Following are some sample itineraries for your reference. There are so many things to do and see in Oaxaca that it is a good idea to pre-plan to get the most out of your trip, especially if you are planning to stay a week or less. A practical advice is to map out the route for your tips and excursions so you can save traveling time, and ask Oaxaca Tours upon your arrival for expert suggestions. Exploring the City:       MAP OF OAXACA HISTORIC CENTER                   • Cooking class with Iliana de La Vega. Iliana is the owner and chef of the restaurant El Naranjo– praised as “my favorite restaurant in the city” by Frommer’s Mexico¨ (2004 Edition) and highly recommended by Rick Bayless, famous chef and cookbook authur of Mexican cuisine. Iliana’s specialties include Oaxaca’s seven moles (MO-lays) and organic salads, as well as special chiles filled with traditional ingredients. (9:30am– 2 pm). $60.00/pp (shared class)

• Cooking class with Reyna Mendoza. "Count yourself lucky indeed if you have a cooking class with Reyna, learning centuries- old techniques and absolutely delicious flavors."–Rick Bayless, Chef/Owner Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, Chicago. (9:30am– 2:30 pm). Minimum 4 persons, $80.00/pp • Gallery Walk and Wine Reception offered by Oaxaca Tours. Visit a number of Oaxaca's art galleries and enhoy a leisurely walk through the gallery district with our resident art historian to explore Oaxaca's lively contemporary art scene. Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served. Minimum 8 persons, $25.00/pp

• Visit Mercado de Abastos, the largest, most colorful and vibrant outdoor market in Mexico. Wander the aisles to get an introductory feel for the vitality of the Mexican marketplace. Saturday is the market day, although it is open (and busy) everyday of the week. The craft section opens on Saturday only.

• Temazcal: The traditional Mexican sweat bath. Some twenty years or so ago, a renewed interest in the ancient sweat bath, still called by the same name used by the Aztecs, the Temazcal, sprang up in Mexico. It's a part of the movement, now so widespread in this country, to return to the healing practices preserved in indigenous medicine. These sweat baths, still a living tradition in many parts of the country, are usually small round stone or mud structures looking rather like old fashioned bee-hives. Many more began to be constructed everywhere, and more and more often, people who are ailing will turn to them for relief from their complaints.

• Traditional Zapotec massage by Señora Eva Cruz. This style of massage is commonly used throughout the Oaxaca region. It is done on a low table with the practitioner doing various manipulations of joints. The best way of eliminating all tension and increase your energy. Duration is 50 min to 1hr. $50.00

• Guelaguetza! Don’t miss this most spectacular presentation of the traditional dances of the Guelaguetza* - a magnificent selection from the seven regions of Oaxaca. Held in the beautiful 16th century chapel of Santa Catalina monastery (now the Camino Real Hotel), offering a sumptuous Oaxacan buffet, 20 regional dancers in glorious costumes and a 14 piece village brass band. an exhilarating evening of rich folkloric tradition in a majestic setting. The dinner/performance is offered every Friday evening except when a major holiday (Day of the Dead, Christmas, New Year) is on Friday. We can reserve front/center seats for you! $35.00/pp

*This fiesta dates back to pre-Hispanic times and celebrates the giving of gifts from the community’s abundance to individuals in need, the exchange of commitment between community members and the honoring of the corn goddess who grants farmers their abundant crops.

• Visit the Botanical Garden.

• Sunday mass at the Santo Domingo church— one of the great monastery-church compounds of Mexico, seat of the Dominican order in Oaxaca since the 16th century and now the only residence out of the more than 40 that existed originally. The dignified exterior leads one to expect something quiet and dignified inside but you can only gasp at the incredible sight of the whole interior of the church covered in gleaming decoration. Aldous Huxley described it as “one of the most extravagantly gorgeous churches in the world”.

• Sunday concert by the State Band on the Zócalo around 1 pm (free).

All rates featured on this site may be removed or amended without prior notice - this removal or amendment will not in any way effect previously confirmed reservations. Rates quoted are in US currency and tax (15% IVA) not included.

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Exploring the Valleys:
MAP OF OAXACA CENTRAL VALLEYS
These are some sample itineraries for your reference.

• TRIP ONE: Visit Monte Albán archaeological site. Just ten kilometers (6 miles) from the city of Oaxaca lies Monte Albán, one of the very first cities in the new world. Founded approximately 500 years before the birth of Christ, the city grew and dominated the valleys of Oaxaca up to 750 a.d. It was the capital of the ‘cloud people’, the Zapotecs, for over a millennium. Monte Albán, served as a holy center for 40,000 of Zapotec ancestors 2500 years ago, was the epicenter of their culture and a place of divine worship.

We recommend a stop at the Atzompa community market, famous for its hand made green (oxide of copper) glazed pottery. Typical decoration is by the addition of little pieces of clay shaped by hand as leaves, vine tendrils or flowers. Also common in this village are ch’a figures in unglazed ware with green glazed heads. The bodies are striated with a sharp instrument to make grooves before the clay has been fired, and tiny black ch’a seeds are pressed into the grooves so that as the clay is kept moist, the ch’a sprouts in a couple of weeks, giving the figure a new green coat. These symbols of the new life of the Resurrection are part of adornments for the altars for Easter Week.

Lunch at La Capilla, eating outdoors under walnut trees. After lunch, continue your excursion to Cuilapan, a magnificent Dominican monastery with open-air chapel, built in 1550. An architectural and historical wonder in a setting of breathtaking mountainous beauty. It stands alone in the landscape, a timeless remembrance of the importance and influence of the Dominicans in this area of Mexico beginning more than four centuries ago. (approx. 7 hours)

• TRIP TWO- craft villages. Visit San Bartolo Coyotepec, a village famous for its tradition of making black pottery in the technique preserved by the inheritors of this Zapotec craft. You will be welcome to view the process of making pots on the inverted saucers known as the “Zapotec wheel”.

And then to San Martin Tilcajete to visit the famous wood carvers who create extraordinary polychrome wood carvings in the shape of animals and mythical beasts. The artisan families work together as a unit, yet each person maintains his own brand of skill and ingenuity.

Last stop before returning to the city is Ocotlán, famous for its unique rambling Friday market and restored colonial church. You will enjoy visiting, among other artisans, remarkable blacksmiths who specialize in distinctive cutlery as well as exotic swords for movie heroes. (approx. 4 hours).

• TRIP THREE: Visit Mitla archeological site, famous for the fineness of its many geometric mosaics decorating the palace walls. Stopping at the village of Santa Maria del Tule along the way. (The Tule tree is one of the world’s largest and oldest trees– 53 meters round, 41 meters tall and over 2000 years old).

Lunch at El Patio, with its breathtaking view of the mountains where your main meal of the day may be valley Zapotec cooking, starting with Consome Xochitl, typical botanas and cazuelas including mole negro Oaxaqueño. Followed by Café de Olla and Oaxacan dessert. Of course, no Oaxacan lunch would be complete without some excellent regional Mezcal served in a jarrito verde de Atzompa.

After lunch, visit Teotitlán del Valle, famous for its weaving since pre-Hispanic times. You will see the plants that produce indigo blue dye, and the nopal cactus where weavers cultivate cochinilla bugs to produce the handsome red color (cochineal dye). You’ll also see a spinning, dying and weaving demonstration, and have the opportunity to purchase some of the magnificent, richly colored rugs produced in the village. (approx. 7 hours)

• TRIP FOUR: Visit the village of Tlacochahuaya to see the 16th century church noted for its painted decoration done by the (then) newly converted Indians. Possible demonstration on the newly restored organ.

Then visit the mezcal plantation of Beneve producers of this uniquely Oaxacan drink made from cactus. See the living tradition of cultivation, fermentation and production. A taste of this drink, with its strong, smoky flavor, is like drinking in a bit of history. Lunch at their beautiful restaurant Rancho Zapata. (approx. 4 hours)

• TRIP FIVE: Visit the beautiful 19th century Gothic church in the village of San José Vista Hermosa. Then to San Pedro y San Pablo Etla to visit the Wednesday market and sample the traditional Oaxacan bread, string cheese, enchiladas, sauces and mezcal. Also visit Huijazoo and view the polychromatic mural in the museum which has been compared to the murals of Bonampak in the state of Chiapas. (approx. 4 hours)

• TRIP SIX: Cloud Walking in the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca. The Sierra Norte or Sierra de Juarez is set in a uniquely privileged location; seven of the nine types of vegetation existing in Mexico are found here in nearly four thousand plant species. This means that in the space of a few hours, it is possible to see ecosystems separated by thousands of miles in other parts of the world.

If you enjoy contact with nature, come and explore the pathways for yourself... we are sure you’ll have an unforgettable experience. After all, one doesn’t always get the change to walk through the clouds. FOR AVID HIKERS only. Minimum 2 persons. (approx. 6 hours)

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OAXACA BEACH VACATION: Visitors to Oaxaca’s coast won’t feel distanced from nature and the delicate scenery formed by the sea. The bays of Huatulco and their extraordinary environs offer the best in beach recreation.