Eight days into the markets, the milpas, the mountains and the mezcal palenques of southern Mexico, guided by a friend who has spent seven years learning to listen there.
I have been traveling to Oaxaca since 2019. Seven years of return visits, each one a little deeper than the last. Somewhere along the way Oaxaca has woven itself into the fabric of my soul. That is not language I use lightly. I gained a second family in the valleys of Tlacolula and Ocotlán, and the way they cook, weave, and welcome has changed the way I move through the world.
This is not a tour. This is an invitation into the homes, kitchens, and palenques of people I know by name. Friends whose grandmothers taught their mothers, whose mothers taught them, and who carry that knowledge into the work of every day. The mole simmering for hours. The agave roasting underground for a week. The wool dyed in cochineal and indigo. None of it is content. All of it is reverence.
We are keeping this small on purpose. Two couples. One table. Eight days. The pace is slow because Oaxaca is slow, and that is the gift.
Come hungry. Come open. Vamos juntos.
“The soul of a place lives in the hands of the people who feed it.”
Eight days, moving from the centro to the coast to the campo. Below, the shape of our time together.
Land in Oaxaca City. Settle into our centro lodging. A gentle guided wander through the surrounding streets to find our footing, and an evening dinner together at a traditional Oaxacan table to begin properly: con mezcal, con mole, con tiempo.
I lead the group personally through Xochimilco's quiet stone lanes, into La Cosecha for organic tamales and pulque, a stop at Pan Con Madre, the bustle of Mercado Sánchez Pascuas, the muralled walls of Barrio Jalatlaco, rooftop drinks at Los Pilares as the sun drops, and finally to Mercado 20 de Noviembre for the Pasillo del Humo and what may be the best mole you ever taste.
We trade the highlands for the coast. A stop at Playa Carrizalillo in Puerto Escondido, that small, perfect cove, and onward to Hotel Alquimista in Playa Zipolite for the unhurried, barefoot side of Oaxaca. Hammocks, ceviche, salt air, and nothing on the schedule but the tide.
We travel into the hills of Santa Catarina Minas, where mezcal is still distilled in clay pots over wood fire, a method older than the country itself. We sit with the maestros, taste straight from the still, and learn what "de olla de barro" truly means.
In the morning, we cook with a local family in a traditional Oaxacan kitchen, building mole negro from scratch. The roasting, the grinding, the slow alchemy of more than thirty ingredients. After lunch, we sit at the loom with master weavers and learn the natural-dye traditions of cochineal, indigo, and pomegranate that have made Teotitlán famous for five centuries.
We travel to Santiago Matatlán to spend the day with my dear friend Asis Cortés of Mezcal Dixeebe, fifth-generation maestro mezcalero. Asis will guide us through the ceremonial side of mezcal: the rituals, the rezos, the way the spirit is offered before it is poured. This is the experience seven years of returning has earned.
Wander the Zócalo. Climb Santo Domingo. Revisit the market stall whose tlayuda you can't stop thinking about. Buy the rug, the bottle, the embroidered blouse you've been circling. We close the week with a final dinner together.
You will not leave the same way you arrived. Buen viaje, amigos.
Two nights in a quiet two-bedroom in the oldest barrio of Oaxaca City to begin, then south to the coast for two open-air nights above the Pacific, before returning to the city to round out the week. Slow mornings everywhere.
Our home base is Privada Félix Díaz, a private two-bedroom condo set inside a small, gated complex in Barrio Xochimilco. The space has been carefully reworked for quiet — high ceilings, natural light, a fully equipped kitchen for slow mornings with coffee and pan dulce, and a private patio for evenings under the trees.
Two king bedrooms, each with its own character. A living room that opens onto the patio. The walk to Santo Domingo and the heart of the centro is fifteen unhurried minutes through some of the most photogenic streets in the city. You will pass weavers, panaderías, the Sunday tianguis, and at least one street dog who will adopt you for the week.
It is a place to come back to and exhale. Which, after eight days of markets and mezcal, you will need.
Privada Félix Díaz · Barrio Xochimilco · a fifteen-minute walk to Santo Domingo
Xochimilco is the oldest barrio in Oaxaca, settled long before the city around it. The streets are narrow and softly colored, the doorways framed in bougainvillea, the corner stores still run by the same families that opened them. It is the kind of place where the rhythm of the day gives you permission to slow down.
Two nights at Hotel El Alquimista on Playa Zipolite — a small, soulful refuge of palm-thatched cabañas, beachside restaurant, on-site spa and yoga, set on one of the wildest and most beautiful stretches of the Oaxacan coast.
After two days finding our footing in the city, we trade altitude for ocean. The drive south winds through the Sierra Madre and drops you into a different Oaxaca entirely — turquoise water, slow afternoons, the sound of the waves and not much else.
El Alquimista is a small, family-run hotel of cabañas stepped into the hillside above Playa Zipolite. The rooms are open to the breeze, the bathrooms half outdoors, the views straight out across the Pacific. Days are unstructured by design: a long breakfast on the beach, a swim, a massage at the spa, a sunset that ends every conversation.
It's the exhale at the end of the trip. Para descansar de tanta belleza.
Hotel El Alquimista · Playa Zipolite, Oaxacan Pacific coast
Zipolite is a small fishing village on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, named in Zapotec for "the beach of the dead." The waters are wild and the rhythm slow — palapa restaurants, fishermen pulling in the morning catch, sunsets that gather the whole village to the sand. It's been a quiet refuge for travelers and seekers for half a century, and it still feels like one.
You'll find oysters shucked at the water's edge, ceviche brought straight from the boat, mezcal poured in the shade. The pace asks nothing of you. That's the point.
Five private, hosted experiences chosen because the people leading them are masters of their craft, and because they are friends.
Five generations of mezcal-making in Santiago Matatlán. Asis will walk us through the rezo, the prayer offered before any tasting, and the family lands where their craft began. This is not a stop on a route. This is a homecoming.
Mezcal Dixeebe · MatatlánA full day on foot through Xochimilco, Jalatlaco, and the great markets of the centro, ending at the smoke-filled Pasillo de Humo for tlayudas, tasajo, and mole.
Centro Histórico · led by ChuckThe oldest method of distillation still practiced in Oaxaca, kept alive in the foothills of Santa Catarina Minas. Tasting straight from the clay olla, with the maestros who tend the fire.
Santa Catarina MinasFrom the comal to the molino to the pot. A full day cooking the most legendary of the seven moles with a Zapotec family who has been making it this way for generations.
Teotitlán del ValleCochineal red, indigo blue, pomegranate gold. The colors of Teotitlán pulled from insects and plants, set into wool spun and woven by hand on pedal looms unchanged in five hundred years.
Teotitlán del VallePricing covers lodging in Centro, ground transportation throughout, and all five hosted experiences. Travelers cover the night's stay at Hotel Alquimista in Zipolite, food outside scheduled meals, and personal purchases. Flights are not included.
Fly into Oaxaca International (OAX). Several routings work well; reach out and we will help you find the right one for your departure city. Plan to arrive on May 31 and depart on June 7.
A valid U.S. passport with at least six months remaining. No visa is required for U.S. citizens for stays under 180 days.
Late May into early June is one of the most beautiful windows of the year in the valley. Warm days in the 80s, cool evenings, the countryside green and alive.
Comfortable walking shoes, a light layer for evenings, swimwear for Zipolite, and an empty bag for what you'll inevitably bring home. Bottles, rugs, embroidery, ceramics.
Some long travel days between the city, coast, and palenques. The mood is slow but the schedule is full. Come rested.
Strictly limited to two couples plus your host. One couple is already committed. We have room for one more.
Chuck has been traveling to Oaxaca since 2019. Seven years of return visits, each one going a little deeper than the last. What began as a curiosity became a calling, and over the years he has built real friendships with the maestros, cooks, and weavers who make this corner of Mexico extraordinary.
He has led small groups into Oaxaca for years, and approaches every trip with the same spirit: respeto, honor, celebración. The goal isn't to see Oaxaca. It's to be quietly received by it.
If this trip speaks to you, the simplest thing is to call. We can talk through the week, answer your questions, and see if it's the right fit.
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