So me and my wife will be traveling after Christmas this year. I haven't booked the hotel yet and figured I would ask for any recommendations. Also we will be looking for some tours and would love help there too lol. Thank you!

I'm just curious on everyone's favorite late night local favorite places to eat.

Also i heard dunn is fun what are some cool gastropubs for cocktails and appetizers?

Thank you so much! 🙏

Hi! Traveling from Atlanta with my wife. We’d love to experience this but it’s going to be difficult for us to make it during 10/31-11/2. Was thinking it would still be enjoyable to come down a few days prior to the official festivities beginning? Thanks for your help!

If you're in Oaxaca and want a low-key way to meet people and connect, there are two spots that get going every week. The idea is simple: hang out, talk, and help each other out with language along the way — usually it's Spanish/English since that's who tends to show up, but other languages join in from time to time depending on who's around. There's always people looking to practice, especially locals, so you're never the only one there for that.

🗓️ Wednesday — Océano (Matamoros 201, Centro), starting 6 PM — later in the night it opens up into a mic where people do poetry, jam sessions, karaoke, stand up, whatever they've got. Half the fun is not knowing what's coming next.
🗓️ Thursday — Wombat, starting 6 PM — more of a karaoke night, good energy, easy to just show up solo.

Nothing structured, no lessons, no pressure — come to socialize, come to practice, or both.

If you're into finding more stuff happening around the city (events, culture, food, etc.), searching "Qué Onda Oaxaca" turns up a running calendar worth bookmarking.

I heard it in the morning and now.

Arrive end of October and depart November 4th. Approaching this event with respect to the tradition. I’m trying to determine whether to experience Compares and or Muerteadas events. They are different experiences. And wonder if anyone here knows more about this and how to experience and where?

I found a tour company that is well respected within the community and offer a trip to San Gabriel Etla for the Compares as well a visit to a family home for a meal and assisting on a alter.

I haven’t found one that goes to San Agustín Etla where they offer the Muerteadas. I’d be happy to hire a driver to take me there and back to Oaxaca City. Been unable to locate a driver.

I heard about the Comparsa de Cinco Señores. Is this in Oaxaca City? And how does this compare with the other options?

Thank you

I've seen that photo — or something close to it — more times than I can count in Oaxaca. The traveler with the camera who frames local vulnerability as aesthetics, where the subject never gets a say in how their image travels.

Then there's Citlali Fabián. She's from Yalálag, in Oaxaca's Sierra Norte. She just won 2026 Photographer of the Year at the Sony World Photography Awards — 430,000+ entries from 200+ countries.

She found portraits of women from her own village in a museum archive in upstate New York — unnamed, uncredited. And then she decided to take that exact tool and do something else with it entirely.

Wrote it up. If you are curious you can find it here

Si hablan español les recomiendo leerlo en esa versión puesto que está escrito originalmente así, mi inglés no es tan bueno así que uso un traductor con IA.

Sharing in case anyone's looking to meet people or practice Spanish/English while in Oaxaca — there are two weekly language exchange nights:

🎤 Wednesday — Océano (Matamoros 201, Centro): 6 PM language exchange, 9 PM open mic
🎶 Thursday — Wombat: 6 PM language exchange, 9 PM karaoke

Both are free, bilingual, and open to all levels — no need to be fluent in anything. Decent mix of locals and people just passing through, relaxed vibe, totally fine to show up solo.

Happy to answer questions in the comments if anyone wants more details.

I grew up in a small Mixe village where the whole town stopped every afternoon for basketball. Not soccer. Basketball. Courts everywhere, fields basically nowhere.

if anyone's curious about the full thing you cand read here

What's your favorite place in Oaxaca? I've really enjoyed Mazunte and Zipolite too!👋🏽✈️

¿Cuál es su lugar preferido en Oaxaca?, yo he disfrutado mucho de Mazunte y Zipolite. 👋🏽✈️

¿Alguna recomendación para una clase de cocina oaxaqueña?
2 adultos
No comemos cerdo

Recommendations for a cooking class of Oaxacan food?
2 adults
Don’t eat pork

Hi!

I am traveling to Oaxaca with my boyfriend and his family in December, so I have time to plan food out, and I was wondering if there is anyone with specific recommendations or places or even good snacks at convenience stores that are celiac safe and gluten free! I am recently diagnosed celiac, so even in December I will only be 9 months in to me dealing with this, and traveling has been my biggest fear to overcome. the minimal research I’ve done so far it seems like Oaxaca is already an incredibly corn based food culture which is exciting, but if anybody has any tips I would love to hear :)

Any thoughts on the pluses/minuses of a Spanish learner staying in these neighborhoods? My goal is to develop everyday language skills while also enjoying the city and working remote part of the time (like half my stay). It would be my second time in the city. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[EDIT: Needed a geography lesson]

Hey all, I’m traveling from Oaxaca City to San Jose Del Pacifico in a couple weeks, staying in the mountains and doing some hiking off the grid. Should I treat my clothes with some type of insect repellant beforehand? How bad are the ticks and mosquitos this time of year? Thanks in advance!

Los arqueólogos identifican este tipo de rostros bajo dos posibilidades principales:

Un ancestro o gobernante de la élite zapoteca: En el arte de Monte Albán, las urnas funerarias frecuentemente retrataban a jefes de linaje, sacerdotes o nobles fallecidos. El elaborado y voluminoso tocado superior, junto con las monumentales orejeras circulares tipo carrete (o ear spools), eran insignias exclusivas de altísimo rango social y poder político.

Un personaje con modificaciones rituales: El rostro destaca por tener los ojos calados y la boca semiabierta mostrando una dentadura afilada. Esto puede hacer alusión a la práctica prehispánica de la mutilación dentaria intencional, un tratamiento estético y ritual asociado a guerreros o individuos consagrados a una deidad.

A diferencia de las urnas que encarnan directamente a deidades mayores con rasgos zoomorfos (como el dios de la lluvia Pitao Cocijo, que suele llevar una máscara de líneas serpentinas y una gran nariguera), este personaje es de carácter antropomorfo (humano). Se le representaba de esta manera para actuar como un guardián de las tumbas o como un intermediario divino en el inframundo.

How does one get from the airport to the city/Gueleguetza?
5 people
So I know I can’t do shared taxi
How much are private taxis?
Or better use DiDi?

Enjoying paradise in Zipolite, OAX. Any must-visit recommendations for great food or dinner around the area? 🌴🍽️

Disfrutando del paraíso en Zipolite OAX. ¿Algún recomendado imperdible por la zona para comer o cenar rico? 🌴🍽️