This may just be my favorite destination in Mexico! Absolutely loved the week in beautiful and calm Oaxaca city with our baby. It was Christmas week so the city was alive and bustling with events in the Zocalo every single day. The stages were broken down and a new one set up in a different corner with amazing efficiency. If you take nothing else away from this blog, I hope you are encouraged to take the vacations you desire and take your baby with you! (Within reason of course. White water rafting and bungee jumping are probably not kid friendly vacation activities!)

If you are taking a stroller with you, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that most of the sidewalks have ramps and navigating with a stroller is totally doable around the center of Oaxaca. And airlines will take your stroller at the gate and get it back to you in one piece.

The bad news is that many of the streets are cobblestone style, so you may have to stay strictly on the sidewalks, and navigate around other pedestrians, street vendors and performers etc. This is a job for your full size stroller, not a smaller more compact “travel stroller”.

Oaxaca is such a family friendly destination with a calm pace and families to be seen everywhere, especially hanging out in the Zocalo every evening. It is a very walkable city and full of fun family activities beyond mezcal tasting which is maybe not so kid friendly.

• The tourist corridor – El Andador Turistico is a pedestrian walkway from the main city plaza (the Zocalo) all the way up to Templo de Santo Domingo.
• Take the tour bus! It’s a short one hour ride around the city to see the main sites. There are a few companies, but pickup is conveniently located just off the Andador Turistico.
• The Zocalo is the heart of the city and a fun space to hangout. Many families from Oaxaca hangout there as well, making it lively every day. It is surrounded with restaurants with outdoor seating, and vendors with so many cute souvenirs!
• Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman is a gorgeous gold covered temple! A must see when in Oaxaca. It even has a ramp into the church for the stroller!
• Calendas are traditional, vibrant street parades in Oaxaca, Mexico, often as part of celebrations like weddings, quinceaneras and patron saint festivals. They feature live brass bands, giant papier-mâché puppets called monos de calenda that dance down the street with the band. It is so fun to watch and dance along with the party! We were able to enjoy calendas starting at Santo Domingo church and at the Zocalo. If you can be in Oaxaca on a Saturday, hopefully you will get to see this unique celebration.
• The markets in Oaxaca! The Mercado 20 de Noviembre is a popular destination for local Oaxacan and Mexican food. And just across the street is Mercado Benito Juarez with great sandwiches and smoothies, and locally made products, clothes and souvenirs.
• Museums and beautiful cathedrals are around pretty much every corner in Oaxaca! If this is your jam, you’re in the right place!
• Eating! Food is one of the main highlights for us when we go on vacation and Oaxaca delivered! Nothing we ate was bad, 90% was memorably delicious!

There is a LOT of delicious food to be had in Oaxaca city! The food from this state is largely considered to be a pillar of Mexican gastronomy, which is a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Oaxaca is also the home of many Michelin star restaurants at reasonable prices!

And if anyone is worried about water safety, we saw restaurants use large bottled water for cooking and making drinks, and we are a testament as none of us got sick even one time.

As delicious as the food is in the markets in Oaxaca, the hallways are a little too narrow and busy to navigate with a stroller. If you can make that trip with baby in a carrier, that’ll be so much less stressful.

There are many tours that leave from Oaxaca, like to see the Zapotec archeological site of Monte Alban and other long day trips, that may be tricky with a baby that doesn’t sleep well (or at all, like mine) on the go and in fun well lit locations. So we skipped those. Just think about if an activity and its duration will be okay for your family.

And of course take normal precautions that you would in any travel destination.

I hope you have an amazing time discovering the beauty of Oaxaca, and wherever your travels take you after that.

💛