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Oaxaca Night Food Tour: Culinary Backstreets
4.9
41 Ratings
Oaxaca de Juárez
This afternoon-to-evening tour offers an exploration of Oaxaca’s backstreets during a culinary transition, allowing participants to savor some of the city’s finest nighttime food venues. Additionally, it provides insight into their significant contribution to sustaining Oaxaca’s civic life.
This afternoon-to-evening tour offers an exploration of Oaxaca’s backstreets during a culinary transition, allowing participants to savor some of the city’s finest nighttime food venues. Additionally, it provides insight into their significant contribution to sustaining Oaxaca’s civic life.
Duration:
5 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Mercado 20 de Noviembre - Oaxaca’s culinary scene is a delightful blend of two worlds, both equally appetizing. In the morning, a vibrant array of eateries and vendors open up, ready to kickstart the day for Oaxacans. As evening approaches, the scene transforms with a fresh set of stalls and vendors, ensuring the culinary festivities continue….
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Mercado 20 de Noviembre - Oaxaca’s culinary scene is a delightful blend of two worlds, both equally appetizing. In the morning, a vibrant array of eateries and vendors open up, ready to kickstart the day for Oaxacans. As evening approaches, the scene transforms with a fresh set of stalls and vendors, ensuring the culinary festivities continue. Locals will tell you: the true flavors of the city emerge at night.
On this afternoon-to-evening tour, participants will explore this culinary transition, savoring some of the city’s finest nighttime food spots while understanding their vital role in Oaxaca’s community life. The journey includes strolling through historic neighborhoods and public spaces, offering a glimpse of a side of the city that few visitors experience, day or night. - Oaxaca - The adventure begins in Oaxaca’s historic center, just as the night food stalls start to appear and new aromas fill the air. The first stop is a vendor outside one of Oaxaca’s main markets, serving tortas and tostadas to workers since 1930. Joining the after-work crowd, participants will taste these famous and hearty creations. Next, the tour continues to a new family-run restaurant, now a neighborhood favorite, known for its dedication to a fundamental Oaxacan ingredient: beans, served from large clay pots. Here, a sampler of their comforting dishes, which creatively honor traditional Oaxacan cuisine, will be enjoyed. The exploration proceeds to a small shop run by a local woman passionate about cacao and chocolate, where her artisanal creations will be sampled.
- Iglesia del Carmen Alto - As the tour progresses through the neighborhood, another iconic streetside business will be visited. This family has been selling tortillas stuffed with chicken and mole since 1965. Now managed by the fourth generation, their stand is a strategic stop for evening shift workers, hungry locals, and those fueling up for a night out.
- Museo Belber Jimenez - Energized, the group will join locals in a nearby park for one of the most traditional and satisfying Oaxacan street foods, corn in a cup, perfect for a stroll while snacking. With cup in hand, the night parade continues to encounter the heavyweight of Oaxacan late-night meals, the tlayuda, a large, thin, and crisp tortilla topped with various ingredients. Just as the taco is to Mexico City, the tlayuda is to Oaxaca – affordable, filling, and endlessly customizable. A visit to a local favorite selling them since 1952 is included. To conclude, traditional Oaxacan sweets will be tasted from a stand in a church courtyard, followed by a mezcal tasting led by a young master distiller, one of the few women crafting this agave spirit. It’s a perfect conclusion to an outing celebrating the guardians of Oaxacan culinary traditions and their nighttime endeavors.

What's Included
- Licensed Guide
- Dinner
- Alcoholic beverages
- Snacks
- Bottled water
- Licensed Guide
- Dinner
- Alcoholic beverages
- Snacks
- Bottled water
What's Not Included
- Private transportation
- Private transportation
Location
Flores Magón 209
Flores Magón
Meeting Point and Maps:
In front of La Casa de Mezcal
Flores Magón # 209, OAX_RE_BENITO JUAREZ, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax., Mexico
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(41 Ratings)
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1 star
Anon8882014
Mar 6, 2026
no touristy stops - Really enjoyed that Jalil took us to places off the beaten path and not frequented by tourists, especially the mescal tasting. I will say that the stops were different than those described by Culinary Backstreets but they were enjoyable just the same.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Putsathit
Mar 3, 2026
Great fun, thank you Veronica - We had a great afternoon and evening with Veronica, full of food, drinks and stories.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Obiobiobi
Mar 1, 2026
Excellent food tour - Don't usually do tours but this one was great, Luis Zarate was a terrific guide. Had about 8 stops, went to a market where Luis picked up pastries, then we had tostadas, pork bean paste and salsa at a street stall, then a cafe for 5-6 different bean dishes with rice drink, then a chocolate cafe where we roasted the cacao beans then peeled and minced them, mixed with cinnamon bark and almonds, then drank the resulting chocolate made with hot water, then street stall empanadas, then woodblock shop followed by street stall for corn, then an artisan mezcal maker where we tasted 4 different mescals made from wild agave, then tlayudas at a street stall. The tour went from 3:30 to about 9:30 but didn't seem that long. Recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Len
Feb 28, 2026
The tour was very informative. Lois was a great host. I was introduced to new foods and history of the vendor - Lois was a great host we were introduced to new foods and the history of Oaxaca and the vendors
Review provided by Tripadvisor
608rhodas
Feb 24, 2026
OAX by night is marvelous fun and a lot of delicious food! - Luis was a marvelous guide for our food stops and interesting Oaxaca sights. The visit with the mezcal maker was a special delight: wonderful to see a woman continuing the tradition! We enjoyed all the food and the group members. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jaynie2022
Feb 10, 2026
Great evening in Oaxaca' - Luis led a tremendous experience! Each stop was interesting and delicious. We loved learning about the street vendors as people and how they came to this work. The group was fun and we laughed so much!
Days later we felt as if we knew Oaxaca so much better because of the tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Excursion64750563691
Jan 28, 2026
Food and art 💗 - This food tour made my whole trip to Oaxaca! Every single place we visited was delicious and our tour guide knew so much about each dish and the culture of Oaxaca. I went to the tour solo, and was joined by two others. It was nice to have a small group to go walk around all of Centro. Our tour began around 3:30pm and ended around 9:30pm. Walking around the city was amazing. Additionally, our tour guide had lots of friends in the food scene and the art scene, and took us to visit a few galleries!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mitchell_l
Jan 22, 2026
Must Do - This was my favorite food tour in Mexico. We covered a lot of ground and learned a lot. I especially liked the chocolate and mezcal tastings. Veronica made it a great experience!
Review provided by Viator
Robertde6065xo
Jan 9, 2026
Might just be the best thing to do in Oaxaca - This tour was quite an experience with a fantastic array of foods to try and a very informative mezcal tasting. Our guide Luis was very friendly and informative. If you're in Oaxaca you really must sample the food culture properly and this is probably the best way to do it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
331maurys
Dec 30, 2025
Excellent tour - Excellent guide, a good variety of foods, and the mezcal tasting was great too. Our guide was helpful and knowledgeable.
Review provided by Tripadvisor