There’s no doubt, Oaxaca is on your radar if you’re interested in history, culture, food, and incredible landscapes. The state’s capital city, with the same name (pronounced waa-HA-kah), is full of fun things to do no matter what you’re into. From its colorful streets to its museums, markets, archeological sites, galleries, mezcalerias, top-notch cuisine, and some of the best Mexican natural wonders, Oaxaca City has mucho to offer those who visit.
Oaxaca has become one of Mexico’s top destinations and travelers have taken notice. Whether you want to take it slow and sip mezcal or hit up all the must-see attractions, we’ve got you covered with the Bro’s list of 9 fun things to do during your stay in Oaxaca City.
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Monte Albán Ruins
Before the Spanish arrived, Monte Alban, was once the capital of the Zapotec civilization. To this day, it still dominates the Valley of Oaxaca with its ruins. With remains of palaces, temples, a ball court, steep platforms, and an observatory, Monte Albán provides grand views of the surrounding valleys, distant mountains, and the vibrant city below.
Archaeological evidence shows that the Zapotec culture originated at least 2,500 years ago and it can be easily claimed as one of Mexico’s best-preserved and most culturally rich prehistoric sites.
Set on a leveled-off mountain just outside the city, with 360° views, the ruins on the hilltop are a quick 20-minute drive from the town center. Once you visit it will be easy to witness why the ancient Zapotecs first fell in love with the region.
- Know Before You Go:
- Opening Hours: 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM Daily
- Entrance Fee: Mx 80 for foreigners ($ 4.40)
- Museum: Everything is in Spanish but the artifacts are worth checking out.
- Duration: Allow 2-3 hours to cover all of Monte Alban.
- Best Time to Go: Usually in the morning before it gets hot and the tours arrive.
- Vendors: Outside in the parking lot selling refreshments and trinkets.
- Bring: Cash, a camera, a hat, water, snacks, sunscreen, and sturdy footwear.
🌎 BROS TIP: A taxi is the easiest way to get to Monte Albán. It’s on the pricier side vs a bus, around 200-250 MXN Pesos (approx. $10 USD), but still much cheaper than a Monte Albán tour. When taking a taxi back to downtown Oaxaca City, if you don’t have a party of 4, just hang out in the parking lot for a few minutes. Surely, a few other visitors will show up to join your taxi ride and split the fare. You’ll save almost 100 Pesos and will be thanking yourself later when you can treat yourself to a few more cervezas.
Mercado 20 de Noviembre & Mercado Benito Juárez
In order to understand the essence of a place, one must visit its markets. This couldn’t be truer than in Oaxaca City. Prepare yourself for a sensory overload as you peruse the aisles while taking a deep dive into Oaxaca’s extraordinary gastronomy. Go beyond tacos and quesadillas: be sure to sample some moles, tlayudas, memelas, tetelas, empanadas, and the ever-popular chapulines.
The Bros recommend checking off Mercado 20 de Noviembre and Mercado Benito Juárez as your first stops. Getting lost in a foreign market has got to be one of the funniest things to do in a new city.
- Mercado Benito Juárez is a vibrant covered marketplace with vendors selling produce, prepared foods, crafts & textiles. The perfect place to pick up souvenirs, a unique bottle of mezcal, or a sweet hat before you head to a palenque.
- Mercado 20 de Noviembre is a bustling traditional covered market with stalls for fresh produce, baked goods & local street foods. Here you’ll find an assortment of food stalls where you can sample many Oaxacan specialties. This place is full of cheap food and it’s where the locals eat so you know it’s legit.
🌎 BROS TIP: It won’t be hard to find the “El Pasillo de las Carnes Asadas” corridor at the 20 de Noviembre market (the grilled meats aisle) also known as the smoke hall. Choose a meat that looks tasty and have it grilled to your liking. Order salsa and guacamole to accompany your feast at one of the long tables with benches. And in true local fashion buy some tortillas from one of the passing vendors. ¡Buen provecho!
Catch A Oaxaca Guerreros Game
The Guerreros de Oaxaca is a professional baseball team in the Mexican professional baseball league based in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico. Their home field, Estadio Eduardo Vasconcelos is a short 10-minute drive or 30-minute walk from the zócalo.
The Guerreros are one of 18 teams in the top Mexican baseball league, the LMB. The season starts in late April and runs into the summer. Spending a few hours at the ballpark is cheap, fun, and always entertaining. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better deal where you can have field-level seats, a beer, a personal pizza, peanuts, and a pastry all for about $15.
Before you know it you’ll be joining the Oaxacan faithful by cheering, hitting cowbells, banging drums, blowing whistles, shaking rattles, and screaming, all in an attempt to distract the visiting team.
Though it’s America’s pastime, the béisbol experience is unmistakably Mexcian. The songs, the food, the scoreboard, and even the artwork in the stadium reflect the indigenous traditions and sentiments of the culturally rich state. The sights, sounds, and flavors of a Guerrero’s home game can only be experienced in Oaxaca.
Day Trip to El Tule & Mitla
Experience the magical energy of the magnificent El Árbol del Tule or the Tule Tree. The Tule Tree may not be the tallest or the oldest tree in the world, but it reigns supreme when it comes to width. As the widest tree in the world, this Montezuma Cypress tree is over 2,000 years old and she THICK. If anyone tells you there’s a girthier tree in the world, they’re lying.
Mexico’s most famous tree represents the timeless universality of sacred traditions. Revered across several cultures and religions over thousands of years, El Árbol del Tule is a symbol of man’s affinity for the eternal.
Though it’s a beautiful place to visit and take in the fresh air, and botanical gardens surrounding the church, you probably won’t stay more than an hour. So let’s double down with our next stop 40 minutes away: Zona Arqueológica de Mitla.
The ruins at Mitla are the second-most important archeological site in the state of Oaxaca and the most important of the Zapotec culture. Its intricate mosaic fretwork and geometric designs cover tombs, panels, friezes, and even entire walls, making it unique among Mesoamerican sites. All of the designs along the top edge of the walls are held together by the weight of each stone. You can’t help but wonder how they built these incredibly detailed structures.
Mitla was inhabited from the classic period (100 to 650 AD) reaching its maximum growth and apogee in the post-classic period (750 to 1521 AD). The Pueblo Magico of Mitla is surrounded by huge hills that form a green backdrop during the rainy season making plant life and cacti just as impressive as the ruins. Though the conquistadors had their way with the site upon conquering it, the zone still remains an amazing example of prehispanic architecture.
Visit a Real Mezcal Factory in Santiago Matatlán
About an hour southeast of Oaxaca City, on Highway 190, you’ll find Santiago Matatlán. A small village, also known as the Mezcal Capital of the World. With an astounding 140 distilleries, this is the most famous mezcal-producing town on earth. Helping produce one of the oldest spirits in the world, the maguey plant is magical, and experiencing a mezcal factory tour will help you uncover why.
Regardless of which palenque (fabrica or palenque can also be used to name mezcal distilleries in Oaxaca) you visit or what tour you take, you’ll be able to see the entire process of how mezcal is made from harvesting the agave plant to distillation.
There’s a wide variety of producers; some are small family distilleries, and others have larger-scale production but they all use traditional techniques that include clay pots and copper stills.
🌎 BROS TIP: Production of mezcal is generally divided into several steps: harvesting agave, cooking it, mashing it, or milling it to obtain sugary agave juice, fermentation, first distillation, second distillation, cask maturation (if the mezcal is aged or rested), and finally bottling. Its a delicate process as agave plants typically take between seven and fifteen years to reach maturity, at which point they are typically around three feet tall and three feet wide.
The true highlight of a visit to Matatlán is the opportunity to sample the wide variety of mezcals including Espadín, Cuishe, Madrecuishe, Tobalá, Tepextate, Coyote, Arroqueño, Jabalí, Mexicano, Pulquero and Pechuga, among others, so make sure you’ve lined your stomach.
You should be able to find a taxi in the center to take you to the town once you’ve selected your palenque. It is important to note here: make sure you have secured your ride back before you’ve begun your tour, so once the tour concludes, your ride is waiting for you.
Having a connection to Illegal Mezcal through our friend Oscar from Guatemala, it was only right we visited the Fábrica de mezcal Mal de Amor, which we highly recommend.
The team at Mal de Amor’s hospitality and knowledge were unmatched creating an incredible experience all around. Touring the agave fields will be the best 150 pesos you’ve ever spent in your life. Bottomless mezcal tasting and a restaurant on site, what more could you ask for?
Hierve el Agua
Imagine yourself chilling in an infinity pool of natural spring water on top of a cliff with endless views of the mountains surrounding you. To your right, a beautiful petrified waterfall, one of two in the world, cascades into the valley below, seeming as if it’s been frozen in time. Welcome to Hierve el Agua, Oaxaca.
Tours are plentiful and a visit to the petrified falls is considered to be one of the best things to do and see in Oaxaca City.
The rocks are actually mineral deposits atop a limestone mountain. There are two freshwater pools on the mountain’s ledges noted for their medicinal properties, as well as a magnesium and calcium carbonate spring. The water from the pools drips down through the cliffs, depositing the minerals onto the side of the mountain. Over time, these deposits have grown into staggering columns that imitate frozen waterfalls; ironic as Hierve el Agua translates to boiling water.
Expect views that are out of this world, but don’t expect crystal-clear water for your swim. Hang on to your seat for the drive up but once you arrive, the scenery and hiking trails make for incredible pictures.
Explore the Rich History & Culture
More than half of Oaxaca’s population has Zapotec and Mixtec heritage, which is found throughout the region. Culture in Oaxaca is as fascinating as the land’s natural beauty and the diversity of its people and landscapes. As a result of all its artistic and architectural treasures, Oaxaca’s capital has been designated a Cultural Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO in 1987.
In its main streets, you can admire its beautiful museums and religious temples. The square known as the Zócalo, or Plaza de la Constitución, showcases old buildings surrounded by cafés and shops where people gather to listen to live marimba music.
Indigenous people of Oaxaca are able to sustain their families and spread the culture and customs of their ancestors through long-standing traditions. If you haven’t already been to Oaxaca, this is definitely the off-the-beaten-path destination you’ve been looking for. There are so many things to do and so much to learn about.
Rooftops in the Zocalo
Picture-perfect panoramas of the colonial city can be found on its many rooftop bars and restaurants. The rooftop scene in Oaxaca is unrivaled. With 17th-century architecture and enticing mezcal and cocktail scene, it’s no wonder Oaxaca was recently ranked number 1 on Travel and Leisures’s 25 Best Cities in the World.
Oaxaca is a city of hidden gems with beautiful courtyards and rooftops waiting to be discovered. If you’re looking to enjoy brunch, dinner, or even just drinks in the open air, we recommend checking out:
- Chirundo Cocina de Humo
- La Mezcalerita
- Txalaparta
- Gozobi
- Gaya Rooftop
- Terraza 777
- Sur a Norte
- Casa Crespo
- Mezquite
🌎 BROS TIP: For one of the best views of the city, make your way up to El Mirador del Cerro del Fortin. A 20-minute walk from downtown Oaxaca, you’ll climb the stairs for a panoramic vista, where you’ll be rewarded with a view of the city and surroundings. It makes for an awesome lunch spot, sunset spot, or bring-your-own-beer happy hour spot.
Lucha Libre Wrestling
If you’re planning a trip to Oaxaca, or any other city in Mexico, chances are you may be thinking about attending a lucha libre wrestling match. And in case you haven’t considered it, you should. Mexicans love wrestling, and Oaxacans are no exception.
There are two main venues to experience authentic Mexican wrestling in Oaxaca City: Arena San Francisco, right outside the city center, and Arena Pepe Cisneros, about a 15-minute cab ride east of the zócalo. We ended up at Arena Pepe Cisneros since it was well-marketed and we saw their posters all over town. All we have to say is it did not disappoint.
The wrestlers are top-notch and put on a show anyone can appreciate. The performance is highly entertaining and good old-fashioned family fun. It’s an opportunity to do something off the tourist path and if you opt for the front-row seats, you’ll be face-to-face with the action.
They’ve got lucha libre masks for sale and serve cheap beer and snacks at the arena. Matches are typically held every other Sunday and tickets are available by visiting a local shop or via the arena’s Facebook page.
Have you been to Oaxaca? What fun activities did you get into? Drop a comment below and let us know!
Oaxaca City is a hub for culture, history, food, and an all-around interesting place to spend a few days. Hopefully, you will find some inspiration from our list while exploring one of Mexico’s gastronomic capitals.
A vibrant city with bustling markets, colorful colonial architecture, galleries, street art, workshops, friendly locals, and some of the world’s best street food awaits you in Oaxaca City.
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🇲🇽 More of Mexico 🇲🇽
Traveling to Mexico or Latin America? Looking for some inspiration on a budget? Check out:
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ARE YOU READY TO EXPLORE OAXACA CITY?
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