Oaxaca, the Pacific surf and Mexico City
Sixteen days from the kitchens and mezcal of Oaxaca to a first surf lesson in Puerto Escondido, then the museums, cocktail bars and lucha libre of Mexico City. Built on our own trip in October 2025.
At Totopo Güero, ask the owner to surprise you and say yes to the mezcal. It was the best night of our whole trip.
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Ask about this tripDay 1 · Oaxaca
Into the most colourful city in Mexico
Getting there
From Europe to Mexico City, then a one-hour flight to Oaxaca.
Where you're staying
Casa Oaxaca, Calle García Vigil: a small hotel in a colonial house in the historic centre, with a courtyard pool, artisan textiles and its own kitchen.
- We stayed in an ordinary apartment; next time we would choose a small hotel like this, a short walk from everything
Photos: casaoaxaca.com.mx
The city
Oaxaca: a very alive city of painted houses, churches, galleries and markets, and one of the great food cities of Mexico.
- It is also the home of mezcal: most of it is made in the villages around the city
- Some parts are rougher than others, nothing to worry about in the centre, but take a taxi at night
Photos: our own trip, October 2025
Day 2 · Oaxaca
A day of Oaxacan food, and the dinner of the trip
The morning
The mercados in the centre, 20 de Noviembre and Benito Juárez side by side: moles, tlayudas, chocolate, cheese, and the smoke-filled lane where you choose your meat and they grill it for you.
- Try the chapulines, the grasshoppers: they just taste salty and fried
- Eat where the locals are queueing
Photos: our own trip, October 2025
Dinner
Totopo Güero Cocina Istmeña, Calle Ignacio Allende: the cooking of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in a small, warm dining room. If you are in Oaxaca, go.
- We did not know a single dish on the menu, so we asked the owner to surprise us with whatever he thought we should try. It was unbelievable
- He loves mezcal and knows everything about it, and a little tasting during and after dinner turned into one of the best nights of the trip; we left very happy
- Open from mid-afternoon, closed on Sundays
Photos: our own trip, October 2025
Days 3–4 · Around Oaxaca
Monte Albán and the mezcal road
A morning
Monte Albán: the Zapotec capital, built on a levelled mountaintop twenty minutes above the city, with the whole valley spread out below.
- Go early, before the heat, with a guide
Día de Muertos
From the last days of October to 2 November, Oaxaca celebrates the Day of the Dead: altars and marigolds everywhere, parades through the streets and candlelit vigils in the cemeteries. We were there the week before, and the whole city was getting ready. It is a huge thing, especially in Oaxaca, and we would time the trip to it: just book early, as hotels fill and prices rise months ahead.
A day out
Hierve el Agua and the villages east of the city: the giant tree of Santa María del Tule, the weavers of Teotitlán del Valle, a family palenque in Santiago Matatlán, and the mineral springs that have turned into petrified waterfalls.
- With a driver for the day, mezcal tasting included
- Hierve el Agua is run by the local community and can close at short notice, so we check the day before
Day 5 · Puerto Escondido
Down to the Pacific
Getting there
By air: a 40-minute hop over the mountains on a small plane, with several flights a day.
- We took the bus on the new highway and got stuck for five hours in the middle of nowhere, with no signal, after rain brought earth down onto the road and a truck got stuck in it. That is why we recommend the flight
- When all goes well the road takes three to three and a half hours, but it also closes at times for local protests, most recently in September 2026
Where you're staying
Hotel Santa Fe, Zicatela: the classic hotel of Puerto Escondido, between Zicatela and Playa Marinero, with pools in a tropical garden and a restaurant over the sea.
- We stayed in a simple guesthouse in town, fine for the price; next time we would stay in Zicatela, where the life is
Flagship day
Your first waves at Carrizalillo, and turtles at sunset
The morning
A surf lesson at Playa Carrizalillo: a small, sheltered bay at the bottom of a long flight of steps, with long, gentle waves that are perfect for beginners.
- The view as you start down the steps is amazing
- We had an amazing teacher, and the waves were long enough to actually learn on
- Food stalls on the beach for afterwards
- Zicatela is the opposite: the Mexican Pipeline, big waves for experienced surfers only, great to watch
Photos: our own trip, October 2025
Why Carrizalillo
Puerto Escondido is famous for Zicatela, the Mexican Pipeline, one of the heaviest beach breaks in the world. Carrizalillo, ten minutes away, is the opposite: a sheltered cove where the waves peel slowly along the rocks, which is why the surf schools teach there.
At sunset
Releasing baby turtles at Playa Bacocho, with the volunteers of the Vive Mar camp, every afternoon around five.
- A small donation per turtle goes back into the project, and the volunteers are wonderfully dedicated
- On the open beach, many nests are lost to poachers, dogs and birds before they hatch; the camp collects the eggs and lets them hatch safely, so far more turtles reach the sea
- Even then the odds are long: scientists put the chance of a hatchling reaching adulthood at around one in a thousand
Photos: our own trip, October 2025
Days 7–9 · Puerto Escondido
Three more days of surf and sunsets
The days
More surf, or just the beach: Puerto has no real centre in the European sense, the old town is quiet and everything happens along the beaches, from Zicatela to La Punta.
- Watch the big-wave surfers at Zicatela in the late afternoon
- Plenty of good restaurants along Zicatela and in La Punta
- A day trip east along the coast to Mazunte and the sunset from Punta Cometa
Days 10–15 · Mexico City
Six days in the city that surprised us most
Getting there
A one-hour flight from Puerto Escondido to Mexico City.
2,240 metres up
Mexico City sits higher than many Alpine villages. Take the first day easy, drink plenty of water, and go gently on the mezcal.
Where you're staying
Nido Roma, Calle Querétaro, Roma Norte: modern studios and apartments with kitchens, a garden patio and a gym, a few minutes from Mercado Roma.
- An incredibly nice apartment, in the best neighbourhood we could have picked
The neighbourhood
Roma and Condesa: tree-lined streets, parks and squares, and restaurants on every corner.
- We were really impressed by how clean, green and safe it felt
- Chapultepec Park is a short ride away
A morning
A walking tour of the historic centre with a local guide: the Zócalo and the cathedral, the Aztec Templo Mayor, and the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
- Very cheap and absolutely worth it: we loved it
Museums
The Museo Nacional de Antropología, one of the great museums of the world, and Chapultepec Castle above the park.
- The anthropology museum is closed on Mondays
- There are several more worth your time; we will pick them around your interests
A night out
Lucha libre at Arena México: masked wrestlers, flying leaps and a crowd that shouts for three hours. A crazy experience, do not miss it.
- Shows on Tuesday and Sunday, and the big one on Friday night
- Buy a mask from the stalls outside
Cocktails
Handshake Speakeasy, Colonia Juárez: an unbelievable bar behind a hidden door, named the best bar in the world in 2024.
- Book a long way ahead; walk-ins rarely get in
A day out
Teotihuacan, an hour north-east: the Avenue of the Dead and the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon.
- We ran out of time for it, so do not make our mistake
- Go early, or float over it in a hot-air balloon at sunrise
Day 16 · Home
A last breakfast in Roma, then home
Getting home
Mexico City airport is about half an hour from Roma, longer at rush hour.
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