I am planning a trip to Oaxaca for next month and would like to stay in one place and hire a driver/guide to take me to different villages to visit craftspeople as well as a few mezcal factories. Any suggestions?

I did this a few years ago. I wish I had the name of the guy we used, but it is extremely easy to find someone, even last minute. Just ask at hotel, or ask around at the taxi ranks. Many drivers have lived in the US and speak perfect English. They are not guides, but drivers, but they can give you heaps of local information. I will do the same on my next trip, next winter.

Thanks. Did you stay in one place and just visit different places? How long was your trip? I am still trying to figure this all out.

We were in DF, Puebla and Oaxaca. We stayed 8 days, I think, in Oaxaca. So out of those 8 days, at least three involved a trip outside the city, to Monte Alban, to Tlacolula market, and to carpet makers at Teotitlan. These taxi guys know it all..just ask around and find one who speaks good English if you are not fluent in Spanish. It's really a very easy city to find your way around. You can walk everywhere in the city itself. People are super friendly. We stayed at Casa Oaxaca but there are loads of great, small hotels and B&Bs.

We spent a week in Oaxaca in December and decided it wasn’t nearly enough. We stayed the whole week at Hotel Con Corazon which was excellent. A bonus was that it was run in a good cause. Most of the profits are used to support education projects for underprivileged children in the region. Great rooms, comfortable beds and an excellent breakfast. Good location too. If only all hotels in Mexico were like this one!

We used a driver provided by the hotel who was reasonably priced and took us out to a number of the villages in the valley and even managed to find the knife maker in Oclatan that Glover recommended to me here. I don’t have the drivers contact details but he was excellent and I think charged 200 pesos per hour.

I am having a heck of a time using the ADO sight; I heard they've got an app, but don't know the name. Can you help me navigate ADO's website?

I wish you did too!

Thanks. I am trying to figure it out because I also want to visit some markets and schedule a cooking class so there are many moving parts here. Suggestions welcome...

The ADO app is ADO Movíl.

The market you must go to is the Sunday one in Tlacolula. Saturday the one in the city is excellent, the Abastos, on the city's edge.

Anyone who is interested in carpets to bring home, or order, should take measurements along, and color chips from a paint store. The weavers can try to match your preferred colors using natural dyes if you like. It's also possible to find blankets but for that you would have to ask around. The blankets at Casa Oaxaca were so beautiful; the hotel gave me the name of the weaver but I had no time to seek him out.
The prices on those carpets are incredibly low for all the work and the time. And the people are so warm and welcoming. Try to get the names of some weavers in advance, or else you willl end up where the taxi driver takes you, which is not at all bad..just saying if you are after a particular style or person, get the name and an address that can be deciphered. The village is small and they all know each other.

Got it, thanks baldone

Thanks for your helpful suggestions.....wow Yay! Much appreciated.....