Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Sept. 29, 2026 — Puerto Vallarta will return to Jalisco’s Festival de las Almas, which expands to 11 municipalities during the state’s Oct. 24-Nov. 15 program.
The Puerto Vallarta component is expected to include 28 free activities centered on a coastal concept called “La Orilla de las Ánimas.” Detailed local dates, venues, and times have not yet been published.
Puerto Vallarta is not a new addition to the festival. The city participated in the first edition in 2025. This year’s change is the expansion of the statewide program from six municipalities to 11.
Local impact in Puerto Vallarta
For residents and visitors, the immediate change is a larger, state-backed program added to Puerto Vallarta’s existing Día de Muertos celebrations.
The local concept will use the city’s relationship with the Pacific coast and Bahía de Banderas in the presentation. Organizers have called the Puerto Vallarta program “La Orilla de las Ánimas,” or “The Shore of the Souls.”
The 28 activities are expected to include elements of the broader festival format, including altars, exhibitions, performances, food-related activities, and community participation. Organizers have not released a Puerto Vallarta event-by-event schedule, so specific locations should not yet be assumed.
Readers planning around the holiday period can follow Vallarta Daily’s Puerto Vallarta Día de Muertos coverage and the Puerto Vallarta events calendar as local schedules are confirmed.
State records show Puerto Vallarta was already in production plans
Our review of the Jalisco government purchasing portal found that preparations involving Puerto Vallarta began before this week’s public presentation.
Tender LPL 610/2026 was published Aug. 20 for production, installation, operation, and dismantling connected with Festival de las Almas 2026. The procurement specifically names Puerto Vallarta among six municipalities receiving Day of the Dead-themed production and decoration services.
That record provides primary-source confirmation that Puerto Vallarta was part of the festival’s production planning before the broader 11-municipality program was announced publicly.
The statewide announcement published Tuesday identifies Guadalajara, Zapopan, Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Chapala, Puerto Vallarta, Zapotlanejo, San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Sayula, Mazamitla, Lagos de Moreno and Cocula as participating municipalities.
The five new municipalities are San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Sayula, Mazamitla, Lagos de Moreno and Cocula. Puerto Vallarta was among the six communities already participating in the festival’s first edition.
Festival expands beyond a single Día de Muertos weekend
Jalisco officials presented the second edition Monday at the Panteón de Belén in Guadalajara. The statewide program includes about 350 activities involving culture, food, traditions and community participation.
Gov. Pablo Lemus said the state wants the celebration to extend into communities across Jalisco.
“What we are looking for is for this Day of the Dead representation to reach many municipalities in Jalisco,” Lemus said, translated from Spanish.
The Jalisco State Entertainment Agency and the state Tourism Secretariat organize the festival. Officials have divided the program into five themes: El Umbral, El Camino, La Ofrenda, El Encuentro and La Memoria. Municipalities will adapt those themes around their own culture, landscapes and traditions.
Tourism Secretary Michelle Fridman said organizers want the statewide structure to reflect the differences among Jalisco’s communities.
“Without a doubt, we are going to show something we always boast about in Jalisco, its enormous diversity,” Fridman said, translated from Spanish.
State tourism officials also said the program is designed to encourage longer visitor stays and distribute tourism spending among hotels, restaurants, shops and other local businesses. Those statements describe the government’s objectives; no economic impact estimate for Puerto Vallarta has been released.
Puerto Vallarta already has a large Día de Muertos footprint
The state program will arrive in a city that already concentrates significant public activity around Día de Muertos.
In 2025, Vallarta Daily documented a 27-meter Catrina installation on the Malecón, while separate city preparations focused on cemeteries and public-safety operations during the holiday period.
Puerto Vallarta’s celebrations have traditionally extended through Centro, the Malecón, neighborhoods and municipal cemeteries. The city has also used public art, altars and cultural performances as part of its local programming.
Officials have not said which of those locations will be incorporated into “La Orilla de las Ánimas” this year.
The statewide Festival de las Almas program is scheduled within the broader Oct. 24-Nov. 15 period. Organizers said they will release municipality-level programming through official channels as the celebrations approach.
