A question I get asked regularly by my readers is, “how many days do I really need in Oaxaca?” And I get it, it can be hard to figure out. I’m afraid there isn’t a quick answer but I am sure that by the time you have read this article you’ll know how many days in Oaxaca to give yourself. 

How do I decide how many days I need in Oaxaca?

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First off, consider the following questions and see which one resonates most with you:

​❓Are you trying to see as much of Mexico as you can in a few weeks?

❓ Are you on a sabbatical in Mexico and have six months or so to explore?

❓ Are you mainly interested in Día de los Muertos and just have a few days to spare?

❓ Are you a slow traveller who wants to pick a location and then really get to know it?

Whichever is closest to your travel style, don’t worry, you’ll be able to make Oaxaca work for you, I promise.

I’ve been to Oaxaca multiple times over the past 15 years. The first time was on my honeymoon. We spent a week there. The second time was as a family where we settled into a Oaxacan life for 6 weeks. Since then I’ve been back for regular trips of a week or weekend here or there. It’s a city I know well and that holds a very special place in my heart. 

You won’t be bored if you choose to go to Oaxaca for a month, nor will you regret it too much if you only have time for a flying visit for a few days. Just be aware that you’ll most likely find yourself hoping to return in the near future! 

What are the unmissable highlights of Oaxaca?

​Oaxaca City

Mostly people visiting Oaxaca hang out in the centro historico. This area, the historical center is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site and it’s absolutely beautiful. Between the colourful architecture and the incredible street art, your eyes are in for a treat wherever you direct them.

To really see all of Oaxaca City and to do the markets, shopping & eating justice, you’ll need at least 3 days.

☠️ If you’re planning a Day of the Dead trip to Oaxaca, I recommend spending at least a week in the city, if not more.

👣 Walking tours

Oaxaca, like all popular Mexican cities, has great walking tour options. Walking tours are a fun way to learn about a city’s history while also learning you way around. They’re a great way to get to know a new place.

🌮 Food tours

Oaxaca is one of the most foodie places you can imagine so if you’re interested in knowing more about the city and its culinary scene, I highly recommend taking a food tour.

🌽 While the market & cooking tour I took in Oaxaca in 2009 no longer exists, in its place I recommend taking an ancestral food tour of Oaxaca. This tour allows visitors to engage with locals and their ancestral recipes – you’ll learn how over thousands of years the food you’re trying has impacted on the culture in this region.

➕ Top tip: don’t miss out on exploring on the ‘other side’ of the city. Cross the 190 road and head into a very cool, residential area with some great cafes and restaurants. I stayed up here last time I visited and loved having the chance to wander the streets.

Local markets / Artisan markets / Shopping

Oaxaca is famous for its markets and the products made by the local artisans. As you explore the city you’ll come across numerous street markets selling both traditional souvenirs (think alebrijes, carpets, traditional black pottery) and more modern artisan options such as very cool t-shirts, gorgeous art and jewellery.

Markets to look out for

🛍 Mercado Benito Juárez – good for souvenirs, street food

🛍 Mercado 20 Noviembre – fresh food and street food sit down options

🛍 Mercado de Artesanías – souvenirs

🛍 Central de Abastos de Oaxaca – absolutely everything you can imagine

➕ there are multiple artisan cooperatives, small art galleries and souvenir stores selling their wares at a variety of prices. I was pleasantly surprised by the affordable prices for locally produced art and other interesting items.

Street art

While you can help but pass by street art while you’re in Oaxaca, I want to suggest that you actively pay attention to it because it’s beautiful, it’s political, it’s thoughtful and it’s part of the wider Mexican culture of street art and murals being used to influence people. See what you think as you explore.

There are even street art tours available to visitors to Oaxaca.

🚲 Book this street art by bike tour now

🖌 As I explored Oaxaca recently I saw adverts for Subterráneos tours – on their tours you can learn to make woodcut prints like the ones you see all over the city – find them on social media – @subterraneos.oax (Instagram) or call on 951 5911203.

🖼 Do not miss nipping inside the small art galleries you see everywhere in Oaxaca.

Traditional Oaxaca sites

Plaza de la Constitución (also known as the ‘zocalo’)

One of the 2 beating hearts of the city. Here you’ll find a double plaza (the other half is technically the Alameda de Leon) around the Catedral Metropolitana de Oaxaca Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. These plazas are always heaving with life. You’ll find restaurants, ice cream stores, markets, street-vendors and street-performers here at all times of day. It’s an absolute pleasure to sit and watch the world go by right here.

Templo de Santo Domingo Gúzman

In front of this imposing church is the other focal point of life in Oaxaca. Here you’ll find a museum to the cultures of Oaxaca, street markets, cool shops and restaurants, and always, always lots of people.

Botanical Garden (Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca)

Just on the other side of the Templo de Santo Domingo is the city’s botanical garden. This can only be explored on a guided tour, which is ok. Most people go in because they want to see the wall of cacti, but the rest is interesting, too.

🛝 If you’re visiting Oaxaca with kids, don’t forget to use my dedicated child friendly article to plan your time. You’ll find all the playgrounds and child friendly activities you need to take your family vacation up a notch.

☠️ If you’re visiting Oaxaca around Día de los Muertos, be sure to book your accommodation well in advance and consider booking on to a tour to give yourself the ultimate Day of the Dead experience.

Day trips from Oaxaca City

One of the glories of Oaxaca is the incredible day trips that are possible while staying in the city. Oaxaca is extremely well set up for visitors and there are numerous options for every day trip.

If you can, I’d add 2 days for day trips from Oaxaca.

🔆 Always remember that even when it’s not super sunny, the elevation means you may still burn. Take plenty of water and sun screen when you go out exploring.

So what are the Oaxaca day trips?

Archaeological sites

There are numerous ancient ruins that you can visit from Oaxaca although most people will only visit one or two.

Monte Albán 

This is the most important archaeological site in the Oaxaca valley and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site sits at almost 2000m above sea level, which means great views today and made it an easily defensible location when it established in around 500 BCE. Nearby ruins of Atzompa and El Gallo were once a part of the city of Monte Albán.

➡️ Book a tour to Monte Albán +  Arrazola, Cuilapam de Guerrero and San Bartolo Coyotepec

Mitla

This is a smaller ruin site dating from around 600 CE. It is the second most important site in the state of Oaxaca, after Monte Albán. Mitla was an important religious centre for the Zapotec and the Mixtec people. Its name comes from the Nahuatl word Mictlán, which means “place of the dead”. 

➡️ Book a tour to Mitla + Hierve el Agua, Tule and Teotitlan del Valle

⭐️ MexicoCassie recommends: Origen Maíz – I had a delicious meal on the terrace here in 2024 and highly recommend it to everyone visiting Mitla.

Other ruins to visit from Oaxaca

The others include Yagul (better known for the prehistoric caves of Yagul), Zaachila, Atzompa, Dainzú, San José el Mogote, Lambityeco.

Natural sites

Hierve El Agua

It’s unlikely that anyone visiting Oaxaca won’t want to visit Hierve el Agua, the famous petrified waterfall. It’s an absolutely wonderful spot that is often considered the highlight of any trip to Oaxaca.

At this ancient geological site you can explore the paths to miradores (viewpoints) to find the best views of the incredible waterfall-style rock formations. It’s possible to hire a local guide on site (in Spanish) to explain everything to you as you explore.

🩳 Take your swim kit because it’s possible to bathe in the pools at the top of the waterfall (it’s perfectly safe). Note there are no lockers but there is a changing room.

➡️ Book a tour to Hierve el Agua + Mila, Tule & Teotilan del Valle

Santa Maria del Tule

The first time I visited this small town in 2016 there was little here to do but see the famous Montezuma Cypress tree here – known as El Arbol del Tule. It’s over 1,400 years old, is the widest tree in the world and yes, it’s pretty cool. There’s a small charge to enter the proximity of the tree (20 pesos I think). I paid the first time I went, the second (in 2024), I didn’t as it’s possible to see this very big tree without walking through the barriers. 

All around the plaza are some interesting market stalls where you can pick up some decent souvenirs. 

⭐️ MexicoCassie recommends: If you have time, stop in at Restaurante El Milenario for a truly delicious meal.

Artisan Villages

My honest opinion is that you don’t need to spend much time in any of these villages. I might be a cynic but they’ve become over-touristed and not so fun for visitors. Many (if not most) tours you book on to will stop in at least one of these places and you’ll be expected to sit through a ‘demonstration’ of how the traditional product is made. This demonstration is really part of a longer sales pitch.

🙈 Either sit quietly or just tell your tour guide you don’t really want to see it and politely walk away.

If you do want to buy any of the products (and they are genuinely lovely), I recommend finding prices in a few different shops and maybe even comparing them to prices in the Oaxaca markets before you commit to buying anything.

Teotitlán del Valle

Famous for Zapotec textiles, specifically rugs. Last time I visited I bought some tea towels and a couple of small bags.

Direction: 30 km from Oaxaca City. Lambityeco & Yagul archaeological sites as well as Tlacolula d Matamoros. In 2024, I hiked up a mountain just outside Teotitlán del Valle, which was kind of fun!

San Bartolo Coyotepec

Famous for barro negro pottery. You’ll see this pottery everywhere in Oaxaca. In 2009 we bought a shiny sphere here. I never really knew why we bought it.

Direction: 15km from Oaxaca City (near the airport). Close enough to Monte Albán

Atzompa

Famous for green pottery. Also found everywhere in Oaxaca.

Direction: 10 km from Oaxaca City. Near ruins of Atzompa and Monte Albán

San Martin Tilcajete

Famous for its alebriijes – you know, the hybrid animal forms. You see these wooden creatures everywhere. Truthfully, I think they’re fabulous and I can’t help buying them whenever I see them because they’re so great. We bought some here in 2009 but the rest of mine come from shops around Oaxcaca.

Direction: 30 km south from Oaxaca City

Tlacolula de Matamoros

This village is famous for its Sunday market, which is the oldest continuous market in all of Latin America.

Direction: 30km from Oaxaca City Near Lambityeco & Yagul archaeological sites as well as Teotilan del Valle

Mezcal tours 

You really can’t come to Oaxaca and not do a mezcal tasting (or six). The question is to figure out how best to taste the mezcal.

You can

🍹 taste it in the markets and restaurants in Oaxaca City

🍹 take a regular tour that happens to stop briefly at a palenque (mezcal producer)

🍹 do your research (or take my advice) and visit specific palenques or take a mezcal specific tour and really learn about this beautiful and ancient liquor and the art form that is its cultivation and production.

⭐️ MexicoCassie’s Favourite Mezcal Palenque: Gracias a Dios (you’ll need a driver / rental car to get here)

⭐️ MexicoCassie’s recommended mezcal tour providers: Where Sidewalks End – choose between visiting an ancestral or an artisanal mezcal producer.

⭐️ MexicoCassie’s recommended Hierve el Agua & mezcal tour – visiting El Rey de Matatlan (Artisanal) Palenque.

Over the years I have done all three of the options above and I promise you that a dedicated mezcal tour is the absolute best thing you can do for yourself. I’m a tequila lover and have also spent a great deal of time in the town of Tequila learning about tequila production. It was only when I spent time really learning about mezcal production and its history that I began to appreciate it fully as an important cultural rite and drink.

Oaxaca State

OK, so we’ve talked about what there is to do in Oaxaca city and we’ve talked about the most common day trips from the city but what about further afield? Then what? Well, you can head to the beach for a day or two, or you can head into the hills around Oaxaca.

If you can, add an extra 3 days minimum if you want to explore around the state.

Pacific Coast Beaches

✈️ There are direct flights down to the Oaxaca coast from Oaxaca City – you can fly to/from Huatulco and Puerto Escondido. I flew between Oaxaca and Huatulco in 2024 and it was one of the most exciting flights of my life – we were 4 people in a 12 seater plane flying low enough that we could see everything.

🚌 Thanks to the recent opening of the highway (in February 2024) between Oaxaca City and Puerto Escondido, it’s now possible to drive between the two in just 2.5 hours instead of the 10 hours it took when I last drove this route.

Both cities provide fabulous access to the gorgeous Oaxaca beaches and all the activities available there. Think whale watching, turtle release programs, surfing, relaxing on the beach and more.

Pueblos Mancomunados

👣 The Pueblos Mancomunados is a group of 8 small villages nestled in the pine forests of the Sierra Norte highlands that work together to bring people interested in ecotourism to them.

While it is technically possible to visit without guides, given the size of the villages and the need to book in advance, I highly recommend working with guides to plan your trip to these small villages.

Once up in the highlands you’ll find there are plenty of opportunities for hiking, cycling, ziplines, horse riding and more.

➡️ Read more about exploring the Zapotec Pueblos Mancomunados

Getting to and from Oaxaca

Oaxaca airport is just outside of the city of Oaxaca.

There are direct flights from Mexico City and other cities in Mexico as well as Canada and the USA.

→ Check flights now