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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!

Those stilts are scary!

Love your colorful photos.

Thanks for the report and photos

Thanks, Melnq8! It’s scary to look at them but at least I’m not on the stilts! They seem to handle it pretty well

MichelleY - glad you’re enjoying the report and photos! I’ll post more as I can.

Great photos (looks like you're a Baggallini girl too):)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melnq8 (Post 17444222)

Great photos (looks like you're a Baggallini girl too):)

Never leave home without it!

Sounds like a great trip! I love all the photos and restaurant detail!

Can you compare it to any Spanish towns or is it completely different?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lrice (Post 17444260)

Sounds like a great trip! I love all the photos and restaurant detail!

Can you compare it to any Spanish towns or is it completely different?

Thanks, Irice! Glad you’re enjoying this. More photos to come, too!

It’s really not comparable to any European towns. It’s a wonderful town, the elements of Spain are in some of the architecture, but the culture is not European at all. It’s more indigenous but very diverse.

Very nice, well done. Thanks for the effort. Looks like most of your pics are from in, around or near Santo Domingo. Which seems to have overtaken the Zócalo to a degree as a focal point of visitors to the historic center. I think the presence of so many vendor's stalls in the Zócalo may have contributed to me feeling that way.
I had to Google Baggallini. Thought it might some Italian pastry 😅

Thanks, baldone! You’re right, Santa Domingo is a big tourist center, though Zocalo seems to be much more local. The day we arrived, it was busy with demonstrations, and we did catch a little bit of dancing in the park on a Wednesday early evening. Another evening, there was an orchestra playing. So it’s still very active but not just a tourist center.

We’re currently in Mexico City but it seemed like our trip in Oaxaca warranted a report of its own. And there are many photos from around- not just Santa Domingo. I will post more pix soon!

One of the things that makes Oaxaca such a great place to be is that it’s large enough to keep one busy but small enough to walk pretty much everywhere. On a Saturday, we walked to Barrio de Jalatlaco, a quirky and colorful neighborhood in the northeastern corner of the city.

First, we walked through the very local Parque El Llano, where we watched a group of people practicing their dancing and had a tasty snack…

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8bf977dbc.jpeg
Dancing in the park
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...1df8a2119.jpeg
Dancing in the park
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8634c0a2f.jpeg
Park vendor
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...4efcdc01e.jpeg
This was really tasty

Is that licorice ice cream?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melnq8 (Post 17447145)

Is that licorice ice cream?

No, chocolate ice cream, with a chocolate skull!

That's some seriously dark chocolate.

Love the Skull Ice Cream!

Melnq8 and Pedro_Gorman,
The ice cream was delicious! But we also became very partial to the nieves, which was surprisingly rich and tasty!

Thank you for reporting on Oaxaca! We hope to visit next year and your report is very helpful.

Thanks, HapoyTrvlr! Oaxaca was such a wonderful surprise for us - though it probably shouldn’t have been, since so many people rave about it! And it didn’t feel overly “touristy”, but very much a thriving and alive city.

I’ll try to post more soon.

Great photos! You saw so much. We've been 3 times to Oaxaca and haven't seen some of what you did. Saving this for winter maybe.

Thanks, yestravel! As I keep saying, Oaxaca was such a surprise for us. And though it seems like we saw a lot, we really did it in a relaxed way. Of course, having 10 days to sightsee allows for a lot of breathing space! But it's also such a fun city to amble and not do too much.

Progol, when you get a chance will you include the information about your transportation? I am curious about Mexican airports, transportation from airports to hotels and how you got from Oaxaca to Mexico City. Thank you!

Quote:

Originally Posted by lrice (Post 17451527)

Hi, Irice,
We flew JFK to Mexico City, where we stayed in the airport hotel in Terminal 2, taking an 8:10am flight to Oaxaca. From the airport, we took a shuttle service (colectivo) to our hotel, Hotel Pereyra. The hotel arranged all our transportation around Oaxaca (though a taxi service ($15/hour), including all our day trips. I don’t have the name of the service but I imagine most hotels offer similar. Oaxaca is very walkable but if you need transportation in the city, taxis are very easy to use. Uber isn’t available in Oaxaca.

We flew from Oaxaca to Mexico City (less than an hour’s flight), taking an official taxi from the airport to our hotel in Condesa, Villa Condesa. Once there, we used Uber regularly, although we did take the metro one day with no problems. Ironic, given what happened to us later.

Hope that answers all your questions! If not, let me know!

Yes, thanks Progol! This helps! I look forward to your report on Mexico City to read about Villa Condesa and the neighborhood.

Hi progol ... I read on the Mexico City airport site you need to go to one of the modules at the arrivals area to get a "taxi ticket." How did that work? Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maitaitom (Post 17452644)

Hi progol ... I read on the Mexico City airport site you need to go to one of the modules at the arrivals area to get a "taxi ticket." How did that work? Thanks.

I don’t remember exactly where they were, but there was an area before you left the airport with several kiosks where you can purchase tickets for authorized cabs. It was pretty obvious so nothing to worry about. Then you go outside and there is a row of taxis that are clearly the official ones.

Monte Albán
We took a half day to explore Monte Albán and it was 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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by progol (Post 17451560)

Were you warned to avoid certain places at night?

Or advised not to flash expensive gear or cash in certain situations?

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrb11 (Post 17453938)

Were you warned to avoid certain places at night?

Or advised not to flash expensive gear or cash in certain situations?

No, we weren’t, not in Oaxaca. Are you asking about anything in particular?

Quote:

Originally Posted by progol (Post 17454086)

No, we weren’t, not in Oaxaca. Are you asking about anything in particular?

Just trying to get a feel for the place, as far as whether foreigners should be wary.

Of course State Dept has issued warnings recently about traveling through certain regions. I know Oaxaca wasn't one of those places. But something happens and then the warnings are issued.

Or Yucatan, there's been some civilian bystanders injured near Cancun.