Things to Do in Oaxaca City: Markets, Mezcal, Monte Alban and Hierve el Agua

Things to do in Oaxaca City: the best activities at a glance

Oaxaca City rewards slow travel. The center is compact, flat enough to walk, and packed with churches, galleries, cafés and markets within a few blocks of each other.

Most of the things to do in Oaxaca fall into five groups: walking the historic center, eating your way through the markets, tasting mezcal, joining a guided tour or class, and day trips into the Central Valleys.

The city and the valley around it share one UNESCO listing. In 1987 UNESCO inscribed the historic center of Oaxaca together with the archaeological site of Monte Albán as a single World Heritage property, which tells you how closely the two belong together on a trip.

That also shapes how to plan. Mornings are the best time for ruins and markets, afternoons for museums and a long lunch, and evenings for the plazas, mezcal bars and rooftop terraces.

Inside the center you can walk almost everywhere. Streets are laid out in a grid, distances are short, and the main sights sit within about ten blocks of the Zócalo.

Outside it, the valley opens up: ruins, craft villages, mezcal distilleries and the mineral pools of Hierve el Agua are all within a day trip. That mix of a walkable colonial city and a rich countryside is what makes Oaxaca so easy to plan around.

Read the sections below for the details of each, from opening hours to which market to visit on which day.

An Oaxaca City to-do list for a first visit

If this is your first trip, these are the best things to do in Oaxaca City, roughly in the order most visitors fit them in.

Top things to do in Oaxaca City do not all need a ticket. Some of the best ones are free: the plazas, church interiors, street art in Jalatlaco and the free walking tours that leave from the center.

Places to visit in Oaxaca City cluster tightly, so you rarely need a taxi inside the center. You will want one, or a tour, for anything in the valley.

If you are building a wider Mexico trip, our guide to the best time to visit Mexico compares the seasons region by region.

How many days in Oaxaca is enough?

Three days is enough to see the city itself. Four or five days let you add the best day trips without rushing.

With less time, prioritize the historic center, one market morning and either Monte Albán or the Hierve el Agua loop.

With more time, slow down: Oaxaca is a city people extend trips for.

Order the days around opening hours. Monte Albán and Mitla open at 8:00, so an early start beats the midday sun and the tour buses.

The Santo Domingo museum is closed on Mondays, which makes Monday a good day for the valley.

Keep Sunday for the Tlacolula market if you can, and save the evenings for the Zócalo, a mezcal tasting and dinner. Altitude and heat can tire you more than you expect, so leave room for a long lunch and an afternoon break.

Base yourself in or near the historic center so you can walk to most sights. You can compare hotels in Oaxaca City by neighborhood before you book.

Mezcal in Oaxaca: tastings and distillery tours

Oaxaca is the heart of mezcal country, and tasting it is one of the most popular things to do here. You can do it in two ways.

The easy way is a tasting room in the historic center, where a bartender pours a flight of different agaves and explains how each was made.

You learn a lot in an hour without leaving town.

The deeper way is an Oaxaca mezcal tour to the palenques, the small family distilleries in the valley east of the city, around Santiago Matatlán.

There you see agave hearts roasted in an earth pit, crushed and fermented before distillation.

Traditional mezcal is made in small batches, so the same agave can taste very different from one palenque to the next.

That is the real appeal of a tour: tasting next to the person who made it.

How much does a mezcal tour in Oaxaca cost? Prices vary by group size, transport and how many stops are included, so compare what each tour covers, not just the headline rate.

Pace yourself. Tastings add up quickly, and most tours include lunch for a reason.

You will hear a few words again and again. Espadín is the most common agave used for mezcal, cultivated and fairly fast growing.

Wild agaves, often called silvestres, grow for many years before harvest and make smaller, pricier batches.

Sip mezcal slowly rather than shooting it. In Oaxaca it is often served with orange slices and a chile salt, and a good host will tell you which agave, which village and which maker you are tasting.

Sights in Oaxaca's historic center

What to do in Oaxaca's historic center? Start at the Zócalo, the main square, with its cafés under the arcades and the cathedral on one side.

Then walk north along the pedestrian Andador Turístico to the Templo de Santo Domingo.

Santo Domingo is the city's showpiece church, with a gilded interior. Next door, the former convent houses the Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca, which covers the region's history from pre-Hispanic times.

It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17:00, and admission is 210 pesos.

Behind the church, the ethnobotanical garden shows the plants of Oaxaca, from agaves to cacti.

Back toward the Zócalo, the cathedral faces the Alameda de León, a shaded square where people gather in the evening. A few blocks west, the Basílica de la Soledad honors the city's patron image, and its plaza sells ice cream in flavors you will not find at home.

The Teatro Macedonio Alcalá, an ornate early twentieth-century theater, is worth a look from the outside even if you do not see a show. Inside the center, many old courtyard houses now hold galleries and shops, so it pays to step through open doorways.

East of the center, the Jalatlaco neighborhood is one of the oldest in the city.

Its cobbled lanes, painted houses and street art make it a favorite for a slow walk and coffee.

Oaxaca City museums go well beyond Santo Domingo. Look for the Museo Textil de Oaxaca and the Rufino Tamayo museum of pre-Hispanic art, both a short walk from the Zócalo.

Day trips from Oaxaca City: Monte Alban, Hierve el Agua and the valley

The Central Valleys around the city hold some of the best day trips in Mexico. Most visitors do two: Monte Albán, and a loop east to Hierve el Agua.

Monte Albán was the hilltop capital of the Zapotecs, and its plazas, platforms and ball court look out over three valleys. A Monte Alban tour from the city usually takes half a day, with round-trip transport and a guide.

You can also go on your own by shuttle bus or taxi.

How long does it take to see Monte Albán? Allow two to three hours on site. How much does Monte Albán cost? Admission is 210 pesos, or 105 pesos for Mexican nationals and foreign residents of Mexico.

The site is open daily from 8:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:00.

The eastern loop strings several stops together. The Árbol del Tule, a giant Montezuma cypress with one of the stoutest trunks in the world, stands about 9 km east of the city on the road to Mitla.

Mitla was a Zapotec ceremonial center known for its stone mosaics. Hierve el Agua, about 70 km east of the city, is a set of rock formations that look like frozen waterfalls, with pools on the cliff edge where you can swim.

Local communities sometimes charge their own small fees on the road to Hierve el Agua, so carry pesos.

Many Oaxaca day tours combine these stops with a mezcal palenque and the weaving village of Teotitlán del Valle.

The craft villages of the valley are day trips in their own right. Teotitlán del Valle is known for wool rugs dyed with natural colors, San Bartolo Coyotepec for its black clay pottery, and San Martín Tilcajete and San Antonio Arrazola for alebrijes, the painted wooden animals sold all over the city.

Buying in the village where something is made lets you meet the artisans and see how the work is done. Many families welcome visitors into their workshops.

If you would rather set your own pace, you can rent a car in Oaxaca for the valley. Our guide to getting around Mexico covers driving and buses.

Guided tours in Oaxaca City

Oaxaca tours range from free walking tours of the center to private full-day trips into the valley.

Free walking tours leave from the historic center and work on tips. They are a good first-day orientation, and some focus on the street art of Jalatlaco.

Paid city tours add museum entry or a market stop. For the valley, small-group tours handle transport to Monte Albán, Hierve el Agua and the craft villages, which saves time compared with buses.

When you compare tours in Oaxaca City, check the group size, what entry fees are included, and how much time you get at each stop.

Combo tours that squeeze many sites into one day can leave little time at each.

Flying in through Mexico City? A night near the airport, at a hotel such as the Krystal Urban Aeropuerto, keeps an early connection to Oaxaca easy. See our Mexico airports guide for routes.

Markets in Oaxaca City

A market in Oaxaca is where daily life happens, and a market morning is one of the best things to do in the city.

Mercado Benito Juárez sits one block south of the Zócalo, and Mercado 20 de Noviembre fills the next block to the south. Benito Juárez sells flowers, fruit, handcrafts, leather goods and hats, while 20 de Noviembre is known as the food market for its many food stands.

The Central de Abastos is the largest market in the Central Valleys.

What is the best market in Oaxaca? For a first visit, start with Benito Juárez and 20 de Noviembre.

If you are here on a Sunday, the Tlacolula market east of the city is worth the trip.

Shopping in Oaxaca City is also about crafts. Look for painted wooden alebrijes, black clay pottery and handwoven wool rugs.

Food tours and cooking classes in Oaxaca

Oaxaca is one of Mexico's great food cities, home to its many moles and to tlayudas, the large crisp tortillas topped with beans, cheese and meat.

Oaxaca food tours walk you through markets and street stalls with a guide who explains what you are eating. A cooking class goes further: many start with a market visit to buy ingredients, then you cook mole and tortillas yourself.

Book classes ahead in busy seasons. For more on the dishes, read our guides to traditional Mexican dishes and Mexican street food.

Festivals and seasonal events in Oaxaca City

Oaxaca City celebrates Day of the Dead on a grand scale. Around November 1 and 2, families decorate altars and graves with marigolds and candles, and the streets fill with parades and markets. Our Day of the Dead guide explains the traditions and where to see them.

In July, the Guelaguetza brings dancers and musicians from across the state to the city. Hotels fill up early for both events, so book well ahead. Our Mexican holidays calendar lists the other festivals.

Final Thoughts

The best things to do in Oaxaca are simple: walk the center, eat at the markets, taste mezcal and spend a day or two in the valley.

Give the city at least three days, start early for Monte Albán and the markets, and keep one day for the loop east to Hierve el Agua, Mitla and the Tule tree.

Check the safety picture for your dates in our guide to whether Mexico is safe to visit, and carry pesos for markets, local fees and tips.

FAQ: Things to Do in Oaxaca

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• Traditional Mexican Dishes
• Mexican Street Food
• Mexican Holidays and Festivals
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