Apapaxoa Returns to Xcaret for September 2026: Six Days of Mexican Gastronomy, 50 Chefs, and the Riviera Maya's Most Ambitious Food Festival
The third edition of the Apapaxoa GastroCultural Festival runs from 18 to 23 September 2026, headquartered at Hotel Xcaret Arte on the coast just south of Playa del Carmen. The festival gathers more than 50 chefs, sommeliers, mixologists, and cultural voices for six days of dinners, talks, brunches, and gatherings across the Xcaret properties. It is the most ambitious culinary event on the Riviera Maya calendar this year.
Apapaxoa means "to share food" in Nahuatl, and the sharing is the point. The festival moves across Hotel Xcaret Arte, Hotel Xcaret México, and La Casa de la Playa, with events also spilling into the Xcaret parks. Michelin-starred chef Carlos Gaytán, who runs the HA' restaurant at Hotel Xcaret Arte, is among the headlining names, alongside chefs from across Mexico and international guests.
The dinner format and what you actually eat
The core of the programme is the dinner series. Each dinner is a collaboration between two or more chefs, which means you might get a Michelin-starred cook from Mexico City working alongside a Oaxacan cook who has never left her village's kitchen. The result is food that sits between fine dining and deep regional tradition, and it is the thing that separates Apapaxoa from a standard food festival. The dinners take place at HA', Xaak, and Le Chique, all on the Xcaret properties, and each requires a separate reservation with a surcharge on top of any festival package.
Beyond the dinners, the festival runs daytime talks and tastings where the chefs explain their approach, a brunch programme, and cultural gatherings that connect the food to Mayan and Mexican tradition. The talk programme is where the cultural half of GastroCultural lives, and it is worth booking early because the smaller sessions fill fast.
How to get in and what it costs
Full festival access is tied to a hotel stay. The Apapaxoa Package at Hotel Xcaret Arte starts at around USD 1,089 per night, which includes the All-Fun Inclusive access to the Xcaret parks alongside the festival programming. If you are not staying at a Xcaret hotel, individual dinner and talk tickets are sold separately via apapaxoa.com, with day-festival packages starting at roughly MXN 3,000 to 4,000 for individual events. The signature dinners at HA', Xaak, and Le Chique carry additional surcharges and require direct reservations.
The festival is on the Carretera Chetumal-Puerto Juárez at Km 282, about 10 minutes south of central Playa del Carmen by taxi. If you are staying in Playa, budget around MXN 200 to 300 each way for a taxi to the hotel. The festival's September dates land in the quieter late-summer window, which means lower hotel rates across the region but also the peak of sargassum season on the beaches, so plan for pool and lagoon time rather than beach swimming.
Practical details
- Dates: 18 to 23 September 2026
- Venue: Hotel Xcaret Arte, Carretera Chetumal-Puerto Juárez Km 282, 77710 Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo
- Price: Apapaxoa Package from ~USD 1,089/night (hotel stay, all-festival access); individual event packages from ~MXN 3,000 to 4,000 (USD 170 to 225); signature dinners extra
- Nearest transport: Cancún International Airport (CUN), then 50 min to Xcaret; taxi from central Playa del Carmen ~10 min
- Website: apapaxoa.com