Dear NextTriber,

Maybe you've already heard about the Oaxaca other travelers talk about — the mezcal, the mole, the folk-art markets. Or maybe it's just started popping up on your radar as a destination every serious traveler suddenly seems to be raving about.

Here's why you should go next year.

is a new NextTribe journey led by Leigh Anne McKellar, a retired Spanish teacher from Torrance, California who's traveled solo on nine NextTribe trips in the last two years — including Oaxaca last month. She's fluent in Spanish, and she’s excited to go back next year to share this trip with a new group of curious women.

Come with us August 16-23, 2027 for 8 days!

Check out the itinerary

Besides the mezcal and the mole and the tapestries this is a place that's still deeply Indigenous. Zapotec and Mixtec culture isn't a museum exhibit here; it's the woman firing black clay pottery the way her grandmother did, the curandera who still heals with copal and herbs, the guides who walk you to the top of a ceremonial mountain and explain exactly what this pilgrimage means to local people.

🏺 Black Clay & Alebrijes — A visit to the pottery masters of San Bartolo Coyotepec, followed by the wood-carvers who turn blocks of copal wood into brightly painted alebrijes.

🥃 A Woman-Owned Mezcal Distillery — Lunch at a family distillery now run by the owner's daughter, who'll walk you through agave growing and production and pour the tastings herself during the meal.

🌶️ A Mole Recipe, Passed Down — A hands-on cooking class in the Sierra Norte highlands, learning a traditional mole recipe from a local woman who learned it from her mother from a recipe passed down the matriarchal line for hundreds of years.

🏔️ Sacred Ground with a Zapotec Spiritual Leader — A guided hike along well-trodden paths with ceremonies honoring Cerro del Jaguar, the land, and the ancestors.

🔥 Temezcal or Massage, Your Choice — An evening sweat-lodge ceremony led by a local curandera, or, if you'd rather, an hour of healing massage back at the cabins.

🌿 One-on-One Healing — A one-on-one session with a curandera in the mountain town of Capulalpam de Méndez, who uses plants, flowers, and copal for a traditional cleansing.

💦 Hierve el Agua — The petrified waterfalls, one of only two in the world, with mineral pools to swim in and a challenging vertical hike if you'd rather move than float.

🏛️ Monte Albán & Mitla — Mountaintop Zapotec runs, and the intricate stonework at Mitla that still echoes in Oaxacan textiles and pottery today.

See the whole itinerary

We’ve built this around the women who are actually keeping Zapotec and Mixtec traditions alive: the potter, the distiller, the cook, the healer, the spiritual guides. Leigh Anne leads the way, and because she's fluent in Spanish and has already done this trip once as a solo traveler, she’ll tell you what you won’t want to miss. Hint: just about everything!

We've kept a good rhythm of structure and freedom — guided days in the city and the Sierra Norte, with choices built in (a temezcal or a healing massage, a swim or a climb at Hierve el Agua, architectural ruins or wandering through galleries and shops on your own). You'll split your nights between the beautifully restored NaNa Vida Hotel Boutique in the heart of Oaxaca City and basic mountain cabins in the Sierra Norte, (don’t worry, they each have a bathroom) close to the Zapotec communities you'll be spending time with. Expect warm days and cool mountain evenings in August — pack layers for the highlands.

You land in Oaxaca City and check into NaNa Vida Hotel Boutique, then head straight out for a walking tour of the historic center before a welcome dinner at the beautiful, award-winning, woman-owned 15 Letras restaurant.. Day two takes you to San Bartolo Coyotepec for black clay pottery and on to a wood-carving workshop for alebrijes, before lunch at a woman-owned mezcal distillery, where the current owner shares her family's story over a tasting.

From there you head for the hills — literally. A hike to the Benito Juárez viewpoint (swinging bridge anyone?) gives you the whole central valley laid out below, followed by a farm-to-table lunch and a hands-on mole-and tortila-making class. That night you're staying in cabins in the Sierra Norte, deep in Zapotec country.

Day four is the spiritual heart of the trip: a guided hike along sacred paths with a Zapotec spiritual leader, rituals honoring the holy mountain Cerro del Jaguar, and, come evening, your choice of a temezcal sweat-lodge ceremony or a quiet massage back at the cabins. The next day brings a one-on-one healing session with local curanderas in Capulalpam de Méndez, before you head back to the city and NaNa Vida.

Your last full days go big: Hierve el Agua's petrified waterfalls, where you can swim in the mineral pools or hike the formation, followed by the Mitla ruins and their stonework that still shows up in Oaxacan weaving today. Then Monte Albán, the ancient Zapotec capital perched above three valleys, ranks among the most stunning ruins in Mexico. A final dinner brings the group together before flights home on August 23rd.

See the whole itinerary

🔥 Here is your early bird pricing for Oaxaca.

PRICE GOES UP OCTOBER 9: Tick Tock

$500 Deposit

+

8 payments starting October 16

As newsletter subscribers, you’re among the first to know about this new trip.

So if you’re interested, don’t hesitate! Save your spot for $500!

Jeannie Ralston, Co-founder and CEO