Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, July 21, 2026 — Bahía de Banderas has placed a five-day Día de Muertos festival on its fall calendar, expanding the municipal celebration from three coastal communities last year to five communities stretching from the shoreline to the inland municipal seat.
The festival is scheduled October 29 through November 2 in Sayulita, Bucerías, San Pancho, San Juan de Abajo and Valle de Banderas. Preparations were first reported by Meridiano Vallarta, while the Bahía de Banderas tourism calendar now lists the same dates and communities.
The broad program is expected to include altars, cemetery observances, pilgrimages, a nighttime procession, parades, catrín and catrina contests, music, dance, food activities and a surf tournament. The municipality has not released a day-by-day schedule, exact venues or starting times.
The 2025 municipal program ran October 31 through November 2 and centered on Sayulita, San Pancho and Bucerías. Adding San Juan de Abajo and Valle de Banderas gives two inland communities an official place in a festival that was concentrated along the coast last year.
Valle de Banderas is the municipal seat, while San Juan de Abajo regularly hosts large public celebrations in its central plaza. Their inclusion may spread some activity beyond the beach towns and make the festival more accessible to families living in the municipality’s inland communities. The announcement does not yet identify which events will take place in either town.
The municipality described the 2025 festival as its second edition. That celebration opened in Sayulita with a catrina parade and contest, while surf competition and cultural activities continued across the three coastal host communities. The 2026 announcement does not identify the coming festival by edition number.
The surf portion already has a slightly narrower window. A separate municipal update places the Festival and Torneo Internacional de Surf Día de Muertos from October 29 through November 1, ending one day before the broader cultural program closes. Competition categories, the surf break, registration rules, and participating athletes have not been announced.
The dates also overlap with another major sports event in Bahía de Banderas. The PGA TOUR schedule places the VidantaWorld Mexico Open at Vidanta Vallarta in Nuevo Nayarit from October 29 through November 1. That raises the possibility of heavier hotel demand and more traffic on Highway 200, the airport corridor and roads connecting Nuevo Nayarit with Bucerías and Sayulita.
Until the detailed program is published, the municipal tourism calendar is the most complete official reference. PVDN’s Día de Muertos hub will collect Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas schedules, traffic notices and safety information as agencies release them.
