Learn more about indigenous cultures, visit Mayan archaeological sites, and delve deeper into traditional Oaxacan cuisine. Here’s how to get the best from three days in Oaxaca.

Spend your first day getting your bearings in the historic centre of Oaxaca. Start at the Benito Juárez Markets.

Easy morning

Dedicate day two to a day trip. Oaxaca City is surrounded by indigenous villages and handicraft towns, making it the ideal base from which to discover new cultures and crafts.

Take a trip

Pick up some new skills on day three in Oaxaca City during a cooking class, tasting tour, or craft course. Learn how to properly taste and appreciate the smoky flavors of mezcal at a sampling session in one of the city’s many mezcalerías (mezcal bars). Or, get to grips with Oaxacan cooking instead. Many cooking classes start mid-morning, allowing you to enjoy a leisurely breakfast before getting hands-on in the kitchen with a chef. If you’d rather create a souvenir to take home with you, it’s worth venturing a little outside the city to San Martín Tilcajete, where you can get hands-on insight into alebrijes (painted wooden figures) during a workshop.

Take a class

Museum of Cultures of Oaxaca, Santo Domingo

Enjoy dinner at one of Oaxaca City’s restaurants—trying traditional mole sauce is a must for food lovers—and sample mezcal or pulque afterwards. If it’s Guelaguetza season, skip dinner in the city and take an excursion to the festival’s hilltop music and dance performance which spotlights indigenous cultures.

In the evening 

Observe local life in the zócalo (plaza) with a homemade ice cream or spicy elote (corn) before strolling along Calle Alcalá to the Santo Domingo Temple.

Afternoon

Zócalo (Plaza de la Constitución)

Mercado Benito Juárez

San Bartolo Coyotepec

Arrazola

Mitla

Monte Albán

Hierve el Agua

Tree of Tule

Teotitlan del Valle

Santiago Matatlan

Explore handicraft and artisan villages

Places to explore archaeology

Cool off in the midday Oaxacan heat at Hierve el Agua, a petrified waterfall. Excursions to Hierve el Agua often make additional stops at places such as Tule, home to one of the world’s biggest trees; the weaving town of Teotitlán del Valle; and the mezcal hotspot of Santiago Matatlán.

3 days in Oaxaca

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