Hotels in Oaxaca

Oaxaca is Mexico's culinary and craft capital, a colonial city of green-stone churches and pastel facades whose UNESCO-listed historic centre rewards slow wandering. It is known above all for food: seven moles, tlayudas, chapulines, chocolate ground in the Mercado 20 de Noviembre, and mezcal distilled in the surrounding valleys. The Zapotec ruins of Monte Albán sit on a mountaintop just outside town, and nearby villages specialise in black pottery, alebrijes and handwoven textiles.

Día de Muertos and the July Guelaguetza festival are spectacular. Be honest: those same festivals bring crowds and sharply higher demand, and the city's popularity with digital nomads has pushed up costs in the centre. Political protests and blockades also occur from time to time and can disrupt travel. Xoxocotlán International Airport is a short drive south. Stay in the Centro Histórico near the Santo Domingo church or in neighbouring Jalatlaco, where you can walk to the restaurants, markets and galleries that are the main reason to come.