Oaxaca's centre is about eight blocks square. Inside it are the zócalo, the Santo Domingo church with its gold-leaf interior, two of the best markets in Mexico, and a concentration of mezcalerías, workshops and restaurants that has made the city the most interesting food destination in the country.
Everything is walkable. That is the practical fact that decides where to stay, because the moment you are outside those blocks you are in a taxi in a city whose whole appeal is stumbling into things.
The markets, and the two that matter
Mercado Benito Juárez is the everyday one: chapulines, chocolate, cheese, chillies, flowers.
Mercado 20 de Noviembre, next door, has the smoke hall — a corridor of grills where you buy meat by weight from a butcher, hand it to someone to cook over charcoal, and eat it standing with tortillas and salsa. It is loud, smoky and the single best cheap meal in Mexico.
Mercado de Abastos, further out, is the enormous Saturday one where the state actually shops.
Around them, the mezcalerías serve spirits from small producers in the villages, and the difference between mezcal here and mezcal abroad is substantial.
Where the hotels are
The centre divides loosely. Around Santo Domingo and the Alcalá pedestrian street is the polished end: the galleries, the cultural centre, the better restaurants. South toward the zócalo and the markets is louder, busier and more everyday. Jalatlaco and Xochimilco, a few blocks east and north, are residential neighbourhoods with cobbles and murals that have quietly become the interesting places to stay.
The eleven below are grouped that way.
Around Santo Domingo and the Alcalá
The northern end of the centre, near the galleries.
Quinta Real Oaxaca occupies a sixteenth-century former convent with stone vaults, a courtyard and a pool in the cloister. It is the most historic building any hotel in Oaxaca holds.
Quinta Real Oaxaca
Near Santo Domingo · 5★ · $$$
A sixteenth-century convent with a pool in the cloister
Check availabilityOtro Oaxaca, a Member of Design Hotels sits in a restored townhouse with a rooftop pool, a serious contemporary art programme and the most considered design in the city.
Otro Oaxaca, a Member of Design Hotels
Centro, Oaxaca · 5★ · $$$
Rooftop pool and the most considered design in the city
Check availabilityCasa Antonieta occupies a colonial house near Santo Domingo with a courtyard, a rooftop and a small room count.
Casa Antonieta
Near Santo Domingo · 4★ · $$
A small colonial house with a courtyard and rooftop
Check availabilityGrand Fiesta Americana Oaxaca sits on the Alcalá with a pool, mature gardens and full facilities in a large restored property.
Grand Fiesta Americana Oaxaca
Alcala, Oaxaca · 5★ · $$$
Pool and gardens in a large restored property
Check availabilityToward the zócalo and the markets
The busier half, closest to the food.
Casa EL Mundo occupies a colonial building a block from the zócalo with a rooftop restaurant and the shortest walk to both markets.
Casa EL Mundo
Near the zocalo · 4★ · $$$
Rooftop restaurant a short walk from both markets
Check availabilityHotel Parador de Alcalá sits in a converted house with a courtyard, a good restaurant and rates below the design hotels.
Hotel Parador de Alcalá
Centro, Oaxaca · 4★ · $$
A converted courtyard house below design-hotel rates
Check availabilityHotel Azul de Oaxaca occupies a restored building near the centre with a rooftop terrace and contemporary rooms at a fair price.
Hotel Azul de Oaxaca
Centro, Oaxaca · 4★ · $$
Rooftop terrace and contemporary rooms at a fair price
Check availabilityJalatlaco and the eastern blocks
Residential, cobbled and quiet.
Azul Escondido Oaxaca sits in a low building on the eastern edge of the centre with a courtyard pool, a restrained interior and a deliberately quiet operation.
Azul Escondido Oaxaca
Eastern centro · 5★ · $$$$
Courtyard pool and a deliberately quiet operation
Check availabilityHotel Sin Nombre occupies a converted house in Jalatlaco with a handful of rooms and a personal operation.
Hotel Sin Nombre
Jalatlaco · 4★ · $$$
A converted house with few rooms in a cobbled quarter
Check availabilityHotel Casona Oaxaca sits nearby with a rooftop, simple rooms and the best value in the city.
Hotel Casona Oaxaca
Eastern centro · 4★ · $$
Rooftop and simple rooms at the best value in town
Check availabilityOutside the centre
Palacio Borghese occupies a hillside property above Oaxaca with a pool, gardens and views over the valley, ten minutes from the centre by taxi.
What we have left off
The small posadas across the centre are excluded, and Oaxaca has a great many of them in colonial buildings at very low prices. They are guest houses rather than hotels.
What to do
Eat at the markets, and specifically in the smoke hall at 20 de Noviembre. Then eat properly at the restaurants that have made Oaxaca's reputation, which book weeks ahead.
Learn about mole. There are seven classic Oaxacan moles and the negro takes days and upward of twenty ingredients. A cooking class here is genuinely worth the morning.
Go to Monte Albán, the Zapotec city on a flattened hilltop 400 metres above the valley, twenty minutes from town. Go early.
See Hierve el Agua, the petrified mineral waterfall, and the tree at Tule, which has the stoutest trunk of any tree in the world.
Visit a mezcal palenque in the villages, where the agave is roasted in earth pits and crushed by a stone wheel pulled by a horse. It is not a show; it is how it is made.
Practical notes
Oaxaca's airport is 20 minutes from the centre with domestic connections and a few international ones. Mexico City is an hour by air or six hours by road.
October to April is the dry season. Late October and early November bring Day of the Dead, which is the biggest event in the city's year and fills it entirely; book many months ahead. July has the Guelaguetza festival. The rains run May to September, usually as afternoon storms.
The centre sits at 1,550 metres, which makes it cool at night year round.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Oaxaca Hotels
Questions people actually ask
When is Day of the Dead?
Late October into the first days of November. Oaxaca is one of the best places in Mexico to see it and it books out far ahead.
Is the food really that good?
Oaxaca is generally regarded as the most interesting food state in Mexico. The markets are as important as the restaurants.
Is the city walkable?
The centre is about eight blocks square and everything is on foot. Outside it you need a taxi.
How many nights?
Four. Three in the city and a day for Monte Albán and the villages.