At first, Oaxaca was just another point on my plan on the way from Mexico City to the gorgeous beaches and pyramids of Yucatan, lost in the jungle.

But when, finally, my rented “white lightning” covered almost 500 kilometers and ended up in a mountainous area with a cozy authentic town, I wanted to stay here longer.

A little history

Once upon a time, numerous Indian tribes lived in the state of Oaxaca: Zapotecs, Mixtecs and others. The largest city in the area was its younger brother Monte Alban.

In many ways, Monte Alban repeated the fate of its brother: it experienced a period of prosperity, and then was abandoned for many centuries.

From the 13th century, the Oaxaca region was inhabited by the Aztecs, who ruled and collected tribute from the local tribes until the colonization of the region by the Spaniards in the mid-16th century.

The conquistadors began building their city in the 16th century near the ruins of Monte Alban. And for almost 300 years it was called Antequera, until the government of the now independent Mexico renamed it Oaxaca, or “Place where the huaje begins to grow” (the sacred plant of the Aztecs).

How to get there

By plane

Clue:

Oaxaca - the time is now

Hour difference:

Moscow 8

Kazan 8

Samara 9

Ekaterinburg 10

Novosibirsk 12

Vladivostok 15

How to get there

Getting to Oaxaca De Juarez is convenient, there are several ways.

By plane

Interjet, Aeromar and Aeromexico fly from Mexico City to Oaxaca de Juarez several times a day.

Just an hour in the air, $90–150 one way, and you find yourself at Xoxocotlán International Airport, just 7 kilometers from the city. You can view current prices for the dates you need.

By bus

Intercity buses from the capital to Oaxaca run several times a day. Travel time is about 8 hours. Unlike other Latin American countries, bus companies are divided into classes:

• Luxury buses, where the seats convert into full-size beds, and the ticket price includes hot food (UNO and ADO GL).
• With an improved bus fleet and comfortable seats (ADO, OCC, Primera Plus).
• Regular large buses in good or fair condition with air conditioning (ETN, Estrella Blanca, Estrella de Oro, Omnibus Cristóbal Colón, Fletes y Pasajes and others).

Ticket prices depend on the class and start from $25 or 450 MXN (Mexican pesos).

The bus station where buses to Oaxaca de Juarez arrive also depends on the class of the company. Luxury and superior buses arrive at the first class terminal (terminal de autobuses de primera clase), while the rest arrive at the second class terminal (terminal de autobuses de segunda Clase).

By car

The journey by car from Mexico City will take almost 7 hours without traffic jams, which you need to be prepared for in the vicinity of the capital.

The roads in Mexico are for the most part quite good, especially the toll roads. They are called cuota, and free ones are called libre. Toll roads cost on average $8–10 (150–200 MXN) for a section of 70–100 kilometers. Payment is most often made at the exit, so if you don’t notice the sign, you won’t realize until the very end that you were driving on a toll road. Speed ​​limit signs can serve as a clue: 110 kilometers per hour on toll roads and 90 kilometers per hour on free roads.

The journey from the capital to Oaxaca de Juarez will cost approximately $23 (430 MXN) along highway 135D. Plus the cost of gasoline ($0.5 or 10 MXN per liter).

In the navigator, you can set a restriction on the use of toll roads, then the route will automatically be built along free routes that run parallel to each other. Highway No. 191 leads to Oaxaca. In addition to the obvious savings, free roads are also good because they give you the opportunity to turn into cute villages along the way where they serve the most delicious food.

Drivers in Mexico are polite. If they see that your speed exceeds the speed of their car, they will move into a special lane on the right, and also indicate with a turn signal when it is more convenient to overtake. If a driver begins to sharply slow down due to a traffic jam, accident or speed bump (topes), he will definitely turn on the emergency lights for those driving behind him.

The path will mainly run along the plain, but in the state of Oaxaca the serpentine road begins, where there are often thick fogs.

Clue:

Oaxaca - the time is now

Hour difference:

Moscow 8

Kazan 8

Samara 9

Ekaterinburg 10

Novosibirsk 12

Vladivostok 15

Oaxaca - weather by month

Clue:

Oaxaca - weather by month

When is the season? When is the best time to go

The city of Oaxaca de Juarez is located at an altitude of almost 1.5 thousand meters above sea level, thanks to which there is practically no stifling heat here.

I traveled during the hottest months (April and May) and did not experience any discomfort. The sun was hot, a cool breeze was blowing and the temperature ranged from +28 °C to +30 °C. Of course, you need to remember about sunscreen and a hat.

In summer, the temperature drops to +25–27 °C and there is a lot of rain. I would not recommend choosing this time to travel.

From October to March the thermometer shows from +20 °C to +25 °C degrees during the day, there is little precipitation. But since the nights are cold at this time, it is worth taking care of warm clothes.

Throughout Mexico, from October 31 to November 2, Day of the Dead is widely celebrated - a colorful and fascinating holiday with a carnival. Oaxaca de Juarez is one of the centers of this celebration.

Imagine streets decorated with altars and sand figures, lined with beautiful colonial-style houses. Crowds of people dressed in costumes having fun, accompanied by orchestras, pass through them. And at night, any travel agency in the city will offer you a tour to one of the ancient cemeteries.

If you decide to visit the city at this time of year, it is better to book a hotel in advance and be prepared for high prices in cafes and restaurants.

Oaxaca - weather by month

Clue:

Oaxaca - weather by month

Districts. Where is the best place to live?

Although Oaxaca de Juarez is a relatively small city - 250 thousand inhabitants, I would still advise when choosing housing to focus on the historical center, where all the most interesting things are concentrated within walking distance.

If you travel by car, this will save you from headaches about parking. And if you arrived by plane or bus, you won’t need to get to attractions by taxi or public transport every morning and evening.

The historic center area is bounded by Route 190 to the north, Martires de Chicago to the east, and Periferico Avenue to the southwest.

The price range is as follows: from $10 for a bed in a hostel and somewhere up to $200 for a luxury option. On average, a good hotel in the center with breakfast will cost about $30 per night in a double room.

You can book a hotel on Booking, and you can compare prices from different sites. It happens that locals rent apartments and apartments - options for.

Like any colonial settlement, Oaxaca de Juarez begins with a central square Zocalo, which is surrounded by the most important buildings: the cathedral and the governor's palace. In this heart of the city, life is in full swing day and night, tourists share their impressions in many cafes, and locals relax in the shade.

The churches of Oaxaca are the true gems of the city. The most beautiful of them are the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the monastery and the Church of Saint Domingo.

Be sure to go to City Museum (Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca), where the countless Zapotec treasures found during the excavations of Monte Alban are located. Ticket costs $3 (57 MXN). Opening hours: from 10:00 to 18:00.

The national hero, reformer who defended Mexican independence, spent his childhood in the house at Calle de Manuel Garcia Vigil, 609 Benito Juarez. Now there is a museum here ( WITHasa de Benito Juarez), which contains things that belonged to the statesman. It is open from 10:00 to 18:00 (until 17:00 on weekends, Monday is not a working day). The ticket costs 2.3 $ (43 MXN).

I want to note that Oaxaca is an extremely pleasant city and a pleasure to wander around. You can spend many days here, strolling the streets, exploring the surrounding area and trying the local culinary delights.

What to see in the area

Monte Alban

First of all, of course, you should definitely visit the ruins of this ancient city. It is much better preserved than the Mayan settlement of Teotihuacan located to the north. You can very vividly imagine the life of the ancient Indians who inhabited the city. And the paintings that once adorned the pyramids of Teotihuacan and were irretrievably lost over the years are revealed in all their glory to tourists in the tombs of Monte Alban.

During excavations in the 30s of the 20th century, countless treasures were found here - many jewelry and religious objects made of gold, precious and semi-precious stones, buried along with the rulers of the boots.

How to get there

There is a bus from Oaxaca de Juarez to the archaeological complex ($1.5–2 one way). The bus stop at the intersection of Calle de Mina and Calle de Mier y Teran is not marked in any way, but you won’t miss it, because there will be several Mexicans standing nearby. A ticket to visit the ruins costs $4. There is a small cafe on site (with steep prices, of course).

Mitla

Another famous settlement of ancient Indian tribes. It was built before Monte Alban, and with the rise of the latter it became the religious center of the Zapotecs.

In their language the city was called Lyobaa, which translated meant “place of peace.” Over the centuries, it was conquered by the Mixtecs, Aztecs, and then the conquistadors.

You can trace the city's turbulent history through its buildings. Part of the complex is made in a style similar to Teotihuacan; mosaic technology appears in later buildings, and in the north stands the beautiful Catholic Church of the 16th century.

How to get there

You can get to Mitla, located 45 kilometers from the capital of Oaxaca, by car or bus ($8–10) departing from the Central de Autobuses de Segunda Clase bus station. A ticket costs $4 and allows you to visit not only the ruins and the church, but also the museum located right there.

Tule Tree (El Árbol del Tule)

On the road to Mitla grows the widest tree in the world. This traditional Mexican taxodium is about 1.5 thousand years old, and its diameter is a whopping 37 meters!

You can get to the giant, located just 9 kilometers from the city, by bus or minibus for $1–2 from Central de Autobuses de Segunda Clase.

Villages of local craftsmen

There are two of them in the vicinity of Oaxaca de Juarez: Santa Maria Atzompa And Teotitlán del Valle.

Residents of the first are engaged in the production of dishes and figurines from green ceramics. These products are known throughout Mexico and even beyond its borders. Such a plate painted with bright colors will be an excellent gift for friends or colleagues.

The second village specializes in weaving. Carpets and other wool products are created on handlooms and then painted using traditional patterns.

In Teotitlan del Valle, in addition to the workshops, there are other interesting attractions: an 18th-century church and a small museum.

How to get there

There are collective local minibuses running to Santa Maria Atzompa (5 kilometers from Oaxaca de Juarez), the fare for which costs $1. Teotitlan del Valle (30 kilometers) can be reached by collective or bus for $3, all from the same Central de Autobuses de Segunda Clase.

Hierve el Agua waterfall

I saved the most unusual place, the likes of which I have never seen anywhere in the world, for last. 70 kilometers from Oaxaca de Juarez stands the huge salt waterfall Hierve el Agua.

Water flowing from the rock, saturated with calcium carbonate, fills clean and warm (+24–27 °C) natural pools, overflows and flows down into the valley, congealing in bizarre-shaped salt build-ups on the rock.

You can contemplate the huge white, seemingly frozen waterfalls while soaking in the mineral baths. It was the pool with the best view I've ever swum in. Don't forget to bring your swimsuit and towel.

How to get there

You can get to Hierve el Agua by car along highway 179, turning at the sign and climbing the mountain along a serpentine road for 7 kilometers. Or take a bus to Mitla, and then change to a collective. There is no schedule, the car leaves when it is full. The fare will cost $4–5.

Finally, in Mitla or Oaxaca de Juarez you can purchase a tour, one of the points of which will be a visit to Hierve el Agua. The cost of such tours depends on the program and starts from $30.

Admission costs $1, and there are showers and toilets on site. You can have a snack and buy mezcal in a tiny village located next to a natural miracle.

Main attractions. What to see

Food. What to try

Oaxaca de Juarez is considered one of the culinary centers of Mexico, so do not miss the opportunity to enjoy the original mixture of Idean and Spanish cuisine, which is based on a variety of vegetables and spices growing in the mountains and on the coast, pork, beef, chicken, and seafood.

First, get it from street vendors TLayidas (tlayudas), which is also called local pizza. A lightly toasted flatbread is coated with sauce and spices, vegetables (beans, tomatoes, avocado) and meat are placed on top and grilled. Serve open or folded in half.

If you want something more interesting, try the Sunday market at any local kid's head soup (sopa de cabeza de cabra) or barbecue goat meat. Demand all seven of Oaxaca's famous sauces:

1. mole negro (black sauce),
2. mole colorado (red sauce),
3. mole coloradito (small red sauce),
4. mole verde (green sauce),
5. mole amarillo (yellow sauce),
6. mole chichilo (thin sauce),
7. mole manchamantel (tablecloth sauce).

Finally, as a traditional appetizer with beer or mezcal, order grasshoppers (chapulines). They are boiled in boiling water with lime and garlic and served with or without tortilla. You should eat it by dipping it in any sauce of your choice, or simply sprinkling it with lemon juice.

Food. What to try

Things to do

Souvenirs. What to bring as a gift

The state of Oaxaca, in addition to green ceramics, is famous throughout the world for its magical drink. Mezcal is a 40-45% alcohol that locals make from agave juice (that is, tequila, which is made from blue agave, is a type of mezcal).

Mezcal is distilled in every village, people are happy to let you taste it and talk about the distinctive features of their variety compared to their neighbors.

A caterpillar is traditionally placed inside the bottle, which, when preserved in alcohol, shows the high quality of the product.

Resourceful Mexicans put not only caterpillars, but also scorpions, lizards, snakes and other exotic animals in mezcal to the delight of tourists. But such a bottle can only be bought in a store.

As a gift in a mountain village, I bought a bottle of mezcal without a caterpillar (fu fu fu fu) so that the recipient could feel the local flavor. To recognize this drink as tasty is to seriously deceive oneself; it is authentic. Well, for pleasure it is better to take good tequila aged in oak barrels.

And I return to the story of our Mexican trip. Afterwards we went to the city Oaxaca de Juarez, during a visit to which the culmination of the allergy that happened to me from a bee sting in a wonderful city occurred. The drugs I consumed had the same effect on me as hallucinogenic mushrooms on Babylen Tatarsky from Pelevin’s “Generation P”, so it just so happened that the city Oaxaca I remember very, very vaguely.

During the three days spent in Oaxaca, my mood ranged from bad to very bad, and most of the time I simply slept in a hotel room, from which it was very difficult to get me out (later this hotel turned out to be one of the best on our entire Mexican route, which is in some way justifies my behavior). It’s not even necessary to talk about any impressions and emotions from visiting this city, and I have nothing but a hundred or two photographs from Oaxaca there are none left. I don’t see any point in scouring Wikipedia for inspiration, much less in other people’s blogs, so, with your permission, the post about Oaxaca will be written with a minimum number of comments. I only went out to photograph the city once, when my mind was at least a little clearer, and this happened just a few hours before departure. Just at that moment, the sky over the city was covered with unimaginable clouds, through which narrow strips of blinding sunlight leaked every now and then. That's probably why the photos Oaxaca They turned out to be somewhat dramatic, which, however, quite corresponds to my feelings about this city.

IN Oaxaca, as in several other Mexican cities we saw earlier, we discovered a record-breaking number of churches and cathedrals. Church of Santa Domingo de Guzman ( Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman) seemed to me the most beautiful and solid religious building. From here we began our short “pre-departure” walk around Oaxaca de Juarez.

In the small square in front of the church, traders of homemade rubbish flirting with tourists are operating. Mexican women traditionally look extremely dissatisfied when they see a camera, and most often turn away completely.

Streets and courtyards Oaxaca beautiful, and they are beautiful both in their impeccability and in the absence of any gloss, and sometimes in their outright dilapidation.

Not a single Mexican city is complete without a fleet of vintage cars, although in fact it turns out that all these cute multi-colored “bugs” are not so rare - many of them are just over 10 years old from the moment they rolled off the factory assembly line.

There are also completely phantasmagoric modes of transport.

Facades Oaxaca de Juarez They delight you with every possible palette of colors. Such a bold choice of shades periodically makes me think that the buildings were painted not by adults, but by children, and they did it not with paints, but with colored felt-tip pens.

The central part of the city, including the Zocalo, looks monumental but gray, which very much reminded me of , with which we were never able to make friends. Here is one of the views of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or Catedral de Oaxaca- buildings in the Baroque style that make up the architectural composition of the central square Oaxaca de Juarez.

And this is the central square itself, where people meet to discuss business, have lunch at one of the restaurants (by the way, Oaxacan cuisine is considered perhaps the best in all of Mexico) or have their shoes shined by specially trained people.

I also remember very well the numerous fountains, the bowls of which are miniature works of art.

Oaxaca is called one of the most colorful cities in Mexico, but I didn’t think so. The main sign of color for me is people, and most residents Oaxaca they look quite ordinary, and only occasionally ladies in dresses with national Oaxacan motifs slip through here and there. The city where we went immediately after Oaxaca by night bus. It was the longest and most painful journey of all my travels in Mexico.

Some tourists give the local Indian population a hundred points with their appearance, and also enjoy posing.

And finally: if suddenly someone thought that fried cockroaches are eaten only in Thailand...

In the vicinity of Oaxaca, we visited pyramids, thermal waterfalls and a place where it grows, which has the thickest trunk in the world. I will talk about this in the following posts.

How to get to Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico

According to our route, we got to Oaxaca de Juarez from the city of Puebla. The economy class bus cost us 292 Mexican pesos ($22) per person. Travel time is 4 hours. Bus tickets can be purchased at the terminal ticket office or booked in advance on the Mexican bus lines websites ticketbus.com.mx or ado.com.mx.

Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico

Prices for rooms in hotels/hostels in Oaxaca de Juarez start from 180 pesos ($13) for the most modest options without the Internet. We booked a hotel in advance, which turned out to be one of the most comfortable in our entire Mexican trip: a huge comfortable bed, clean bed linen and towels, a half-wall mirror, a comfortable table that can be used as a workplace, excellent wi-fi and even carpeting. on the floor, which is very useful for cool Oaxaca. The only negative is that the hotel is not located in the very center, but it was a matter of a few minutes to get there on foot. A double room in November 2013 cost us 350 pesos ($26). You can find out the current price and book a hotel in Oaxaca, Mexico on booking.com using this link. If this hotel does not suit you for any reason, you can choose any other hotel/hostel/villa using this link.

Use this handy map to find cheap tickets to your desired destination.

The city of Oaxaca (Oaxaca de Juárez) is located in the southern part of Mexico, in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains, and is the capital of the province of the same name. Oaxaca was founded by Spanish settlers in 1532 during the colonial conquests. Oaxaca was then called Antequera. The city received its current name only in 1832, and in 1872 it was officially called Oaxaca de Juarez in honor of the national hero Mexisi Benito Juarez, who was born nearby.

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How to get to Oaxaca

Oaxaca has two main bus terminals - the Terminal de Autobuses de Primera Clase, where the luxury companies UNO and ADO GL, the first class companies ADO, OCC and the second class company Cuenca are based. The second terminal, Terminal de Autobuses de Segunda Clase, is home to second-class companies: Fletes y Pasajes and Estrella del Valle/Oaxaca Pacífico, operating long-distance routes. There is also a third terminal, Sur Bus Station, where Sur and AU are based.

Tickets are sold at the box office located in the city center:

• on Calle 20 de Noviembre 103 (opening hours: Mon.-Sat. from 10:00 to 22:00; Sun. from 8:00 to 16:00);
• on Valdivieso 2 (opening hours: Mon.-Sat. from 10:00 to 22:00; Sun. from 8:00 to 21:00).

Buses departing from Terminal de Autobuses de Primera Clase to the Oaxaca coast take a long route through the city of Salina Cruz. There are also faster ways to get to the coastal cities of Puerto Escondido (fare 200-400 MXN, travel time 6 hours) and Pojutla - by minibuses on highways No. 131 and No. 175, respectively. The Express Service company organizes bus service to Puerto Escondido 9 times a day from 5:00 to 21:00, the company Tran¬sportes Villa del Mar - 6 times a day from 6:30 to 17:00.

Prices on the page are for April 2019.

Search for flights to Mexico City (closest airport to Oaxaca)

By car

Highway 135D branches off from Highway 150D, which connects Mexico City and Veracruz. The road runs from the northern part of the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains to the city of Oaxaca. The road tax will cost MXN 430 and the trip will take about 5-6 hours. For unknown reasons, some sections of road No. 135D are numbered 131D. An alternative and free road is Highway 191 through Huahuapan de Leon, but the journey will take a couple of hours longer.

Car rental costs range from MXN 600 per day with unlimited mileage. You can rent a car at the following locations:

• Alamo. Located at the airport. Working hours: Mon.-Sat. from 8:00 to 20:00; Sun. from 8:00 to 19:00.
• Center. Located at de Mayo 203. Working hours: Mon.-Sat. from 8:00 to 20:00; Sun. from 8:00 to 19:00.
• Es rent a car. Located at de Mayo 315.
• Hertz. Located at the airport. Opening hours: from 7:00 to 19:00.

By plane

There are regular direct flights to Oaxaca Airport from Mexico City (travel time 1 hour) - at least 5 times a day with Mexicana, twice a day with Click Mexicana and Aeroméxico Connect, and daily with Aviacsa.

Continental flights operate 4 times a week from Houston and Texas. Click Mexicana has flights to Tuxtla Gutierrez and Merida. The Avolar airline flies to Cuernavaca and Tijuana, the Alma de México airline flies to Guadalajara and Tuxtla Gutierrez.

The small planes, which can accommodate between 7 and 13 passengers, take you on a breathtaking half-hour flight over the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains to Puerto Escondido and Huatulco, located on the Oaxaca coast. The cost of a ticket to Huatulco will be about 2000 MXN one way, and a ticket to Puerto Escondido will cost 1500 MXN for Aerovega and 2200 MXN for Aerotucán.

Transport

The fare for city buses is 8 MXN. Juárez buses depart from the Terminal de Autobuses de Primera Clase station to Juárez and Melchor Ocampo streets, located 3 blocks east of the city's main square, Zócalo. Tinoco y Palacios or JP García buses go to Tinoco y Palacios, 2 blocks west of Zócalo.

Buses running between the Terminal de Autobuses de Segunda Clase bus station and the city center navigate congested streets - and traveling on them is as fast as walking into the center.

A taxi for a trip around the city will cost 40-60 MXN.

Kitchen

A traditional Oaxacan dish is Xóchitl, a soup made from squash, squash flowers and corn. You can try the dish at the María Bonita restaurant, located at Alcalá 706B north of the city center.

To taste delicious Mexican cuisine, you should go to Los Danzantes restaurant. They specialize in duck dishes and have their own brand of mezcal, a traditional Mexican drink made from fermented agave juice.

The Casa Oaxaca restaurant serves excellent duck tacos with mole sauce and venison tamales. The restaurant is located in the city center at Constitución 104A. La Olla is a small restaurant that specializes in Oaxacan delicacies, from cactus tacos to camarones a la diabla. The restaurant is located at Reforma 402.

Popular hotels in Oaxaca

Entertainment and attractions of Oaxaca

Of interest in the city are the church Ex Convento de Santo Domingo, built between 1570 and 1608, which previously served as a Dominican monastery. As in other earthquake-prone regions, the Church of Santo Domingo is surrounded by thick stone walls.

Between Porfirio Díaz and Tinoco y Palacios is the open-air market Mercado Sánchez Pascuas.

Not far from the church is the Museo Regional de Oaxaca, a historical and cultural museum with collections covering the Zapotec, Mixtec and Olmec civilizations, as well as the colonial and revolutionary periods of history. One impressive collection is that of jewels discovered during excavations at Monte Albana tomb no. 7 in the 1930s.

In Oaxaca, you can visit the house-museum of the national hero of Mexico, Benito Juarez - Casa de Benito Juarez. Benito was born in the modest Zapotec village of Guelatao, located 60 km northeast of Oaxaca. The parents died when the child was 3 years old, and at the age of 12 Benito found work in the house of bookbinder Antonio Salanueva in Oaxaca. The master saw great potential in the boy and helped him get an education. The Salanueva house contains a bookbinding workshop and several memorabilia of Benito. The museum is open to visitors from Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 18:00, from Saturday to Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00. The entrance fee is 43 MXN.

The Rufino Tamayo Museum, with its collection of pre-Hispanic objects, was donated to the city of Oaxaca by its most famous artist, Rufino Tamayo. Museum opening hours: Mon.-Wed., Sat. from 10:00 to 19:00, break from 14:00 to 16:00; Sun. from 10:00 to 15:00.

Neighborhoods of Oaxaca

One of the main attractions of Oaxaca is the archaeological complex of Monte Alban, located 9 km from the city and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Monte Alban is located on a low mountain ridge in the Oaxaca Valley and is a pre-Columbian settlement. Monte Alban was founded in 500 BC. e. by the Zapotec Indian people and was the first city of Mesoamerica.

The second most important archaeological complex in the Oaxaca region is the settlement of Mitla, located 40 km from the city of Oaxaca. Unlike Monte Alban, which rises on top of a mountain, the city of Mitla was built at the bottom of a valley. The archaeological excavations of Mitla can be roughly divided into two parts: the northern, where the Church of San Pablo, built by the Spaniards in the 16th century, is located, and the southern, the main structure of which is the palace, more often called the hall of columns. The perimeter of the palace is 37 by 6.4 meters and is surrounded by 6 columns made of volcanic stone. Previously, these columns supported the roof. Not far from the palace there are tombs where the high priests and rulers of the Zapotec civilization were buried.

9 km from Oaxaca in the town of Santa María del Tule grows the El Árbol del Tule tree with the thickest trunk in the world. In 2011, the tree was included in the tentative list of World Heritage Sites.

Oaxaca de Juárez is the capital of the state of Oaxaca in Mexico. More than 250 thousand residents live in the city, more than 60% of them are Indians. This is a beautiful old colonial city, the center of which is included in the UNESCO Book. It was founded in 1532 by Spanish settlers on the site of settlements of the Zapotec and Mixtec Indians.

Where is Oaxaca located?

The city of Oaxaca is located in southern Mexico. Oaxaca is located at an altitude of more than 1,500 meters above sea level in the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains.

Sights of Oaxaca

The central square of the city is Zocalo(Zócalo) with many cafes in the arcades of the houses. Here life is in full swing both day and night. Music, delicious food for every budget from elegant restaurants to street eateries, merchants - all this gives its atmosphere to this square.

Oaxaca Cathedral The main facade with baroque stone carvings faces the Alameda Square, adjacent to the Zocalo. The cathedral took a long time to build from 1553 and was completed in the 18th century.

Church of Santo Domingo is part of a former Dominican monastery and was built at the end of the 16th century. The entire interior surface of the church is decorated with reliefs - see video below. This is the most beautiful church in Oaxaca. Immediately after the entrance, the relief ceiling with the family tree of St. Dominic attracts attention; the Chapel of the Rosary is also famous.

Oaxaca Cultural Museum is located in a former Dominican monastery adjacent to the Church of Santo Domingo. Here in room III are located the Mixtec treasures from tomb 7 of the Indian city of Monte Alban.

IN Rufino Tamayo Museum collected pre-Hispanic art.

For centuries, the Indians who lived in what is now the state of Oaxaca were famous weavers. IN Oaxaca Textile Museum More than 5,000 exhibits are presented, many of the products were made more than 100 years ago.

Oaxaca also has interesting galleries and museums of contemporary art.

Read notes about your visit to Oaxaca in “Diary: a year-long journey through Latin America” - see.

Neighborhoods of Oaxaca

9 kilometers from Oaxaca there is an ancient archaeological complex Monte Alban, it was the center of the Zapotec civilization. The city was founded in 500 BC. and left by people in 500-750 AD. Read notes about your visit to Monte Alban in “Diary: a year-long journey through Latin America” - see.

A tree grows in the village of El Tule, 10 km from Oaxaca. El Arbol del Tule, considered the oldest on earth, it is more than 2000 years old, nearby there is a slightly younger tree - it is more than 1000 years old. These trees remember the rise and fall of Indian civilizations and the first conquistadors. Read notes about your visit to El Tule in “Diary: a year-long journey through Latin America” - see.

Ruin Indian town cities Mitla are located 46 kilometers from Oaxaca. In the X-XV centuries, up to 10 thousand people lived here. It was a major religious center of the Zapotec Indians. At the end of the 15th century, the city was sacked by the Aztecs. Read notes about your visit to Mitla in “Diary: a year-long journey through Latin America” - see.

There are many villages around Oaxaca that specialize in the production of carpets and other woven items, carved toys, black and green pottery, and mezcal (mezcal is an alcoholic drink made from the agave plant). Many villages and towns in Oaxaca have markets. It is most interesting to visit markets on the main market day, when residents of surrounding villages and towns gather - people come not only to shop, but also to communicate with each other.

The main market days of different cities and villages are distributed according to the days of the week:

Tuesday – Atzompa

Wednesday – Zimatlán, Ville de Etla,

Thursday – Zaachila, Ejutla

Friday – Ocotlán, San Bartolo Coyotepec. Read notes about visiting the market in Ocotlán in “Diary: a year-long journey through Latin America” - see.

Saturday – Mitla

Sunday – Tlacolula.

The archaeological sites and villages can be reached by numerous local buses and colectivos (cheap taxis that follow a specific route and are paid for by each passenger).

Holidays and events in Oaxaca

You can go to Oaxaca all year round, but there are certain events that attract the attention of many tourists from all over the world. It is better to book a hotel in advance for these days.

Festival of Guelaguetza takes place at the end of July (last 2 Mondays), translated the holiday is called “Holiday on the Hill”. A modern open concert hall was built on the hill especially for this Gelogets. On these occasions, residents of the Oaxaca Valley gather in traditional dress to sing, dance and drink mezcal. In modern times, the holiday began to be celebrated in 1932, but its roots go back to the ancient Indian holidays in honor of Centeotl, the deity of young maize.

Holiday "Night of the Radishes" (Noche de los Rábanos)– takes place annually on December 23rd since the end of the 19th century. Radish sculptures are displayed in the main square of the city.

In addition to the unique holidays of Guelaguetza and the Night of the Radish, traditional holidays such as Day of the Dead and Holy Week and others are also very interesting in Oaxaca - see the list of Mexican holidays.

Oaxaca Climate

Oaxaca is considered the city of eternal spring. It is located at an altitude of 1500 meters above sea level, which softens the hot climate of southern Mexico. The average maximum temperature ranges from 25°C in December-January to 31°C in April and May, and the average minimum temperature ranges from 8-9°C in December-January to 15-16°C in May and summer. The maximum amount of rain is 170 mm; there are rains in August-September. In general, this climate is very favorable, which is why Americans from the USA like to live here for a long time.

When you constantly move from place to place, and cities flash before your eyes like movie frames, at a certain moment it begins to seem that they all merge into one big multi-colored lump. We were knocked out of this flow a little by Veracruz, which turned out to be surprisingly boring, unlikable and generally somehow un-Mexican. Although, what else could you expect from a port town? After this little disappointment Oaxaca became a truly beneficial balm that poured onto our souls, which were so close to Mexico.

However, even here the heat and the ensuing satiety had their insidious effect: we became somewhat lazy and did not see everything in the city that it offered.

However, this mainly affected museums, which we are not too enthusiastic about anyway. However, the situation quickly corrected itself and all laziness disappeared as soon as I left the city and started exploring the surrounding area. But this is a completely different story, which I will definitely tell.

I'll tell you now about Oaxaca and its attractions that we have seen.

Sights of Oaxaca

The central part of Oaxaca, where all the main attractions are concentrated, is very small; getting around it in one day is not difficult. This is what happened to us: on the first day of our walk, we looked at everything that was interesting according to the list, and on other days we simply wandered around, looking aimlessly around. Since we spent two whole weeks in the city, some streets were visited more than once and became just like family.

The house we lived in was located on De La República street, so every time we walked towards the center we were greeted by the majestic Temple of Our Lady(Templo de Nuestra Señora del Patrocinio). This is the first building that caught our eye when we walked from the bus station, having just set foot on Oaxacan soil. Firstly, I was surprised by the unusual shape, and secondly, by the color of the stone from which the church was built.

This is one of the main secrets of Oaxaca and its distinctive feature is the buildings made of greenish sandstone. If I'm not mistaken, most of the buildings in the central part of the city are made of it. For the most part, the houses are painted, but on some they specially leave “windows” so that it can be seen that green stones are hidden under the paint.

Already in the center we were greeted by the second Oaxacan miracle - a huge mahogany tree, similar to a fiery cloud, which is called Delonix royale.

Before getting closer to him, we decided to drop into Institute of Graphic Arts(Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca). To be honest, we were no longer attracted by healthy interest, but by free entry, in contrast to the same Juarez House Museum(Museo de Sitio Casa Juárez). We ended up bypassing the last one.

At the Institute of Graphic Arts, the courtyard turned out to be the most interesting of all that we managed to see.

We returned to the magnificent red beauty. By the way, such trees were not found before Oaxaca. I wonder why? Do they grow only here or have they not bloomed before and gone unnoticed?

Delonix is ​​adjacent to Saint Domingo Square(Plaza Santo Domingo).

On the square rises a huge Temple still the same Saint Domingo(Templo de Santo Domingo). Large and elegant on the outside, it is no less impressive with its interior decoration.

A little to the left of the entrance to the Temple there is another door, inviting you to Museum of Culture(Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca), one of the most famous and visited in Oaxaca. Previously, there was a monastery on the territory of the museum, judging by its size and design, it was far from poor.

Accordingly, the museum is also large.

Numerous rooms are filled with photographs, household items, jewelry, tools and other riches. There is a large library with old books, which, of course, cannot be touched. The terraces offer picturesque views of the city surrounded by mountains.

Spread under the windows Ethno-botanical garden(Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca). His main pride, apparently, is the many different types of cacti. You can visit it, but to do this you need to go on a paid excursion; anyone who wants to walk around it cannot. We had seen enough cacti in San Miguel, so we decided to skip this garden.

Before we could start exploring the riches of Oaxaca, we wanted to take a break. If you want, then you want, why deny yourself? The choice fell on a small coffee shop KIOO in red and white colors with Comrade Che peeking from the wall and a cappuccino latte. In the following days we came here more than once. It turned out that they serve good coffee with mezcal and whipped cream and you can play billiards if you don’t mind the crooked table and short cue.

After drinking coffee, we set off to continue exploring the city with renewed vigor.

The magic word “photography” caught my eye, which Andryusiks could not bring himself to pass by. So we went to admire the photographic works in Alvarez Bravo Center for Photography(Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo).

The works, in my opinion, are strange, but not devoid of originality and meaning. However, this was again one of those cases when I liked the courtyard more than the museum contents.

After leaving the museum, we returned to the central street of Alcala(Calle Alcala), looked into the small Labastida Park(Parque Labastida), where we found street artists and continued on.

The last museum we visited today was Museum of Art(Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca). It presents the works of contemporary authors. I won’t scold or praise them, I’ll say one thing: I don’t understand this kind of art well. Although, some works are worthy of attention.

A bonus to the incomprehensible pictures was a balcony overlooking Alcala. It was interesting to watch the people busy with their affairs.

By the way, there were not as many visiting tourists in Oaxaca as expected.

But we met a lot of Mexicans who enjoyed visiting museums and other attractions. By the way, they take pictures of everything around no less than us overseas tourists.

We decided not to go to museums anymore. Instead, we just went to wander the streets and see how the local people live.

All the Mexican cities we visited were, in essence, very similar. They have a single skeleton: in the very center there is a square, next to or on which a huge temple is erected, streets with shops, restaurants, museums and other churches run off to the sides of the square. This is what the core of any city looks like. But, despite all the similarities, each has its own mood, character and characteristics.

While we were walking and thinking about this similarity, we reached the same central square. In Mexico they are called Zocalo(Zocalo) with emphasis on the first syllable. And what do you think was the first thing we discovered there? That's right, that same huge church, or rather, Cathedral(Catedral de Oaxaca). It seems that you can already walk with your eyes closed))

Not only was it Sunday, but it also coincided with the last day of Easter or Holy Week (Semana Santa), so there were tons of people vacationing in the square. Mexicans love and know how to have fun: an atmosphere of fun and carefree reigns everywhere, and it seems that the music in the center never stops. Either ensembles or orchestras are performing, or some amateur performers are not always producing harmonious sounds from their favorite instruments.

For example, we attended a performance by the band Cerquita del Rio. They listened as if spellbound. It’s great that you have the opportunity to listen to high-quality live music for free in the middle of the day.

Why am I all about the sights, but about the sights? I'll just write about impressions of the city. Oaxaca seemed completely native already on the second day. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had known the city for a long time, that it was very homely and understandable. Maybe it’s the low-rise houses, maybe it’s the fact that he’s nestled so comfortably in the middle of the mountains, like a cat curled up on an armchair, maybe it’s the openness of the Mexicans. By the way, Oaxaca was included in Andryusiks and I’s TOP 5 favorite cities.

So along the cozy streets we reached another large church - Basilica of Our Lady(Basilica of Our Lady of Solitude). She turned out to be not only huge, but also beautiful. The facade is completely covered with carvings and looks like lace. For some reason, while we were looking at the Basilica, I remembered more than once the Library of Celsus in Ephesus, Turkey.

At the market, time flew by completely unnoticed; it was time to return to Zocalo. Lovers of strong drinks or those simply curious will appreciate a walk along the central streets: in every shop specializing in the sale of mezcal, you can try this drink. It doesn’t matter whether you are going to buy something or not.

Meanwhile, life on the Zocalo not only did not calm down, but gained even greater momentum. Young people appeared, performing some unknown rituals, funny characters trying to make money from their unusual appearance, flocks of frolicking children, flirting couples and even marching policemen with service dogs.

After it got dark, the police also staged a concert in a gazebo in the middle of the park. A real orchestra with a conductor, violins, trumpets and other attributes. Which was a great end to a busy, interesting day.

It so happened that in this one day we managed to see the entire center of Oaxaca. We decided not to go to the museums that remained unvisited. Why, if there is neither desire nor mood? But we had fun driving around the surrounding area, seeing the pyramids of Monte Albana, the ruins of the ancient city in Mitla, enjoying the wonderful views in the Hierve el Agua park and looking at the world’s largest (by some parameters) Thule tree.

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