Oaxaca Market Food Walk: Pasillo de Humo, Tlayudas & Mole
Day tour
Food tour
Standard
Departure point
→
Destination
Oaxaca, Mexico
Oaxaca
1N (Participation Duration)
Walking (Transportation)
English (Language)
Number of participants 0/8
0 booked
Tour description
Oaxaca is where most chefs will tell you Mexican food is at its most complex. Seven distinct moles, a chilli vocabulary that takes years to learn, chocolate ground on stone, and markets that have been trading on the same spot since before the Spanish arrived.
We start in the Pasillo de Humo, the smoke corridor inside the 20 de Noviembre market, where you choose tasajo, cecina or chorizo from a butcher, hand it to a woman with a charcoal grill, and it comes back with spring onions, nopal and a stack of tortillas while the whole aisle fills with smoke. It is chaotic, it is entirely local, and it is the best twenty minutes in Oaxacan food.
Then the adjoining Benito Juarez market: quesillo pulled into ribbons by hand, chapulines - grasshoppers toasted with chilli and lime, which Oaxacans eat by the handful - tlayudas, and nieves, the sorbets churned in a barrel packed with ice.
We finish on the chocolate street, where cacao is ground with almond, cinnamon and sugar in front of you, with a cup of chocolate de agua and a tasting of moles.
Small group, maximum 8 guests, entirely on foot.
We start in the Pasillo de Humo, the smoke corridor inside the 20 de Noviembre market, where you choose tasajo, cecina or chorizo from a butcher, hand it to a woman with a charcoal grill, and it comes back with spring onions, nopal and a stack of tortillas while the whole aisle fills with smoke. It is chaotic, it is entirely local, and it is the best twenty minutes in Oaxacan food.
Then the adjoining Benito Juarez market: quesillo pulled into ribbons by hand, chapulines - grasshoppers toasted with chilli and lime, which Oaxacans eat by the handful - tlayudas, and nieves, the sorbets churned in a barrel packed with ice.
We finish on the chocolate street, where cacao is ground with almond, cinnamon and sugar in front of you, with a cup of chocolate de agua and a tasting of moles.
Small group, maximum 8 guests, entirely on foot.
Meeting point:
View on map
Mercado 20 de Noviembre, main entrance, Oaxaca Centro
We meet at the main entrance to Mercado 20 de Noviembre in the centro. Your guide will have a small sign with your name.
Detailed itinerary
Stop 1 - Pasillo de Humo: The smoke corridor. You choose tasajo, cecina or chorizo from a butcher, it goes onto a charcoal grill, and it comes back with spring onion, nopal and tortillas.
Stop 2 - Quesillo and chapulines: Oaxacan string cheese pulled into ribbons by hand, and grasshoppers toasted with chilli, lime and garlic, eaten by the handful.
Stop 3 - Mercado Benito Juarez: The adjoining market, with your guide on the chilli varieties, dried herbs, mezcal and the Zapotec ingredients that predate the Spanish.
Stop 4 - Tlayuda: A large crisp tortilla spread with bean paste and asiento pork fat, layered with quesillo, meat and salsa, folded and charred over coals.
Stop 5 - Mole tasting: Several of Oaxaca's seven moles tasted side by side - negro, coloradito, amarillo - with your guide explaining what actually goes into them.
Stop 6 - Chocolate street: Cacao ground with almond, cinnamon and sugar in front of you, with a cup of chocolate de agua whisked to a foam.
Stop 7 - Nieves de garrafa: Sorbets churned by hand in a barrel of ice - leche quemada, tuna cactus fruit, rose petal - from the stalls on the plaza.
Stop 2 - Quesillo and chapulines: Oaxacan string cheese pulled into ribbons by hand, and grasshoppers toasted with chilli, lime and garlic, eaten by the handful.
Stop 3 - Mercado Benito Juarez: The adjoining market, with your guide on the chilli varieties, dried herbs, mezcal and the Zapotec ingredients that predate the Spanish.
Stop 4 - Tlayuda: A large crisp tortilla spread with bean paste and asiento pork fat, layered with quesillo, meat and salsa, folded and charred over coals.
Stop 5 - Mole tasting: Several of Oaxaca's seven moles tasted side by side - negro, coloradito, amarillo - with your guide explaining what actually goes into them.
Stop 6 - Chocolate street: Cacao ground with almond, cinnamon and sugar in front of you, with a cup of chocolate de agua whisked to a foam.
Stop 7 - Nieves de garrafa: Sorbets churned by hand in a barrel of ice - leche quemada, tuna cactus fruit, rose petal - from the stalls on the plaza.
Tour price includes
• Small-group English-speaking local food guide
• All food and drink tastings listed in the itinerary
• One local drink at the final stop
• Bottled water and wet wipes throughout the walk
• All taxes and service fees
• All food and drink tastings listed in the itinerary
• One local drink at the final stop
• Bottled water and wet wipes throughout the walk
• All taxes and service fees
Tour price excludes
• Hotel pick-up and drop-off unless stated
• Additional drinks beyond those included
• Personal travel insurance
• Tips for your guide (appreciated but never expected)
• Meals and purchases outside the programme
• Additional drinks beyond those included
• Personal travel insurance
• Tips for your guide (appreciated but never expected)
• Meals and purchases outside the programme
Cancellation policy
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour start time for a full refund. Cancellations within 24 hours are non-refundable. If a protest or blockade closes the market streets we reroute or refund in full.
Other notes
Runs daily at 10:00.
Oaxaca has a long tradition of teachers' union marches and road blockades that can close the zocalo and the market streets with very little notice. We monitor daily, hold a reroute, and will refund rather than run a tour that cannot move.
Day of the Dead, roughly 28 October to 3 November, is the biggest week of the year in Oaxaca and also the most difficult: enormous crowds, surge pricing and erratic vendor hours. We run modified tours then and price them separately. Guelaguetza, on two Mondays in July, has a similar effect.
Water: tap water is not drinkable. Aguas frescas from market stalls are a common cause of traveller illness and we only use vendors with visible purified water containers.
Cash: most market stalls take no cards at all. Your guide pays throughout.
On mezcal: we do not include a mezcal tasting in this morning tour because it deserves its own evening. Ask your guide and they will send you to the right places.
Dietary needs: tell us at least 48 hours ahead. Vegetarian is excellent here - Oaxaca has a deep vegetable and bean tradition, and several moles are meat-free.
About 1.5 km of walking on flat streets.
Oaxaca has a long tradition of teachers' union marches and road blockades that can close the zocalo and the market streets with very little notice. We monitor daily, hold a reroute, and will refund rather than run a tour that cannot move.
Day of the Dead, roughly 28 October to 3 November, is the biggest week of the year in Oaxaca and also the most difficult: enormous crowds, surge pricing and erratic vendor hours. We run modified tours then and price them separately. Guelaguetza, on two Mondays in July, has a similar effect.
Water: tap water is not drinkable. Aguas frescas from market stalls are a common cause of traveller illness and we only use vendors with visible purified water containers.
Cash: most market stalls take no cards at all. Your guide pays throughout.
On mezcal: we do not include a mezcal tasting in this morning tour because it deserves its own evening. Ask your guide and they will send you to the right places.
Dietary needs: tell us at least 48 hours ahead. Vegetarian is excellent here - Oaxaca has a deep vegetable and bean tradition, and several moles are meat-free.
About 1.5 km of walking on flat streets.
Detailed price list
| Guest type | Price |
|---|---|
| 大人 | $55 |
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