Hike Oaxaca: Go On- or Off-the-Beaten-Path on Oaxaca’s Best Hiking Trails
Surrounded by the sierra in every direction, Oaxaca is a hiker’s paradise. From day hiking trails that start in the city, to hikes you can tack on to your Oaxaca valley explorations, and a few off-the-beaten-path hikes just a few hours away, you have plenty of day hiking options in Oaxaca.
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The natural beauty, community spirit, and exotic flora and fauna of Oaxaca’s hiking trails is reason enough to lace up your boots and set off on one of Oaxaca’s best day hikes. Many of the day hikes on this list offer relatively empty trails, but a few like Hierve el Agua of course, do come with a crowd. Either way, you're bound to find a few moments, if not a few hours, of just you and the trail on these on- and off-the-beaten-path Oaxaca hikes.
The Best Day Hikes in Oaxaca City
If you don’t have the time in your Oaxaca itinerary to get out of the city, there’s still hope for squeezing in a Oaxaca hike. Given the proximity to Oaxaca’s city center, the hikes that follow are perfect for sunrise and sunset hiking if you time it right.
Cerro del Fortin
The “trailhead” for this hike up the Oaxacan hillside begins on the western edges of Oaxaca’s Centro. Just plug “escaleras del Fortin” into your Google Maps and you’ll find the grand and tree-lined staircase that begins the ascent. In the early morning hours, it’s a popular local spot to go for a jog or to watch the sunrise (and sunset) over the city. This Oaxaca City hike, offers a few other gems en route, including the famous Guelaguetza Auditorium, some interesting street art and murals in the tunnel that bridges the staircase to the auditorium, a planetarium and observatory, and a statue of Benito Juárez, the Oaxaca-born ex-president and hero of Mexico.
If you go, I recommend leaving the valuables at home and hiking with a few others, as there have been repeated reports of muggings on this trail unfortunately. I’ve been up Cerro del Fortin a few times and nothing suspicious has ever happened to me, but I’ve mainly stayed on the more public parts of the trail and gone at hours when it’s sure to have other people around.
Cerro del San Felipe del Agua
I love this trail. It’s my go-to when I need a dose of nature without straying too far from the city. I often go up around 5pm and find a perch to watch sunset over the city. It’s a short hiking trail and you may have to pull aside for a mountain biker or two, but overall it’s usually pretty quiet and safe, with a just a few locals on the trail with you. You’ll wander by agave fields and farmland, pass through forests with orchids hanging from the tree limbs, and of course catch insanely beautiful views of the Sierra Norte and city down below.
If you’re staying in Centro, you can catch a bus for 8 pesos at Parque El Llano on the side of the park that hugs Calle Pino Suarez. I’ve also put together a guide for how to do this hike on your own or with a local here.
The Best Day Hiking Trails Closest to Oaxaca City
The Oaxaca hiking trails that follow do require hitching a ride out of town, but all of them are within an hour of Oaxaca City, making for a perfect day hike itinerary you can pair with exploring some of the fascinating valley towns these hiking trails are next to.
Le Cumbre Ixtepeji
Enchanting is the word often used to describe the hiking trails of Le Cumbre Ixtepeji. Located just 45 minutes from Oaxaca City, up in the Sierra Norte, this Oaxaca hike is rich with flora, fauna, and viewpoints you’ll be whipping your camera out to capture and remember forever. Most of the trails inside of the forest are former logging roads, which means steady shade most of the way up the mountain. You can pair your hike with a visit the nearby towns of Yuvila, known for its bread and chocolate, and Las Ánimas, known for its production of wooden spoons and utensils. There area also a number of restaurants dishing up fresh trout. If you’re more of the tour type, I recommend booking this hike with Coyote Aventuras who layers on the added perk of getting to walk these trails alongside a pack of rescue dogs.
San Pablo Cuatro Venados
Located along the western rim of the Etla Valley, San Pablo Cuatro Venados is a small community and ecotourism park rarely visited by tourists. The hiking trails are mostly shaded by pines and there’s an icy plunge pool waiting for you at the waterfall turnaround point. If you’re loving the scenery during your off-the-beaten-path hike, you can even spend the night in one of the on-site cabins, just be prepared with warm clothing come nightfall as the temperature is sure to dip.
El Picacho
The sacred peak of El Picacho lives just beyond the city limits of Teotitlan del Valle, a village better known for its centuries old weaving and rug-making tradition. This relatively easy Oaxaca day hike takes about 45 minutes from base to summit, just be sure to ask permission and pay a few pesos at the municipal museum in town first, as this is a sacred peak maintained by the locals. I recommend heading up at the end of the day and catching sunset from the summit. This also allows you to explore the rest of Teotitlan del Valle during the day, from its market, to its family-run weaving workshops, and the gorgeous colonial church in the town center.
Cerro Nueve Puntas
The nine-pointed spine of this behometh of a Oaxaca mountain is located in the Central Valley east of Oaxaca City. I first heard about it through Coyote Aventuras, a local adventure tour operator. The trailhead is nestled at the back of a mezcal farm in San Baltazar Guélavila near Tlacolula. This is a full-day hiking experience so pack plenty of water, snacks, and a lunch. As this is quite off-the-beaten-path as far as Oaxaca hikes go, I do recommend going with a tour guide like Coyote Aventuras who knows the trail well and can connect you with the local community for a unique experience post-hike.
Hierve el Agua
While Hierve el Agua is better known for its mineral springs and otherworldly petrified falls, there are a web of hiking trails that connect various viewpoints along the mountain. When you visit, be sure to pack not only your swimsuit and towel, but comfortable hiking shoes for the steep and windy hiking trails you’ll want to explore. The hike is not anything too extensive, but a necessary piece of the Hierve el Agua experience. To cover even more trail that requires local community permission, I highly recommend booking either of Coyote Adventures’ Hierve el Agua full-day tours: their Hierve el Agua Hike + Mezcal tour or their Hierve el Agua Hike + Textile tour that combines Hierve el Agua with a visit to the weaving community of Teotitlan del Valle. I’ve been on both of these tours and they are extremely well done, taking you inside the homes and workshops of local community members in a deeply respectful, educational, and engaging way.
For even more Oaxaca day hike inspiration, check out my post for Coyote Adventures featuring 8 of the best day hikes in Oaxaca.
The Best Off-The-Beaten-Path Hikes Near Oaxaca
Each of the off-the-beaten-path trails that follow are much further away from Oaxaca City than the rest of the hikes on this list. For this reason, you’ll likely want to consider spending the night in the nearest town or renting a car to do it in one very long day.
San Jose del Pacifico
Besides its abundance of mushrooms, including the magic kind, San Jose del Pacifico is full of some of the best hiking in all of Oaxaca. Its steamy cloud forests hide waterfalls and drip with vegetation. It feels like you’ve stepping inside of a mountain rainforest. Because the town of San Jose del Pacifico sits at the top of the mountain, many of the trails are a downhill adventure to start and an uphill one to get back. As you’re likely to get wet, I highly recommend finding a cozy spot in town after the hike to warm up with a Oaxacan hot chocolate. I had the pleasure of experiencing San Jose del Pacifico while on a retreat with Coyote Aventuras. It was a long weekend of hiking, good food, my first mushroom trip, rejuvenating temazcal, and daily morning yoga. You can book the retreat or learn more about it in this personal essay I wrote for Coyote Aventuras’ blog after experiencing it myself.
Lachatao
Lachatao, about 40 miles from Oaxaca City, is a trail of legends and perhaps the best-kept hiking secret in all of the Sierra Norte. When you arrive, there are three core hikes to choose from – the Sendero de la Virgen, the Ex-Hacienda Minera de 5 Señores, and the Cerro de Jaguar. I wrote about all three in this post for Coyote Aventuras. Essentially, they each follow routes that have been walked for millennium by the Zapotec culture and they carry both modern-day and historic significance for the locals in Lachatao.
Santiago Apoala
Santiago Apoala is tucked in the mountains at the northern reaches of Oaxaca state in what was once the stomping grounds of the Mixtec people. Getting there is a scenic three-and-a-half-hour journey, but one well worth it for the emerald-toned rivers, ghost forests, and terraced hillsides that await in this off-the-beaten-path box canyon. There are cozy adobe cabins that can house you for the night if you’d prefer to make this a multi-day hiking adventure. The town of Apoala also deserves a walkaround with its 16th Century Temple of Santiago Apostol and a town library where the Mixtec’s Nuttall Codel still rests.
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