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    Panórama de Santos Reyes Pápalo, Oaxaca

    Photo by Donaldo lezama, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Santos Reyes Pápalo

    Town Santos Reyes Pápalo, Oaxaca Central Valleys of Oaxaca

    Cuicatec town at 2,104 m in the Sierra de Flores Magón; "place of butterflies", known for red clay pottery and embroidery.

    From Orizaba: about 2 h 15 min by road (~155 km) How to get there ↓

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    Tours to Santos Reyes Pápalo

    Day trips around Huautla sometimes stop in Santos Reyes Pápalo; a tour is the easy way to see it without a car.

    Tours from Oaxaca City Hierve el Agua 2.5 hours, Mitla, Tule, Rugs and Mezcal for a Day ★ 4.9 (1,558) · From US$70
    Find tours on Viator GetYourGuide

    How to get to Santos Reyes Pápalo

    • From Orizaba: about 2 h 15 min by road (~155 km)
    • Nearest airport: Oaxaca (OAX), 3 h 34 min by car to Huautla
    Rent a car at OAX Flights to OAX

    Route, map and directions ↓

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    Tours from Oaxaca City, near Santos Reyes Pápalo

    Hierve el Agua 2.5 hours, Mitla, Tule, Rugs and Mezcal for a Day ★ 4.9 (1,558) 11 h From US$70
    Hierve el Agua, Tule Tree, Mitla and Mezcal Distillery Tour ★ 4.7 (1,183) 12 h From US$60
    Monte Alban Guided Half Day Tour ★ 4.8 (1,070) 3–4 h From US$30
    OAXACA CULTURAL FOOD TOUR, eat like a local. ★ 5.0 (508) 6 h From US$103
    Immersion Tour and Oaxaca Markets, All gastronomy included ★ 4.8 (466) 3 h 30 min From US$55

    Tours, prices and ratings from Viator, checked weekly. We may earn a commission if you book.

    About Santos Reyes Pápalo

    Pápalo comes from Nahuatl papalotl, butterfly, plus the locative -co: "place of butterflies". Santos Reyes refers to the Three Kings, the town's patrons. It sits at 2,104 metres in the Cuicatlán district, inside the Sierra de Flores Magón region of northern Oaxaca. It is a Cuicatec town: in 2020 the municipality had 2,490 people and 1,896 of them spoke Cuicatec.

    The census counts 1,923 people in the seat in 2020, down from a peak of 2,221 in 2010; in 1900 there were 896. The municipality is small, about 84 sq km, and climbs from 800 to 3,300 metres, which explains its variety: more than half is forest, a fifth tropical forest and the rest grassland. The other localities are Cacalotepec (422 people), El Girasol (143) and Celso Herrera Díaz (2). The Chiquito and La Grana streams run all year. The climate ranges 12 to 24 degrees C with 500 to 1,200 mm of rain a year.

    On the craft side, people weave and sew embroidery and make red-clay pottery: comales, pots and jars. The table is chicken and beef stews, mole, handmade tortillas, meat tamales with mole, corn atoles and beans from the pot; in the rainy season, quelites and purslane. Fiestas bring an orchestra playing ranchera and norteña music. The land is unfit for crops and almost all grazing is by goats.

    How to get to Santos Reyes Pápalo

    Santos Reyes Pápalo is in northern Oaxaca, in the Cuicatlán district: the district seat, San Juan Bautista Cuicatlán, shares a boundary with the municipality to the southwest and west. From Oaxaca city it is about 84 km in a straight line; by road it is a good deal more, because the road climbs and drops between ranges.

    The safe plan is to reach Cuicatlán first by bus from Oaxaca or Tehuacán and look for local transport there. We found no published schedules for buses, vans or colectivos to Pápalo, nor whether the road is paved all the way to the seat: ask in Cuicatlán about departures and road conditions, especially in the rainy season. Oaxaca's first-class terminal is on Calzada Niños Héroes de Chapultepec.

    Huautla de Jiménez is about 36 km away in a straight line, but no direct route between the two towns is published.

    Directions to Santos Reyes Pápalo on Google Maps

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

    Where to stay Hotels in Santos Reyes Pápalo Compare hotels, posadas and guest houses in Santos Reyes Pápalo. See prices →

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    From the nearest cities to Santos Reyes Pápalo

    • Orizaba · about 155 km by road, ~2 h 15 min
    • Oaxaca · 144 km by road, 2 h 25 min
    • Tehuacán · 142 km by road, 2 h 30 min

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

    Before you go to Santos Reyes Pápalo: hours, prices and tips

    Best season
    Rain season brings quelites and purslane to the table; temperatures range 12 to 24 C. INEGI Compendio municipal 2010 · checked Oct 2026

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

    Visiting Santos Reyes Pápalo: what to see and do

    Look for embroidery and red-clay pottery.
    Try the mole, tamales and corn atoles.
    Listen for Cuicatec, spoken by nearly 1,900 residents.
    Look up at the forest that climbs to 3,300 m above the town.

    Plan your trip

    Places to stay in Santos Reyes Pápalo

    Compare hotels, posadas, and rentals in and around Santos Reyes Pápalo.

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    Tours & activities

    Day trips around Huautla sometimes stop in Santos Reyes Pápalo; a tour is the easy way to see it without a car.

    Viator GetYourGuide

    Rental cars

    Pick up a car at OAX (Oaxaca): about 3 h 34 min by road to Huautla, then 36 km more to Santos Reyes Pápalo, on your own schedule.

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    Flights

    The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Oaxaca (OAX), about 3 h 34 min by road from Huautla, the base for Santos Reyes Pápalo.

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    Travel insurance

    Medical and trip cover for Mexico, by the week or month.

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    Mobile data

    Signal can drop away from Huautla: download a map of the way to Santos Reyes Pápalo before you set out, or carry an eSIM with data.

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    When to go to Santos Reyes Pápalo mild

    Santos Reyes Pápalo shares the climate of Huautla, 36 km away. The best months to visit are February, March, April, and May.

    See the month-by-month climate of Huautla

    The closest Pueblo Mágico: Huautla

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

    Huautla is the Pueblo Mágico closest to Santos Reyes Pápalo, with places to stay, food, and more to see.

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

    Location from OpenStreetMap. Written by Puebloteca.