There’s simmering creative energy in Oaxaca, whether you’re browsing underground art, following behind a street protest or gallery-hopping in whitewashed museums. Indigenous culture is proudly on display at high-end restaurants which riff on traditional ingredients; while slipping into a local market means tasting cooling cacao drinks from the pre-Columbian era, and maybe a handful of roasted grasshoppers. Beyond city limits are ancient pyramids for playing archaeologist amid crumbling stones.
Oaxacan days tend to lapse into dreamy rhythms, backdropped by its spectacular natural setting. The thickly forested Sierra Madre mountain range brackets the city, where early mornings ignite a chorus of tropical birdsong, afternoons are siesta-slow and cool evenings draw families to stroll tree-shaded plazas. Here’s how to explore this ultra-hip yet laid-back regional capital.
