If you want to understand Oaxaca, spend a morning in its markets. Not a quick walk-through — actually stop, eat something, watch how people move through the stalls, listen to the noise. Markets here aren’t tourist attractions with a side of local color. They’re where the city does its daily business: buying breakfast, picking up…
Short answer: you’ll need both – but cash is still king in Oaxaca 💰 Card payments are becoming more common, especially in Oaxaca City, but cash is still very much part of daily life here. If you arrive expecting to pay with card everywhere, you’ll quickly run into situations where it simply isn’t an option….
There are a handful of places around Oaxaca that stop you in your tracks the moment you see them. Hierve el Agua is one of them. Mineral-rich water spilling over a cliffside for thousands of years has created what looks like a frozen waterfall — columns of white rock cascading down the mountainside, with sweeping…
Mexican slang is a huge part of everyday Mexican Spanish. If you’re visiting Mexico or planning to live here, you’ll hear them constantly, and it’s good to know what they mean. Today, you’re going to learn 100 common Mexican slang words and phrases that people actually use in real life, including the swear words. These…
In Oaxaca, it’s called quesillo. Outside Oaxaca, it’s called Oaxaca cheese. Say the wrong one in the wrong place and you’ll get a very specific look from the person behind the market stall. That small naming dispute is the first thing worth knowing about this cheese — because it tells you something important. Quesillo isn’t just…
A really interesting piece of news came out of Oaxaca this week – and if you’re into history, archaeology, or ancient cultures, this one is worth knowing about. Archaeologists have just announced the discovery of a Zapotec tomb that’s around 1,400 years old, dating back to about the year 600 AD. It was found in San Pablo Huitzo,…
The short answer is yes — Oaxaca is safe for tourists, and genuinely one of the safer destinations in Mexico. But you’re here because you want more than a short answer. You want to know what the risks actually are, whether the Mexico headlines apply to Oaxaca, what the streets feel like at night, and…
Oaxaca is considered Mexico’s culinary capital — and a cooking class here is one of the best ways to actually understand why. It’s not about following a recipe. It’s about standing in a market with a local cook who knows every vendor by name, learning why this chili and not that one, understanding what makes…
Oaxaca hides some truly beautiful beaches that are perfect for traveling on a budget. Here are a few of the best options. If Oaxaca has already won you over with its history, art, and food, 2026 is a great year to explore its coastline. The beaches of Oaxaca have become some of Mexico’s most attractive…
Pottery is everywhere in Oaxaca. Markets, kitchens, roadside workshops, stacked outside family homes in villages you pass on the way to somewhere else. But it’s not all the same, and it’s not all made for tourists. Different villages work with different clay, different firing methods, and completely different end results — some of it decorative,…