the city stays full. Source ↗

Busy — Día de Muertos

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Día de Muertos (30 Oct – 3 Nov)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in December.