Theres so many that its tricky, tho i do recommend getting to San Jose for the mushrooms and also to Zipolite. Avoid Huatulco beach as its v.expensive and touristy.

For me, you should go towards puerto escondido…. but find some small beaches before you get to the big turistic place…(if you dont want to be surrounded with hotels and turists…)

one beach i really liked was “Piedra blanca” or “Roca Blanca”, a incredible place with a little lake….on front of the see….. great…

P.Escondido and Zipolite are great but both about 5+ hours away and beachy (not cultrual)and down on the coast. In Oaxaca Valley I’d suggest Arazola (carved wooden animals), Tule (big tree) and Teotitlan del Valle (rugs), Monte Alban (ruins), San Bartolo Coyotepec (black pottery) and Mitla (ruins, mercado) .. there are a hundred other villages less touristy but no less interesting .. other ruins too .. all within about 50 miles of the city .. which is located in like the hub of the state ..

Central Valley:
Market days at Tlacolula(Sundays I think) and/or Ocotlan are amazing. Both are aimed more for local people in the central valley than tourists, but there are crafts as well. At the Tlacolula don’t miss the nieves(flavored ices) in dozens flavors and if you’re brave borrego and cabrito(sheep and goat) stews and barbecue. Ocotlan food stands are especially good for atole(a hot chocolate cornmeal drink). Ocotlan also has a famous church, small art museum, and the famous Aguilar sisters make their ceramic figurines.
Zaachila has a big former mission that’s interesting if you have more time.
Campers and hikers should check out the Sierra Norte.

Some of the details in prior posts excite me, and I will probably refer to them for some future return trip to Oaxaca. (Thank you, contributors!)

My Beloved and I are unapologetic urban types. We were happy to spend most of our stay in Ciudad de Oaxaca. But we did make 2 separate day-long trips to outlying sites. I believe that one of the tours was devoted to Monte Alban alone and that the other one encompassed Teotitlan del Valle, Mitla, and the Tule tree. My point here, actually, is to steer you to Hotel Riviera del Angel, where you can arrange these trips by bus. It is somewhere immediately northwest of the Zocalo. (I’m looking at my map from 3 years ago. I circled the block that is bounded by Av. Independencia to the south, Av. Morelos to the north, 20 de noviembre to the west, Garcia Vigil to the east.) And they may also provide tours to some of the more exotic places mentioned by others.

Just back from 2 weeks in Oaxaca and I’d encourage anyone to visit the small villages (and more famous archeological sites) in the Oaxaca Valley. E.g., if you go to Ocotlan (Friday market) you can also stop several places on the way there or back to see textiles (tiny town, can’t find the name just now), black pottery (San Bartolo Coyotepec) and wooden carvings (San Martin Tilcajete), plus the specialties that come to market.

We had a rental car, which lent a note of spontaneity to our tours. If you’re taking the bus, your schedule will be more constrained.

My flickr stream is being updated this week: www.flickr.com/photos/nancyf with too many shots of color and artifacts in Oaxaca.