Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Taktsang Lhakhang, also known as the “Tiger’s Nest”.
Bhutan • 11 days, 10 nights
Festivals & Temples of Bhutan
from
Macchu Picchu
Peru • 10 days, 9 nights
Peru: Machu Picchu & the Last Incan Bridges
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Fountain Elms.
Fountain Elms
La Botte dei Canonici, from the street
La Botte dei Canonici
Headstone of Matilda Joslyn Gage.
Matilda Joslyn Gage Grave
Mammoth footprint replica
Ice Age Floods display at Tualatin Public Library
Loading...
Loading...

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
All Mexico Oaxaca

The Atlas Obscura Guide To Oaxaca

22 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Oaxaca, Mexico

Updated June 18, 2025

Email
Attractions
Food & Drink
Trips
Map
Leaderboards
Stories
Hotel Deals

Unusual Attractions in Oaxaca

Pozontle paired with another market stand’s garnachas.

Oaxaca, Mexico

La Pozontlería

One of the city's few vendors selling the Sierra Norte's ancestral beverage lies within a hidden farmers market.
Memelas!

Oaxaca, Mexico

Itanoní

In a quiet residential neighborhood, one restaurant fights to preserve heirloom corn, one tortilla at a time.
Santo Domingo Monastery.

Oaxaca, Mexico

Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca (Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca)

A 16th-century monastery boasts a lush array of plants native to Mexico’s most biodiverse region.
Post Mortem Chapel.

Oaxaca, Mexico

Post Mortem Chapel

The ruins of an abandoned church mingle with the graves at Oaxaca’s General Cemetery.
Tiny radish people dancing

Oaxaca, Mexico

Night of the Radishes

At this Oaxaca contest, artists turn purple produce into stunning depictions of saints, buildings, and La Pietà.

Oaxaca, Mexico

Casilda Aguas Regionales

In a busy Oaxaca market, a nearly century-old drinks stand still serves family recipes from giant clay pots.
Two foam-green crypts with planters.

Oaxaca, Mexico

Panteón General (General Cemetery)

This graveyard boasts a medley of diverse and imaginative funeral architecture.
Huastec votive offerings depicting fertility goddesses.

Oaxaca, Mexico

Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art

An incredible collection of Mesoamerican art assembled by one of Mexico's great artists.
See All 22 Things To Do in Oaxaca

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Oaxaca

Pozontle paired with another market stand’s garnachas.

Oaxaca, Mexico

La Pozontlería

One of the city's few vendors selling the Sierra Norte's ancestral beverage lies within a hidden farmers market.
Memelas!

Oaxaca, Mexico

Itanoní

In a quiet residential neighborhood, one restaurant fights to preserve heirloom corn, one tortilla at a time.
Tiny radish people dancing

Oaxaca, Mexico

Night of the Radishes

At this Oaxaca contest, artists turn purple produce into stunning depictions of saints, buildings, and La Pietà.

Oaxaca, Mexico

Casilda Aguas Regionales

In a busy Oaxaca market, a nearly century-old drinks stand still serves family recipes from giant clay pots.
See all 13 Places to Eat in Oaxaca
In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

In partnership with GetYourGuide

Unforgettable Experiences Nearby

Atlas Obscura Adventures

Yucatan: Astronomy, Pyramids & Mayan Legends

Mayan legends, ancient craters, lost cities, and stunning constellations.

Book Now

Atlas Obscura Itineraries

Gastro Obscura’s 10 Essential Places to Eat and Drink in Oaxaca

Oaxaca, the mountainous state in Mexico’s south, is celebrated as the country’s “cradle of diversity.” Home to 16 Indigenous ethnic groups from Mixtecs to Triques to Zapotecs, it also boasts the country’s greatest biodiversity, counting 522 edible herbs, over 30 native agave varieties distilled by some 600 mezcal-producing facilities, 35 landraces (unique cultivars) of corn, and some two-dozen native species of chiles and beans. Oaxaca de Juárez, the state’s colonial capital, is drawing record numbers of visitors these days for its cobblestoned streets and the arty graffiti. But the main draw is Oaxaca’s status as the culinary epicenter of Mexico for its dozens of mole varieties, an encyclopedia of corn masa-based antojitos—memelas, tetelas, totopos, tlayudas, tamales—and a baroque layering of colonial-Spanish and pre-Hispanic Indigenous foodways. Local chefs understand that to be culinary authority here one must be part botanist and part anthropologist—roles which they embrace with great relish. Among the welcome recent developments to the restaurant scene has been the great rise of female chefs, as well as a new interest in cooking from the state’s different regions in addition to the complex colonial flavors of the Valles Centrales surrounding the capital. Whether you’re after unusual moles from the rugged Mixteca region, breads made exclusively from Oaxacan wheat, or a country lunch featuring edible insects, our guide has you covered. From a cult street taco stand to a Michelin-starred chef resurrecting forgotten dishes, here are the culinary highs to hit.

View Itinerary
At Tierra del Sol, the moles are mind-bogglingly complex.

Explore Oaxaca, Mexico

Food 7
Chefs 5
Restaurants 5
Corn 4
Markets 3
Museums 3
Street Food 3
Beans 2
Indigenous 2
Cemeteries 2
Drinks 2
Graveyards 2

Oaxaca Leaderboard

Places Added

  1. Anya von Bremzen
    6
  2. Mario Yair TS
    3
  3. theliz
    1
  4. Monsieur Mictlan
    1
  5. Joseph Heathcott
    1
Join the Ranks!
Add an unusual place to Oaxaca.

Places Edited

  1. linkogecko
    8
  2. ski queen
    3
  3. stuartwilroy
    2
  4. Monsieur Mictlan
    2
  5. munozhuerta
    1

Places Visited

  1. linkogecko
    13
  2. Mario Yair TS
    9
  3. Lesliebadillo03
    8
  4. thehaphazardtraveler
    8
  5. Taydal
    8
Join the Ranks!
Visit a place in Oaxaca.

Recent Oaxaca Activity

  • Animal Abroad

    wants to go to Levadura de Olla

  • Animal Abroad

    wants to go to La Frijolería

  • Animal Abroad

    wants to go to Tierra del Sol

  • SeraRose

    has been to Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca

  • peterbanka

    wants to go to Levadura de Olla

Stories About Oaxaca

At Azucena Zapoteca, the mole chichilo is made with ingredients like chilhuacle chiles, burnt tortilla ash, and chochoyote dumplings.

Oaxaca’s ‘Mystical’ Mole of Mourning

Smoky, bitter, and complex, mole chichilo is flavored by grief.
by Sam O'Brien
June 16, 2025
Sofía Robles, the first female mayor of Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, takes a ceremonial opening shot at a local tournament in 2012.

Jump Shots at 6,000 Feet: Inside Oaxaca's Love of Hoops

Every year, thousands of Indigenous athletes flock to a small mountain town for "el honor del competir."
by Sam Lin-Sommer
April 10, 2025
Macchu Piccu, Peru

Enter For Your Chance to Win a Summer Adventure (Submissions Closed)

We’re teaming up with Cayman Jack for an epic trip giveaway.
Sponsored by Cayman Jack
Oaxaca is famous for its crafts, including alebrijes, colorful wood-carved animals.

Six Wondrous Reasons to Explore Oaxaca Right Now

Advice from an expert on what to see, drink, and eat in one of Mexico’s most exciting states.
Sponsored by Cayman Jack
The structure of these ancient ballcourts varies a bit, but at each site there’s a consistent pattern: a playfield framed by two embankments.

An Ancient Ballcourt in Oaxaca Expands a Sport’s Footprint

3,000 years before the Aztecs, Mesoamericans were already playing ball.
by Isaac Schultz
March 25, 2020
Julián Isidro’s father, Robustiano Isidro Dominguez, rotates pasillas above a heat source.

Saving the Prized Chile That Grows Only in Oaxaca’s Mountains

Farmers growing the smoky pepper had no idea chefs were paying top dollar for it.
by Isabel Torrealba
June 6, 2025

Become an Atlas Obscura Member

Join our community of curious explorers.

Learn More

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.