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Oaxaca
Milk Street on the Road: Oaxaca
June 03 - June 10, 2025
November 14 - November 21, 2025
February 26 - March 05, 2026
Where
Oaxaca
Group Size
8-12 Travelers
Duration
8 Days, 7 Nights
When
June 3 - June 10, 2025 November 14 - 21, 2025 February 26 - March 5, 2026
Price
From 4,500 USD per person
Rich mole, fresh fruit paletas, warm corn tortillas: these are the flavors of Oaxaca. In this weeklong trip available only to the Milk Street and Culinary Backstreets audiences, we’ll get a perspective on Oaxaca that casual tourists never get to see. This will lead us from some of the city’s hottest tables to farms and into private homes where home cooks keep tradition alive. We’ll be led by the local Culinary Backstreets experts, taking us to Milk Street’s favorite places in town. In the city, our resident chef is Rodolfo Castellanos, who helms the kitchen at the superb Restaurante Origen. He’ll show us how to shop like locals at Oaxacan markets and guide our group in two hands-on cooking sessions, one at his open-fire restaurant and one at the beautiful farm where he sources produce and meat. We’ll also cook with four Cocineras Tradicionales, or Traditional Cooks, who will show us how to make tortillas, mole, hot chocolate and other staples of the historic Oaxacan and Zapotec diet.
Our journey begins with a walking tour of historic Oaxaca where we’ll first sample the flavors that will define our week together. We’ll track corn’s journey from kernel through processing all the way to a warm tortilla coming off the comal, get a private chocolate tasting, and sip tejate, the drink of the gods. Throughout the week, we’ll visit busy urban and rural markets, learn to make the famous Oaxacan quesillo, sample chocolate from cacao bean to bar, eat the best barbacoa in the region, and drink mezcal straight and blended into elegant cocktails. Join us to experience Oaxacan home cooking, tradition and innovation up close and in depth
Eat
Cook
Learn
Meet
Explore
Your itinerary
Day 1
Arrive and Meet Your Guide and Fellow Travelers
Welcome to Oaxaca. After getting settled in at your home base for the week – the boutique Hotel Casa de Sierra Azul in the city center – we’ll gather for an intimate welcome dinner at one of the most unique spots in town, Cocina de Humo. There, a rising star of Oaxacan cuisine, Thalia Barrios Garcia, will prepare our meal tableside over a smoky clay griddle. We’ll enjoy vegetable-forward specialties from her home region in southern Oaxaca, where the desert meets the tropics.
Day 2
Follow Corn from Kernel to Tortilla
We’ll get familiar with the city of Oaxaca as we set off on a culinary walking tour of the historic center. We’ll visit market stalls and neighborhood restaurants to enjoy snacks and tastings that represent the many microregions of the state of Oaxaca. As we walk, talk and taste, you’ll gain an appreciation for corn, from nixtamalization and milling all the way to warm corn tortillas at lunch. After some free time to rest or explore independently in the afternoon, we’ll regroup to experience Oaxaca by night at one of Milk Street’s Editorial Director J.M. Hirsch’s favorite cocktail lounges, Sabina Sabe, for inventive drinks and small bites.
Day 3
Shop, Cook & Feast with Rodolfo Castellanos
We begin with a morning visit to Oaxaca’s largest wholesale food market, the Mercado de Abastos, guided by chef Rodolfo who will lead us on a shopping expedition for our cooking session together. Among beautiful piles of nopales, pyramids of guanabana and carefully chosen chiles, we’ll meet his favorite vendors and get an inside look at how one of the city’s top chefs navigates a traditional market in search of produce at its very best moment. We’ll return to Rodolfo’s kitchen at Restaurante Origen, take stock of our purchases and have a quick refreshment before getting started. Rodolfo will instruct us on how to prepare classics from the Oaxacan kitchen – from prep to plating – made with his own personal touch. We’ll end by enjoying a late lunch together, feasting on what we’ve prepared.
Day 4
Get out of Town and onto the Cheese Trail
After breakfast in town, we head out to Etla, a center of Oaxacan cheese production. There, we will visit a traditional cook and cheesemaker in her home for a day of cooking and eating together. This is no streamlined kitchen, but rather a traditional workspace with an enormous stone metate for grinding, a wood-fired comal for cooking and a heavy press for tortillas. You’ll be shoulder-to-shoulder with your host as we make cheese, tamales and more for our late lunch. In the evening, we enjoy an agave spirits tasting with a local expert who has a collection of rare artisanal mezcals.
Day 5
Deep Oaxaca
The intersection of humans and landscape is what gave us the miracle of Oaxacan cuisine and this day begins with a study of that in the Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca. Here in Mexico’s most biodiverse region, we will encounter cacti, succulents, flowers and wild plants that form the basis of Oaxacan cuisine, art and culture. From there, we will head to the home/restaurant/laboratory of one of Oaxaca’s most celebrated culinary heroes, Abigail Mendoza, the Zapotec chef, food activist and advocate for the traditional chefs of Oaxaca. She and her sisters will demonstrate the arduous preparation of chocolate atole before we sit down to a lunch together. We’ll then enjoy a digestive stroll in Abigail’s neighborhood stopping into the workshop of an artisan making artisanal candles.
Day 6
Learn from a Master of Mole
Today, we’ll head out to Tlacolula, a small town that hosts a weekly market that attracts vendors and shoppers from all over the region. We’ll join them in the Sunday ritual of eating tender, slow-roasted barbacoa tacos. We’ll also sample hyperlocal chocolate, fruit popsicles and crunchy chapulines. Near the market, we’ll visit the Capilla del Señor, a jewel-box of a church with a fascinating history. Then, we’ll retreat from the bustle of the market to the private home of Catalina Lucas, a Cocinera Tradicional (traditional cook) who will welcome us into her kitchen to learn to make her mole negro and share a meal that you simply can’t get in a restaurant.
Day 7
Country Cooking and Feasting
After breakfast we will head out of town to catch up with Rodolfo at his ranch and working farm, the quintessential Oaxacan setting for a day of cooking together. We won’t need to visit a market on this day because most of what we will cook comes straight from this land. Oaxacan cooking is, naturally, deeply tied to native crops such as corn, beans and chiles, and today we’ll be cooking with some of the lesser-known varieties of those Mexican standards, ones that never make it to major markets and that make home cooking here so exciting. With his herb garden within reach, we’ll tie on our aprons, grab a cold drink and spend the day learning Rodolfo’s recipes in this rustic setting. We’ll return to Oaxaca in the early evening and take the evening to rest and relax.
Day 8
Say Goodbyes and Depart
We wish you safe travels and continued adventures.
Meet the Crew
We are firm believers in the power of local knowledge. Our guides and the culinary masters and other artisans who are part of our trips all deeply reflect that. Meet some of our local heroes:
Maria
Paco
Rodolfo
Mimi
Catalina
Aurora
Abigail
Where you'll stay
Hotel Casa de Sierra Azul
This week’s focus on deeply local experiences and places are also well reflected in our choice of accommodation. We always select boutique and independent places, ones inspired by international standards while staying loyal to the area’s local heritage – that’s the balance we seek for more than a good night’s rest.
For this week in Oaxaca, our group will be staying at the Hotel Casa de Sierra Azul, a stunning nineteenth-century villa and hotel located in the heart of Oaxaca, just blocks from the zócalo and main cathedral. With ornate wooden details and a beautiful interior patio, the villa feels like an oasis in the middle Oaxaca’s vibrant city center.
Hear what travelers are saying
Oaxaca's charm endures from cobblestone streets, fabulous bars and coffee shops, and some of the best food in the world. From tlayudas to mole, from tacos to molletes, Oaxaca is an unforgettable culinary destination
Christopher Kimball
A trip steeped in the traditions of Oaxacan food, ingredients, and cooking highlighting the women of Oaxaca!
Carol A.
Know before you go
PRICING AND ACCOMMODATION
The total cost of this trip is $5,000 in 2026 and $4,500 for the last remaining spots in 2025. For travelers wishing to have single accommodations during the trip, an additional $1,000 supplement will be due at the time of the final payment. A $500 non-refundable deposit per traveler is required to secure space on the trip. The balance is due 90 days prior to the start of the trip.
ACTIVITY LEVEL
Travelers should feel comfortable walking two to four miles each day and remaining on their feet for periods of time. There are a couple of hikes on uneven ground. Be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get hands-on during a couple cooking workshops.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
For flights in and out of Oaxaca International airport, we suggest you arrive anytime arrive by 3 p.m. on Day 1 and depart anytime on Day 8. We’ll provide the option of booking additional nights at our group hotel before and/or after the tour, and are more than happy to provide suggestions for things to do and see in the city on your own.
INCLUSIONS
• All accommodation throughout the trip in stylish, boutique hotels • Professional guides throughout the entire experience • All meals and drinks included in the above activities • Admission to all proposed activities, locations, and events • Private coach for visits inside and outside the center city • A hungry group of Culinary Backstreets and Milk Street travelers, excited to explore all that Mexico has to offer!
EXCLUSIONS
• Private individual arrival & departure airport transfers • Airfare and transportation to/from the start and end destination • Meals beyond those specified in the itinerary above • Alcoholic beverages other than those served at the table • Accommodations outside those noted, including pre- or post-trip hotel nights • Activities, tours & entry fees not included above • Personal purchases and incidentals at hotels
DIETARY RESTRICTIONS
We encourage an adventurous palate! We try our best to accommodate dietary restrictions, though ingredients cannot always be substituted or omitted from particular dishes. This trip can easily feature plentiful vegetarian options and can accommodate gluten free diets among others. If you have other food allergies or intolerances, please contact us to find out if this is the right trip for you.
NOTES ON ITINERARY
Itineraries and daily schedules are subject to change. We expect to do everything listed in the itinerary, though the order may be rearranged based on weather or other local conditions.
SAFETY AND SUSTAINABILITY
We have reinforced our commitment to sustainability and safety with new guidelines to assure maximum safety of our guests on our trips while maintaining the quality of the experience. All of our experiences are designed to have minimal impact on the community and environment. For more details on our precautions, read here.
CANCELLATION POLICY
You may cancel 90 days before the start of the trip and receive a full refund minus a $500 per-person service fee. If you cancel on or after 60 days before the start of the trip there is a 50% cancellation fee. On or after 45 days there is a 75% cancellation and fee and on or after 30 days there is a 100% cancellation fee. We highly recommend purchasing travel insurance as we are not able to make exceptions to this policy in cases of family/medical emergency or cases of the trip being canceled (see our Terms and Conditions for full details).
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