Oaxaca: mezcal, mole, and the most delicious state in Mexico

It’s 6:58 a.m. on a Saturday at the Tlacolula market, an hour east of Oaxaca City, and the barbacoa stand at the back of the market has a queue twenty deep. The barbacoa here is goat, cooked in a covered earth pit overnight in agave leaves; it has been done this way for at least three hundred years and probably much longer. The cook, a Zapotec woman named Doña María, hands me a plate of consommé to start. The clay-pot mezcal is being poured by a young man at the next stall. The market — held every Sunday, attended by the surrounding Zapotec villages — is, in my view, one of the most extraordinary food markets on earth.

Why I keep coming back

The state of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, is home to sixteen distinct indigenous groups (Zapotec, Mixtec, Mazatec, Chinantec, and others) speaking dozens of languages, and to one of the world’s deepest regional cuisines. The seven famous moles — black, red, yellow, green, chichilo, coloradito, manchamantel — are the most-discussed but only a fraction of the state’s food canon.

The state is also a major centre of artisan production — black pottery (barro negro) from San Bartolo Coyotepec, painted alebrije folk-art animals from San Martín Tilcajete, hand-loomed Zapotec rugs from Teotitlán del Valle, and the mezcal industry centred on Santiago Matatlán.

Oaxaca City itself is a small UNESCO-listed colonial centre at 1500 m altitude, walkable in a morning, with one of the best zócalos in Mexico.

Where to base yourself

Oaxaca City (Centro), anywhere within a 10-minute walk of the Zócalo. Small boutique hotels in converted colonial houses are the move.

What to actually do

Walk the city centre. The Zócalo with its kiosk and laurel trees, the Santo Domingo church and ex-convent (now the Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca), the small streets of Jalatlaco and Xochimilco neighbourhoods.

Eat your way through the moles. Try each over the course of a week. Los Danzantes for refined Oaxacan; Itanoní for the corn-focused traditional; Las Quince Letras for grandmother-style.

Visit a market. Mercado 20 de Noviembre in the city (the pasillo de las carnes meat-grilling alley is the experience). The Tlacolula market on Sundays is the regional weekly market and the great experience.

Tour a mezcal palenque (distillery). Half-day or full-day trips to the village of Santiago Matatlán or to smaller producers in Sola de Vega; you’ll see the agave hearts cooked in earth pits, crushed by stone wheels (or by hand), fermented in wooden vats, and double-distilled in copper. Tasting expected. Mezcal Real Minero, Mezcal Vago, Mezcal Convite are some of the well-known artisan producers.

Visit Monte Albán. The Zapotec hilltop city, 9 km west of Oaxaca City; the central platform, the carved Danzantes stones, the ball courts. The site was an active capital from roughly 500 BC to 750 AD. Half a day.

Day-trip to Hierve el Agua. The ‘petrified waterfall’ — calcified mineral pools on a hilltop south of the city, formed by mineral-saturated springs. Touristy, beautiful.

Visit the artisan villages. Teotitlán del Valle for weaving; San Bartolo Coyotepec for black pottery; San Martín Tilcajete for alebrijes. Each is a separate village within an hour of Oaxaca City.

Where to eat

Pitiona — Modern Oaxacan tasting menu. Origen — Refined contemporary Oaxacan. Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante — Rooftop view, modernised traditional cooking. Itanoní — Corn-focused tortillería; the tlayudas (large crisp tortillas with various toppings) are the dish. Tlayudas Libres (street, near the centre at night) — Late-night tlayudas, the proper version. Boulenc — A modern bakery and café for breakfast. Mercado 20 de Noviembre meat alley — Pick a stall, point at the meat (tasajo, chorizo, cecina enchilada), the meat will be grilled, and you’ll eat it on tortillas with salsa and grilled spring onions. Six dollars. Coffee at Lobo Azul or Marito y Moglia.

When to come

October–November for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead, October 31–November 2) — Oaxaca is one of the great places to experience this, but accommodation books months ahead and prices triple.

Late November through early March for the dry, pleasant season.

July–August for the Guelaguetza, the great regional indigenous-culture festival.

May through September is the rainy season, with daily afternoon storms but otherwise warm and pleasant.

Practical notes

• Visa: 180 days visa-free for most Western passports.
• Money: Mexican peso. Card in the city; cash everywhere else.
• Transport: A direct flight from Mexico City (1 hour) is the easy way. The new toll highway from CDMX makes a 5-hour drive possible. Within Oaxaca state, day-trip drivers are around US$80–120 per day plus tip.
• Altitude: 1500 m — modest, but you may feel it the first day.
• Mezcal: Drink it slowly. The good stuff (45–50% alcohol) is enjoyed in small sips. Don’t shoot it.
• The Spanish: A few words help significantly. Many vendors at the village markets speak Spanish as a second language to Zapotec or Mixtec.

A final thought

Oaxaca is, in my view, the deepest food destination in the Americas and one of the most rewarding small-city stays in Mexico. The combination of pre-Columbian Zapotec depth, Spanish colonial architecture, indigenous artisan culture, and a food canon that synthesises all of it makes for a particularly dense week.

The state has been heavily ‘discovered’ in the past decade — Día de los Muertos in Oaxaca is now widely promoted and significantly more crowded than it was in 2010 — but the daily texture of the city, particularly in the off-festival months, remains very much itself.

Stay at least five nights. Eat seven moles over the week. Drink mezcal slowly. Visit the Sunday market at Tlacolula. Take a day trip to the artisan villages. Talk to the chefs and the artisans (most appreciate the conversation). Mexico’s most delicious state earns its reputation, and the city of Oaxaca remains, after all the discovery, more itself than not.