Today you will arrive to Oaxaca City, where you’ll be met at the airport and transferred to your charming, centrally located hotel, Hotel Casa Oaxaca, where you will stay for 5 nights. Depending on your arrival time, you can begin a bit of independent exploring by foot, in this very walkable Colonial city.

Being of Spanish influence and design, the streets in the city center form a perfect grid, a style introduced from Europe. You’ll enjoy your first taste of the famed Oaxaca cuisine tonight at El Catedral.

Today you will explore this city by foot with an expert guide, to learn of Oaxaca’s ancient past, colonial period and present day.

You’ll visit the Santo Domingo Church, evidence of one of the grand baroque churches introduced by the Dominican Order. Next door, you’ll visit the Museum of Oaxaca Culture to learn about the people who inhabited this region, well before the Spaniards arrived. These people were (and are!) predominantly the Zapotec and Mixtec in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca.

You’ll take a lunch break, enjoying more Oaxaca cuisine, before you step into a few art galleries and graphic arts workshops. Walking down the main pedestrian street, you’ll make your way to the Zocalo, a hub of activity in this City. You’ll end at the Benito Juarez Market to enjoy the sights, sounds, and aromas of this bustling and colorful market.  Your evening is at leisure to stroll or sip on a “mezcalini”.

Your day begins driving in Oaxaca’s Southern Valley, known as the “Craft Route”.

But before you make your craft visits, you’ll travel to the community of Ocotlan to learn about on of Oaxaca’s most revered artists, Rodolfo Morales. You’ll visit the town he lovingly restored, and a Museum dedicated to him and his work.

On your craft route, you’ll visit the famed Aguilar Sisters, known for their whimsical clay figurines, Santo Tomas Jalieza, known for lovely cotton woven bags and table runners, and San Bartolo Coyotepec, to learn about the very famous black pottery there. In between, you’ll enjoy a fabulous and delicious lunch at a favorite: La Azucena.

Today is Sunday, and there is no better place to be than at the Sunday Market in the Village of Tlacolula.  

Here, you’ll see how the local, indigenous people from surrounding communities arrive to this town market on a weekly basis to buy, sell, trade; much as they have for thousands of years. Fruits, vegetables, flowers, woven baskets, pottery, cacao, coffee, and many other foods, beverages abound here, making it a favorite of the weekly markets in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca.  Leaving the market, you’ll visit the town of Teotitlan del Valle, known for their tapestry weaving. You’ll meet with a special family, who will demonstrate their work in natural dyes and weaving. Here, you will enjoy the most delicious hand-made “quesadillas” made from native corn.

Bidding farewell, you will return to Oaxaca City, to enjoy your evening at leisure.

On your final day, you will go far back in time, to the period of high civilization of the Zapotec people, at the ancient center of Monte Alban. Here, you’ll learn of the great accomplishments of the Zapotecs in developing a calendar, astronomy and other important hallmarks of Mesoamerican cultures and civilization.

You’ll enjoy a light snack/refreshment on the patio cafeteria of the museum, before returning to Oaxaca City for your afternoon and evening at leisure.

After breakfast, you will be transferred to the Oaxaca Airport for your departure flight.

Return home, taking with you the sights, sounds and memories of an incredible trip to Oaxaca!