Food & Drink

Read on for your essential guide to the must-see natural wonders, culinary concoctions and beautiful archaeological ruins in Oaxaca State.

Mexico

Oaxaca

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Oaxaca City – Oaxaca de Juarez or, more commonly, just Oaxaca – will, more often than not, be your springboard for an exploration of the state of the same name. But with a cultural tapestry as vibrant as the artisanal products on sale, it’ll be a wrench to leave. Colorful colonial architecture, rich indigenous culture and a culinary scene to rival any in Mexico, make this an alluring, if not essential, destination.


The Insider Guide to Oaxaca

Gastronomic powerhouse, living museum, cultural juggernaut, Oaxaca is a city with depth. Start your exploration with the revered local cuisine, sampling the traditional Mexican marinade known as mole. You’ll find different varieties across the country, but in Oaxaca there are seven regional sauces to try, with the dark, sweet-savory mole negro probably the best known. You may also want to sink your teeth into a tlayuda (a pseudo pizza with a tortilla base) or, perhaps, chapulines (crunchy, deep-fried grasshoppers.) And, seeing as Oaxaca is the mescal capital, wash it down with a visit to a mezcaleria to sample a tongue-tingling selection of the agave liquor. A siesta might follow, or you could spend a tranquil afternoon gawping at the gilded belly of the Church of Santo Domingo, before admiring the cacti and succulents of the botanic garden, Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca, just a few steps away. There are also plentiful day trips from Oaxaca City should you wish to broaden your adventure. Many whizz off to Hierve el Agua, a mind-bending rock formation that looks just like a flowing waterfall; head to the top to take a dip in two, rather photogenic, mineral-rich springs with mountain views. Or you could visit Árbol del Tule, a titanic tree with the widest trunk in the world. Either way, you’ll also want to visit one of the archaeological sites surrounding Oaxaca City: head to Monte Alban for Zapotec and Mixtec ruins, Mitla for geometric mosaics, or Yagul for a well-preserved ancient ballcourt and palace. Then, if you fancy a break from city life, make for the Oaxacan coast and the surfer’s dream town of Puerto Escondido, home to the not-for-beginners barrels of Playa Zicatela, and a hang-ten, cut-loose lifestyle. You could also visit Huatulco, where nine bays offer a more secluded version of the Mexico Pacific beach experience. 


¡Vamos! The Main Attractions

Oran

Setif

Algeria

Luanda

Angola

Cotonou

Porto-novo

Benin

Botswana

Ouagadougou

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Tonga

Yaounde

Bamenda

Cameroon

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Kinshasa

Lubumbashi

Congo

Abidjan

Cote Divoire

Florentin

Dijibouti

Djibouti

Cairo

Alexandria

Sharm El-sheikh

Egypt

Equatorial Guinea

Asmara

Eritrea

Addis Ababa

Lalibela

Ethiopia

Gambia

Accra

Kumasi

Cape Coast

Ghana

Guinea-bissau

Nairobi

Mombasa

Malindi

Kenya

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Antananarivo

Antsirabe

Madagascar

Blantyre

Malawi

Bamako

Timbuktu

Mali

Mauritania

Port Louis

Mauritius

Casablanca

Marrakech

Sale

Morocco

Maputo

Mozambique

Swakopmund

Windhoek

Namibia

Lagos

Abuja

Ibadan

Nigeria

Pointe-noire

Republic Of The Congo

Kigali

Musanze

Butare

Rwanda

Dakar

Touba

Senegal

Seychelles

Freetown

Sierra Leone

Cape Town

Durban

Johannesburg

South Africa

South Sudan

Khartoum

Sudan

Mbabane

Manzini

Swaziland

Zanzibar

Arusha

Dar Es Salaam

Tanzania

Tunis

Hammamet

Tozeur

Tunisia

Kampala

Gombe

Uganda

Western Sahara

Lusaka

Zambia

Harare

Bulawayo

Zimbabwe

Africa

Antarctica

Kabul

Afghanistan

Dhaka

Bangladesh

Thimphu

Bhutan

Bandar Seri Begawan

Brunei Darussalam

Siem Reap

Phnom Penh

Sihanoukville

Cambodia

Shanghai

Beijing

Guangzhou

China

East Timor

Wan Chai

Hong Kong

Mumbai

Delhi

India

Bali

Penang

Jakarta

Indonesia

Israel

Tokyo

Kyoto

Osaka

Japan

Almaty

Astana

Kazakhstan

Pyongyang

Korea

Bishkek

Kyrgyzstan

Luang Prabang

Vientiane

Pakse

Laos

Macau

Kuala Lumpur

Ipoh

Malaysia

Maldives

Mongolia

Yangon

Mandalay

Nay Pyi Taw

Myanmar

Kathmandu

Darchula

Nepal

Hyderabad

Islamabad

Lahore

Pakistan

Manila

Boracay

Baguio

Philippines

Riyadh

Jeddah

Mecca

Saudi Arabia

Asia

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