Five Best Day Trips from Oaxaca City
- evesymington
- Apr 1
- 10 min read
Although you could spend your entire trip eating your way around Oaxaca City, there are incredible sites all within an easy day-trip of the Zócalo!
Explore ancient Indigenous archeology, a really, really big tree, and learn how to cook like a Oaxacan elder.
Read on for our favorite day trips from Oaxaca City, and don't forget to check out our full foodie guide, favorite restaurants, 7-day itinerary, and 3-day flash trip guide!
Monte Alban
Monte Alban is one of the region’s most exciting ancient Indigenous sites – and a bit of a sleeper hit compared to its very well-known cousins like Chichén Itzá.
The Zapotec city of Monte Alban was founded around 500 BCE, and was excavated and restored in the 1930s. It’s located on a gorgeous hilltop where you can take in sweeping views of the valley and admire the sheer scale of structures.
WS&T Tip: The sun can be intense and there’s not much shade, so bring plenty of water, snacks, and sun protection. In fact, the site is enormous, so you may want to pack a picnic if you plan to explore the whole thing.
When you arrive at Monte Alban, you’ll stand in line for a ticket and then you can climb up to the site to begin your tour. At the entrance, there’s also a souvenir shop and museum, which is small but has some important treasures found during the site’s excavation.
If you’re really interested in the history of the site, you can hire a guide at the entrance. There isn’t much signage once you’re inside.
How do you get to Monte Alban?
Rental Car: If you have a rental car, you can drive right up to the site’s parking lot.
Taxi or Rideshare: Uber is currently banned in Oaxaca, so use the rideshare app Didi or hail a local taxi for an easy and inexpensive trip to Monte Alban. They’ll drop you off at the parking lot. Again, if you have a kiddo you’ll need to deal with the car seat situation – and Monte Alban is not stroller-friendly. We haven’t tried this, but you could ask the ticket booth folks to hold onto it, possibly for a fee.
Hire a Driver: Less cost efficient but more convenient, you can book a driver for a half day or a full day (and combine with another site). Leave the car seat and kid supplies in the car while you explore. Ask at your hotel, or check out Turismo El Convento de Oaxaca or Descubre Oaxaca.
How do I get back to Oaxaca City from Monte Alban?
Bus: If you took a taxi or Didi to get to Monte Alban, you can easily return on a public shuttle bus. You buy a paper ticket from a vendor in the parking lot, then chill until the next bus arrives and hop on. They seem to leave every hour, or every 30 mins on weekends.
Walking: If you’re up for an adventure, you can take a 2-hour downhill walk through the outskirts of Oaxaca – passing through some slum areas – back into the city center.
Árbol de Tule
Located about 13 km east of the city, the small village of Santa Maria del Tule is famous for its absolutely enormous Montezuma cypress tree, known simple as Tule. It is incredibly large and impressive, at least 36 meters around and weighing a shocking 500 tons. It’s over 2000 years old and makes a compelling case for being the widest tree in the world.
Tule is sacred to the Zapotec people, and your kids will have fun picking out the animal shapes hidden in the branches which have earned Tule its nickname: Tree of Life.
It is definitely worth a visit!
How Do You Get to the Árbol de Tule?
Rental Car: If you have a rental car, this will be an easy (if trafficky) trip. Park on the edge of town and walk up to the tree.
Taxi or Rideshare: Use the rideshare app Didi or skip the middleman and hail a taxi. This will be one of the easiest options for your day trip, you just might have to bring your stroller/car seat combo for the trip. The good news is that the town of Santa Maria del Tule is fairly stroller-friendly.
Hire a Driver: Less cost efficient but more convenient, you can book a driver for a half day or a full day (and combine with another site). Leave the car seat and kid supplies in the car while you explore. Ask at your hotel, or check out Turismo El Convento de Oaxaca or Descubre Oaxaca.
Bus: If you’re solo or have older kids, flag down a local bus on Niños Héroes near the intersection with Boulevard José Vasconcelos, one block east of the baseball stadium. The front of the bus will say “Tule” and the driver will be able confirm. Buses are cash-only, so keep some pesos handy. At the time of writing, the cost is around $8 pesos per ride.
Rent a Bike: If you’re up for an adventure, you can rent bikes and cycle the 13 kilometers (around 8 miles) to Tule. You can get an inexpensive bike rental at Zona Bici or Bicicletas Pedro Martinez (which also offers guided bike tours). Some sites claim that it’s an easy, no-stress ride, but we found it to be somewhat challenging: first, navigating the city from the bike rental shop to the highway required full attention, then there were some stretches along the highway where you were sharing the road with traffic. For most of the trip, however, you’re on a nice wide bike path right in the middle of the highway. And the ride is straight and flat for most of the way. We found it to be a vigorous experience; doable but definitely on the harder side, depending on your cycling skill.
How do you visit the Árbol de Tule?
Once you arrive in Santa Maria, you can’t miss the gigantic tree in the middle of the central square. You can get pretty close for free, but if you want to enter the gate and walk around the tree, you’ll pay a small fee (about MXN 15). It’s open from 8am-8pm.
What else is there to do around the Árbol de Tule?
If you want to spend the day in Santa Maria, start with a stroll through the Mercado de Artesanías, where you’ll find a collection of colorful textiles, souvenirs, clothing, bags, and more. It’s a little tacky, but you never know what you might find…
Next, treat your taste buds at Mercado Antojitos, a lively food hall filled with budget-friendly eats and drinks.
Ready for a bit of nature? Head out to La Calera del Tule, a nearby hiking area just outside town. The trail leads to a beautiful scenic viewpoint.
On your way back, take a peaceful pause at Los Cinco Sabinos, a charming garden featuring a group of Montezuma cypress trees. They might not be giants like the big guy, but they’re still a lovely and tranquil spot to relax.
Wrap up your day with a mezcal experience—you can visit El Sabor de Oaxaca bar right in town for a tasting.
Take a Oaxacan Cooking Class
Oaxaca is a food paradise, so we were very interested in peeking behind the curtain and taking a Oaxacan cooking class.
There are several great options, but we signed up for El Sabor Zapoteco, a wonderful cooking class run by Reyna, the Indigenous Zapotec chef extraordinaire who lives in a small village just outside the city called Teotitlán del Valle.
We met the shuttle bus at a designated pickup spot (easily walkable in town), then drove to Reyna’s lovely home, past arid landscapes and field after field of mezcal, for an introduction to our menu for the day: sopa de frijol, mole amarillo, fried squash blossoms, and a traditional dessert.
After that, Reyna took our small group to the local farmer’s market, where we got to shop for the day’s ingredients (and pick up a few beautiful souvenirs from the people who actually made them). Back at Reyna’s extensive outdoor kitchen, we roasted chiles, fried squash blossoms, and learned how to make mole the old-fashioned way: grinding everything on a metate or grinding stone which was deeply grooved and passed down for generations. We were… not good at it, but it was fun to try!
Afterwards we enjoyed the best part: feasting on our several-course meal, with a side of mezcal to wash it all down. Reyna even has a cute little souvenir shop at her house, where I snagged the embossed metal napkin rings in my picture.
If you’d like to book this class, check out their site here – we don’t get a kickback, we just loved the experience!
4: Hierve el Agua
Explore this incredible calcified rock formation that looks like a gushing waterfall.
Afterwards, you can check out the stunning, well-preserved Indigenous burial site at Mitla, which is about a 45-minute drive from Hierve el Agua.
Despite the name, which means "Boil the Water," the water isn’t hot—it’s a refreshing 72°F—but it does bubble up from underground thanks to natural spring pressure.
Important Note: Check with your hotel or a tourism agent before heading to Hierve el Agua; in the past few years they’ve had issues with over-tourism, so they’ve limited how many visitors can check the place out each day. At the time of writing, that limit is 200 visitors per day. As a result, it may be easiest to see Hierve el Agua with a tour… but over here at WS&T we’re not that excited about group fun unless absolutely necessary, so consider booking a driver for the day.
Admission is about MXN 50, and parking is about MXN 100. The park is open from 7am to 5pm, and we highly recommend arriving early.
What Should I Bring to Hierve el Agua?
Sunscreen! It is often quite hot at the site, which has very minimal shade, so plan accordingly.
Water! Hierve del Agua sits at 5000 feet elevation, so you'll need to stay hydrated.
Hiking shoes or good sandals
Bathing suit + towel if you'd like to swim
Consider water-safe shoes if you swim
How far is it from Oaxaca City to Hierve el Agua?
Hierve el Agua is located in the town of San Isidro Roaguía, about 70 km from Oaxaca City. It takes about 1 hour and 25 mintues-2 hours to drive there, depending on traffic and road conditions.
How do you get to Hierve del Agua?
Tour: A tour can be a stress-free way to visit Hierve, though you'll be beholden to the group itinerary for the day. If you book a tour, you’ll likely also stop at Mitla and one or more mezcalerias along the way.
Rental Car: This would be a great day for a car rental so you can see both Hierve el Agua and Mitla stress-free.
Taxi or Rideshare: Use the rideshare app Didi or hail a local taxi for an easy and inexpensive trip to Monte Alban. They’ll drop you off at the parking lot. Again, if you have a kiddo you’ll need to deal with the car seat situation – and neither site is very stroller-friendly.
Hire a Driver: Less cost efficient but more convenient, you can book a driver for a half day or a full day (for both sites). Leave the car seat and kid supplies in the car while you explore. Ask at your hotel, or check out Turismo El Convento de Oaxaca or Descubre Oaxaca.
What Do You Do at Hierve del Agua?
The short trail to the pools is a bit steep but worth it, with sweeping views of the Sierra Madre del Sur and giant blooming agave stalks popping up here and there. Along the way, you’ll pass stalls selling snacks, cold drinks, beer, micheladas, and piña loca—a mezcal cocktail served inside a pineapple and topped with chamoy, chile, and lime.
If you’d like to hike to a different view of the two petrified falls, the longer trail takes about 40 minutes each way. The hike is about 1.6 miles with a 623-foot elevation gain. It’s not too hard, and there are spots to rest along the way. It's a kid-friendly hike. You’ll get an up-close view of both the 98-foot Cascada Grande and 39-foot Cascada Chica, formed over thousands of years by mineral-rich water that left behind frozen-in-time rock formations.
Afterwards, enjoy your piña loca or go for a dip! Be careful at the edges of the pools, which can be slippery. You might want to wear water-safe shoes, epsecially for kid-feet.
As always, be respectful of the site, which has experienced vandalism in the past!
Mitla
Mitla was a sacred site to the Zapotec people before the year 1000—a place where they held important religious ceremonies and buried their elite. The name Mitla comes from the Nahuatl word Mictlán, which means “Place of the Dead.” Later on, when the Zapotecs started to lose power, the Mixtecs came in and began burying their own royalty there.
Today, the site is decorated with jaw-dropping stone mosaics that are among the most intricate and well-preserved in the country.
Mitla itself is a fairly uninspiring town, although we did enjoy wandering around the central square. There also happened to be a lively outdoor market in progress when we were there, which was great. It’s a half day trip, so you can combine with Herve del Agua especially if you have a car or book a driver for the day.
How far is Mitla from Oaxaca City?
Mitla is about 46 km or a 1-hour drive from Oaxaca City, depending on traffic.
How do I get to Mitla?
Rental Car: If you have a rental car, you can drive to the edge of town, then walk up to the Mitla site at the top of the hill.
Taxi or Rideshare: Use Didi or a local taxi for an easy and inexpensive trip. Again, if you have a kiddo you’ll need to deal with the car seat situation – Mitla is not really stroller-friendly.
Hire a Driver: Less cost efficient but more convenient, you can book a driver for a half day or a full day (for both sites). Leave the car seat and kid supplies in the car while you explore. Ask at your hotel, or check out Turismo El Convento de Oaxaca or Descubre Oaxaca.
Bus: We had a more time consuming but super easy bus ride to Mitla. We went to the Oaxaca Bus Station (located here at Central de Abasto, 68090 Oaxaca, Mexico). Look for a bus with a large “Mitla” sign in the window or ask for help locating the Mitla bus. There is no set bus schedule, but buses leave frequently, sometimes as often as every 15-20 minutes. We waited about 40 minutes for the bus.
In Mitla, you can have lunch at a few different spots including Restaurante Doña Chica or Yalnadoo.
If you have more time in Oaxaca, check out our 7-day guide and our 3-day Flash Trip guides for even more to do in this incredible city!
Wanna Make Your Day Trips Even Better? Click below to check out some curated picks for making life easier when traveling with (and without) small children.
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