Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report We LOVED Oaxaca!

We LOVED Oaxaca! Me encanta Oaxaca! And I’m missing it right now! Having just spent 10 wonderful days in Oaxaca, here are some thoughts, in no particular order. It’s a wonderful and vibrant city that reveals itself bit by bit. Very colorful, excellent food from lowbrow to highbrow. The region is filled with some beautiful sights and the many specialized craft towns are fun to visit. Lots of markets! Wonderful ruins scattered around the region.

We are a reasonably active senior couple who love to travel. We decided to come to Mexico and chose Oaxaca for a longish stay so we could get to “feel” the place. By the time we decided to visit, many of the accommodations were fully booked, especially for a longer stay, and I wanted to stay in one place. We lucked out with Hotel Pereyra, a small family-run hotel, more of a guesthouse than a hotel. It’s not posh, but it’s comfortable, owned and run by a lovely couple, Sara and Cesar, who manage the hotel with a caring touch. There’s an intimacy here that is special - we felt we were among friends. They are also very helpful with reservations and arranged all our day trips through a taxi service they use at very reasonable rates. This was Sara’s home growing up and she and Cesar got married in this home. It was turned into a hotel about 15 years ago.

We aren’t big foodies, generally preferring home style places and casual restaurants. With Oaxaca’s reputation, we tried a mix of places. We also did an amazing food tour with Me Encanta Oaxaca, eating our way through markets and small stands over the course of 6 hours!

We ate at the following places:

Dinners

Gozobi - nice overview of Oaxaca from their terrace, good food (and a lot of it!), not fancy but fun

Humar - relatively new casual restaurant focusing on easy dishes with a focus on seafood

La Popular - really good casual restaurant for traditional Mexican food

Origen - a restaurant with a reputation. Why, we had no idea. The food was really uninspired and bland.

Levadura de Olla - Our favorite! No pretense, but well-executed traditional food done with a contemporary flair

Casa Oaxaca - Said to be the best restaurant in Oaxaca again, a restaurant serving traditional food but in a contemporary style. While it was good, we didn’t find it that special and in fact found the food tasted better at Levadura de Olla.

Quinque - local place near our hotel that served okay food, nothing special.

Tlayuda de Negro - truly a mistake to go! This place is on the corner of where our hotel is located and it looks like a funky event space. The food really wasn’t bad at all, but the ambience was loud and definitely the opposite of posh! I would not recommend.

Lunches in Oaxaca de Juarez

Ceviches Chino, a stand at the Mercado Benita Juarez for ceviche (what else?!)

La Cosecha, a small but lovely organic market

Tamales Cande @ Mercado Sanchez Pascuas

Restaurante Coronita for the 7 mole special!

What we did in Oaxaca de Juarez (the city of Oaxaca)

Walked, walked, walked
-Ate lots of nieves (ices - nuez, or walnut, was my favorite but try them all and helado (ice cream). Note that nieves is much more common.
Watched numerous calendas - festive events following weddings and celebrations by Santa Domingo church on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays)
Took the great food tour (mentioned above) and an excellent walking tour with Oaxaca Free tours (pay what you wish) with Raul
Explored Jalatlaco, a quirky barrio, or neighborhood, in the northeast part of Oaxaca, and stopped to watch dancing in Parque Llano
Enjoyed many of the small museums in Oaxaca: Museo Textil de Oaxaca, used de las Culturas de Oaxaca, Centro Fotográfico Álvarez Bravo), Museo de Arte Cintemporaneo de Oaxaca, Centro Cultural San Pablo and wandered in and out of many small galleries
Explored the big markets - Benito Juarez and 20 de Noviembre
Gaped at all the amazing street art

4 separate day trips:
1) Sunday- first stop, Mitla, one of the 2 larger archeological sites in Oaxaca; then to Tlacolula for the large traditional Sunday market, tasting baracoa (goat meat stewed in red sauce and served with tortillas - I liked it okay, M found it too rich) and stopped into the church and viewed the ornate chapel; and finally to Teotitlan, where we were taken to Casa Don Juan, a 5-generation rug weaving family where we received a wonderful overview of the process. We didn’t get to explore the town or other places, but this turned out to be a wonderful experience. Oh, and of course, we bought a rug2) Monday- Monte Alban - we had a driver arranged for us, who took us there and back. We hired a guide at the site but it really wasn’t a good overview of the site. I’d recommend either hiring a private guide beforehand, going with a small tour, or getting a good guidebook. Still, it is a fabulous visit and we loved being there.

My description of the visit for a travel group I’m in:

“Monte Albán was fantastic! A large archeological site a short distance from Oaxaca, we were both quite taken by the site (and sight!). Located on top of a flattened mountaintop, it was the capital of the Zapotec civilization from 500BC to 800AD, reaching its peak between 200 and 600AD. It’s an extensive site, only partially excavated, but what is there has an impressive grandeur when taking in the scope of the site.

The Zapotec name for Monte Albán is Dani Baá, which means Sacred Mountain. There’s several sections to the site, but the main plaza contains several buildings, including an astronomical observatory. The Galeria de Los Danzantes, a series of steles (not original, but recreated to mimic the objects as they were found) likely show defeated warriors from other cities. Still, these objects feel real and very powerful.

There is also a small museum on site which feature objects found, including many objects from daily life.

Visiting Monte Albán, one really feels the power of the place.”

3) Tuesday- Hierve el Agua - a great site. Again, here’s my description for my travel group:

“Hierve el Agua, which means “The Water Boils”, does not, in fact boil, but the water in the mineral springs here looks like it is! These springs, filled with calcium, have been building up for millennia, and form the calcifications that are called “petrified waterfalls”. There are also pools that were formed by the water that one can swim in. We managed to dip our toes in, at least!

We walked from an overlook down below one of the main “waterfalls” - a long walk down! Unfortunately, the long walk back up took its toll on me, and I had a bit of a rough return, although Michael and our guide, Antonio, did yeoman service and helped me make it back up. We were accompanied by Antonio, who spoke no English, but whose energy and warm demeanor made him an easy companion. And, fortunately, Michael manages to communicate well enough in Spanish.”

Despite some rough going, it was worth it as it’s a spectacular site.”

4) Thursday - first stop, Zaachila - for its traditional market and livestock market, as well as a tiny but fascinating archeological site; then drove to San Barton Coyotepec to look at black pottery; and finally, we stopped in San Martín Tilcajete, the town where alebrijes are made.

Alebrijes are fantastical creatures painted with elaborate decoration. They were first created by an artist and sculptor in 1936 who saw this in a dream in a fevered state. It’s said that he kept repeating the word, “alebrijes”. After that, he began making them in papier mache. A friend and fellow sculptor from Oaxaca began making them in wood, where it caught on, and soon workshops developed teaching the style to others. Now the town of San Martín is known for these wonderfully imaginative creatures.

We absolutely loved Oaxaca and would go back again in a heartbeat - except there are now too many other areas to explore!