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    A free Puebloteca guide Oaxaca's Pueblos Mágicos

    Free Oaxaca travel guide

    All 6 of Oaxaca's Pueblos Mágicos on one printable page. Free when you sign up for our weekly email.

    • All 6 Pueblos Mágicos, with a photo and what makes each special
    • A map of Oaxaca with each one on it
    • Road trips that join the pueblos close together
    • The best months to go
    • How far each is from the nearest city
    • The sights not to miss
    • The fiestas worth planning around
    • The fiestas month by month
    • Where to stay in each
    • Made to print or save as a PDF

    The 6 Pueblos Mágicos in this guide

    Most visited first. The full guide adds the sights not to miss, the fiestas, how far each is by car, and a layout made to print.

    Teposcolula6Capulálpam de Méndez5Huautla4Mitla3Mazunte2Juquila1
    1. 1 White baroque facade of the Santuario de Juquila under a deep blue sky, Oaxaca

      Juquila

      Santa Catarina Juquila is a mountain town in the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur, inland from Puerto Escondido on Oaxaca's coast region. It is one of Mexico's major pilgrimage destinations: its sanctuary keeps the Virgin of Juquila, an image only about 30 centimeters tall, and thousands of devotees arrive from across Oaxaca and beyond. The town is also a center of the Chatino people, and the surrounding hills produce coffee.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec

    2. 2 Sunset over the bay and headland at Mazunte, Oaxaca

      Mazunte

      A laid-back beach village on the coast of Oaxaca, once a sea-turtle hunting center and now home to the Mexican Turtle Center. Visitors come for the beaches, the sunset walk to Punta Cometa, and whale and dolphin watching.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec

    3. 3 Stone fretwork of the Mitla palaces above the Oaxaca valley

      Mitla

      Mitla, in the Oaxaca Valley, surrounds a Zapotec archaeological site known for its unique geometric stone mosaics. The town is also a center for weaving and mezcal.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec

    4. 4 Huehuentones dancers in masks with a violin player, Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca

      Huautla

      Huautla de Jiménez is a Mazatec town high in the Sierra Mazateca of northern Oaxaca. It is known around the world for María Sabina, the Mazatec healer who used sacred mushrooms in her ceremonies and drew outside visitors from the mid-20th century on. Today a statue on the main street honors her, the house where she lived is a museum, and a cultural festival in July looks back on the town's healing traditions. Religious feasts here blend Catholic and indigenous elements.

      When to go: Feb, Mar, Apr, May

    5. 5 Stone church of San Mateo with its two red-domed towers, Capulálpam de Méndez, Oaxaca

      Capulálpam de Méndez

      Capulálpam de Méndez is a Zapotec mountain town in Oaxaca's Sierra Norte, surrounded by community-protected pine and oak forest. Its 16th-century church of San Mateo keeps a carved wooden ceiling and large hand-carved altarpieces, and the streets are lined with traditional houses. Visitors come for the Traditional Medicine Center, where local healers offer limpias, massages, herbal remedies, and temazcal baths, and for brass band music, mole, pan de yema, tepache, and family-distilled mezcal.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec

    6. 6 The 16th-century convent of San Pedro y San Pablo Teposcolula and its open chapel, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca

      Teposcolula

      San Pedro y San Pablo Teposcolula is a quiet town in the heart of Oaxaca's Mixteca region, known in Mixtec as Yucundaa. Visitors come for its 16th-century Dominican convent and large open chapel, and for the hilltop ruins of the Mixtec city that came before the town. It is a good stop for travelers interested in how the Mixtec and Spanish worlds met.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec

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