Church of Santo Domingo and other Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico Things to Do Tips

This church has a beautiful interior and is adjacent to the Museum of the Cultures of Oaxaca, which contains some of the artifacts unearthed at Monte Alban. The museum is open from 10 am - 7:00 pm (closed on Monday I think) and costs about $4.

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Directions: If you follow the Alcala predestrian street north from the zocalo, you should see the church after about 10 minutes.

This large garden contains a multitude of plants from the state of Oaxaca, including many different types of cacti.

You can only visit it on a 2-hour guided tour. There are only 3 tours in English on Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday 11:00 am, and they fill up fast, so sign up as early as you can. If a tour is full and you're desperate, you might try showing up anyways, since they don't seem to check the people in the group against the names on the list!

Very interesting. Bring water and a hat as the gardens are mostly in the open sun which gets quite hot at midday. You'll hear not only about the plants themselves, but the use local people make of them.

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Directions: Behind the church of Santo Domingo. The entrance is at the corner of Constitucion and Reforma.

Oaxaca has several pedestrian streets near the church of Santo Domingo, including Alcala, which goes down all the way to the zocalo. Watch out the traffic at intersections though!

It's fun to walk on the big cobblestones and look at the colourful buildings and artful windows, and peek up into shops.

5 de Mayo and Alcala have several coffee shops on their pedestrian section.

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The zocalo is the main square, which has been recently revamped and is now criss-crossed by flowers beds surrounding ornamental fountains. Cafes and restaurants line opposite sides of the square and allow endless hours of people watching and listening to street musicians.

I had severals coffees here, but never tried the food.

Warning: Annoying bees often appear at the same time as your drink, and they seem to be partial to both beers and cappuccinos!

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Directions: You can't miss it. Just look at your map or ask anybody on the street.

This is where all the streets change names in both directions!

Mezcal is a liquor made from fermented maguey plants. It's similar to tequila. Some varieties of mezcal are flavoured, e.g. mango, or smoky-tasting.

There are a few places in town where you can try samples. I ended up trying it at some obscure place at the back of a restaurant in Tlacolula (as part of a day tour), but here are a few places where you can go in Oaxaca itself:

- Plaza de Mezcal, Matamoros 103
- Casa de Mezcal, Flores Magon 209

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Directions: In and around Oaxaca.