7 Best Performing Arts Venues in Mexico

North of Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerías Art Walk is on Thursday nights from 7 to 9 pm during high season: from the last week of October until late April. Participating galleries are on Boulevard Lázaro Cárdenas 62 around Calle Galeana.

The Celebration of Independence is held on September 15 and 16, beginning on the evening of September 15 with the traditional Grito de Dolores. It translates as "Cry of Pain," but it also references the town of Dolores Hidalgo, where the famous cry for freedom was uttered by priest Miguel Hidalgo. Late in the evening on September 15 there are mariachis, speeches, and other demonstrations of national pride. On September 16, witness parades and charros on horseback through the main streets of town.

The city goes all out to celebrate Mexican dance, music, folklore, and culture for a week in early February each year. Local artists and several of the downtown galleries hold special events in conjunction with the festival.

Guanajuato is completely mobbed each fall for the Festival Internacional Cervantino. For nearly three weeks each October, world-renowned actors, musicians, and dance troupes perform nightly at the Teatro Juárez and other local venues. Plaza San Roque, a small square near the Jardín Reforma, hosts a series of Entremeses Cervantinos—swashbuckling one-act farces by classical Spanish writers, such as Cervantes. Grandstand seats require advance tickets, but crowds often gather by the plaza's edge to watch for free. Guanajuato's nightlife also reaches a peak during the festival, and revelers from different parts of Mexico walk through the city streets and display their regional pride by jumping up and down and chanting the name of their hometown. If you're going to be among the hundreds of thousands who attend the festivities annually, contact the Festival Internacional Cervantino office well in advance to secure tickets for top-billed events, or contact Ticketmaster. However, if you're not a fan of elbow-to-elbow crowds morning, noon, and night, you should avoid the festival.

Puerto Vallarta's most important celebration of faith—and also one of the most elaborate spectacles of the year—is Fiestas de la Virgen de Guadalupe, designed to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe, the city's patron saint and the patroness of all Mexico. Exuberance fills the air as the end of November approaches and each participating business organizes its own procession. The most elaborate ones include allegorical floats and papier-mâché matachines, or giant dolls (for lack of a better phrase), and culminate in their own private mass. Groups snake down Calle Juárez from the north or the south, ending at the Cathedral in Old Vallarta.

One of the most traditional events in downtown Vallarta is the Historic Center artWalk, which showcases artwork at several dozen galleries. The galleries stay open late, sometimes offering an appetizer or snack, wine, beer, or soft drinks. Browse among the paintings, jewelry, ceramics, glass, and folk art while hobnobbing with some of PV's most respected artists. If you don't have a map, pick one up from one of the perennially participating galleries, which include Galería Córsica I & II, Galería Colectika, Galería Pacífico, Galería Caballito de Mar, The Loft, and Galería de Ollas. This walk is held every Wednesday from 6 pm to 10 pm, from the last week of October until late May.

The International Gourmet Festival is one of PV's biggest events.