During the month of October, the UNESCO World Heritage City of Guanajuato hosts its annual Festival Cervantino, an internationally recognized performing arts festival (it’s the 4^th largest of its kind in the world). El Cervantino is named after the famed Spanish writer, Miguel de Cervantes (who wrote Don Quixote), and dates back to the early 20^th century when college students would perform his plays in the plazas of Guanajuato. The festival became official in 1972 and opened up to include international acts, although it does still focus on artistic creations in the Spanish language. The festival encompasses a wide range of genres including opera, contemporary dance, theater, visual arts, film, literature and multimedia as well as a variety of workshops, exhibits and conferences which can be seen in indoor and outdoor spaces. This year’s official invites were Spain and Guadalajara (2016).

As a first time festival-goer, I felt that there was limited information out there on how the 3-week festival works exactly, so I thought I would put my experiences out there in cyberspace in hopes that someone else can benefit from them.

When looking online this was the part I was most confused about in regards to the festival: If it’s a 3 week festival, how does it all work? The city is transformed into a variety of outdoor and indoor stages where they have a pre-planned lineup of artistic shows – adult and children’s theater, concerts of all types including symphonies and opera, acrobats, folkloric dance and ballet, outdoor film showings and academic events, readings and short plays of the work of Miguel de Cervantes and much more!

When you go to the official Cervantino website you can see the variety of shows offered on certain days which all have very detailed descriptions. So rather than purchasing one ticket to attend the festival, you purchase separate tickets to see certain shows during the time you are there. Some shows are offered more than one day, others no. Some shows take place in outdoor spaces so although tickets to sit front and center sell out fast you can still show up early and get a pretty good view of the concert without paying. Any event that is held in the Alhóndiga de Granaditashas free outdoor seating and also plenty of space to view the concert from the sides (if you show up 30 min or so before). Anything that is held in an auditorio or teatro will be inside and you will have to purchase a ticket. We purchased tickets ranging from 80 pesos to 250 pesos for various shows.

Purchasing tickets can be tricky. Using www.ticketmaster.com.mx can be a nightmare. A word of advice: make sure to use a credit card with raised numbers on it (not flat) as when you go to pick up your tickets at a “ticketmaster distributor” they will take a carbon copy of your card which must have raised numbers (I know, so archaic!). You cannot simply print your tickets online (I learned all of this the hard way). As my husband and I were just attending to get an overall feel for the El Cervantino, we preferred to avoid the ticketaster fees and headaches and purchase our tickets in person at Teatro Juarez. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and there were some tickets available for the weekend shows and others that were sold out. But we were flexible and saw a variety of shows (even if they weren’t our top choices) and still had a great time. So, it really depends if you are set on seeing a particular show (which in that case I would recommend purchasing ahead of time on ticketmaster and paying their fees). But if you are open and flexible, choose a variety of shows in the lineup for the days you will be there and see what tickets are still available. I also highly recommend looking at the lineup of children’s theatre as we saw some pretty spectacular shows!

A lot of the theatres and auditoriums are located outside of the historical center so you’ll have to catch a taxi or UBER. These should cost you no more than $50 pesos and the best place to catch them is along Avenida Benito Juarez across the street from Comercial Mexicana. Taxi rides are incredibly fun though as they take you through the sea of underground tunnels and then up high into the mountain offering breathtaking views of the city only seen by car. Plan to arrive 30 minutes early for general admission shows to get a decent seat.

Callejoneada and El Callejon del Beso – If you walk past Teatro Juarez after 5pm you’ll be bombarded by a variety of men dressed in medieval garb trying to sell you tickets to a one of the city’s famous “callejoneadas.” It is a type of “walking serenade,” during which local musicians dress up in traditional 17th century costumes weave their way through the cobblestone streets while playing music, singing popular folk songs, telling stories and reciting local legends. Like any highly commercialized city tour there are good ones and not so good ones. See who is wearing the most traditional clothes and also ask them to give you some history about their group. If they are based out of the university and have been doing it for 20+ years then that’s probably a good sign. Also, ask if they will be taking you past “El Callejon del Beso.” Cost should be no more than 150 pesos.

El Midi Bistró – Located upstairs in the posh “Cuatro Casas” building, the café serves great brunch options on Saturday and Sunday and salads during the lunch hour.