Central Valleys of Oaxaca

Pueblos Mágicos in Central Valleys of Oaxaca

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Oaxaca Mitla

Map

Places to visit in Central Valleys of Oaxaca 85

85 places with their own page, grouped by kind.

Towns · 55 Landmarks and museums · 15 Archaeological sites · 6 Villages · 5 Nature reserves · 2 Cities · 1 Viewpoints · 1

Towns

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  Cuilápam de Guerrero · Town · Oaxaca
  A valley town 10 km southwest of Oaxaca, home to a vast, never-finished 16th-century Dominican basilica where Vicente Guerrero was shot in 1831.
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  Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón · Town · Oaxaca
  Mazatec town at 1,345 m in Oaxaca's far north, birthplace of the revolutionary Ricardo Flores Magón, a few kilometres from Huautla.
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  Ocotlán de Morelos · Town · Oaxaca
  Valley market town 35 km south of Oaxaca, with a big Friday market, a Dominican church restored by painter Rodolfo Morales and the Aguilar potters.
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  Reyes Etla · Town · Oaxaca
  Seat of a small Etla valley municipality at 1,635 m, 18 km from Oaxaca, beside the Señor de las Peñas sanctuary and its fifth-Friday-of-Lent pilgrimage.
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  Rojas de Cuauhtémoc · Town · Oaxaca
  Seat of its own municipality in the Central Valleys, about 19 km from Oaxaca City, with horse stables, open pasture and the rocky peak of El Yarit.
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  San Agustín Etla · Town · Oaxaca
  A hill town above the Etla valley with the CaSa arts centre in an 1883 textile mill, a walk along an old aqueduct and a famous Muerteada.
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  San Andrés Huayápam · Town · Oaxaca
  A hillside town just northeast of Oaxaca city, home of tejate, the cacao and corn drink, and of a yearly Feria del Tejate.
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  San Andrés Zabache · Town · Oaxaca
  Tiny municipality at the south end of the Central Valleys near Ejutla de Crespo: 748 people, 1,430 m, and the San Andrés fiesta on 30 November.
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  San Andrés Zautla · Town · Oaxaca
  Etla valley town with a 17th-century church and a working pipe organ dated 1726.
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  San Antonino Castillo Velasco · Town · Oaxaca
  Zapotec town next to Ocotlán, famous for silk-embroidered blouses and dresses and for figures made of dried immortelle flowers.
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  San Antonio de la Cal · Town · Oaxaca
  Central Valleys town next to Oaxaca city, settled by lime burners; fiesta of San Antonio Abad every 17 January and a name for tlayudas.
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  San Baltazar Chichicápam · Town · Oaxaca
  Mezcal town in the Ocotlán district at 1,553 m, with family palenques, a reservoir and the bitter river that gives it its name.
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  San Baltazar Guelavila · Town · Oaxaca
  Zapotec community in the hills above Mitla, with mezcal palenques and Las Salinas, a canyon of pools and salt springs.
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  San Bartolo Coyotepec · Town · Oaxaca
  The Zapotec town of barro negro, Oaxaca's shiny black pottery, 11 km south of the city, with Doña Rosa's workshop and the state folk art museum.
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  San Bartolomé Quialana · Town · Oaxaca
  Zapotec town at 1,803 m in the Tlacolula valley: hand-woven belts, the women's everyday dress and the New Year's Day climb up El Calvario hill.
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  San Dionisio Ocotepec · Town · Oaxaca
  A Zapotec-speaking town in the hills south of Matatlán, full of small family palenques making espadín and wild-agave mezcal.
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  San Francisco Tutla · Town · Oaxaca
  Brick-making village in the Central Valleys right beside Oaxaca city, founded by settlers from San Sebastián Tutla; fair from late September.
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  San Jacinto Amilpas · Town · Oaxaca
  Urban municipality hugging Oaxaca City at 1,600 m, from 861 people in 1940 to nearly 17,000 now. Church of 1800 and a fiesta on 17 August.
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  San Juan Bautista la Raya · Town · Oaxaca
  Town beside Oaxaca's airport on the Atoyac River, known for its Diablos carnival.
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  San Juan Chilateca · Town · Oaxaca
  Central Valleys town at 1,500 m where women hand-embroider dresses and three wind bands play.
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  San Juan Guelavía · Town · Oaxaca
  Zapotec town in the Central Valleys beside Highway 190, known for river-reed baskets and its annual Feria del Carrizo.
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  San Juan de los Cués · Town · Oaxaca
  Seat in Oaxaca's Cañada region at 862 m on highway 135, with a lemon fair held since 1979.
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  San Marcos Tlapazola · Town · Mitla
  A Zapotec village in the hills where women shape red clay pottery by hand, without a wheel, as their families have for generations.
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  San Martín Tilcajete · Town · Oaxaca
  Zapotec village 23 km south of Oaxaca where families carve and paint alebrijes, the bright copal-wood creatures, in workshops open to visitors.
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  San Miguel Ixcatlán · Town · Oaxaca
  Mixtec hamlet of 171 people at 1,674 m, 8 km from Santiago Yosondúa, set among green ravines of the sierra.
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  San Nicolás Quialana · Town · Oaxaca
  Valles Centrales village 2 km from Zimatlán, with the shell of an old hacienda now used as a school.
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  San Pablo Etla · Town · Oaxaca
  Town in the Etla valley a few minutes from Oaxaca city, founded in 1686 and now home to over 4,000 people.
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  San Pablo Huitzo · Town · Oaxaca
  Farming town at the head of the Etla valley with a 16th-century Dominican church, and site of the Zapotec Tomb 10 found in 2025.
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  San Pablo Huixtepec · Town · Oaxaca
  Valles Centrales town in the Zimatlán district with almost 10,000 people and a red-and-white church tower.
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  San Sebastián Sedas · Town · Oaxaca
  Hill village at nearly 2,000 m where a railway once ended; the track lies under earth and the last 3 km are a dirt road.
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  San Sebastián Teitipac · Town · Oaxaca
  Zapotec town in the Central Valleys at 1,604 m: red-quarry-stone church, hand-carved metates and molcajetes, tejate made on a metate.
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  Santa Ana Zegache · Town · Oaxaca
  Zapotec village in the Central Valleys at 1,500 m, with a church whose facade was repainted under Rodolfo Morales.
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  Santa Ana del Valle · Town · Mitla
  A Zapotec weaving village with a pioneering community museum and a church full of colonial saints.
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  Santa Catarina Albarradas · Town · Oaxaca
  Zapotec village of about 360 people at 1,650 m in the hills northeast of Mitla, with its sanctuary of San Antonio de Padua.
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  Santa Catarina Minas · Town · Oaxaca
  A small valley town near Ocotlán whose family palenques still double-distil mezcal in clay pots, the style known as minero.
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  Santa Cruz Mixtepec · Town · Oaxaca
  Mountain town south of Zimatlán at 1,580 m, with a church dating from 1557, a cave with rock paintings, bathing spots and mezcal agave.
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  Santa Cruz Papalutla · Town · Oaxaca
  Central Valleys town at 1,585 m, founded in 1615, where people weave carrizo-cane baskets and cages and the Santa Cruz church stands at the entrance.
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  Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán · Town · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca city's southern neighbour, famous for the candlelit Day of the Dead vigils in its old and new cemeteries on the night of 31 October.
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  Santa Inés Yatzeche · Town · Oaxaca
  Zapotec village of 908 people at 1,455 m on the Atoyac in the Valle Grande; the ruins of its old church stand on a mound.
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  Santa Lucía del Camino · Town · Oaxaca
  City 3 km east of Oaxaca, with 45,895 people in 2020 and the second-highest density of any municipality in the state.
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  Santa María Atzompa · Town · Oaxaca
  A potters' town 5 km northwest of Oaxaca, famous for jade-green glazed cookware, with a communal crafts market and family workshops.
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  Santa María Pápalo · Town · Oaxaca
  Cuicatec village above 2,000 m in the Cañada sierra, among forested hills and Volcán Prieto; its church was raised through communal tequio work.
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  Santa María la Asunción · Town · Oaxaca
  Mazatec town hugging Huautla at 1,668 m: embroidered huipiles, rabbit and mushroom dishes, and the Son Mazateco from its brass band.
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  Santiago Etla · Town · Oaxaca
  Municipal agency of San Lorenzo Cacaotepec at 1,596 m, a short drive from Oaxaca city, with a Friday market and a July fair for Santiago.
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  Santiago Matatlán · Town · Mitla
  A town that calls itself the world capital of mezcal, lined with family palenques where you can see agave being roasted and distilled.
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  Santiago Suchilquitongo · Town · Oaxaca
  Etla valley town below Huijazoo, the hilltop Zapotec site of the painted Tomb 5; its community museum shows a replica of the tomb.
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  Santos Reyes Pápalo · Town · Oaxaca
  Cuicatec town at 2,104 m in the Sierra de Flores Magón; "place of butterflies", known for red clay pottery and embroidery.
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  Soledad Etla · Town · Oaxaca
  Municipal seat in the Etla valley at 1,590 m, with an 1721 church, about 19 km from Oaxaca city and frequent shared transport.
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  Teotitlán del Valle · Town · Mitla
  The Zapotec weaving village of the valley: family workshops making wool rugs on foot looms with natural dyes.
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  Tlacolula · Town · Mitla
  Home of one of Oaxaca's oldest and biggest Sunday markets, and a Baroque chapel covered in gilded plasterwork.
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  Tlalixtac de Cabrera · Town · Oaxaca
  An old Zapotec farming town 10 km east of Oaxaca city, at the foot of the Sierra Norte, linked to the colonial painter Miguel Cabrera.
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  Villa de Etla · Town · Oaxaca
  Etla valley market town with a 1636 Dominican church and a Wednesday market known for quesillo, tamales and goat barbacoa.
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  Villa de Zaachila · Town · Oaxaca
  The last Zapotec capital, 15 km south of Oaxaca, with a big Thursday market and Mixtec tombs beside the church of La Natividad.
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  Zimatlán de Álvarez · Town · Oaxaca
  Seat of Zimatlán municipality in the Central Valleys at 1,496 m; founded in 1558, with a kiosk plaza and an 1910 iron market.
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  Ánimas Trujano · Town · Oaxaca
  Town on Oaxaca city's southern edge with a listed 19th-century church, a wind band and a Danza de la Pluma; main feast on 12 December.

Landmarks and museums

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  Acueducto de San Felipe del Agua · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's 18th-century stone and brick aqueduct, best seen where its tall arches leap the Jalatlaco ravine at La Cascada in Xochimilco.
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  Andador Macedonio Alcalá · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's green-stone pedestrian street, car-free since 1985, running five blocks from the Zócalo to Santo Domingo past museums and galleries.
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  Barrio de Jalatlaco · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's first Barrio Mágico: cobbled lanes, adobe and cantera houses, street murals and the 18th-century church of San Matías.
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  Barrio de Xochimilco · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's old Nahua-founded barrio north of the centre: aqueduct arches with doorways beneath them, pedal looms, a weekend organic market.
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  Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad · Landmark · Oaxaca
  The 17th-century baroque basilica of Oaxaca's patron Virgin, with a screen-like stone facade, a 1686 organ and nieve stands in the plaza.
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  Central de Abastos · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's huge wholesale market, a 21-hectare maze of produce, chiles, mole, pottery and food stalls; Saturday is the big day.
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  Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca · Landmark · Oaxaca
  A 2.3-hectare garden of plants native to Oaxaca on Santo Domingo's old convent orchard, famous for its columnar-cactus walls; guided tours only.
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  Mercado 20 de Noviembre · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's food market, two blocks south of the Zócalo: mole, tlayudas, pan de yema with chocolate and the smoky Pasillo de Humo grill aisle.
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  Mercado Benito Juárez · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's oldest covered market, an 1894 iron hall a block from the Zócalo selling mole, quesillo, chocolate, crafts and fresh juice.
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  Museo Textil de Oaxaca · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Free textile museum in an 18th-century cochineal merchant's house in Oaxaca's centro, with rotating shows of huipiles, rebozos and dyes.
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  Museo de Arte Prehispánico de México Rufino Tamayo · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Painter Rufino Tamayo's gift to his home city: about 1,350 pre-Hispanic pieces shown as art in five rooms painted in his own palette.
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  Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's grandest Baroque church, with a gilded interior and a former Dominican convent that now holds the Museo de las Culturas and Monte Albán's Tomb 7 gold.
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  Tlacochahuaya · Landmark · Mitla
  A Dominican church whose walls and vaults are painted with flowers and angels, with a restored 18th-century pipe organ.
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  Zócalo de Oaxaca · Landmark · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's shady, car-free main square, laid out in 1529, with an art nouveau bandstand, café arcades, the cathedral and the Alameda de León beside it.
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  Árbol del Tule · Landmark · Mitla
  A Montezuma cypress in Santa María del Tule with one of the widest trunks in the world, on the road between Oaxaca and Mitla.

Archaeological sites

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  Dainzú · Archaeological site · Mitla
  An early Zapotec site at the foot of a hill, famous for dozens of carved stones showing masked ball players.
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  Lambityeco · Archaeological site · Mitla
  A small Zapotec site by the highway with two striking stucco masks of Cocijo, the rain god, at a noble's house.
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  Monte Albán · Archaeological site · Oaxaca
  The Zapotec capital on a levelled mountaintop 400 m above Oaxaca's valleys, founded about 500 BC and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
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  San José Mogote · Archaeological site · Oaxaca
  The Etla valley's first large Zapotec village, older than Monte Albán, with a restored mound and a small community museum.
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  Yagul · Archaeological site · Mitla
  A Zapotec hilltop city with a big ball court, a maze-like palace and a fortress lookout over the Tlacolula Valley.
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  Zona Arqueológica de Atzompa · Archaeological site · Oaxaca
  Monte Albán's hilltop satellite city above Santa María Atzompa, with the largest ball court in the Monte Albán area and free entry.

Villages

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  San Antonio Arrazola · Village · Oaxaca
  The village below Monte Albán's west slope where Manuel Jiménez began carving painted wooden animals, the roots of Oaxaca's alebrijes.
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  San Isidro Roaguía · Village · Oaxaca
  The small village beside Hierve el Agua that runs the site's mineral pools, stalls and cabins, high above the valleys east of Mitla.
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  San Pedro y San Pablo Ayutla · Village · Oaxaca
  Mixe highland town at about 2,000 m, seat of the Prelature of Mixes, with two wind bands, an eight-day Day of the Dead and views of Zempoaltépetl.
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  Santa María Tlahuitoltepec · Village · Oaxaca
  Mixe seat at 2,239 m in the Sierra Norte, known for its music school (CECAM, since 1977) and its brass bands.
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  Santo Tomás Jalieza · Village · Oaxaca
  Zapotec weaving village on the Ocotlán road, where women sell backstrap-loom belts, bags and table runners at a cooperative market.

Nature reserves

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  Hierve el Agua · Nature reserve · Mitla
  Mineral springs that have built white rock "waterfalls" down a cliff, with pools to swim in and huge views of the sierra.
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  Parque Nacional Benito Juárez · Nature reserve · Oaxaca
  A national park of pine-oak forest on the hills just north of Oaxaca city, with marked trails, birdwatching, zip lines and views over the valley.

Cities

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  Oaxaca de Juárez · City · Oaxaca
  Oaxaca's capital: a green-stone colonial centre on UNESCO's list with Monte Albán, famous for moles, markets, mezcal and the July Guelaguetza.

Viewpoints

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  Cerro del Fortín · Viewpoint · Oaxaca
  The hill over Oaxaca City: stairs up to the Guelaguetza auditorium, a Juárez statue with city views, a planetarium and forest trails.

Top tours in Central Valleys of Oaxaca

Andador Macedonio Alcalá Hierve el Agua 2.5 hours, Mitla, Tule, Rugs and Mezcal for a Day ★ 4.9 (1,558) 11 h From US$70

Andador Macedonio Alcalá Hierve el Agua, Tule Tree, Mitla and Mezcal Distillery Tour ★ 4.7 (1,183) 12 h From US$60

Andador Macedonio Alcalá Monte Alban Guided Half Day Tour ★ 4.8 (1,070) 3–4 h From US$30

Andador Macedonio Alcalá OAXACA CULTURAL FOOD TOUR, eat like a local. ★ 5.0 (508) 6 h From US$103

Andador Macedonio Alcalá Immersion Tour and Oaxaca Markets, All gastronomy included ★ 4.8 (466) 3 h 30 min From US$55

Monte Albán Tour de medio día a monte albán ★ 4.6 (436) 4 h From US$31

Hierve el Agua Hierve el Agua and distillery of mezcal tour ★ 4.8 (422) 8 h From US$65

Monte Albán Monte Alban for 3hrs, Black Pottery and Alebrijes with Admissions ★ 4.9 (307) 8 h From US$55

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

Neighbouring regions