Oaxaca: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Oaxaca, in a high valley of southern Mexico, was founded by the Spanish in 1529 in a land of Zapotec and Mixtec peoples, who still make up much of its population. Its centre of green volcanic stone and the ruins of Monte Albán became a World Heritage site in 1987. It is the capital of mole, mezcal and the Day of the Dead. Half a day on foot.
A short history of Oaxaca
On a mountain above the Oaxaca Valley, the Zapotecs built Monte Albán around 500 BC, one of the first cities in Mesoamerica, and it dominated the region for more than a thousand years. In 1529 the Spanish founded the new city in the valley, first called Antequera. Benito Juárez, a Zapotec, was born nearby in 1806 and became Mexico's first indigenous president. The city is famous for its cuisine and for the craft markets of the indigenous peoples around it, and in 1987 its historic centre and Monte Albán were declared a World Heritage Site.
The ten best sights in Oaxaca
1ZócaloThe main square under laurel trees
2Oaxaca CathedralA green-stone facade on the square
3Santo DomingoA church covered in gold leaf
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4Museum of Oaxacan Cultures
The gold of Tomb 7
5Ethnobotanical GardenCacti of Oaxaca; guided tours only
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6IAGO
Francisco Toledo’s print library
7Rufino Tamayo MuseumA painter’s pre-Hispanic collection
8Basilica of La SoledadThe patron virgin; ice cream on the plaza
9JalatlacoA barrio of murals and cafés
10Guelaguetza AuditoriumThe July festival on the hill
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Oaxaca →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Oaxaca:
Free walking tours in Oaxaca
The green-stone city
Oaxaca, in a high valley of southern Mexico, was founded by the Spanish in 1529 in a land of Zapotec and Mixtec peoples, who still make up much of its population. Its centre of green volcanic stone and the ruins of Monte Albán became a World Heritage site in 1987. It is the capital of mole, mezcal and the Day of the Dead. Half a day on foot.
- Zócalo · The main square under old laurel trees, with a bandstand where the state band plays. In 2002 the painter Francisco Toledo stopped a McDonald’s from opening here by handing out free tamales on the square, and the plan was dropped.
- Rufino Tamayo Museum · The collection of pre-Hispanic art gathered by Rufino Tamayo, a Zapotec painter born in Oaxaca in 1899, who chose the pieces for their beauty rather than their archaeology and gave them to his city.
- IAGO · The graphic arts institute founded in 1988 by Francisco Toledo, Oaxaca’s great artist, in a colonial house, with a free library and exhibitions of prints. Toledo used his fame and fortune to save buildings, gardens and traditions across the city.
- Santo Domingo · A Dominican church begun in the 1570s, its interior covered in gilded plaster. Over the entrance spreads a carved family tree of Saint Dominic, with his ancestors growing from a vine. In the nineteenth century the church was used as army barracks.
- Museum of Oaxacan Cultures · In the former monastery, the treasure of Tomb 7 at Monte Albán, found in 1932 by the archaeologist Alfonso Caso: Mixtec gold jewellery, carved jaguar bones and a skull covered in turquoise, the richest find of its kind in the Americas at the time.
- Ethnobotanical Garden · Behind the church, on land that was to become a hotel and parking lot, Toledo and others created a garden of the plants of Oaxaca — cacti, agaves, the cochineal cactus — that can be visited only with a guide.
Markets and moles
Oaxaca is called the land of seven moles, and its markets are where to understand its food. Half a day; come hungry.
- Mercado Benito Juárez · Stalls of quesillo, the string cheese of Oaxaca wound into balls; chocolate ground with cinnamon and sugar; and baskets of chapulines, toasted grasshoppers with lime and chilli, eaten by the handful.
- Mercado 20 de Noviembre · Its smoke corridor is lined with butchers: you choose strips of beef, pork and chorizo, carry them to a grill, then sit at a table where women sell tortillas, salsa and vegetables to go with them.
- Central de Abastos · The vast wholesale market where the villages of the valley bring their produce, a maze of dried chillies, mole pastes, baskets and live turkeys. Keep valuables close.
- Basilica of La Soledad · The church of the Virgin of Solitude, patroness of Oaxaca. Legend says a mule carrying her statue lay down here in 1617 and would not rise, so the church was built on the spot. On the plaza, stalls sell nieves, ice creams flavoured with mezcal, burnt milk or prickly pear.
- Guelaguetza Auditorium · An open-air amphitheatre on the hill above town where, on two Mondays in July, delegations from the regions of Oaxaca dance the Guelaguetza and throw gifts of fruit, bread and hats to the audience. The word means mutual giving in Zapotec.
- Jalatlaco · One of the oldest barrios, of cobbled streets and low houses painted in strong colours and covered with murals, now full of cafés and small mezcal bars. Oaxaca state produces most of Mexico’s mezcal.
Monte Albán and the valley
Around the city spread the valleys of Oaxaca, with ancient cities, the craft villages that each make one thing, and a waterfall turned to stone. A full day by car or tour; the Tlacolula market is on Sundays.
- Monte Albán · The Zapotec capital, founded around 500 BC on a mountaintop levelled by hand some four hundred metres above the valley. Its oldest stones, the Danzantes, show carved naked figures once thought to be dancers, now believed to be slain captives.
- San Antonio Arrazola · The village of alebrijes, fantastic animals carved from copal wood and painted in dense patterns. The tradition here began with the carver Manuel Jiménez in the mid-twentieth century and now supports whole families.
- Árbol del Tule · A Montezuma cypress in a churchyard whose trunk measures about forty-two metres around, the stoutest of any tree in the world, and which may be some two thousand years old. Local children point out figures in its bark — an elephant, a lion.
- Teotitlán del Valle · A Zapotec village of weavers who make wool rugs on foot looms, dyed with natural colours: indigo, marigold, pomegranate and cochineal, a red from insects crushed by hand, whose colour changes with a drop of lime.
- Mitla · The religious centre of the Zapotecs, whose palace walls are covered in geometric mosaics of thousands of small stones cut and fitted without mortar. The Spanish built a church directly on top of one of the courtyards.
- Hierve el Agua · Springs rich in minerals that have built up cliffs of white rock looking like frozen waterfalls, with natural pools on the edge where you can swim above the valley.
Getting to Oaxaca and getting around
- Oaxaca Airport · About twenty-five minutes south of the centre
Cheap eats in Oaxaca
Oaxaca eats standing at the comal: tlayudas, huge thin tortillas spread with pork lard, beans, quesillo and meat, folded and toasted over charcoal; memelas, small thick tortillas with lard and cheese for breakfast; tamales in banana leaf with black mole; and tejate, a cold pre-Hispanic drink of maize and cacao, ladled from painted gourds. A tlayuda costs about four to six dollars.
- Mercado 20 de Noviembre · Mole stalls and the smoke corridor
- Mercado Benito Juárez · Tejate and chapulines
- Tlacolula · Barbacoa at the Sunday market
Museums in Oaxaca
Oaxaca’s museums hold the gold of the Mixtecs and the art of its painters.
- Museum of Oaxacan Cultures · Tomb 7
- Rufino Tamayo Museum · Pre-Hispanic art
- IAGO · Prints and books
Nature and day trips near Oaxaca
High valleys of agave and cactus, a giant tree and petrified waterfalls.
- Hierve el Agua · The stone falls
- Árbol del Tule · The great cypress
- Ethnobotanical Garden · The cacti
Things to do in Oaxaca with kids
With children: painting an alebrije, finding animals in a giant tree, swimming above a valley.
- San Antonio Arrazola · Paint an alebrije
- Árbol del Tule · Animals in the bark
- San Bartolo Coyotepec · Black clay workshops
Holy places in Oaxaca
Baroque churches built on Zapotec sacred ground, and the Day of the Dead.
- Santo Domingo · The gilded church
- Basilica of La Soledad · The patron virgin
- Mitla · Church on a palace
Nightlife in Oaxaca
Oaxaca’s nights are mezcal bars, calendas — street parades with giant puppets and brass bands — and rooftops over Santo Domingo.
- Jalatlaco · Mezcal bars
- Santo Domingo · Calendas on the plaza
- Zócalo · Music on the square
Frequently asked questions about Oaxaca
What is there to see in Oaxaca?
The top sights in Oaxaca are Zócalo, Oaxaca Cathedral and Santo Domingo. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Oaxaca?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Oaxaca without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Oaxaca?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Oaxaca, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The green-stone city.
How do you get to Oaxaca and get around?
The main ways are Oaxaca Airport. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Oaxaca, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Oaxaca that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Oaxaca for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.