Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca
with Maureen Keegan

​Journey through the heart of Mexico on this nine-day adventure through Mexico City, Puebla, and Oaxaca with our popular co-host Maureen Keegan. We wander the leafy streets and market stalls of Colonia Roma, climb ancient pyramids at Teotihuacán, and drift through the floating gardens of Xochimilco on a flower-strewn trajinera. Heading south, we trace the tiled colonial streets of Puebla before continuing to Oaxaca, where we explore the mountaintop ruins of Monte Albán and cook alongside local chefs in a hands-on market-to-table experience. Between excursions, we leave room to wander - through galleries, mezcalerías, and markets - at our own pace. This is Mexico as it's meant to be experienced: layered, flavorful, and unhurried.

 

Itinerary (with meal inclusions in brackets):​

​10 March: Our journey begins in Mexico City, one of the most electric capitals in the Americas. We arrive independently and settle into our hotel in the Centro Histórico, steps from the Zócalo, the Metropolitan Cathedral and centuries of layered history stacked one on top of another. We keep the first day unhurried on purpose - just enough time to breathe in the city, take an early evening stroll past illuminated facades, and let the energy of Mexico City start to work on us.

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11 March: Today we eat our way into the soul of the city. We wander Colonia Roma, a neighborhood of leafy streets, Art Nouveau mansions, and a food culture that feels lived-in rather than curated - think sidewalk stands selling tacos al pastor shaved straight off the trompo, fruit vendors calling out the day's mangoes, and small mercados where grandmothers still haggle over chiles and herbs. We taste our way through stalls and markets that reveal how this city truly gathers, cooks and lives. (b, l)

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12 March: We rise early for Teotihuacán, the vast ancient city whose builders remain one of history's great mysteries - even the Aztecs, arriving centuries later, found it already in ruins and named it "the place where the gods were born." With our private guide, we walk the Avenue of the Dead, flanked by the Pyramid of the Sun (one of the largest pyramids ever built) and the smaller, intricately adorned Pyramid of the Moon, climbing where we can for views across the valley that put the scale of this place into perspective. Along the way, we stop at a family-run obsidian workshop to see the volcanic glass this region has shaped into tools, jewelry, and ceremonial objects for millennia. We’ll have time for lunch in Teotihuacan before we make our way back to the city by mid-afternoon. (b)

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13 March: We trade pyramids for canals today, boarding a traditional flower-strewn trajinera in Xochimilco -  a UNESCO-recognized network of waterways that is one of the last living remnants of the vast lake system the Aztecs once built their capital upon. We drift for two unhurried hours past chinampas, the ingenious floating gardens first cultivated by the Aztecs, still farmed by families today, while mariachi boats and floating snack vendors paddle past. We stop at one of these chinampas to see how the land is worked, then settle in for a local lunch as the boat glides on beneath a canopy of trees. (b, l)

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14 March: We say goodbye to Mexico City and head for Puebla, a colonial city glazed in Talavera tile, its skyline stitched with baroque church domes and its kitchens responsible for two of Mexico's most iconic dishes - mole poblano and chiles en nogada. It's the perfect bridge on our way south. We settle in and spend three hours wandering the historic center with our guide, tracing tiled courtyards, the ornate Rosary Chapel, and streets that feel frozen in the 17th century. (b)

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15 March: This morning we continue onward from Puebla to Oaxaca, the scenery shifting gradually from Puebla's volcanoes to the dry, mountain-ringed valleys that make this region so beloved by artists, chefs, and wanderers alike. Once we check into our centrally located hotel, the evening is ours to discover - the mezcalerías, the textile shops, the plazas humming with marimba music, all waiting to be found. (b)

 

16 March: Today is a feast for both the mind and the palate. We spend the morning at Monte Albán, the ancient Zapotec capital carved onto a mountaintop and occupied for over a thousand years, its Great Plaza and ball court offering some of the most sweeping views in Mexico. We explore roughly three and a half hours of ruins, terraces, and tombs with our bilingual guide. Come evening, we head into the kitchen: a market visit through Oaxaca's famous stalls of moles, chapulines, and quesillo, followed by a hands-on cooking class, capped with a mezcal cocktail and a dinner we made ourselves. (b, d)

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17 March: We leave today unscheduled, a well-earned pause after yesterday's fuller program. This is our day to choose our own adventure: through the textile and alebrije workshops, the contemporary galleries tucked into converted colonial homes, the cafés ringing Santo Domingo, or simply back to a corner of the city we fell in love with the day before. (b)

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18 March: Our journey comes to a close in Oaxaca. After breakfast, we check out and go our separate ways, carrying home a little bit of Mexico City's energy, Puebla's tile-lined streets, and Oaxaca's flavors. (b)

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The trip includes: 

• Accommodation in centrally located 4-star and boutique hotels in Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca for 8 nights

• Daily breakfast at the hotels

• Private transportation for Teotihuacan, Xochimilco, Mexico City to Puebla and Puebla to Oaxaca

• English-speaking guide for Teotihuacan

• Mexico City food walk with tastings

• Teotihuacan entrance fee and local obsidian workshop visit

• Traditional Xochimilco trajinera ride with chinampa visit and lunch

• Puebla city walking tour

• Monte Alban guided archaeological tour 

• Evening Oaxaca market visit and hands-on dinner cooking class

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The trip does not include: 

• International flights

• Meals not indicated above and any additional beverages

• Airport arrival and departure transfers

• Medical insurance and trip cancellation insurance

• Gratuities (budget around $10 USD per day, at your discretion)

• Incidentals

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Special considerations:

• The trip starts in Mexico City and ends in Oaxaca 

• Hotel ratings are relative to local standards, not global standards - so be aware that a 4* hotel in Mexico will guarantee specific facilities and level of comfort but may not be the equivalent of a 4* hotel elsewhere

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Trip cost:

$4000 Canadian dollars (about $2900 USD) per person. $1500 CAD non-refundable deposit due at time of registration with the balance due by 10 December 2026.

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Join this trip:

If you would like to join this trip, please fill out this registration form and we will contact you about the deposit. For more information, please contact natasha@thevoyagiste.com​​​​

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