Templo de Santo Domingo
Centro · 30 min
The gilded church first, while it is open between the morning masses; the family tree of St Dominic on the ceiling inside the door is the thing to look up at.
Oaxaca · Mexico · 3 days
3 days in Oaxaca
Three days in the valley: the centro on foot with Santo Domingo, the markets and a mezcal tasting; Monte Albán at opening and the craft villages in the afternoon; then Hierve el Agua, Mitla and a palenque in the east. Mole twice, tlayudas once, and the altitude is kind.
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Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
- 3 days
- 23 stops
- 7 with a ticket
- from MX$900 a day
When to go
November to April is dry, warm by day and cool after dark. Late May to September brings afternoon storms that clear by evening; the valley is green and hotels are cheaper. Día de Muertos (October 31 to November 2) and the Guelaguetza (the last two Mondays of July; July 20 and 27, 2026) are the two weeks everyone wants, and rooms go for two to three times the usual rate and sell out by spring.
Where to base yourself
The centro north of the Zócalo, around Santo Domingo and the Alcalá, puts everything in this plan on foot. Jalatlaco, ten minutes east, is cobbled, painted and quieter at night; Xochimilco, north of Santo Domingo, is the same idea with fewer visitors. Reforma, further north, is where the bigger hotels sit.
Getting around
Walk the centro; it is flat and twenty minutes across. Taxis have no meters: agree the fare before you get in, and expect MX$50 to MX$80 for a ride inside the center and more after dark. DiDi works in the city and settles the price for you. Colectivos (shared taxis and vans) leave for every valley village from stands south and east of the center for MX$20 to MX$30 a seat.
Day 1
The centro on foot
- FromYour hotel in Centro, Santo Domingo and the Alcalá
- 1
- Next door
- 2
Centro Cultural Santo Domingo
Centro · 75 min
The ex-convent museum around two cloisters, with the Monte Albán Tomb 7 treasure (gold, jade, turquoise, carved bone) in its own room. Closed Mondays; the January 2026 INAH price rise doubled the ticket.
MX$210
- Next door
- 3
Jardín Etnobotánico
Centro · 120 min
The garden behind the convent is guided-tour only, no bookings, about 30 people a tour: the English tour has long run at 11 a.m. Monday to Saturday for around MX$100 and two hours, the Spanish ones at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and noon for an hour. Line up at the Reforma gate 20 minutes early and check the board, because the garden changed management in 2025.
MX$100
- 9 min · walk
- 4
Alcalá to the Zócalo and the cathedral
Centro · 45 min
Walk the pedestrian street south past the Macedonio Alcalá theater to the square: the cathedral, the arcades, the balloon sellers, the marimba. Twenty minutes if you do not stop, which you will.
- 7 min · walk
- 5
Mercado 20 de Noviembre and Benito Juárez
Centro · 90 min
The Pasillo de Humo is the smoke hall: pick tasajo and chorizo at a counter, they grill it, and you buy tortillas, onions and salsa from the women walking the aisle. Or have a tlayuda at a comedor, then go next door to Benito Juárez for chocolate, chapulines and quesillo.
- 9 min · walk
- 6
Museo Textil de Oaxaca
Centro · 60 min
Free, in a restored house on Hidalgo, open to 8 p.m. most days. One or two shows of Oaxacan weaving at a time; the shop is a fair place to buy a rebozo before you reach the villages.
- 6 min · walk
- 7
In Situ Mezcalería
Centro · 60 min
Vicente Guerrero 413, open from 2 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Tell the bartender what you like and let them pour three small glasses from the wall of unlabelled bottles, espadín first, then a wild agave; sip, do not shoot.
MX$250
- 4 min · walk
- 8
Los Danzantes
Centro · 90 min
On the Alcalá, in a tall courtyard. Order the mole negro and a second mole to compare; email or message ahead for a table, or walk into Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante on Constitución, which takes bookings on OpenTable.
Day 2
Monte Albán and the craft villages
- FromYour hotel in Centro, Santo Domingo and the Alcalá
- 1
Up to Monte Albán
Monte Albán · 20 min
A taxi from the center (MX$150 to MX$250, agree it first) puts you at the gate for the 8 a.m. opening, before the heat and the buses. The tourist bus from Hotel Rivera del Ángel on Mina runs about hourly from 8:30 a.m. for around MX$130 round trip, and you come back on its schedule.
- 3 min · walk
- 2
Monte Albán
Monte Albán · 150 min
The Zapotec capital on a flattened hilltop, 400 m above the valley: the Great Plaza, the Danzantes carvings, the ballcourt, the view from the South Platform. The ticket includes the site museum; last entry 4 p.m.
MX$210
- 4 min · walk
- 3
Museo de Sitio
Monte Albán · 40 min
The small museum at the entrance for the carved stelae out of the sun; water, bathrooms and a café before the villages.
- 12 km · transit or taxi
- 4
San Bartolo Coyotepec
Valley south · 60 min
Black pottery: the Doña Rosa workshop demonstrates the burnishing that gives the shine, and the state folk art museum on the square (closed Mondays) shows the best of every craft in the valley. Take a taxi from Monte Albán, or go back to the city for a colectivo from the Ocotlán stand.
- 11 km · transit or taxi
- 5
Azucena Zapoteca, San Martín Tilcajete
Valley south · 75 min
A garden restaurant on the highway at the Tilcajete turn: mole coloradito, a tlayuda, agua de chilacayota. Slow service, so order everything at once.
- 1.8 km · transit or taxi
- 6
San Martín Tilcajete alebrijes
Valley south · 90 min
Copal-wood animals are carved and painted in family workshops; Jacobo y María Ángeles is the big one with a demonstration, and the smaller houses along the same street sell for less. Arrazola, below Monte Albán, is the other alebrije village; if rugs matter more than wood, ask Waystop to swap this afternoon for Teotitlán del Valle, the weaving village on the road to Mitla that this plan does not otherwise visit.
- 23 km · transit or taxi
- 7
Jalatlaco
Jalatlaco · 60 min
Back in the city, walk the painted lanes east of the Periférico around the Templo de San Matías as the lights come on. Coffee and mezcal bars on Aldama and Hidalgo.
- 15 min · walk
- 8
Tlayudas El Negro
Jalatlaco · 60 min
A charcoal grill on a Jalatlaco corner that opens in the evening: a tlayuda with tasajo and the asiento spread thin, folded, blackened at the edges. Cash, plastic chairs, no bookings.
Day 3
Hierve el Agua and Mitla
- FromYour hotel in Centro, Santo Domingo and the Alcalá
East along the valley
Valley east · 90 min
The easy way is a day tour (around MX$800 to MX$1,000 with Tule, Teotitlán, Mitla and a palenque; check whether it includes the Hierve el Agua fees) or a shared taxi with your own driver for the day. On your own: a colectivo to Mitla from the stand by the Eduardo Vasconcelos baseball stadium for about MX$25, then a pickup from La Cuchilla in Mitla up to the falls for MX$50 to MX$75 each way; it leaves when full.
- Getting there
- 2
Hierve el Agua
Valley east · 120 min
Mineral springs over a cliff have built two stone waterfalls; swim in the pools at the top, then take the hour's loop down to the base of the big one. Two fees, cash only: around MX$20 to MX$25 to the road community at San Lorenzo Albarradas and MX$50 at the gate; the pools are quiet before 10 and full by midday.
MX$75
- 11 km · transit or taxi
- 3
Mitla
Mitla · 75 min
The Zapotec palaces with the stone fretwork mosaics, every panel a different pattern, and the church the Spanish built on top of one courtyard. Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., last entry 4:30 p.m.; the ticket is MX$210, free on Sundays for residents only.
MX$210
- 4 min · walk
- 4
Doña Chica, Mitla
Mitla · 60 min
A comedor-restaurant a few streets from the ruins: barbacoa de chivo on weekends, mole amarillo and empanadas the rest of the week. Tours stop at a bigger buffet nearby; this is better and cheaper.
- 3.8 km · transit or taxi
- 5
A palenque in Santiago Matatlán
Valley east · 60 min
The self-declared mezcal capital, ten minutes beyond Mitla; the roadside palenques (El Rey de Matatlán is the one tours use) show the pit oven, the horse-drawn tahona and the copper stills, then pour. Buy a bottle here, not at the airport.
- 46 km · transit or taxi
- 6
El Tule
Valley east · 40 min
The Montezuma cypress in the churchyard of Santa María del Tule is about 14 m across the trunk and a couple of thousand years old. The gate fee is a few pesos, the grounds close in the early evening, and the city is twenty minutes back.
MX$20
- 7.3 km · transit or taxi
- 7
Criollo
Centro · 150 min
Calzada Madero 129, a few blocks north-west of the centro: a set menu of Oaxacan cooking in a garden house, from the team behind Mexico City's Pujol. Book a week or two ahead; expect MX$2,000 a head with drinks.
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The practical bits
From the airport
From the airport (OAX), the Transportación Terrestre counter in arrivals sells a shared van seat to the centro for MX$135 (MX$210 for the outer neighborhoods), 30 to 45 minutes with the drop-offs; a private taxi especial from the same counter is about MX$490. Do not count on Uber or DiDi at the terminal. For the trip back, the same company picks up from your hotel; book it a day ahead at their office near the cathedral.
What a day costs
About MX$900 to MX$1,500 a day per person for meals, tickets and transport, roughly US$50 to US$80. Market lunches are MX$100 to MX$150, a tlayuda MX$80 to MX$120, the INAH sites MX$210 each, a mezcal MX$80 to MX$150 a glass, and the day-3 tour MX$800 to MX$1,000. A set menu at Criollo adds about MX$2,000.
Where to stay
Got a day to spare?
Worth knowing
- Oaxaca sits at 1,550 m, a thousand meters lower than Mexico City; most people feel nothing beyond a thirst. Still, drink water through the first day and let the mezcal wait until evening.
- Carry cash. Hierve el Agua, the palenques, the market comedores, colectivos and the village workshops are cash only, and ATMs in the villages are rare. Use the bank ATMs around the Zócalo.
- Taxis have no meters. Ask the fare before you sit down, or use DiDi, which works in the city but not reliably at the airport.
- Tap water is not for drinking. In sit-down restaurants the ice, the agua fresca and the salsa on the table are made with purified water; at a street stand, look for turnover and a salsa that was made today.
- INAH sites and the Santo Domingo museum doubled their prices in January 2026 (MX$210 for foreigners). Sunday free entry is for Mexican residents only, so weekend crowds are local; go on a weekday morning.
Things you can ask once it’s in the app
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
Make me a rain plan for day 3Which mezcalería is good for a beginner near Santo Domingo?Swap the craft villages for Teotitlán del Valle, we want a rugHow do I get from the center to Monte Albán without a tour?Is Hierve el Agua open the week we're there?
Questions
What does a fourth day add?
A Sunday at the Tlacolula market or a Friday at Ocotlán; a week buys the coast. Three days covers the city, Monte Albán and the eastern valley at a real pace.
Which day works in the rain?
Day 3 swaps for a cooking class: Alma de mi Tierra in Jalatlaco or Casa de los Sabores at La Olla on Reforma both start with a market trip and end with you eating what you made. Day 1 is fine wet: the museum, the markets and the textile museum are indoors. Ask Waystop to save the cooking-class day as a rain plan and switch to it from the day's menu.
Cash or card?
Cards at restaurants, hotels and the bigger shops in the centro; pesos for everything else, including every valley stop in this plan. Budget MX$300 a day per person in cash and more on village days.
How do I get to Oaxaca from Mexico City?
The ADO bus from TAPO takes six to seven hours, MX$600 to MX$1,200 for GL or Platino seats, with the overnight runs arriving around dawn. Flights take about 55 minutes from MX$800 on Viva or Volaris, more on Aeroméxico; add the two hours either side and the bus is only a little slower.
Before you go
Nearby
Same country first, then the cities people tend to pair with Oaxaca. Want two or three in one go? String them together in the trip builder.
Your version
Now make it fit your trip.
Add your dates, your hotel and who’s coming, then ask Chat to change anything: it proposes the edit and you tap Apply. Want a long lunch instead of a museum? Just ask. Every place is checked against Google Maps before it lands on your day, and Chat can tell you when to leave for the next stop. Going on to another city? Build a multi-city trip.