Oaxaca has a mild, spring-like climate year-round — the high elevation keeps it comfortable even in summer. The dry season runs October to May; the rainy season (afternoon thunderstorms, mostly) from June to September. The two unmissable times to come are Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) in the last days of October and first of November, when the city decks itself in marigolds and candlelit altars, and the Guelaguetza folk-dance festival on the two Mondays after 16 July, when indigenous communities from across the state perform on the hillside amphitheatre above the city.