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    Satellite view of Santo Tomás Ocotepec, Oaxaca

    Photo by EOX IT Services, Copernicus Sentinel data 2016, CC BY 4.0, via EOxCloudless

    Santo Tomás Ocotepec

    Town Santo Tomás Ocotepec, Oaxaca Mixteca of Oaxaca

    Mixtec seat at 2,100 m near Tlaxiaco: Te kasiqui carnival, Santo Tomás fiesta 18-20 December, Friday market.

    From Huajuapan de León: 2 h 25 min by car (135 km by road) How to get there ↓

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    Tours to Santo Tomás Ocotepec

    Day trips around Teposcolula sometimes stop in Santo Tomás Ocotepec; a tour is the easy way to see it without a car.

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    How to get to Santo Tomás Ocotepec

    • From Huajuapan de León: about 2 h 25 min by road (~135 km)
    • Nearest airport: Oaxaca (OAX), 1 h 45 min by car to Teposcolula
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    Route, map and directions ↓

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    About Santo Tomás Ocotepec

    Ocotepec is a Mixteca Alta seat whose size has swung widely: 2,893 residents in 1960, 375 in 2020. In Mixtec it is Ñuu yuku tuyuja, and the Nahuatl name points to the hill of the ocote pines. It sits at about 2,100 metres in a temperate climate with summer rain and an average near 14 °C; strong winds blow from January to March, especially in the higher communities. The Yute Suji river crosses the municipality, which groups 16 localities and where about 86% of people speak an Indigenous language. The largest locality is not the seat but Diecinueve de Abril, with 534 people.

    It is known for its carnival. Men from the municipality's communities dress in masks, bright clothes, bells and charro hats and dance as Te kasiqui, "the one who dances", to wake the earth before maize, beans and squash are planted. The festival starts in January and peaks on Carnival Tuesday, when more than 3,000 costumed dancers fill the esplanade. The village's traditional dances (la aguja, el ceñidor, el gusto) and the municipal band join in.

    The church dates from the sixteenth century and the patron is Saint Thomas the Apostle; his fiesta runs 18 to 20 December, with dawn mañanitas at 5 a.m., mass, a lunch for visitors at the mayordomo's house, basketball, folk dances and fireworks. On 1 and 2 November altars are set with marigolds. Festival tables bring black mole with turkey, pozole, yellow mole, barbacoa made with cracked nixtamal, pulque and tepache. Land titles were issued here in 1532.

    How to get to Santo Tomás Ocotepec

    Drive from Huajuapan de León: 2 h 25 min, 135 km

    The municipality is about 30 km from Tlaxiaco by road, 40 minutes to an hour according to the municipal plan, and the paved road linking it with Nuyoo and Yucuhiti was a project the community itself pushed through. From Oaxaca city the way is to Tlaxiaco through the Mixteca (via Nochixtlán): Fypsa runs an Oaxaca-Tlaxiaco bus of about 3 hours, and the two-leg route Oaxaca-Nochixtlán (ADO, frequent departures) plus Nochixtlán-Tlaxiaco is another option; confirm times at Fypsa, since aggregators disagree on frequency. In Tlaxiaco the shared taxis of Sitio Ocotepec run to the village centre (in 2009 it was 18 pesos shared or 80 for a private run; more today), along with El Paraíso Mixteco cabs. The farther communities, such as Nunuma (10 km from the seat) or Lázaro Cárdenas (14 km), were still being paved when the municipal plan was written; ask about road conditions before going.

    Directions to Santo Tomás Ocotepec on Google Maps

    Distances are in a straight line; the road is usually longer.

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    From the nearest cities to Santo Tomás Ocotepec

    Drive times by road from OpenStreetMap, without traffic or stops. Times marked ~ are estimated from the straight-line distance.

    Before you go to Santo Tomás Ocotepec: hours, prices and tips

    Best time of day
    Carnival Tuesday for the Te kasiqui gathering of more than 3,000 dancers. Wikipedia, Municipio de Santo Tomás Ocotepec · checked Oct 2026
    Best season
    Carnival from January, peaking on Carnival Tuesday; patron fiesta 18-20 December; Day of the Dead altars on 1-2 November. Plan Municipal de Desarrollo 2008-2010; Wikipedia · checked Oct 2026
    What to bring
    A warm layer: about 14 °C average and strong winds from January to March. Plan Municipal de Desarrollo 2008-2010 · checked Oct 2026

    Hours and prices change, especially around holidays. Each fact links to where we checked it.

    Visiting Santo Tomás Ocotepec: what to see and do

    See the sixteenth-century church of Santo Tomás and its atrium.
    Come for carnival: on Tuesday thousands of Te kasiqui dance on the esplanade.
    Visit the Friday market and try barbacoa or black mole at fiesta time.
    Walk toward the higher communities such as Nunuma, past maize fields and ocote pines.
    Come 18 to 20 December for the fiesta of Santo Tomás.

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    Places to stay in Santo Tomás Ocotepec

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    Tours & activities

    Day trips around Teposcolula sometimes stop in Santo Tomás Ocotepec; a tour is the easy way to see it without a car.

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    Rental cars

    Pick up a car at OAX (Oaxaca): about 1 h 45 min by road to Teposcolula, then 50 km more to Santo Tomás Ocotepec, on your own schedule.

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    Flights

    The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Oaxaca (OAX), about 1 h 45 min by road from Teposcolula, the base for Santo Tomás Ocotepec.

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    Travel insurance

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    Mobile data

    Signal can drop away from Teposcolula: download a map of the way to Santo Tomás Ocotepec before you set out, or carry an eSIM with data.

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    When to go to Santo Tomás Ocotepec cool

    Santo Tomás Ocotepec shares the climate of Teposcolula, 50 km away. The best months to visit are January, February, March, and December.

    See the month-by-month climate of Teposcolula

    The closest Pueblo Mágico: Teposcolula

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

    Teposcolula is the Pueblo Mágico closest to Santo Tomás Ocotepec, with places to stay, food, and more to see.

    Closest to Santo Tomás Ocotepec

    Near Santo Tomás Ocotepec

    Drive times by road from OpenStreetMap, without traffic. Times marked ~ are estimated from the straight-line distance.

    Location from OpenStreetMap. Written by Puebloteca.