When first researching in where to go in Mexico, we came across the state of Oaxaca. We didn’t even know how to pronounce it correctly! (Btw, it’s wah-haa-kah) But after some more research, we found out it would be a great place to explore nature, culture but also it’s delicious food and drinks. After staying a month in Oaxaca city (Oaxaca de Juarez) and another 2 weeks at the Oaxacan coast, we were not disappointed and loved our stay in this southern of Mexico!

Our month stay in Oaxaca de Juarez was memorable! Besides it being the holiday season of 2020 (yep, Covid messed up a lot of plans and gatherings…) we also had an amazing time in this city.

Oaxaca de Jaurez is at the foothills of the well known Sierra Madre and known for it’s heritage tourism. There are numerous colonial buildings/structures and also many archeological sites (in and around the city). It is one of the biggest cities we visited so far, with aprox 1 million inhabitants (300K in the city and another 650K in the metropolitan area). It’s inland Mexico and about a 7 hour drive to the nearest beach.

Here are some of the top activities we enjoyed and recommend:

Visiting the markets (mercados): there are many markets around town. Our favorites were the mercado de Abastos and Mercado Sanches Pascuas. Mercado de Abastos is HUGE and you can easily get lost in it. It is also known of being more dangerous, hence be aware of your surroundings and possessions. We had no issues but we had been warned by locals. The vendors were all very nice, friendly and helpful. The variety of items is impressive: from many types of machetes and table grills to exotic fruits, breads, nuts, mezcal, etc. If you need anything, you will find it there. Definitely find one of the places that sells mole and do a tasting. Most of these stores offer more then 10 different types of mole and they are DELICIOUS (it’s one of the delicious foods Oaxaca is known for!). These stores tend to also have many types of chocolate and mezcal!! Finally, definitely plan to have lunch at Abastos after all that shopping. There is a great variety of food options, from the sit down with menu places to the carts that only sell one type of dish! The Mercado Sanches Pascuas was the market closer to our home and is very small but has all the basics. We also loved the food options like freshly made tamales (get there early, as the tamale lady frequently ran out of them) to the delicious freshly made juices. You can pick any fruit or combination of fruits and vegetables, they blend it at the spot and a 1L cup was only $1.5! A great way to start your day or a refreshing snack while exploring town. The mercado 20 de noviembro and Benito Juarez are also good options, but we found it much more touristy and the vendors taking advantage of that.

Visiting archeological sites: we went to Monte Alban and Mitla. Kaio wrote a nice blog post about our experience in this blog post!

Exploring the amazing street art: on our first stroll around town we were mesmerized by the amazing street art. Throughout our stay we kept finding new and unique graffitis on every walk we took. They are colorful, original and unique!

Cerro El Fortin: this state park was very near to our airbnb and as runners, a perfect place to explore. We took the kids hiking there and there are several trails. It also is where the Guelaguetza auditorium is located. The Guelaguetza auditorium hosts the festival, by the same name, every July. This is a gathering of local tribes and known for the fun atmosphere. It is also used for other concerts throughout the year. Unfortunately in 2020 all of the events have been cancelled. The staircase from Calle de Manuel Sabino Crespo to the auditorium is a great exercise location and popular with locals!

Exploring the Sierra Norte: one day we decided to explore, by car, the mountains north of Oaxaca de Juarez, the Sierra Nortes. There are many towns north and north east of Oaxaca that are are well known and very popular for their eco tourism. With cute cabins and many outdoor activities. The road getting there is windy but very picturesque. Besides all the interesting road side vendors, the towns are also fun to explore. Unfortunately, due to Covid, many of these towns were closed. (There are literally barbed wire and rock blocking the entrance to the towns). We had aimed to get to Ixtlan de Juarez for their Friday market and then hike somewhere in the vicinity. However the town was closed to visitors, so we ended finding a trial outside the city to explore. We stopped by a roadside restaurant and made it a fun day anyhow!

Mezcal tour and art town: One day trip we really enjoyed was doing a mezcal tour followed by walking around the town of San Martin Tilcajete. Mezcal is the cousin of tequila and we were interested to see it’s production after taking a tour in Tequila. There are many mezcalerias in the area, some more touristy/popular then others. Many are on the way between Oaxaca de Juarez and Mitla. We opted to tour LaLocura (located in Santa Catarina de Minas, south of Oaxaca). We highly recommend this place. It was very informative, personalized and interesting. This is also a farm, so the kids had fun interacting with the many animal but also engaged in understand the production of Mezcal by seeing the different types of ‘magueys’ (agave plants) and seeing the active process of smoking the agave, fermenting and distilling. The tasting at the end was generous and also very informative. After our tour we drove to the nearby town of San Martin Tilcajete. This town is known for its colorful painted wooden creatures, called alebrijes. You will find these colorful pieces of art everywhere in the area, but the original town that is known for the alebrijes is San Martin Tilcajete. We walked into some of the stores and were treated with seeing locals at work producing these beautiful and colorful creatures. In moments like this we wished we had a bigger car to take them home or even have our own home to display this beautiful art!

We were lucky to have had a month to explore Oaxaca de Juarez. However, even if you only have a week, this place is definitely worth a visit! People are genuinely friendly and helpful, there are so many places to explore and it has a good infrastructure of good hotels and Airbnb’s, supermarkets, mercados, restaurants, street food and even malls.