Oaxaca

Oaxaca de Juárez is Mexico's gastronomic and artisanal capital, a city that blends a profoundly indigenous daily life with a creative scene that attracts chefs and artists from around the world. With eight active ethnic groups—including Zapotecs and Mixtecs—Oaxaca keeps alive traditions that preceded Spanish conquest by thousands of years.

Oaxacan cuisine is recognized globally: the seven moles, tlayuda with tasajo and quesillo, artisanal mezcal distilled in family palenques, chocolate ground on metate and toasted chapulines are just the beginning of a cuisine of extraordinary complexity. The Etla market and Benito Juárez are temples of flavor and color that must be visited before noon.

Outside the city, Monte Albán—the first great city of Mesoamerica, at 2,000 meters altitude—dominates the Valley of Oaxaca with a grandeur that has not diminished in 2,500 years. Hierve el Agua, with its petrified waterfalls and natural pools, and Mitla, with its unparalleled Zapotec geometry, complete a world-class archaeological itinerary.

Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, with its processions to the Xoxocotlán cemetery, its elaborate altars and the fragrance of cempasúchil, is considered one of the most moving cultural events on the planet. Puerto Escondido adds world-class surfing to a state that already had absolutely everything.