Maps of Movies

Coco (2017)

Where Coco says it takes place, and where it was really shot.

A Pixar town with no map: the real Mexican places behind Santa Cecilia and the Land of the Dead

Scenes and places

The Rivera family's shoe workshop and home

Miguel lives with his shoemaking family, where music has been banned for generations. He secretly teaches himself guitar from videos of his idol, the singer Ernesto de la Cruz, and on the Day of the Dead he breaks a family photo and finds a clue that he might be related to his hero. When he tells the family, his grandmother destroys his guitar.

Set in Santa Cecilia, the Rivera family home and shoe workshop — The Rivera family home and shoe workshop in the fictional Mexican town of Santa Cecilia.

A fictional town; the film's team took inspiration from real villages in Michoacán and Oaxaca.

Filmed at Santa Fe de la Laguna, Quiroga, Michoacán — Village the film's team used as a base; named in the research as a key village for Santa Cecilia. This is a place that inspired the film's artists, not a place where anything was filmed (the film is computer animation). Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The plaza where Miguel dreams of Ernesto

Miguel looks up to Ernesto de la Cruz, a boy from this same town who became the most beloved singer in Mexican history. He feels connected to him and wants to play too, if only his family would let him.

Set in Santa Cecilia plaza — The town plaza where Ernesto de la Cruz took his first steps toward fame, and where Miguel dreams of the same.

The heart of the fictional town, where the film's festive decorations hang.

Filmed at San Jerónimo Tlacochahuaya, Oaxaca — Said to be the source village for the film's papel picado decorations in Santa Cecilia. This is a place that inspired the film's artists, not a place where anything was filmed (the film is computer animation). Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Miguel takes Ernesto's guitar

Miguel breaks into Ernesto's mausoleum and takes the famous guitar so he can enter the town's talent competition. The moment he strums it, the living can no longer see him, but his skeleton relatives can.

Set in Ernesto de la Cruz's mausoleum, Santa Cecilia — Miguel breaks into the mausoleum of Ernesto de la Cruz and takes his famous guitar.

A grand tomb for the town's star, in a cemetery decked out for the holiday.

The marigold bridge

Miguel crosses with his relatives into the Land of the Dead. Imelda is stopped at the bridge because Miguel took her photo off the family altar, and learns that without a photo there is no crossing.

Set in The marigold bridge — The flower bridge that dead relatives cross to visit the living on the Day of the Dead.

The flower bridge is the film's image of Day of the Dead marigold paths.

Arriving in the Land of the Dead

Miguel arrives in the Land of the Dead and learns he is cursed: he must get a family blessing before sunrise or stay forever. Imelda offers one only if he gives up music, and he refuses.

Set in Land of the Dead, arrival station — Miguel arrives with his dead relatives and meets the checkpoint where families wait to visit the living.

The afterlife's transit hub, where dead families queue to cross to the living world.

Filmed at Palacio de Correos de México, Mexico City — The research names this iron-framed post office as one inspiration for the Land of the Dead's central station, along with the Gran Hotel's glass dome and old trams. This is a place that inspired the film's artists, not a place where anything was filmed (the film is computer animation). Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

The towering city of the dead

Miguel meets Héctor, a skeleton who once played with Ernesto, and agrees to a deal: Héctor will lead him to Ernesto if Miguel puts Héctor's photo on an ofrenda so he can visit his daughter before she forgets him. To win entry to Ernesto's mansion they enter a talent competition.

Set in Land of the Dead, hillside city — The hillside city where Miguel searches for Ernesto and meets Héctor.

A stacked city of lit windows climbing a hillside.

Filmed at Guanajuato, Guanajuato — The research names Guanajuato as the first visible reference for the Land of the Dead's layered hillside city. This is a place that inspired the film's artists, not a place where anything was filmed (the film is computer animation). Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there:

Ernesto's mansion

Miguel sneaks into the mansion and is welcomed by his idol, but Héctor appears and accuses Ernesto of stealing his songs. As the two argue, Miguel begins to piece together what really happened between them.

Set in Ernesto de la Cruz's mansion — The mansion of Ernesto de la Cruz in the Land of the Dead.

A star's palace that no fan is supposed to get into.

Filmed at Monte Albán, Oaxaca — Land of the Dead, the ruins area Google Maps · Apple Maps

Characters

• Miguel — A boy who secretly wants to be a musician in a family that banned music.
• Imelda — Miguel's great-great-grandmother, who banned music after her husband left to pursue it.
• Héctor — A down-on-his-luck skeleton who once performed with Ernesto.