Oaxaca de Juárez Travel Forum

I'm planning a week in Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido in mid January. I'll be flying into Oaxaca from the U.S. I'll be in Oaxaca for a few days and then go to Puerto Escondido. Should I use public transportation or should I rent a car? I saw an ad for a company that rents bikes to tour the Oaxaca area. I'd like to ride around, and the ad says you can bike to villages in the countryside to see weavers and pottery and crafts. Is it safe for two middle age gringos to bike around? How hilly is the area?

The best way to get down to the Coast is to fly.

Busing is the second best mode of travel and biking to PE is for fit people only-the area between the city and the coast is not 'hilly' it is MOUNTAINOUS.

Yes the Oaxaca area is safe but how's your Spanish-few outside of Oaxaca city will speak English-many speak little Spanish-indigenous languages only.

There are numerous tours to small craft producing villages I suggest you find one that suits unless you're fluent in Spanish.

Renting a car would be something of a waste IMO-not cheap and driving on those mountain roads is anything but relaxing.

i dont think is a good idea to bike to puerto. try busing instead and then rent a bike once you are in puerto.

sometimes the roads are not too good because of the rain.

when you are in Oaxaca try the famous "banana al horno" from Marco Polo restaurant . it is a superb dish

And if you are into salsa dancing go to Candelas. it has live salsa almost every night

as with your later posting, fly from Oaxaca to PE. We had originally hired a car with intention of driving down (see Oaxaca pages for full story) but Alamo hadn't booked the car for us. Discovered it was cheaper to fly to PE (and return to Oaxaca) and hire a car for 2-3 days while in PE than hire a car from Oaxaca for 8 days. Also it was likely to be a whole day of driving in each direction. By flying we were in PE by 9am and left PE at something like 5pm thus gaining 2 whole days and avoiding a very stressful 2 days of driving......

As previously stated, Oaxaca is moutainous, not hilly. For about same cost of hiring a car ($40 - $50), you can hire a taxi and driver fro most of the day - well worth it for Agua del Huerve (an absolute must see) and Mitla.

Enjoy
Keith