Oaxaca, Mexico
2025
Now filling the last trip of the year, Dec. 6-11 (5 nights)
If you want to travel on specific dates, let me know, we can probably make it happen! if you want to travel, and you don’t have a group, I will try to fill a group of 4-8 guests!
Types of trips best suited for Colonial Oaxaca City:
Foodie trips- Oaxaca is the food capital of Mexico, let’s eat and cook our way through this beautiful Colonial town! ! I am a chef and have two amazing chef friends in Oaxaca, they teach classes and do excursions to the mercados to buy the fresh ingredients from the area! See the itineraries below.
Artisan trips- Oaxaca is known for their weavers, black, red and green clay ceramics, wooden figures and masks, unique candles, woven palm baskets and hats, as well as all types of culinary artistry…let’s not forget artisinal mezcal! We have tours with exculsive access to the Gran Maestros including demonstrations and private sale of their art (several of them have work in high-end galleries, including the Smithsonian)!
Intensive/Immersive Spanish- 1 on 1 lessons as you discover the cafés and mercados with native Oaxacan teachers. Any level welcome, they will assess you, then spend time touring the beautiful city speaking Spanish and giving lessons. The amount of time is up to you, I suggest 1/2 days for 2 weeks. I can set you up in an apartment or hotel and be there to do fun things before or after your classes. (Individual itineraries).
All trips are priced differently, Rates depend on the size of the group, dates traveling, lodging and number of excursions and tours. The 5 night trips start at about $2000/pp, this includes lodging, transfers and tours (not airfare or food).
Pick a date and contact me, let’s do this!
FYI- July, August, September are the rainy season- but all are still good dates to travel if you don’t mind dodging a few showers!
October trips- 10/14-18, 10/22-31 Sold Out
November foodie trip- 11/4-8, 11/30-12/5 Sold Out
**** Now booking my last trip of 2025 **************
December group trip (food and art); 12/6-11, 5 nights
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Also booking for 2026, set your own dates!
Sample schedule- itineraries
(These itineraries will differ slightly with foodie trips, artisan tours as well as during Semana Santa and Dia de Muertos)
Day 1 Arrive in Oaxaca City, private van transfer to lodging. Private rooms in a beautiful b&b or boutique hotel. Start the trip with a fabulous meal on a beautiful terraza at a Michelin Star restaurant with views of the Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman, here we will have a late lunch and a welcome mezcal cocktail! We will take our time, leisurely walking this area of Oaxaca, getting a feel for the vibe of the city, seeing the beautiful Temple of Santo Domingo and maybe witness a parade and do some shopping in the authentic boutiques, checking out the rugs, ceramics and hats, clothes and shoes that are made by local artisans. Taco trucks or restaurant for a late dinner before experiencing one of the top bars in the world!
Day 2 After breakfast and Oaxacan coffee in the hotel or a cute cafe’ nearby, we will spend the day on a walking tour of another part of the city to experience the architecture, food and mercados! We will walk to the Zocalo, an historical part of the city, including the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption and the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Soledad. You will have the chance to taste some of the nieve- shaved ice, that area is known for! For lunch we will visit the Mercado Benito Juarez and interact with native Oaxacan farmers and food artisans and taste quesillo (Oaxacan cheese), téjate (an ancestral drink), molé paste, cocoa to make chocolate, mezcal, as well as pan de agua and pan dulce. Then cross the street to the bigger mercado 20 de Noviembre for another fun food experience in the Pasillo de Humo (Michelin Star for the authentic experience). After a meal in the mercado we will head back to the hotel for a siesta or free time for museums and galleries until dinner at another Michelin Star restaurant to taste the molés Oaxaca is known for.
Day 3 Today we will have a private artisan tour, this is a very unique tour that I have designed with one of the Grand Masters in weaving, Jacobo Mendoza. He has access to other Grand Master Artisans that don’t usually allow tours. We will start in Teotitlan del Valle, to meet some of these artisans in tapestries (they make exquisite rugs) and then to other villages to see wood carvings (alebrijes) and clay artists as well. We will have private demonstrations and a chance to purchase from the best of the best! There will also be other stops on the tour, either ruins or a distillery tour and tasting. For lunch we will have a traditional meal! Upon our return we will have a late dinner at a typical hole-in-the-wall taqueria known for their tacos al pastor shaved off el trompo and served with a slice of pina- deliciosos! NOTE: for the foodie tours, we will visit only 2 artisans and eat lunch at a famous Zapotec restaurant and tour a mezcal palenque to see and taste the process. Dinner at a restaurant or late night taco tour (your choice)!
Day 4 Today we will take a short walk to the home of a chef to take a cooking class, we will participate in making mole’ and other yummy dishes that we will consume at the end of the 3-4 hour class. This afternoon is free time to explore another cute neighborhood or head to the hotel for a siesta, or choose a museum visits, shopping and sightseeing in town. Tonight is an optional group dinner at another fabulous restaurant in the city and possibly visit a bar or 2 after dinner.
Day 5 and options for day 6, 7, 8 (depends on length of your trip):
>Private 1/2 day tour of Hierve el Agua mineral pool and petrified waterfall, hike and lunch, afternoon of free time and shopping.
>Private 1/2 day tour to visit Monte Alban ruins and walking tour of the aquaducts of Xochimilco, free time in evening.
>Private full day tour to visit the Village of Etla, it is a cute town up towards the mountains, about 1 hour drive. Here we will go to the small mercado and tour the San Agustin Art Center, a renovated mill, turned into a complex of art studios and galleries. After, we will eat a late lunch at a nice hotel nearby, before heading home. Dinner reservations after a siesta, back in town!
>Walking tour, we will start the day with a 1.5 mile city-hike (or taxi ride) to breakfast. We will walk up the hill on the west side of town where we will enjoy a panaramic vista and a truly unique setting in Doña Gloria’s tiny tortilleria. Here, Doña Gloria and her daughter, Teresita, make fresh tortillas, quesadillas, memelitas and eggs with salsa matcha, salsa fresca, quesilla and of course, café de olla. We have the option of visiting the Planetarium and the auditorium of Guelaguetza at the top of the hill. On our walk back down to the city centro, we will see murals, cute shops and print-making galleries.
>Chocolate-making class and possbly do some more mezcal tasting in boutique shops, then do a late night taco tour!
>Bike to the Tulé tree and eat in the mercado in Tulé, free time in the afternoon and maybe a message- dinner reservations.
>Full day guided hike in the Sierra Norte mountains with transfer,
>Temazcal hot sauna and massage after a morning of shopping.
For 9 day tours, we will have time to do more of the optional adventures listed above, and more free time.
Dia de los Muertos in Oaxaca City 2025 SOLD OUT!
Now booking for 2026….
This is a very special trip that is unique in every way! I will secured rooms in a boutique b&b or small hotel in the city centro, private excursions to a cemetery, artisan tour and a mezcal distillery. (Dia de los muertos trip itinerary varies with seasonal events and tours, prices do not include food, drinks or airfare). Lodging is secured one year in advance!!!
Sample itinerary for Dia de los Muertos
Day 1 tour of the city, as we explore, we will put together our “visual map” of this amazingly beautiful town, stopping at cafés for Oaxacan coffee or possibly a juice bar or later, a mezcal bar for yummy snacks. During the tour we will do some shopping at boutique stores and artisan markets as we walk among the colorful architecture and art! We will visit the Zocalo, an historical part of the city, including the Cathedral and the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Soledad, the area outside the basilica is known for their many flavors of nieve, we will taste the refreshing shaved ice. Next is the Mercado Benito Juarez, full of everything you could want or need…and more. Here we can interact with native Oaxacan farmers and food artisans. We can taste chapulines (tiny grasshoppers), also gusanos (worms), quesillo (Oaxacan cheese), téjate (an ancestral drink), molé paste, cocoa to make chocolate, mezcal, as well as pan de agua and pan dulce…then we’ll go across the street to the area of the Mercado 20 de Noviembre and the famous Paseo de Humo for an exciting lunch! Free time for more shopping or a siesta after lunch. Later, we continue the city tour we in the area of Santo Domingo before our dinner reservations at Casa Oaxaca!
Day 2 Early breakfast at the b&b and leave by 8:30 am for a private van ride to start the artisan tour. This is a very unique tour that I have designed in cooperation with one of the Grand Masters in weaving, Jacobo Mendoza. He has friendships with other Grand Master Artisans that don’t usually allow tour groups. Because of this friendship, they have granted us access to their workshops and will give us demonstrations in their craft. We will visit Marter Artisans in weaving, wood carvings (alebrijes), a candlemaker (velas) and black clay and red clay (barro negro y rojo) artists as well. We will have a rare chance to purchase from the best of the best! Dinner reservations tonight at another fabulous restaurant.
Day 3 Today we will enjoy a cooking class with a chef, all hands on, including shopping at the mercado making mole’ and other yummy dishes that we will consume at the end of the 3- hour class. Siesta time, then take an afternoon visit to the Cultural Center galleries, snacks at Bar el Gallo, then dinner reservations at Quince Letras (Michelin star restaurant known for their mole’).
Day 4 Today we have a ½ day private tour of the UNESCO site of Monte Alban. Monte Alban is a large Pre-Columbian architectural site, the most important in the Valley of Oaxaca. This afternoon we have about 3 hours for a leisurely lunch on your own, and head to the hotel for a little siesta before the highlight of our trip…
4 pm-1 am Dia de los Muertos tour! We will take a tour and head to the panteon (cemetery) to observe the centuries old traditions of welcoming and sending the spirits of their loved ones back to heaven. This experience is truly spiritual and very touching, a day you will not forget. Most of my guests come back from this trip and set up ofrendas in their own home after learning the beautiful traditions they have experiencesd in Oaxaca!
Day 5 Free day or a walking tour to two unique neighborhoods: Xochimilco to see the aqueducts, stopping at a café for snacks. From there, we will travel by foot to Jalatlaco, my favorite place in Oaxaca city. This barrio has a quaint colonial church and cobblestone streets lined with cafés and a taqueria we can stop for lunch, then we will head back to the b&b or to the mercados for shopping! Our next adventure is a 7 molé tasting. Option to tour the Jardin Etnobotanico. Our final dinner together is at another fantastic, Michelin star restaurant!
Prices vary per trip and number of guests: include lodging, all tours and transfers- Prices do not include airfare, food, drinks or extra activities not listed on the itinerary.