Oaxaca November 2023
Oaxaca Overview || City Tour Part 1 || City Tour Part 2 || Murals || Oaxaca Bike Part 1 || Oaxaca Bike Part 2
We’ve had Oaxaca on our minds for a few years. Many Instagram and other media stories have been touting its food, culture and riding for a few years. We figured we’d better go soon! Friends of ours from Montana had booked the trip so we joined them.
Since we were told to take some time to really experience the area we originally planned to go three days early, but United Airlines flights dictated we go 5 days early. We wanted to fly Vancouver to Houston to Oaxaca and miss flying into Mexico City as it can be a hassle. We’re glad we did.
Oaxaca Bike Expeditions uses the Hotel Victoria. I booked our extra days through Booking.com which was cheaper, but didn’t include Breakfast. This was ok since there are alot of good places to eat in the area. This is a really nice hotel that includes breakfast with the bike tour and is about a 20 min walk into town. We chose to stay here before the Bike Tour for the convenience. Next time we might get an airBnB in Xochimilco which has lots of good restaurants and is a closer walk into Centro but quieter then Centro.
We booked our trips through an aggregator Viator or GetYourGuide since it was convenient and you could cancel if needed.
- Day one we walked around town
- Day two we booked a tour through Viator with the Local Company Oaxaca Dreams to visit Monte Alban, Arrazola Alebrijes Autoctonos, lunch at an ex-convent – Ex Convento De Cuilapam de Guerrero, Ayuntamiento San Bartolo Coyotepec – where they started the Black Pottery of Oaxaca
- Day three we booked a ride through GetYourGuide with the local company Continental Istmo to ride to the Tule Tree and out to a resevoir and back.
- Day four we booked through Viator with the local company Oaxaca By Locals to see Hierve el Agua and a Mescal Distillery.
- Day five we met our friends and visited the Jardin Etnobotanico de Oaxaca which you can only see through a 11:00 free tour.
- We then rode for 6 days with Oaxaca Bike Expeditions.
- We then had two more days to walk around town and look at Murals in Xochimilco and Jalatlaco and shop at Mercado 20 De Noviembre, Mercado Benito Juarez
After this we went to Cancun for an all paid for All Inclusive stay at the Grand Riviera Princess.
Oaxaca is known for its food. The places we ate during the two weeks were;
Ancestral Cocina Tradicional in Xochimilco
Oaxaca Te Amo in centro
Casa Oaxaca near Santo Domingo, very good fine dining
Los Danzantes – we went here for lunch since it just opened as we walked by and its hard to get into at night. Another amazing fine dining experience.
Las Tlayudas – more casual and very good.
Las Quince Letras – Really good food. Included with OaxacaBike Expeditions.
Pitiona – ok food, great upper patio and view. Included with OaxacaBike Expeditions.
For good beer –
Oaxaca Brewery
La Santisima Flor De Lupulo – more expensive
Cool Shopping experiences.
– Huizache – Arte Vivo De Oaxaca – nice varied higher end Alebrijes, pottery and clothing.
– Mercado 20 de Noviembre – mostly food
– Mercado Benito Juarez – Alebrije’s, pottery, clothing.
The small Oxxo and Tia’s are great places to buy water, ice and beer. We used Banco Santander ATM to get cash.