Mexico's Riviera Maya will plate up six days of haute cuisine, live art, and spirited discussion when the Apapaxoa GastroCultural Festival returns to Xcaret from August 26 to 31. More than fifty Michelin-starred chefs, visual artists, musicians, and writers will converge across Xcaret's parks and three hotels, staging collaborative dinners, workshops, and forums that spotlight the role of food in Mexican identity. Highlights include a gala tribute to chef Enrique Olvera-prepared by his former protégés-and daily tastings hosted by the seventeen-member Xcaret Hotels Gastronomic Collective. Tickets, released this week, range from single-day passes to all-access bundles covering every dinner, concert, and cultural session.
Key Points
- Why it matters: The Festival strengthens Riviera Maya's bid to be Latin America's top culinary destination.
- Second annual edition expands to six venues, including Xcaret, Xplor, and Xenses parks.
- Fifty-plus guest "Apapaxados" include Mitsuharu Tsumura, Ángel León, Santiago Lastra, and novelist Laura Esquivel.
- Gala dinner honors Enrique Olvera, with courses cooked by alumni of Pujol and Cosme.
- Ticket tiers start at MX$2,950.00(MXN) which is roughly $170.00(USD) for one-day access, scaling to a six-day MX$18,500.00(MXN) which is roughly $1,060.00(USD) "Apapaxo Total" pass.
Snapshot
Apapaxoa-Náhuatl for "embrace with the soul"-fuses gastronomy with live performance and visual arts. Each day blends morning "Savory Tales" panels, hands-on workshops, and roaming cultural exhibitions with evening tasting menus. Michelin-decorated names such as Ángel León (Aponiente), Mitsuharu Tsumura (Maido), and Santiago Lastra (Kol) will share kitchens with Xcaret's in-house stars, whose restaurants recently earned Mexico's first Michelin nods. Music comes from Colombian band Monsieur Periné, while novelist Laura Esquivel leads literary salons. Events unfold across Hotel Xcaret Arte, Hotel Xcaret México, La Casa de la Playa, and signature park venues, letting travelers pair cenote swims and jungle shows with high-level dining.
Background
Launched in 2024 as part of Grupo Xcaret's push into experience-driven hospitality, Apapaxoa drew 4,500 attendees in its debut year and sold out headline dinners within days. Organizers credit the format-equal parts conference, Festival, and progressive supper-for attracting a mix of culinary professionals and leisure travelers looking beyond beach nightlife. Riviera Maya's Hotel occupancy jumped five points during last year's edition, according to the Mexican Caribbean Tourism Board, prompting the group to lengthen the 2025 program by an extra day and recruit an expanded international roster. Xcaret also leverages the festival to showcase its sustainability ethos: zero single-use plastics, composting of food waste, and menus built around small-scale producers from Yucatán to Oaxaca.
Latest Developments
Ticket Sales Open With Tiered Access
Festival passes went on public Sale July 28 via Xcaret and partner platform Fever. Prices open at MX$2,950.00(MXN) which is roughly $170.00(USD) for a one-day "Apapaxo Day" badge that covers daytime talks plus park entry, while a six-day "Apapaxo Total" wristband lists at MX$18,500.00(MXN) which is roughly $1,060.00(USD) and unlocks every dinner, brunch, and tasting. Guests can add lodging bundles at the three Xcaret hotels; rooms include private ferry transfers between venues and priority seating at headline events.
Tribute Dinner Honors Enrique Olvera
The marquee evening on August 28 pays homage to chef Enrique Olvera, whose restaurant Pujol helped reframe Mexican fine dining worldwide. Alumni chefs Santiago Lastra, Mitsuharu Tsumura, and Paco Régulo will craft a multi-course menu reflecting Olvera's "ingredient-first" philosophy, paired with Baja and Valle de Guadalupe wines selected by sommelier Sandra Fernández. Limited to 200 seats in Hotel Xcaret Arte's Frida ballroom, the dinner sold sixty percent of its allocation in the first twenty-four hours of ticket sales, with seats priced at $350.00(USD).
Xcaret Hotels Gastronomic Collective Takes Center Stage
Throughout the week, Xcaret's seventeen-chef collective-spanning Michelin-starred Ha', plant-based Bio, and Maya-inspired Xaak-will host collaborative dinners themed around regional corn varieties, coastal sustainability, and pre-Hispanic fermentation. Interactive "Stories with Flavor" sessions invite travelers to taste alongside panelists discussing how cuisine drives cultural memory and tourism development.
Analysis
Apapaxoa's sophomore outing underscores two macro-trends reshaping Mexico's Caribbean coast. First, culinary tourism is advancing from ancillary add-on to primary trip driver; Quintana Roo's tourism board notes that food-focused experiences now influence forty-one percent of U.S. bookings, up from twenty-seven percent in 2019. Second, destination resorts are shifting from celebrity-chef licensing deals to curating multi-chef collectives that refresh programming year-round. Xcaret's model-rotating high-profile guests through permanent kitchens-keeps menus dynamic without diluting brand identity. For travelers, the benefit is depth: attendees sample everything from Mixtec milpa cuisine to Andalusian plankton dishes in one tightly curated circuit, all while staying inside a single ecological reserve. For Riviera Maya, the Festival acts as low-season ballast, filling August shoulder-week nights that historically dipped below sixty percent occupancy. If 2025 meets its goal of 6,000 attendees, local tourism officials project an $11,000,000.00(USD) injection into transport, Tours, and artisanal supply chains-evidence that gastronomy, not just sun and sand, now anchors the region's value proposition.
Final Thoughts
Apapaxoa's blend of star-powered kitchens, indigenous storytelling, and cenote-side stages offers travelers a rare chance to taste Mexico's past and future in a single week. With ticket tiers still available and room packages bundled for ease, food-minded visitors can turn late August into a Progressive Feast of the Yucatán, enriched by the immersive setting only Xcaret can provide. Expect seats at the Enrique Olvera tribute and the women-led opening dinner to disappear next, so culinary pilgrims should lock in plans soon to savor the Apapaxoa GastroCultural Festival.