Oaxaca State

The land of mescal, the Guelaguetza and a magical cuisine, Oaxaca is located in the south of Mexico, borders on Guerrero, Puebla, Veracruz and Chiapas and has a spectacular Pacific coastline. Its scenery contains natural contrasts that make it unusually attractive. It is surrounded by the Sierra Madre Oriental, which leads into the Nudo Mixteco and the Sierra Madre del Sur. The Central Valleys are formed by a depression between these mountain chains.                           

 Climates here are extremely varied: tropical in the north of the Sierra de Oaxaca, dry steppes in the valley and Yautepec, dry and desert-like in the ravines and cool in La Mixteca. It was the site of two of the great cultures of pre-Hispanic Mexico: the Zapotec, based in Monte Albán, and the Mixtec, whose capital was Mitla.                           

 After the Conquest, the territory was divided into the capitals of the valley and the isthmus. Oaxaca City, the state capital, is one of the loveliest cities in the country, with its magnificent churches and civil buildings, surrounded by villages of craftspeople, jealous of their traditions and their marvelous natural attractions. Oaxaca’s coasts have some of the most exotic beaches on the Mexican Pacific.