Even if you’re not an avid drinker, it’s hard to pass up a drink in Oaxaca when you’re visiting. Not because of any peer pressure (don’t worry), but because Oaxaca is where mezcal comes from. A lot of the locals we spoke to during our one-month stay in Oaxaca likened mezcal, a distilled agave alcoholic drink, to wine in its variety and depth of flavor. So, if you want to head out for an afternoon or evening drink, we’ve got you! We spent a whole month discovering new bars and clubs in Oaxaca, and we’re here to list out the best of the best.
So, without further ado, here are the 18 best bars and clubs in Oaxaca, Mexico!
Psst! Check out our Oaxaca itinerary that features some of these bars!
Best Mezcal Bars in Oaxaca
If there is one thing you need to do in Oaxaca is definitely to try Mezcal! So, of course, we will start with our favorite mezcal bars in Oaxaca. While you can certainly get other drinks at this bar, mezcal is what these bars are known for.
1. In Situ
- Prices: $$
- Location: Vicente Guerrero 413, Oaxaca
- Hours: Monday-Saturday 2PM to 11PM
In Situ was actually our first-ever mezcal bar. The bartenders are incredibly knowledgeable and speak great English, allowing you to immerse yourself in the knowledge and history behind mezcal as you taste different varieties. We personally shared a tasting of 3, which cost $450 MXN. We went in knowing absolutely nothing about what to order, but the bartender gently guided us through the mezcal experience, including how to properly drink it. There are literally hundreds of different mezcals at this bar, so you could easily come back several times throughout your stay and try different mezcals.
2. Mezcalogia
- Prices: $$
- Location: C. de Manuel García Vigil # 509, Oaxaca
- Hours: Sunday-Friday 4PM to 12AM; Saturday 5PM to 1AM
Mezcalogia is another one of the best places to learn about mezcal. Make sure it’s one of your first stops when trying mezcal in the city – it was one of our firsts too. While they don’t have the biggest selection of mezcals on offer, they do have a sizeable collection, and the bartenders will help you choose the right ones to taste. Beyond that, Mezcalogia has a very cozy vibe and ambiance, with some occasional live music to boot!
3. Bar Ilegal
- Prices: $$
- Location: Murguía 215, Oaxaca
- Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 6PM to 2AM
If you’ve drunk mezcal outside of Mexico, it’s highly probable that you’ve tried Ilegal mezcal. Which is one of the most common Mezcals to find in other countries. Bar Ilegal is the place to go if you love this brand. After all, this bar is owned by the same guy who created Ilegal mezcal! The bar itself has a very dark, cave-like aesthetic and is a great place to stop by if you love live music. Make sure to pay your tributes to Maximón a Mayan deity in the bar.
If you have spent time bar hopping in Antigua, Guatemala, this bar may seem familiar as it shares owners with and has a similar vibe to Cafe No Se.
If you don’t want to drink mezcal straight, Bar Ilegal does offer some pretty strong and tasty cocktails as well.
Best Beer Bars in Oaxaca
Since we spent an entire month in Oaxaca, we couldn’t simply drink mezcal during our stay! Of course, we also spent considerable time trying out the beer bars. Here are our favorite beer bars in Oaxaca.
4. Oaxaca Brewing Co.
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: Calle de Tinoco y Palacios 507a, Oaxaca
- Hours: Monday, Thursday-Saturday 4PM to 11PM; Sunday 2PM to 10PM; Wednesday 6PM to 11PM
Oaxaca Brewing Co. has some delicious beers on tap for you to enjoy, offering a nice break from the mezcal offered pretty much everywhere else. A craft beer brewery, Oaxaca Brewing Co. is a great place to stop by in the middle of the city when you’re trying to escape the heat! We personally loved the IPAs. And for sour lovers, we recommend trying the berry sour! But feel free to try all of their beers, as you really can’t go wrong.
5. Casa Cervecera Tierra Blanca
- Prices: $$
- Location: Calle de Armenta y López 202, Oaxaca
- Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 8AM to 10PM; Sunday 10AM to 6PM; Monday 8AM to 4PM
Though we definitely preferred Oaxaca Brewing Co., Casa Cervecera Tierra Blanca is another craft beer brewery worth visiting. The bar doesn’t have much of a vibe, but it is a great place to stop by if you’re after some artisanal beer with experimental flavors. Think: coffee, aubergine, and pumpkin. We loved that they provided a little tapa for us to snack on and enjoy along with the beer.
Best Cocktail Bars in Oaxaca
While you can certainly drink as much straight mezcal and beer as you want, every now and then, it’s nice to enjoy a fancy cocktail. Lucky for you, there are many cocktail bars scattered around Oaxaca. These are some of our favorite spots to get a nice mixed drink.
6. Sabina Sabe
- Prices: $$
- Location: 5 de Mayo 209, Oaxaca
- Hours: Everyday 1PM to 12:30AM
If you’re after a nice cocktail as well as a bite to eat, there’s no better place to go than Sabina Sabe. Sabina Sabe is a very popular resto-bar that offers really delicious cocktails and amazing food. While this bar is definitely on the pricier side, if you are after ambiance and good quality, it’s definitely worth it. We don’t think you can go wrong with the cocktails here. Plus, they had a couple of interesting mocktails on offer too. If you want a bite to eat, we highly recommend getting the fish tostada!
7. La Cueva Oaxaca
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: Miguel Hidalgo 1203, Oaxaca
- Hours: Everyday 6PM to 12AM
You can’t go wrong at La Cueva Oaxaca. Whether you order a mezcal, a wine, or a cocktail… La Cueva has it all. But we think their cocktails are the standout. We personally loved the chocolate martini, which was made with a mezcal that was infused with chocolate! You’d be hard-pressed to find cocktails like this and their other creations anywhere outside of Oaxaca. The bar itself is rather small, but it adds to the classy dive bar ambiance that beckons passersby.
8. El Espacio
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: Reforma 502a, Oaxaca
- Hours: Everyday 6PM to 2AM
El Espacio is probably one of our favorite bars in all of Oaxaca. The bar itself is incredibly cute and features cool artwork. But, of course, the main reason to go is their creative cocktails. This cozy bar has both creative and traditional cocktails. Negroni lovers will love their Negroni de la casa. Plus, while many cocktail bars tend to cater to tourists, you can tell as soon as you enter that this bar caters more to locals.
9. Zapotec Mixology Bar
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: Calle de Tinoco y Palacios 604, Oaxaca
- Hours: Monday all day; Tuesday 6PM to 12AM; Wednesday-Saturday 6PM to 2:30AM
Zapotec Mixology Bar is a little bit off the beaten path. No one speaks English at this amazing little mixology bar, but that makes the ambiance and atmosphere all the better. The bar features live music and gorgeous designs throughout the bar, including the ceiling. We loved that the cocktails were really thoughtfully created with fresh ingredients. Even the glass they served the cocktails in were really cool, adding to the aesthetics of the bar as a whole. You’ll find some pretty amazing flavors here!
Best Wine Bars in Oaxaca
Mexico may not be famous for its wines, but that doesn’t mean Oaxaca doesn’t serve any wine at all. You can find wine in most bars (though in our experience, most were pretty bad), but the good thing is, we managed to find a couple of pretty cool wine bars in the city that are worth going to if you want to drink something a little different from your standard mezcal.
10. Tastavins
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: Murguía 309, Oaxaca
- Hours: Monday-Saturday 1:30PM to 11PM
While Tastavins doesn’t have the tastiest wine in the world, this bar definitely deserves a spot on this list of the best bars in Oaxaca. It’s a pretty busy bar with many locals popping in, so the vibe is great. But what sold us on this bar was the free tapas that come with the wine. The wine is also very affordable. After paying 40 to 45 MXN per glass, it comes with free food! We loved drinking their wine, along with a delicious Spanish tortilla to nibble on. With that said, the wine is still pretty good, considering you’re drinking wine in Mexico!
11. Vino y Vinyl
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: 4 Avenida Norte 3, Antigua Guatemala 03001, Guatemala
- Hours: Everyday 11AM to 1AM
We discovered Vino y Vinyl on our last night during our one month in Oaxaca, and we really wish we had discovered it earlier to go at least one more time. This is a great bar for the music lovers out there. As you might be able to guess from the name of the bar, here, you can find a huge selection of vinyls. But the best part is that you can choose your own music on vinyl to play. Simply select a vinyl, ask the bartender which one you want to play, and they’ll play it for you!
Of course, the wine at this bar was great as well. They had a pretty large selection. We particularly loved their Portuguese vinho verde.
Best Cheap Bar in Oaxaca
Especially if you are traveling to Oaxaca from the USA or Europe, you’ll find that most bars and clubs in Oaxaca are pretty reasonably priced. But if you have been traveling Latin America for a bit already, you might find a lot of the mezcal and cocktail bars listed above to be pricey. While most local bars will be fairly cheap, there’s one affordable bar that we absolutely loved.
12. Cantina Salon de La Fama
- Prices: $
- Location: C. Porfirio Díaz 115, Oaxaca
- Hours: Monday-Saturday 2PM to 12AM
If you’re looking for a no-frills bar that still offers great drinks and an awesome local atmosphere, this is the bar to go to. La Fama has incredibly cheap beers with a very good mezcal selection. We enjoyed a couple of cocktails here as well. This bar is filled with locals and is incredibly atmospheric not only in its decor but also in its vibe. You’ll get a small snack to enjoy with whatever drink you order as well!
If you are around later in the evening, you may also be awarded with some live music to enjoy, with the entire bar hopping up to dance along. La Fama is the place to visit if you want to try out a true Mexican cantina.
Best Rooftop Bars in Oaxaca
We made it a mission to discover as many rooftop bars as possible during our stay in Oaxaca. While Oaxacan rooftop bars are great, they are not all created equal, some serve pretty terrible and overpriced drinks and don’t have much of an atmosphere. They get away with it simply because they have a good view. Lucky for you, we’ve visited about a dozen rooftop bars in Oaxaca, and we’ve managed to narrow down our favorite ones!
13. La Mezcalerita
- Prices: $$
- Location: C. Macedonio Alcalá 706, Oaxaca
- Hours: Everyday 12PM to 12AM
Despite the name of the bar, La Mezcalerita is actually good for both beer and mezcal. They have a huge selection of local craft beer from all over Oaxaca and Mexico, so we had fun trying the different beers they have on offer. But if you’re more of a cocktail lover, La Mezcalerita also serves some great cocktails. This rooftop bar has a great vibe. While it doesn’t have the best view over the city, it was definitely one of our favorite bars to visit in the city.
14. Oaxaca Te Amo
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: C. de Manuel García Vigil 509, Oaxaca
- Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 2PM to 12AM; Monday 1PM to 11:30PM
First of all, the service here is unmatched! All the staff were incredibly friendly. More than that, the view at the top of this rooftop is absolutely unreal. You get the most stunning views of the cathedral, which is perfect to look at, especially as the sun goes down. Oaxaca Te Amo offers some really fun cocktails and mocktails to try. If you want to try some mezcal, the servers will help you make a choice as well. We highly recommend getting a bite to eat here as well as a drink.
15. La Azotea
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: C. Macedonio Alcalá 401-c, Oaxaca
- Hours: Sunday-Thursday 8AM to 10:30PM; Friday-Saturday 8AM to 11PM
Another great rooftop bar with superb service. La Azotea was one of the first bars we tried out when we arrived in Oaxaca, and it still stands out as one of the best rooftop bars in the city. We highly recommend getting some cocktails here (we loved the pepino mezcalita (corazon de maguey)!) as you watch over the stunning views of the city! We even watched a few processions go by as we checked out this bar on a weekend day. Besides the drinks, La Azotea also serves some delicious food.
16. Cozana
- Prices: $$
- Location: Jesús Carranza 100, Oaxaca
- Hours: Everyday 5PM to 3AM
Cozana is the rooftop bar to go to in Oaxaca if you’re looking for a nighttime spot. Don’t make the mistake we made and come here too early, as it won’t be vibe-y. Rather, Cozana should be one of your last stops before you head back to your accommodation. At night, Cozana transforms into a stunning venue with great cocktails, amazing views, and live musicians to boot! As a plus, Cozana is a pretty large bar, so there are other rooms to explore other than the rooftop if you want a change of scenery.
Best Clubs in Oaxaca
After a couple of drinks in your system, you may want to go dance! Oaxaca is definitely not known for its clubs, but there are a few places where you can go to have a boogie.
17. Txalaparta
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: Mariano Matamoros 208, Oaxaca
- Hours: Monday-Saturday 1PM to 3AM; Sunday 1PM to 2:30AM
If you want to dance, one of the best places to do so in the city is Txalaparta. While it is just one club, they have many floors and several bars, which each of the floors offering a different vibe. The music ranges from cumbia and reggaeton to rock and electronic, so you’ll find something you enjoy! Catering to both tourists and locals, Txalaparta is one of the best places to go in the city to meet other people to have fun and dance with – especially on a Friday or Saturday night!
18. Herr Tlacuache Oaxaca
- Prices: $-$$
- Location: Mariano Matamoros 101 A, Oaxaca
- Hours: Thursday-Saturday 6PM to 2AM; Sunday 10PM to 2AM
Herr Tlacuache definitely attracts a more niche crowd of partiers. This is the place to be if you’re into techno and house! This bar has a great vibe and cheap beers and is one of the only places in town that opens past midnight, so the perfect place to end the night or have an afterparty! The staff is also pretty friendly here, so you’re bound to make some friends as you bop along to the music and try the mezcals they have on offer.
Drink Some Mezcalitas in Oaxaca
Oaxaca is a foodie destination in more ways than one: it offers stunningly delicious mezcals that you’ve got to try. Even if you find that they are not your favorite, Oaxaca has some really amazing bars worth exploring, including bars for wine and cocktail lovers. Whatever your vibe, Oaxaca has it all!
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