Oaxaca City

Monte Albán for sure.

Ahhhhh.....Oaxaca. Did the usual tourist sites on our first trip. Returned two more times just for the food.

Don't miss the City Market..the food stalls are amazing, including a long line of meats being grilled and other prepared foods. Even if you aren't cooking on this trip you can easily bring back some prepared mole's from the Market where they are sold out of huge buckets.

Many small shops selling coffee beans and also locally produced chocolates.

Great walking around town, extensive pedestrian-only zone. We aren't religious, but the cathedral and other churches are architectural delights. There were always fiestas, art shows popping up downtown. The city attracts a lot of younger tourists and it stays lively late into the night.

All sorts of food from the local tlayudas (sometimes described as a Mexican pizza) sold in the streets or small eateries. Oaxacan mole's are everywhere; some restaurants offer samples of all 7 classics as a tasting menu.

There were always new eateries popping up, including a lot of mezcal bars/tasting rooms.

Our last trip was 2018 and we hope these places survived the pandemic; these are higher end places with interesting menus:

Origen
Casa Oaxaca (great views, too)
Biznaga
Los Danzantes
Catedral
Pitiona (though sometimes a tad pretentious)

CanuckBob wrote:Oaxaca City must be one of the most covid compliant places in Mexico. We haven't seen not one person on the streets without a mask.

That is an interesting comment and it seems a little ironic for a city so well known for its Dia de Muertos celebration.