Tasajo enmoladas, 20 de Noviembre mercado

Oaxaca can be experienced on a variety of budgets. The best-known (and likely for good reason) restaurant in town is Casa de Oaxaca. My estimate is an amazing dinner there would be under $40, so pretty reasonable for most first-world travelers. However, scrumptious food can be easily found on the streets, in the markets, and in simple eateries; for just a few dollars and untold times better than Mexican food available in your home country. We decided we could skip the super-fancy meal and make do with semi-fancy.

We carried both the Moon Guide Oaxaca and Lonely Planet Mexico. For a weeklong trip, the section in Lonely Planet is probably sufficient, but I like not being dependent on any one guidebook publisher. Moon's is currently the only Oaxaca-focused guide I could find.

The guidebooks provide good starter ideas for food, but anecdotal advice for a place like Oaxaca is the way to go. While it's impossible to have a bad meal, we definitely appreciated having Lindsay's advice on places that were not listed in either guidebook.

But I stress that you cannot have a bad meal, and finding our own favorite spots in the 20 de Noviembre Mercado and stumbling upon El Baresito were memorable experiences.

Oaxaca is a really well-rounded state to visit. Apart from the amazing city itself, there are mountains and ancient ruins nearby, and beautiful beaches somewhat less nearby. Easily combined with a short visit to Mexico City, Oaxaca makes a great vacation for a variety of travelers.

Getting around

Oaxaca City is tiny. In general, you can walk everywhere in town. The only time we took a taxi (which was pretty cheap) was to go to the bus stations. The local bus stations are relatively easy to get to by walking without much luggage. The second-class long-distance station is sort of in walking distance, but not pleasurable with luggage. The first-class station is definitely worth a cab.

From Mexico City, we took the first-class bus through a company called ADO. There may be other options but I was very happy with this service. For 6.5 hours, we got a working bathroom, nice seats, movies, and a very smooth ride. Baggage is stored securely underneath the bus and requires a receipt to get back.

Buses are frequent throughout the day, so we were perfectly happy taking an overnight bus immediately upon flying in. But for those more pressed for time, Oaxaca can be reached by domestic flights as well.

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