Oaxaca 3-day itinerary

Take a colectivo or taxi 9km west of the city to Monte Albán, the ancient Zapotec capital built on a flattened mountaintop around 500 BCE. The grand plaza — one of the earliest planned cities in Mesoamerica — stretches 300 metres between the North and South platforms with pyramids, an observatory, and the Gallery of the Danzantes (carved stone reliefs of contorted figures that remain one of pre-Columbian Mexico's great mysteries). The 360-degree views over the Oaxacan valleys below are staggering. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Oaxaca's most important archaeological attraction.

Return to the city centre and head to Mercado 20 de Noviembre, the food market adjacent to Benito Juárez market. The Pasillo de Humo (Smoke Alley) is a row of open-grill stalls where huge cuts of tasajo, chorizo, and cecina (salt-cured pork) are grilled over charcoal — choose your meat at one stall and sit at another for sides of tortillas, guacamole, nopales, and salsa. After lunch, walk through the Jalatlaco barrio — Oaxaca's most photogenic neighbourhood — where colonial houses painted in terracotta, turquoise, and mustard yellow are covered in large-scale murals and street art reflecting Zapotec mythology and social themes.

Oaxaca's nightlife centres on mezcal and live music. Start at the Zócalo where marimba bands play under the Indian laurel trees most evenings, then move to one of the city's mezcalerías — In Situ on Reforma is intimate with an exceptional selection of small-batch producers, while Mezcaloteca on Flores Magón offers structured tastings by appointment. For dinner, try mole negro — the most complex of Oaxaca's seven moles, made with over 30 ingredients including chocolate, chillies, and charred tortilla — at a traditional restaurant like La Biznaga or Casa Oaxaca.

Depart early for Hierve el Agua, a set of petrified mineral waterfalls 70km east of the city in the Sierra Madre mountains. The calcium carbonate formations cascade down the clifface like frozen waterfalls, formed over millennia by mineral-rich spring water. At the top are two natural infinity pools filled with the same mineral water, perched on the cliff edge with a view over the entire valley — swim in the shallow turquoise pools while looking out across mountains and agave fields. A short trail leads to the base of the main formation for a dramatic upward perspective.

On the return from Hierve el Agua, stop at Teotitlán del Valle — a Zapotec village where families have been weaving wool tapetes (rugs) on backstrap and pedal looms for over 2,000 years. Visit a family workshop to see the full process: shearing sheep, spinning wool by hand, dyeing with natural pigments (cochineal insects for red, indigo for blue, pomegranate for yellow), and weaving intricate geometric patterns passed down through generations. The quality of Teotitlán textiles rivals any artisan tradition on earth. Buying directly from the weaver ensures fair prices for both parties.

Return to Oaxaca city for an evening chocolate experience. Oaxaca has produced cacao-based drinks since the Zapotec era, and the city's chocolate culture is unique in Mexico — the Mayordomo and La Soledad chocolate shops grind cacao beans with sugar, cinnamon, and almonds to order in vintage machines. Watch your custom blend being made, then take it to be frothed into hot chocolate at a nearby café. Several workshops offer hands-on chocolate-making classes in the evening where you grind cacao on a metate (stone grinding slab) the traditional way.

Drive 14km east to Santa María del Tule to see El Árbol del Tule — a Montezuma cypress with the widest trunk of any tree on earth at 14.05 metres in diameter. The tree is estimated to be 1,400–3,000 years old and its gnarled trunk is so massive that locals have identified shapes of animals, faces, and figures in its bark formations. The tree stands in the churchyard of a small colonial church and the entire village exists around it. Continue east through the Tlacolula Valley, the agricultural heart of Oaxaca.

Stop at a palenque (traditional mezcal distillery) along the road to Mitla — dozens of small family operations produce artisanal mezcal using underground pit ovens, horse-drawn stone mills, and copper pot stills unchanged for centuries. Watch the full process from roasting agave hearts (piñas) to fermentation in open-air wooden vats. Continue to Mitla, the most important Zapotec religious site after Monte Albán — the Palace of Columns features intricate geometric stone mosaic fretwork that was assembled without mortar, a technique unique in Mesoamerica and representing the finest stone craftsmanship of the pre-Columbian Americas.

Return to Oaxaca city for a final evening in the Zócalo. Sit under the arcades at one of the plaza restaurants and order a Oaxacan tasting menu — memela (thick corn tortilla with black beans), empanadas de amarillo (yellow mole empanadas), chiles rellenos, and a glass of mezcal to close. The Zócalo comes alive at night with street performers, balloon vendors, and families taking their evening paseo (stroll). This is the heart of one of Mexico's most culturally rich cities.