Recently Viewed
Oaxaca Night Food Tour: Culinary Backstreets
4.9
18 Ratings
Oaxaca de Juárez
This afternoon-to-evening tour offers an exploration of Oaxaca’s backstreets during a culinary transition, allowing participants to savor some of the city’s finest nighttime food venues. Additionally, it provides insight into their significant contribution to sustaining Oaxaca’s civic life.
This afternoon-to-evening tour offers an exploration of Oaxaca’s backstreets during a culinary transition, allowing participants to savor some of the city’s finest nighttime food venues. Additionally, it provides insight into their significant contribution to sustaining Oaxaca’s civic life.
Duration:
5 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Mercado 20 de Noviembre - Oaxaca’s culinary scene is a delightful blend of two worlds, both equally appetizing. In the morning, a vibrant array of eateries and vendors open up, ready to kickstart the day for Oaxacans. As evening approaches, a new wave of stalls and vendors emerge, ensuring the city’s culinary festivities continue. Locals will tell…
-
Mercado 20 de Noviembre - Oaxaca’s culinary scene is a delightful blend of two worlds, both equally appetizing. In the morning, a vibrant array of eateries and vendors open up, ready to kickstart the day for Oaxacans. As evening approaches, a new wave of stalls and vendors emerge, ensuring the city’s culinary festivities continue. Locals will tell you: the true flavors of the city come alive at night.
On this afternoon-to-evening tour, participants will explore this culinary transition, savoring some of the city’s finest nighttime food spots while understanding their vital role in Oaxaca’s community life. The journey includes strolling through historic neighborhoods and public spaces, offering a glimpse of a side of the city that few visitors experience, day or night. - Oaxaca - The adventure begins in Oaxaca’s historic center, just as the night food stalls start to appear and a fresh set of aromas fills the air. The first stop is a vendor outside one of Oaxaca’s main markets, serving tortas and tostadas to homeward-bound workers since 1930. Joining the after-work crowd, participants will taste their renowned and hearty creations. The tour continues to a new family-run restaurant, now a neighborhood favorite, dedicated to one of Oaxaca’s essential ingredients: beans, served from large clay pots. Here, a sampler of their comforting dishes, which creatively honor traditional Oaxacan cuisine, will be enjoyed. The exploration proceeds to a small shop run by a local woman passionate about cacao and chocolate, where her artisanal creations will be sampled.
- Iglesia del Carmen Alto - As the tour progresses through the neighborhood, another iconic streetside business will be visited. This family-run stand has been selling tortillas stuffed with chicken and mole since 1965. Now managed by the fourth generation, it is a strategic stop for evening shift workers, hungry locals, and those looking to fuel up before a night out.
- Museo Belber Jimenez - Energized, the group will join locals in a nearby park to enjoy one of the most traditional and satisfying Oaxacan street foods, corn in a cup, perfect for a leisurely stroll. With cup in hand, the night parade continues to encounter the heavyweight of Oaxacan late-night meals, the tlayuda, a large, thin, and crisp tortilla topped with various ingredients. Just as the taco is to Mexico City, the tlayuda is to Oaxaca – affordable, filling, and endlessly customizable. A visit to a local favorite, selling them since 1952, is included. To conclude, traditional Oaxacan sweets from a stand in a church courtyard will be tasted, followed by a mezcal tasting led by a young master distiller, one of the few women crafting this agave spirit. It’s a perfect conclusion to an evening filled with the guardians of Oaxacan culinary traditions and their nocturnal endeavors.

What's Included
- Licensed Guide
- Dinner
- Alcoholic beverages
- Snacks
- Bottled water
- Licensed Guide
- Dinner
- Alcoholic beverages
- Snacks
- Bottled water
What's Not Included
- Private transportation
- Private transportation
Location
Flores Magón 209
Flores Magón
Meeting Point and Maps:
In front of La Casa de Mezcal
Flores Magón # 209, OAX_RE_BENITO JUAREZ, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax., Mexico
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(18 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Brooklyntraveler917
May 31, 2025
an experience of a lifetime! - Our guide Khalil was so amazing – so friendly and knowledgeable and helpful, and the whole experience was wonderful. From the markets to the stands to the restaurants and the Mezcal tastings, it was such an incredible opportunity to see parts of Oaxaca we would not have normally seen, and meet locals and eat and drink incredible things from the bread basket of Mexico! I highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Judi
May 28, 2025
Jalil is great guide! - Jalil was so knowledgable and lovely. He picked amazing places we never would have found on our own! Mescal tasting at end of night was so fun.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Michellelq1882ne
May 13, 2025
One of the best experiences I’ve had! - My fiancé and I have been planning our dream Oaxaca trip and this walk was high on our list! Luis was on time, so kind, welcoming and a wealth of knowledge. Our market walk was so fun, tejate, cookies, nieves, the frijoleria, empanadas de mole Amarillo, the art!, chocolate making that we definitely went back to visit, our requested corn, and the mezcal lesson with Sochi. What a DAY! The mezcal lesson turned into a great conversation and we ended up meeting with Sochi on another day to buy some mezcal with her. Luis ended our evening with his favorite tacos that we revisited twice later during our trip. I have a friend coming to Oaxaca and quickly told her she needed to book her experience! What an incredible day!!
By the way, this experience was on my fiancés birthday and Luis got her a small birthday pastry and sang to her. Thank you SO MUCH!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Marklm5870up
Apr 21, 2025
We loved this tour! - Fantastic tour! Pablo showed us (my family of four, plus three others) a wonderful time, as we wandered through the streets of central Oaxaca. He was engaging, informative, and extremely helpful in answering our questions. The tour company clearly is hiring the right people. All of us ate extremely well, and learned a lot about Oaxacan cuisine.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Johndn2647dh
Apr 4, 2025
Amazing food adventure! - Great night touring Oaxaca’s food scene. We had a blast and would recommend this tour to anyone - especially those trying to escape the touristy spots. We met so many wonderful people and tried so many new things.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cathy
Mar 30, 2025
Happy foodie in Mexico - Luis was a wonderful guide. Knowledgeable, kind, and a very likable guy. Curated destinations. Liked that he picked destinations operated by family generations
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jon_c
Mar 28, 2025
Absolutely Fantastic Food Experience- World Class - This was a fantastic experience. Luiz was an absolute legend and the tour was exemplary. Starting outside a local market, Luiz took us around much of Oaxaca, seeing many local cultural sites along the trip, sharing lots of info. The food side was absolutely world class. Luiz nailed it- taking us places we would never have found and letting us experience a wonderful array of Oaxaca & Mexican classics. Doing day to night allows you to see the changeover of the food stands & different cuisines & the city come to life. Inclusive of a brilliant mezcal tasting, chocolate making & local interactions. Absolutely recommend. 10/10.
Review provided by Viator
Juliet881
Mar 15, 2025
Yummy food tour! - Luis was a fantastic guide! He was very knowledgeable and friendly. You really did feel like you were getting the insiders tour of the local Oaxaca food scene. There was a ton of food on the tour so you will not need dinner! Also you walk a lot so be prepared with good footwear.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Laurahn6896tj
Mar 3, 2025
Love Culinary Backstreets! - We had the best time with Luis. He was knowledgeable and took us to special places in Oaxaca. We were especially impressed that most of the businesses we visited were woman-owned. Would recommend to all!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Emilyhw7310de
Apr 2, 2025
Not bad, just kind of disappointing - This was honestly just okay to me. I don’t know if I’ve been on other food tours in the past that really blew me away but I was expecting a bit more. The guide was lovely and kind but I felt like I kept prompting them to give us more information about what we were doing. Most of the time they would bring us to a stop and say “this is a taco” and I would be like… and? I go on food tours not only because I love food so much but because it’s a great way to learn the history and culture of a city! I walked away from this feeling a bit disappointed and like I didn’t get the full picture of Oaxacan cuisine or learn too much which is kind of a bummer! All that to say, I think tours like this are INCREDIBLY dependent on the guides but for $100+ USD I think base level quality and information level should be uniform.
Review provided by Tripadvisor