Amazing Places to Work & Play: Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico
As you may know, Bootstrap HQ has no roots. In fact, the business was built to be completely locationally independent, allowing our team to live and work from just about anywhere.
Working remotely has allowed us to live and work in some pretty unique places. The “Amazing Places to Work & Play” series highlights some of the places we’ve called home. We share what it’s like to live, work and adventure there, offering our candid insights and non-expert opinions about being a digital nomad in a variety of destinations worldwide.
The Destination: Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico
Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico: a vibrant, picturesque and youthful city with an unmatched food & drink scene.
The capital of the southwestern Mexican state of Oaxaca, the city is known by many for its large and enthusiastic Dia de los Muertos celebrations. Surrounded by picturesque mountains and overflowing with incredible eateries and cultural sights, Oaxaca de Juarez is an ideal destination for digital nomads to visit. Its city center, or “Centro” is a world heritage site, featuring both colonial architecture and archaeological sites from the area’s indigenous roots including the Zapotec and Mixtec cultures.
Overall, the city boasts a multitude of cafes with strong wifi and a variety of accommodations downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods. We spent a month and a half exploring the area and fell in love with the local culture and mountainous landscape. The vibe is youthful, artistic and politically active yet there is a strong sense of history and culture to explore.
The Takeaways:
Neighborhoods & Accommodations
When considering accommodations for your trip to Oaxaca de Juarez, there are a variety of options. Whether you want to be in the thick of it all in Centro or on the outskirts in one of the area’s up and coming neighborhoods, there’s a little something for everyone:
Centro: This neighborhood, true to its name, is in the middle of it all. We started our trip here during Dia de los Muertos to get our bearings and (respectfully) enjoy the celebrations. We loved our private room at Casa Josefina, a cool space with an awesome shared rooftop. The room itself was cozy yet modern & the shared bathroom was kept very clean. We spent many nights hanging with the owners and other guests, drinking mezcal and eating salty chapulines. While staying in Centro is fun for a short time to indulge in some of the touristy hotspots, we recommend moving around if you’re in the area for a while in order to get a taste of all that Oaxaca de Juarez has to offer.
Jalatlaco: Jalatlaco is a tiny barrio (neighborhood) and the oldest in Oaxaca City. Its colorful streets and quaint cafes give the area a small town feel though it’s only a short 10 minute walk to the city center. We spent a month in a wonderfully equipped apartment tucked between Jalatlaco & Centro called Los Ctrapasueños Turquesa. It was hands down one of our favorite stays as the apartment is incredibly well-equipped, comfortable and centrally located for a long stay. The Merced Market served all of our grocery needs.
Reforma: Though we didn’t stay in Reforma, we found the primarily residential district to be quiet and picturesque. Just outside of Centro, it is where many young people we met lived full-time. The city’s only Starbucks is in Reforma - a nice to know for digital nomads in need.
Places to Work
There are hundreds of spots in Oaxaca de Juarez with wifi and you’ll see remote workers everywhere you turn in the city. We had a few favorites:
Cafe Bre: A sprawling cafe with plenty of seating options, Cafe Bre caters to digital nomads. We spent many afternoons working here and enjoying their delicious cappuccinos.
La Ttertulia: This tiny cafe was one of our favorites and just down the street from Casa Josefina. Their coffee is some of the best in town as are their Chilaquiles. If you can get a table, we highly recommend it for a cozy, comfortable experience.
Cafe De Barro: With a location in Centro and Reforma, Cafe De Barro is a modern cafe with a lush outdoor seating area and some of the sweetest staff members. We both had our weekly Spanish lessons here and oftentimes found ourselves spending the entire day working and chatting with other digital nomads at this awesome spot.
Things to Do
There is no shortage of exciting activities to enjoy in Oaxaca and you can easily find comprehensive lists of some of the top heritage sites on the internet (we’ll cover some here), but for long-term stays, we also found a few low-key activities to be some of our favorites:
Visit Monte Alban: A breathtaking pre-Columbian archaeological site on a mountaintop just outside of the city center, Monte Alban is a must-see. You can take tour buses or rent a car but we opted to hike there with our favorite guide, Javi, and his two fluffy dogs. Highly recommend this route!
Drink Mezcal: Tasting the various flavors and forms of mezcal is a major aspect of Oaxacan culture. We drank mezcal perhaps too often while in Oaxaca, but had the best time learning about it during a cooking class in a small neighborhood outside of the city where they filmed parts of the movie Nacho Libre. The cooking class itself was incredible as was the included mezcal tasting! We made friends we’re still in touch with today during this experience.
Climb Escaleras del Fortín: We spent much of our downtime walking around the city and one of our favorite spots to get steps in was Escaleras del Fortín, a path consisting of thousands of steps leading up a mountain to a hiking trail.
Explore the Markets: We had a blast browsing the city’s many local markets for gifts or unique foods. We loved Mercado 20 de Noviembre and Mercado Benito Juarez as well as a Saturday morning Street Food Walking Tour hosted again by our favorite guide Javi, which allowed us to try and learn about the local flavors while exploring the city’s largest market, Central De Abastos. We even met Doña Vale, made world-famous by Netflix.
Browse Some Of the City’s Art Galleries: Oaxaca de Juarez is bursting with color. Almost every street features some sort of beautiful street art and there are artist posters plastered everywhere. We bought so much art while in Oaxaca and specifically loved the city’s student galleries like 2020 Arte Contemporaneo.
Spend time in parks: Oaxaca City’s parks are a great place to spend an hour or two, reading, running or simply people watching. Jardin Conzatti was our favorite for sitting back - definitely try Tortas Hormigas, a food truck located right next to Conzatti. El Llano is another beautiful park that’s great for running around its large perimeter.
Places to Eat:
Oaxaca City is one of the foodie capitals of Mexico. There are so many local flavors to try, ranging in price point, style and speciality. Here are a few of our favorites:
Boulenc: Let’s get the touristy one out of the way first! This spot is definitely on every list but for good reason. We spent way too much time at Boulenc, sampling their fresh bread, incredible coffee and creative dishes. A must visit.
Tastavins: An Italian tapas restaurant in Centro, Tastavins was one of our favorite places to happy hour, enjoying $2 glasses of wine and filling up on scrumptious apps. It’s great for an afternoon hang or late night vibe.
La Popular: One of our favorite places in the city, La Popular is the go-to for local flavors. Fill up on tostadas, tortas and fresh mezcalitas. We shared meals with many other travelers and locals alike at this social spot.
Casa Taviche: Casa Taviche is a sweet, simple dinner spot that updates its menu everyday and offers delicious seafood and creative desserts.
Tacos Roy: A can’t miss that’s only slightly out of the way, Tacos Roy offers simple yet delicious tacos with all of the toppings. We loved Tacos Asada, a la plancha.
Empanadas del Carmen: A Oaxaca City staple, Empanadas del Carmen is a food cart offering huge Oaxacan style empanadas bursting with meat and cheese.
Los Danzantes: For a bougie experience, Los Danzantes was our favorite. We spent Thanksgiving here and fell in love with their fresh flavors.
Overall, Oaxaca de Juarez is a fantastic city for a digital nomad who considers themself a foodie and appreciates a small city lifestyle. We recommend spending at least a few weeks in order to experience the honestly awesome touristy hotspots as well as the lesser known yet equally amazing local joints.
You can check out all of the businesses mentioned above here. We also created an IG Reel on Oaxaca City if you’re more of a visual learner.
