Mexico City during Holy Week?

January 18, 2018 9:16 AM

Is traveling to Mexico City during Holy Week (Semana Santa) a bad idea?

I'm considering traveling to Mexico City for vacation the last week in March, which encompasses the entire week of Semana Santa before Easter (March 25-31).

My friend and I are visiting another friend who will be living there, and we'll want to do the regular tourist stuff--museums, historic sites, etc--as well as exploring neighborhoods and trying to find off-the-beaten path fun gems and generally running around town with the friend we're visiting. He does not live there yet (though he has before, just not around Easter), so he's not really able to give me an accurate account.

I've done some googling, and it's basically half split between "oh it's great because all the locals go to the coast and the city is peaceful" to "all the businesses are closed except for the museums which will be really crowded".

Are there any native or current residents that can give me the real deal on whether or not this is a good week to visit? Are there other times during the Spring that are not good times to visit (we're trying to get there before May at least)?

Also trying to avoid American 'spring-breakers' but I'm assuming they'll all be in Cancún anyway and not much more of a problem than usual, right?

posted by greta simone to Travel & Transportation around Mexico City, Mexico (3 answers total)

I was in Mexico, though not Mexico City -- San Miguel de Allende & Guanajuato -- during Semana Santa last year.

First of all, it was LOUD. They're setting off fireworks all night, every night. And lots of them are those ones that just make a giant BOOM. It was literally hard to sleep.

Good things: really interesting religious parades that I'd never seen before. The best one involved giant pinata-like depictions of devils & real people, like Donald Trump (not sure if he's a real person or a devil), being set on fire and exploded with fireworks. The crowd boos if the explosions fail to destroy it. Churches were super-decorated, and there were different color codings for various celebrations. So one day the flowers and ribbons were all purple, and the next they were something different. There also seemed to be ceremonial snacking that followed a pattern, so one day all the vendors at the churches and squares were selling small nuts (I forget which) and then the next day they all had something else.

Both towns were absolutely packed to the gills, with the streets flooded with people. To answer your direct question, almost none of these seemed to be American spring-breakers. On the contrary, I got the sense that this was the equivalent of Mexican spring break, with children not in school during this period, and many people on the streets seemed to be whole families with multiple generations -- like a general holiday period for everyone.
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:22 PM on January 18, 2018

I wish I had something more useful to add, but mostly I'm just thankful to you for posting this Ask because I had NO IDEA that this was a thing and was definitely in the early stages of planning a joint Mexico City/Tulum trip over Easter week. May need to tweak this plan juuuuust a skosh.

Also, this may have turned up in your Googling, but this piece made me feel better about Mexico City as a destination and SO MUCH WORSE about Tulum. Either way, have a good Mexico City vacation! Maybe we'll be the only people there? :)
posted by helloimjennsco at 9:50 AM on January 19, 2018

Chilanga here. Yes, Mexico City is deserted in Semana Santa. It is Mexico’s Spring Break, so people try to travel as a family, as BlahLaLa said, mainly traveling to the beaches or to towns like San Miguel de Allende. It’s one of the best times to enjoy the city, because there’s no traffic (here, most hours are peak traffic hours).

About businesses being closed, that doesn’t really happen, or ar least not in a big scale. I’m trying to remember a business being closed in those dates. Holy Thursday and Holy Friday are official holidays, but restaurants, shops and touristy places remain open.

Museums will be more crowded than usual, but there are so many that I’m sure you can find interesting things to see. Just skip the most famous museums if the lines are too long.
posted by clearlydemon at 2:11 PM on January 20, 2018