Mercado Benito Juárez: Oaxaca Travel Guide (4.5★)

A block from the Zócalo, under one roof

Walk one block south from the Zócalo and the street turns into a market. Mercado Benito Juárez fills a whole city block in Oaxaca’s Centro. Its entrance is on Calle Las Casas, and inside, a grid of narrow aisles runs under a high roof. Stalls stand shoulder to shoulder, and the aisles are often only wide enough for two people to pass.

Everyone knows about this place. It is one of the most-reviewed sights in the city and draws a steady stream of visitors, so expect company rather than a secret. Expect working vendors too: it is still where Oaxacans come to buy cheese, chiles and household basics.

What fills the aisles

Each section sells its own kind of goods. Food stalls sit beside stalls hung with leather sandals and woven bags. Look for:

• Chapulines: toasted grasshoppers with chile and lime, piled in baskets and sold by the scoop.
• Quesillo: Oaxaca’s string cheese, wound into balls.
• Mole pastes: negro, rojo, amarillo and more, in dark blocks that travel well.
• Chocolate: ground with sugar and cinnamon for drinking.
• Mezcal: sold in bottles, and often poured as a tasting.
• Crafts: embroidered blouses, straw hats, leather goods and painted alebrijes.

Pan de yema, the egg bread eaten with hot chocolate, turns up at bakery stalls. Look for tejate too, a cold maize and cacao drink served from big painted bowls.

Buying, tasting and paying

Things work differently from aisle to aisle. These habits help:

• Carry pesos in small notes. Most stalls take cash only, and a big bill can hold up a small vendor.
• Accept the samples. Vendors routinely hold out a chapulín, a sliver of quesillo or a spoon of mole. Tasting doesn’t oblige you to buy.
• Buy by measure. Chapulines and mole go by weight or scoop. Asking for “un cuarto” (a quarter kilo) is normal.
• Bargain only for crafts. Gentle haggling over a hat or a bag is fine. Food prices are not up for negotiation.
• Ask before photographing a vendor or their stall.
• Bring your own bag. It makes juggling several purchases easier.

Coming in the morning puts you there while stalls are fully stocked and before lunch crowds head for the food aisles. Mole and chocolate are the souvenirs that survive a suitcase best. If you’re flying home, check your airline’s and your country’s rules on cheese and on liquids such as mezcal.

Timing and what’s next door

At the moment Google lists the market as open Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm, and closed on Saturday and Sunday. Market hours shift, so confirm locally before a weekend trip. An hour is enough to walk every aisle. Allow longer if you plan to shop for crafts.

Cross Calle Las Casas to the south and you reach Mercado 20 de Noviembre, Benito Juárez’s twin. Its smoky meat aisle is the big draw. You choose tasajo, cecina or chorizo from a butcher, it goes on the grill, and you add tortillas and salsas from the women working the aisle. Then you eat at a shared table.

The Zócalo and Oaxaca Cathedral are a short walk north. Keep going up the pedestrian Calle Macedonio Alcalá and you reach the Templo de Santo Domingo. That makes it easy to pair the market with a morning in the centre.