If You’re Planning a Trip to Oaxaca, Start Here:
We created this multi-part Oaxaca Travel Guide immediately after spending about a month in Oaxaca City in the winter of 2023. I wouldn’t say that we lived here but we did YOLO the eff out of our visit, spending as much time exploring Oaxaca as we could handle. This guide is a collection of all our research and experience. I hope it is a helpful guide to Oaxaca as you plan your trip.
Oaxaca, Oaxaca City and Oaxaca de Juarez
Just a quick note on Oaxaca: “Oaxaca” refers to both the Mexican state and its capital city. Oaxaca de Juarez is the full name of the capital city of Oaxaca state, but it’s shortened to “Oaxaca.” It may be called Oaxaca City in English. Something to keep in mind!
Where to Stay in Oaxaca
Let’s orient ourselves. The hardest part of trip planning for me is always figuring out the basics of where things are located.
Below is a map of Oaxaca City highlighting the neighborhoods in the downtown area.
I have literally no idea where you should stay (sorry) and I won’t pretend that I do. BUT the travel blogger who made this map is a great reference! Visit Miss Tourist’s post on Where To Stay in Oaxaca.
I didn’t stay at a hotel because I traveled to Oaxaca in a teardrop trailer. If you carry your home with you, the absolute best place to stay is El Rancho in Tule (about 20 minutes from town). Green grass, shade, a gorgeous pool… this is still one of our all time favorite campgrounds in mainland Mexico.
Oaxaca Neighborhood Guide
Zocalo
Many cities and towns in Mexico have a “zócalo” which is the main plaza or square of the city. It is the historical center of community, commerce, and religion. It is marked by a park or open space, often with a church next door and sometimes a market nearby.
The Zocalo neighborhood of Oaxaca contains, obviously, the zocalo but also the main cathedral (Catedral de Oaxaca), several museums and two of the larger markets: 20 de Noviembre and Benito Juarez. This is the busiest part of town.
Santo Domingo/Centro
As far as your visit goes, you’ll probably spend most of your time here. Most of our Oaxaca travel guide centers around this neighborhood. If Zocalo is the commercial center of Oaxaca, this is the center of culture, food and nightlife. Many streets around Santo Domingo Church are pedestrian only and are perfect for wandering.
Parks, restaurants, bars, art spaces, shopping and cute artisan markets are centered in this trendy and tourist friendly neighborhood. If you stay near Santo Domingo you’ll be able to walk everywhere easily. (I’m not distinguishing Centro and Santo Domingo – they’re basically the same)
Jalatlaco
This small neighborhood is undoubtedly the cutest. It’s quieter, a little more chill. The main draw to this little corner of downtown, just east of Santo Domingo, is the amazing street art and murals. It’s a good scene for wandering aimlessly or grabbing a drink and it’s super photogenic.
This might be your first exposure to the “tl” sound in Mexico. Get your tongue around this sound because you’re going to need it to order tlayudas. (WTF is a tlayuda?)
La Noria
This is a mostly residential neighborhood which is nice because I’m sure it’s more quiet than other parts of downtown.
La Reforma
Another recurring theme in Mexican cities: The reforma neighborhood is often newer and has undergone improvements and expansion to supplement the housing supply of the crowded downtown. Read: the newly minted, trendy, younger, cheaper place to live.
In Oaxaca, the Reforma neighborhood has excellent restaurants, more space, a lower key vibe, and is undoubtedly cheaper. It doesn’t have the same history or sightseeing as downtown and it’s across a busy road, but it’s easily walkable. Our travel guide touches on Reforma but there’s definitely more to explore there.
Xochimilco
This small neighborhood is not highlighted on the map above, but is on our sightseeing bucket list. In the space directly west (left) of Reforma and north of Santo Domingo is Barrio Xochimilco: the aqueduct neighborhood. You might end up here if you’re looking for trendy restaurants or if you check out our Walking Tours of Oaxaca page.
Getting Around Oaxaca
Should you rent a car? Imma go ahead and say no*
Using google maps for driving directions in Mexico is an art, not a science, and I don’t know if you want to try to master that in a week. There are multiple spots in Oaxaca where traffic crosses and you drive on the wrong side of the road. Sometimes you take a left from the far right lane. Rotaries are…….. exciting.
Alternately, you can get pretty much everywhere in downtown Oaxaca by walking. From Reforma you can take a cab if you want to save some time but traffic around Zocalo is crazy so maybe pick a drop-off further out.
*Source: We drove the entire time we were in Oaxaca. We had 6 weeks of practice driving through smaller cities in Mexico before getting here and it was still a learning experience. Parking is also hard to find.
But what about for day trips?
For day trips from Oaxaca, you can hire a tour bus or cab. If you’re really adventurous look into the cheaper alternative: colectivos, which are basically shared cabs. Check out the blog post by The Not So Innocents Abroad: What is a Colectivo? (it’s at the bottom of their post)
Some tourist sites like Hierve el Agua and the ruins at Mitla are a bit confusing/unintuitive if you don’t have a tour guide with you. We had the honor of paying two fees to Hierve el Agua because of an enterprising local who put up an impromptu toll on the road in. Another day we were an hour early to Monte Alban because the posted hours were wrong. A tour company or cab driver would have known that.
If you’re moving on from Oaxaca to go to the coast you can rent a car on your way out of the city.
Things To Do In Oaxaca
Excursions and Experiences Around Oaxaca
Now that you have your flight itinerary, accommodations and rental car (or not), the next obvious thing is to research and/or book your excursions and activities. Most of these probably don’t have to be booked too far ahead of time but if you really want to lock everything in, a month should be more than sufficient.
Here’s a list of the most popular excursions, activities and experiences around Oaxaca
- Authentic Mexican Cooking Classes – mole, tortillas, ceviche, tamales…
- Market Tour – some cooking classes include this! You can also DIY it
- Mezcal Tasting in the Valley – learn about Mezcal from a barrel-shaped bus
- Monte Alban – the biggest, most well-known ruins in Oaxaca
- Hierve el Agua – rock formations with spring-fed pools (you can swim!)
- Mitla – well preserved ruins important to the Zapotec people
- Teotitlan/Coyotepec/Atzompa/Tilcajete – the artisan villages
- Tlacolula Market – the biggest indigenous market in Oaxaca Valley
- The Tule Tree – the widest tree in the world (you can bike here)
For more info on day trips we wrote a guide to the Most Popular Day Trips in Oaxaca.
Touring Mexico Beyond Oaxaca
CDMX to Oaxaca to the Beach
Lots of travelers we met in Oaxaca were visiting the city as part of a larger trip. Often they were starting from a larger city (Guadalajara, Mexico City, Puebla) then coming to Oaxaca, then heading to the beaches of the Pacific Coast (Puerto Escondido, Mazunte/Zipolite, Huatulco)
Here are some destinations you might combine on a longer trip and how you could connect them:
Guadalajara > CDMX > Puebla > OAX > Puerto Escondido > Mazunte/Zipolite > Huatulco
Pro Tips While You’re Planning
Churches are closed to visitors during service hours / on Sat & Sun
Central de Abasto (the biggest market) is busiest on Saturday
Mitla Market Day is Saturday
Sunday is Market Day in Tlacolula (the only day)
Museums may be closed on Mondays or Tuesdays
And unfortunately, you can’t necessarily trust google hours for anything (it’s a thing)
Restaurants and Street Food in Oaxaca
If you want to eat at a specific nice restaurant, you may want to see if they accept reservations. Otherwise just start collecting restaurant recommendations.
For restaurant ratings and recommendations, a glossary of Mexican foods, or food safety tips click any of the articles below.
Sightseeing, Museums, and Shopping in Oaxaca
Here’s where our Oaxaca Travel Guide branches off into different directions BUT before you dive in to all the awesome things to do in Oaxaca, I recommend checking out our post on sightseeing. The best reference we found when touring Oaxaca was a free Tourist Guide we picked up at a museum that includes a fold out street map with markers for churches, museums, markets, attractions, and other points of interest.
