Advice for one week in Mexico
 

I wanted to spend about a week in Mexico at the end of November. I was thinking of Oaxaca but I also thought it would be nice to have one beach day. My main interests are architecture and ruins. I like art galleries and museums but in small doses. I'll be traveling alone so ideally, I'd like a place with something to do in the evenings - performing arts or the like. Is there any way to work that out and get in one beach day or is there another place someone could recommend? I don't want to be anywhere too touristy, so I'd rather not go to a resort town unless it's just for the day.

Oaxaca sounds perfect for you, except for the beach part!

The only way you could do the one beach day from Oaxaca would be to fly which would be quite expensive. Busing takes way to long for your time frame.

A day on the beach from Oaxaca is not really an option as Puerto Escondido and other beaches ont he Oaxaca coast are quite far away by land. Another option is to go one week to Merida, which is also another delightful city (although Oaxaca is my favorite) and from there you are relatively close to Cancun and other beaches on teh caribbean. However one day is stillnot enough. If any beach will do another nice city is Vercruz which is right on a beach although the beaches onthe Gulf of Mexico are not as nice. I would recommend sticking with Oaxaca.

my wife and I went to Oaxaca in Spetember, and then went on to Huatulco (a very pretty, non-touristy beach town on the Pacific Coast) for two days. I agree with the other posters -- the bus trip from Oaxaca to Huatulco was 9-1/2 brutal hours, and not something to be done for one day.

AeroMexico and Mexicana do fly into and out of Huatulco, so that may be an option, but it would be expensive for a day.

If you're not wedded to the beach, there are lots of day trips that you can take from Oaxaca -- small villages nearby (great on market days), Monte Alban (a great ruin), etc.

I notice that one other poster suggested Merida; we were there 2 years ago and didn't care for it. Different tastes, I guess . . .

Oaxaca is much smaller, prettier and more lively.

OK. Thanks. How about beach town with a little more to offer than beaches? Something that isn't too turisty but is accessible for a day trip to ruins or maybe some nice galleries and museums.

Thank you for your responses. I'm now looking at either spending a few days in Playa del Carmen with some daytrips to the ruins and surrounding areas or Oaxaca. I just posted a reply to another post with some questions about Playa del Carmen. It seems that if I stay in Oaxaca, a beach day is out of the question, but I was reading that there are springs nearby. Would that be a nice place to spend the day and soak up some sun?

Mexico is a pretty big country (bigger than you'd think), and there's lots of stuff to see and do. In reading these threads, it seems to me that you have to make a choice -- beach? resort? culture? art? architecture? ruins? food?

If you can narrow this down and realize than you might not be able to do everything on one trip (what better reason is there for going back?), then planning a trip will be a lot easier for you.

Thanks for your response, but I think I've essentially done that. I'm trying to figure out logistics and what a day trip to the springs might be like from Oaxaca. Either that or I will do a "beach trip" to Play del Carmen with a trip to ruins which it seems that people do. Any other responses?

Plan "B" may be more do-able. If you go to Playa, you can easily get to Tulum (less than an hour away) or, if you are more ambitious, take a bus tour to Chichen Itza.

Oaxaca is better than Playa overall (IMHO), but Playa does have a great beach and the major ruins are closer.

One final thought, if it doesn't make your choice even harder, is that Playa is a very pretty and lively tourist beach resort town, but NOTHING more -- no culture, no museums, no architecture, no performing arts. Nothin'.

we stayed in oaxaca for an entire week a few years ago. it was a fantastic place! there is so much to do that you may not miss your day at the beach. the surrounding villages are each renowned for different artwork and craft. the people were very friendly and the markets deliciously enchanting. the experience we had was so different from our previous visits to beach areas. enjoy!