We have traveled to Oaxaca City and around plus Oaxaca Coast Dec 24 - Jan 1. Five adults (at some point, were joined by another couple of friends) and two kids age 4.5 and 5.5. Two rental cars. Very standard itinerary: Oaxaca City (streets, museums, churches, markets), Monte Alban, valleys’ craft villages and markets, ex-conventos, Milta, The Tree, Oaxaca Beaches near Puerto Angel.
There is little in terms of general interests to most travelers that I can add given how many reports and posts we already have here on Oaxaca. So I will just provide items that are directly related to the End of the Year travel, traveling with kids, and rental cars.
Christmas/New Year Eve in Oaxaca City We missed Radish festival by a day but we really enjoyed Christmas Eve in Oaxaca. I was afraid that things would get shut down early, as they do in many other cities and towns in Mexico but that was not a case in Oaxaca. The parade around Zocalo was fun and quite unique with all the giant dolls; folks were dressed in traditional dresses, etc; the music marching bands were playing was much more Balkan than usual Mexican (anyone knows why?), the bands were, surprisingly, rather very professional.
The plaza was lively. Plenty of locals, Mexican tourists, foreigners - but it did not feel overly touristy - just lively and happening. Cafes and restaurants on Zocalo and along pedestrian Alcala, which turns on its craft market face in the evening, stayed open past midnight, some offering live music (though some other popular restaurants were closed from early on.)
The Mass was going on till late in the Cathedral and churches around centro, as supposed to, and more Balkan music followed inside and around churches till even later.
In front of the cathedral, there was a band playing Peruvian and Bolivian music (they returned the next evening too), balloons were flying, kids running, all the happy stuff. Our daughter went to dance in front of the musician and would not leave :)
Both Christmas Eve and next day/night were much fun in the Centro.
The NYE seemed to be a time to go out for a good dinner: most mid-range and expensive restaurants were booked for large groups and parties while there were just that many people outside on the streets. The Zocalo was not much fun except for kids throwing picards non-stop which was kind of very annoying.
NYE was not nearly as fun and lively as Christmas Eve, for sure.
Did it feel touristy? Well, except for SMA, Chichen Itza, Tulum, and Cancun, I’ve never seen so many foreigners in Mexico in one place. But there were also plenty of Mexican tourists. I like the vibe the mixed crowd created: it felt all the foreigners came to the right place that Mexicans favor :) And it sure thing was not nearly as crazy hectic and busy as it was in Cuyutlan on NYE few years back, when it felt the whole state of Colima was on town's beach.
In summary, it was touristy but not offensively so.
Was lodging expensive? Yes. I could see on booking.com how prices for few days around Christmas and NYE are so much higher for most hotels: e.g, prices went up from 350 MP to 650 MP or, say, from 700 MP to 1100 MP. Most properties listed by LP and other publications, TA, and booking.com got sold out early. On NYE they double-booked our rooms and we were lucky to get there first because the folks who were booked for the same rooms but arrived late were sent to another hotel 6 blocks away from the Centro as hotel had none of their many (40, I think) rooms available that night.
But I also noticed that listed prices in boutique hotels that we visited mostly to admire original architecture are such that make me wonder if the management thinks they are located in Manhattan. $350-400US a night make me think that Oaxaca is spoiled by tourism not just during the holiday season.
Summary: Do I recommend Oaxaca on Christmas? Sure. The weather was great - not too hot, not too cold. The city was lively and lovely. It was perhaps more touristy and expensive than usual but I take it Oaxaca is always a bit touristy and expensive; same time coming for Christmas means for most (alas, not to us) also being there for the Radish festival so it’s an additional treat you cannot get any other time of the year!
For us, it was also about school break so travelers with kids - sure, Christmas time in Oaxaca is cool.
Oaxaca Cost with kids/ End of the Year. We were around Puerto Angel 12/27 - 12/30.
Our daughter loved the ocean, loved it, spending in the water most of the daytime - but I could not make a step away from her and let my guards down for a second and a swimming circle or a jacket was a must. The waves are huge, the currents are strong.
The best playa for kids in the region (from safety perspective) seems to be Playa Panteon in PA - waves are timid and no real currents. The west-most beach in Mazunte suggested by Moon Guide as a quietest one was not at all so -- huge, huge ways (yeah, our daughter loved that, though.)
The famed turtle museum in Mazunte was like any other turtle museums and both kids were blah - I guess they do visit Zoos and Aquariums on a regular basis back home.
We stayed at Puerto Angel because by the time we finalized the group, we could not find any accommodations in other places west from the town. Most responses from the hotels started with an apology and an offer to come after Jan 6th.
Even PA was pretty sold out: our hotel, again, was sold out too - we saw people turned away - as well as few other properties we went to ask once we arrived there (we wanted to move b/c our hotel was very expensive at over 900MP a night; it was a great place, great grounds, a pool, views, a restaurant with views, wifi - but I'd speculate it does not go above 700 tops other times of the year)
This is a site we used to do booking
It was easy to get to Zihua, Mazunte, San Agustinillo by car so actually staying in PA was not such a bad thing for us.
Zihua is fun and alive at night. Not as alive as I would expect but certainly enough is going on. It is by no means an underdeveloped beach anymore but it is not an all-inclusive-playground either.
Summary It’s OK for beach lovers with kids but the road through the mountains from Oaxaca City to the coast (see below), while beautiful, is so, so difficult I do not think it is worth to do it with kids. We were lucky to have two kids who are friends and so they kept entertaining each other while we were riding. It would be much more difficult otherwise.
If you really want an independent backpacker semi-developed playground and it got to be Oaxaca and you want to bring kids - maybe flying is a better option (but we did not try ourselves ;-).
Food for kids. If you think your kid will be OK food-wise elsewhere in Mexico, s/he will be fine in Oaxaca.
Travelling by car. I have always advocated travel by car when travelling in Mexico with young kids. Here are some particularities re travel by car to Oaxaca.
-Getting out of the Juarez airport to drive to Puebla is relatively easy while having gps (or google maps on your smartphone if you have data plan) helps a lot. Avenida Ignacio Zaragosa that becomes Mexico-Puebla Autopista is just south of the airport or getting there is straightforward, though usual stress of driving in Mexico City is still there.
-Past Puebla, it is easy to miss a turn from 150D toll road to 135D toll road and, mistakenly, continue on 150D towards Orizaba. Both us and our friends, driving a bit at the different time, missed the turn. We made a u-turn at the next toll and our friends continued towards exit to a free south-bound road that becomes 150-Free - they got on 135D only around Tehuacan. Driving free road over topes lost them about 1.5 hrs compared to us - so if you miss that turn from 150D to 135D - make a u-turn rather than using free roads.
-Driving in Oaxaca Centro is relatively easy, especially with gps/google maps. Streets crossing centro East to West are very congested, though - if you need to do so, drive few blocks north or south of Zocallo and cross town there.
-There are seemed to be plenty of street parking in Oaxaca centro even during Christmas time. But if you are concerned, there are public parkings - check with your hotel as they may have discounts with nearby garages, if they don’t have their own.
-The 175 free highway is the worst state/federal highways in Mexico we’ve ever driven. The pavement quality is terrible and topes are as excessive as it gets. Driving your own car actually losses you time compared to public bus or collectivo. However, our single friend took a collectivo back from Pachutla to Oaxaca and she said she was flying into the air non-stop at the back seat as the van never stopped on the topes.
-The road signs on 175 south of Oaxaca keep stating its direction to “Puerto Escondido” vs “Puerto Angel”. We can speculate that they mean that PE is eventual destination of the highway but this is very confusing as the direct way from Oaxaca to PE is highway 131. So just ignore that and follow Highway 175 - it will take you to Pachutla and Puerto Angle.
-South of Oaxaca, there are two 175 that forks just above San Martin Tilcajete (one of alebrijes craft village) and merges back quite past Ocotlan de Morelos. One of them provides access to many of the craft villages of the southern valley, extremely slow, and full of topes. The other one bypasses the villages on the east side of the valley and save about 30-40 minutes of drive time - and plenty of frustration and it is topes-free.
-Several PEMEX stations just south of Oaxaca City were closed seemingly permanently. However, there is a PEMEX station in Oaxaca centro on Independencia between Fiallo and Juarez (East of Zocallo), around the city and even on 175 when it passes around Ejutla. I’d think there is one in Miahuatlan - but I do not remember exactly and I would make sure you are full before hitting sierras.
-All in all, we were really happy we had cars to travel with kids and having limited time. Cars came handy when we were beach-hopping from our base in Puerto Angel. They were handy when we traveled east from Oaxaca towards Mitla/ Hierva de Agua visiting multiple sites on the way stopping or changing plans as we went. They were handy when we wanted to see few lodging places around San Jose de Pasifico on our way back to Oaxaca.
Most important, on the long runs from Puebla to Oaxaca and, especially, on a crazy road to the coast and abck, we really appreciated the comfort and freedom to stop and break the journey any time we (or, rather, our kids) wanted.
Edited by: alterigor
