The Island Of The Dolls
Deep in the canals of Xochimilco, located just South of Mexico City, lies a disturbing omen to a mysterious and tragic past. Here, a small island, which can only be reached via an arduous boat trip, lined with hundreds of deformed, decapitated and sinister looking dolls exists. This place is known to locals as Isla De Las Muñecas, which translates to The Island Of The Dolls in English.
The island is a creepy and disturbing place to behold, yet the haunted legend that accompanies this Island Of The Dolls is far more horrific.
The Legend of The Island Of The Dolls
The Story behind the Island Of The Dolls has a tragic beginning. Legend states that many years ago a man named Julian Santana Barrera moved to an island, where he wished to escape society and become a recluse. Upon arriving, he found the body of a young girl floating dead, face down in the water, next to the island he was to call home.
Soon after, Julian found a doll floating nearby in the same water. To show his respect for the deceased girl, he picked up and strung the doll up to one of the island’s trees. It is told that Julian began to hear suspicious noises of voices in the darkness of night whilst trying to sleep, despite being in the solitude of the Xochimilco canals. He feared that the spirit of the dead little girl he had found had returned to the island to haunt him. This fear drove him to begin collecting dolls and displaying them all around the island in an attempt to ward off and appease her spirit.
Julian would continue this practice of collecting and displaying dolls around his island for the next 50 years until his death in 2001. Julian’s death adds extra mystery to this legend as his nephew was to discover his lifeless body, floating face down in the water in the exact spot the little girl’s body was found years before. Many believe that Julian’s spirit has now joined the many others said to already haunt The Island Of The Dolls.
Today, the island still exists and displays hundreds of unwelcoming and disturbing dolls. The legend of Isla De Las Muñecas is widely and well known to many having featured in many popular televisions shows such as Ghost Adventures and Destination Truth. This exposure to the masses has resulted in the island becoming a popular tourist attraction for visitors to Mexico City, yet has also caused the creation of fake doll islands and confusion with navigating to the original island for many.
Tips For Visiting Island Of The Dolls
I was recently successful in visiting The Island Of The Dolls and thought it necessary to share my experience. I found a lot of confusing and disheartening information on the internet about locals looking to scam tourists and fake doll islands. As someone who is not fluent in Spanish this was a concern and something I greatly researched before making the trek. I hope the following information is useful to someone and I believe that if I am able to make it to the island, anyone should be able to.
Where do I need to go to visit the Island Of The Dolls?
There are multiple piers that allow guests to explore the canals. However, I recommend leaving from Xochimilco’s Embarcadero Celada. This pier is located in close proximity to The Island Of The Dolls and has many boats to choose from. I found the boat keepers polite and easy to negotiate with.
When should you visit the Island Of The Dolls?
I recommend visiting The Island Of The Dolls on a weekday, since the canals are supposedly crowded and busy on weekends. I visited on a Monday and found negotiation peaceful and few other travelers around. Research before you visit to make sure you don’t end up at the port on a public holiday.
How much does it cost to visit the Island Of The Dolls?
You’ll have to negotiate for a boat to take you from the port. There is signage at the front of the pier that displays the maximum cost per hour for a boat (note this price is not per person). If you are able to find others at the Embarcadero wishing to visit the island, splitting the fare helps to reduce costs. As at April 2018, the cost per hour for a boat was 500 pesos. It is a 4-hour round trip to the island, so expect to pay a maximum of 2000 pesos. If you are fluent in Spanish you could also try your luck negotiating a cheaper price. Once you get to the island, you will also need cash to tip the caretaker of the island to enter. I also brought a few hundred pesos to tip my boat driver. Finally, be sure to bring plenty of water and food. The boats have table and chairs on them so it is perfect for a picnic on the canals.
How do you tell the fake island from the real island?
Make sure to agree up front with the boat keeper to go to the real doll island and not the fake one or ‘imitation.’ You’ll know you are on the right track to the correct one as you’ll pass an island of dolls covered in a fence of black shade cloth. You’ll continue onto the real Island Of The Dolls which is surrounded by a bamboo fencing. It should take between 1:30 and 2:00 hours to get to the island. Any shorter, and it is likely you are at a fake.
Useful Spanish Phrases to get to The Island Of The Dolls
We would like to go to the Island Of The Dolls.
Nos gustaría ir a la isla de las muñecas.
We want to go to the correct island, not the imitation island.
Queremos ir a la isla correcta, no a la isla de imitación.
This is not the correct island.
Esta no es la isla correcta.
How much will it cost?
¿cuanto costara?
Don’t forget to pay your respects to Julian and the little girl he found in the water at the island’s shrine and take lots of photos. Isla De Las Muñecas is a must see for fans of the macabre, horror and the paranormal.
If you enjoyed reading this article and want to check out other unique places of death, have a read about this creepy pet cemetery in San Francisco.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Posted by Sonia waine on April 9, 2018
Another great blog Amy, good tips and good information, well donexx
Posted by Amy on April 9, 2018
Thanks for reading Sonia. Glad you found the information useful. Not knowing any Spanish makes it even harder but it was totally worth it.
Posted by peter on October 20, 2018
Just watched the video on youtube, leading me to this article great reading Amy
Posted by Amy on October 20, 2018
Thank you so much Peter. Glad you found my article. I write one of these for every place I visit ?
Posted by peter on October 21, 2018
You´re very welcome Amy its very good nice i´ll have to read them some day maybe after watching all your videos 😉
Posted by K R on November 19, 2018
Thanks for the tips. We want to go sometime next year and what little information I’ve see is from a few years ago, so yours being so recent is a lot of help.
Posted by Amy on November 19, 2018
Hi KR. Feel free to reach out to me on here or via email if you need ANY suggestions or help. There is a map in my Youtube video on this page which may also be useful to you. If you are able to have internet/GPS on your phone at the time, it may help to ensure you go to the right island. Here is a link to the exact location of the REAL doll island.
Posted by Diane on January 13, 2019
Hey Amy!! Does anyone know who the little girl was?? I don’t recall ever hearing anything about her, her name, etc. Obviously she’s a big part of the mystic of the story and the island. The shows I’ve seen (Ghost Adventures, Strange Places,etc) focus on the island itself and little bit about Julian but never her.
Posted by Amy on January 13, 2019
Hi Diane. Thanks for reading. As far as I know, the little girl is unknown. Sometimes with ghost stories it can be hard to trace back to the original source as they are normally undocumented, word of mouth etc. In saying that though, although not much is known about the girl, she does play a big role in the story because supposedly it was because of her spirit that Julian began collecting the dolls in the first place.
Posted by KR on March 5, 2019
Hello, we are actually planning on visiting the island in about 2 weeks. I’ve been meaning to ask, does the boat wait for you while you’re on the island or do they come back to pick up at a later time? Was it hard to get someone to agree to take you there? Also, were there other people on the island or boat with you?
Thanks!
-KR
Posted by Amy on March 6, 2019
Hi KR. Thank you so much for reading my post and leaving a comment. That is awesome that you are planning a trip there, you will have such a great time. The boat will indeed wait for you while you are on the island. If you want to spend a set amount of time on the island, I would recommend just letting your boat person know just incase. We did not find it overly hard to get a boat to take us (though we went on a weekday so it was much quieter – I heard the canals can get really busy during the weekend). In addition, we had a boat to ourselves but you can talk to other tourists heading to the island and see if they would like to share a boat to save money. The price is per boat (not per person), and it was around 500 pesos per hour for the boat. The round trip to and from doll island is 4 hours so you can expect to pay a max of 2000 pesos ($100USD). I have heard you can negotiate a cheaper price, and of course it is even cheaper if you share a boat with others. There were other people on the Island who had taken separate boats, as well as some locals that appeared to live on the Island. Good luck and let me know how your trip goes.
Posted by Courtney Schade on March 21, 2019
Hi Amy,
This info is so helpful! I’m curious to know how much you tipped the caretaker of the island, and how much you tipped the boat driver – in addition to the $2000 pesos for the round trip boat ride? Did you get a sense that a caretaker is present at the island every day? Due to my other travel plans – I’d end up visiting on a Saturday.
Thanks so much!
Posted by Amy on March 24, 2019
Thanks for the comment, Courtney! I am so glad to hear you found my article helpful. I actually cannot recall the exact amount that we tipped the caretaker of the island. It was more of a fixed entrance fee though rather than a tip. I would say it wouldn’t have been any more than $10US. This would have been around the same price we tipped our boat driver. This isn’t something that is expected, but he worked pretty hard to get is to the island. If I had to guess I would definitely say the island is open on a Saturday. It seemed like a pretty big tour stop advertised by the boats on the canals and Saturday would likely be their busiest day for business. Hope this helps and you have an excellent trip!
Posted by KR on April 4, 2019
Hello,
I visited La Isla de las muñecas on March 18, 2019.
Maybe we were lucky, but it was relatively easy to find a boat (trajinera) to take us.
Our little boat parted from Embarcadero Caltongo, though. The price is still 500 pesos/hr. Maybe because we used a different embarcadero, but they wanted to charge us 2500 pesos total because it’s a little over 4 hrs. they said. We managed to bring it down to 2300 pesos. It actually took us about an hour and change to get to the island. The cost to enter is 40 pesos (w/ the current exchange rate it was about $2.65).
They won’t take you after 3pm, they told us.
Once on the island, they tell you the story/legend. I didn’t know that Don Julian’s nephew, the one that took over when he died has also died. They told us he died last month. Now more family members have taken over.
When we got to the embarcadero they offered us a tour and told us they would take us to the fake island. When we mentioned wanting to go to the real one that was when they told us it was about a 4 hr trip. If you do travel from embarcadero caltongo, to go to the real island the boat needs to go left, then it is lifted over a bridge by a crane. Since we took less time to a fro, we asked our driver to take us around the canals. We passed by the fake island too. That one is towards the right hand side and very close to the dock.
Overall I’m glad I got to experience the island. FYI, there are even dolls in the bathroom. Makes for a creepy bathroom experience.
Posted by Amy on April 4, 2019
Hi KR – Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I am glad it worked out for you and you were able to visit the Island of the Dolls. I don’t recall using the bathroom when I was there but I will take your word for it, haha. Cheers for sharing.
Posted by Kym Vanden Elzen (@ElzenKym) on October 2, 2019
Found this tour in arbnb but thinking it’s fake the entire tour is 4.5 hours. He says it an hour to get there so fake?
[link redacted]
Posted by Amy on October 3, 2019
It is hard for me to say if this one is real or not. It will be difficult to tell if it is the real island of the dolls or the fake one when buying online. My best suggestion is to purchase it on the day, and negotiate with your boat rider to make sure you go to the right one. Use GPS to track your ride and keep an eye on it.
Posted by Nat on July 6, 2020
Hi there,
Quick question, can you spend a night on the island? In a tent?
I’ve been doing some research but couldn’t find anything.
Best
Nat
Posted by Amy on July 6, 2020
Hi Nat! Thanks for reading. This wasn’t something that I saw advertised as an option when visited. I’d say it would need to be negotiated with the owners of the island and the boat operators on the day when you visit. I’m also not sure how you could contact them in advance to organize something like this. Best of luck, I’d love to know how you go with this!