Roots Rails & Rambles

Oaxaca! July 15 – 23, 2025

We made our first exploratory visit to Oaxaca last year, and within moments of arriving into this vibrant city we knew we had to return and bring you with us! It’s a place on everyone’s Must Visit lists, and you might think that would mean an unpleasantly over-touristed experience, but not the way we do it! You might also think that July is a crazy month in which to visit Mexico, but Oaxaca is at an altitude of 5,100 feet, resulting in a temperate climate – warm in July, but not oppressively so.

For this trip we’re partnering up with our pal, Carol Steele, who curates our amazing adventures in Cuba, for a truly unique experience. We’ve designed this trip to include opportunities to spend time with and learn from locals who have been perfecting their crafts for generations, eat at restaurants offering everything from ancient recipes to modern interpretations of traditional cuisine, get off the beaten-path and explore the back streets, local markets, and artisan workshops.

This trip is limited to 12 participants.

ACTIVITY LEVEL: MODERATE. This is by no means a particularly athletic trip, but participants can expect to do a fair bit of walking (especially when touring Monte Alban) as well as a few flights of stairs here and there.

Highlights will include:

Gelaguetza Festival on its opening night – an extravaganza of sight and sound, that celebrates the 16 local indigenous pueblos with music, dance, food, and raucous parades that wind their way through town, replete with fireworks, brass bands, elaborate costumes, and a fair bit of mezcal-fueled frivolity. https://guelaguetza.oaxaca.gob.mx/

Sunday Market at Tlacolulu -- the biggest market that has everything from embroidery to woven pieces, and fruits and vegetables and everything in between. It’s filled with local indigenous people coming for shopping for the things that they resell and of course for the Barbecue. We’ll have time to shop, and get all of our barbecue items, meat and veggies and tortillas, and walk two blocks to a palenque – have our barbecue there with plenty of mezcal and cerveza on hand!

A walking food tour of Oaxaca Centro, to acclimate to the city center, and learn all of the best places to eat -- from Minerva’s special tamales to Oaxaca style tacos, to tlayudas and who knows what else? Roasted crickets? Ants? It’s all available for the sampling… or not. It will be the height of local mango season, and you have not lived until you have drenched yourself head to toe in their glorious stickiness.

A private guided tour of Monte Albán, one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica, which was important for one thousand years as the Zapotec socio-political and economic center. It’s very impressive, and we’ll have our own guide to talk about it with us while we tour the site.

Oaxaca is the epicenter of mezcal production, and we’ll learn about the various methods of production with a visit to an Ancestral mezcal making farm, and spend the afternoon with the family that keeps this process alive, and of course there will be tastings involved.

We’ll visit multiple local artisans in their studios and workshops -- from weavers, to alebrije carvers, chocolatiers, basket-makers, jewelry designers with plenty of opportunities to see and purchase (or not) one-of-a-kind handmade treasures

We’ll make our own mole lunch at the home of a local family, using their traditional recipes and techniques. We’ll hand-grind our own corn on a stone metate and grill fresh tortillas (not as simple as it appears!!), and roast chiles on a comal that has been passed down through the family for generations. 

These are the things that we know about and have planned for. Then there’s Carol Steele’s philosophy of “stay open for the magic, and the magic happens” which has always resulted in spectacular surprises along the way.

We’ll be staying at a lovely small hotel in the Jalatlaco neighborhood, ideally positioned to explore the incredible street art and small shops in the area. Just steps out the front door and you're in the middle of it all, but 

Pricing:

$4889 per person, shared occupancy. Solo travelers will be paired with similarly-gendered roomate

$5689 per person, solo occupancy

Your trip fare includes:
8 nights at the Hotel Pilares in Oaxaca
Entrance to the Guelaguetza Opening Night Gala
Transfers to and from the airport
Transportation for daily activities
Entrance fees to Monte Alban
4 lunches and 5 dinners
Services of our local guide

Not included:
Your roundtrip airfare
Tips for the hotel staff, driver and local guide
Any meals on your own
Breakfast is available at the hotel, but not included


TO PURCHASE:

Pay in full for maximum savings! 2% discount! It makes our life much easier if trips are paid in full, and we pass the savings in time and bookkeeping on to you.

Per person Pay In Full: $4791.22

Per person solo occupancy Pay in Full: $5575.22

OR

If you'd rather pay a deposit to hold your space(s): $500.00 per person deposit
THEN, Within 30 days of deposit, settle your remaining balance or set up a convenient interest-free monthly credit card draw by contacting Sarah at sarah@rootsontherails.com or 802-258-1397.

Credit cards (Visa, MC, Amex, Discover) and checks accepted. Payment plans at no additional charge are happily accommodated. Payment plan must be agreed upon and set up within 30 days of sign-up. Deposits, whether paid separately or as part of a full payment up front, are non-refundable. Liability release signature required.

TRAVEL INSURANCE 
Since the advent of Covid-19, and its impact upon travel, we feel purchasing travel insurance has gone from wise precaution to fiscal necessity. Going forward, we are strongly suggesting that all patrons carry trip insurance that provides, at a minimum, coverage for the following:Cancellation for Covid-19 illnessTrip CancellationTrip InterruptionCancel for Medical ReasonsMedical Coverage for Covid-19 (often included under Emergency Medical Care)Emergency medical careMedical EvacuationAfter doing extensive research, we feel a product such as AXA USA Assistance Silver or Nationwide Essential provides robust coverage for all those items at a very fair price. Both of those products (and many more) can be purchased through our affiliate, Squaremouth. Because travel insurance is such a highly personalized product, when you click on the link and are directed to the Squaremouth landing page and the "Compare and Buy Travel Insurance" calculator, you’ll have to enter your own demographic information – age, state of residence etc. -- after which you'll be presented with a number of options to consider. Among them will be the AXA and the Nationwide products. You are certainly not limited to those two products – we are merely outlining the elements of coverage that we are strongly suggesting going forward and a convenient way to access them. If you purchase the policy through that link to Squaremouth it does not cost you anything more than purchasing the product directly from the vendor, but we receive a small commission.

THE FINE PRINT
Our customers are extremely important to us, and when travel disruptions occur, we are committed to working with you to minimize the financial impact. In the event that you need to cancel a trip for whatever reason, we will work with you to try and find a buyer for the space you are needing to give up. Often this works out well for all: the person needing to cancel recovers most, if not all, of their investment, and a person who might have been on a waiting list gets to go on the trip - however, there are no guarantees.

We understand that the new realities of travel are such that we need to be more flexible than ever before. We are also an extremely small business with many fixed costs that can't always be recovered if a trip needs to be postponed or cancelled due to health and safety concerns. We will be completely transparent if a scheduled trip looks like it needs to be adjusted in any way that might impact your enjoyment of the experience. Please read through our cancellation policy carefully and feel free to reach out to us with any questions or concerns.

Cancellation policy: Deposits, whether paid separately or as part of a full payment up front, are non-refundable. Outside of deposit and credit card fees, full refund will be given up until 90 days prior to start of trip. 50% refund 60-89 days. No refund less than 60 days prior to start of trip. Reservations are fully transferable to another person.The payment of a deposit or any part or full payment for a reservation shall constitute consent to all the provisions contained herein. Roots, Rails and Rambles shall not be held responsible for property loss or damage and/or any damages resulting from illness, personal injuries or death which may be sustained by reason of, or while engaged on, any trip or tour whether due to the ownership, maintenance, use, operation or control of any vehicle, hotel, common carrier or any other conveyance used in carrying out these tours. We can assume no liability due to any cause whatsoever whether caused by failure or delay or other irregularity, acts or omissions occurring during a tour under which the means of transportation or other service thereby is offered or supplied by owners, operators or public carriers for whom Roots, Rails and Rambles acts only as agent. Roots, Rails and Rambles reserves the right (at its discretion) to alter or omit any part of the itinerary, or change any reservation, feature and/or means of conveyance without notice or for any reason whatsoever and without allowance or refund and with extra costs, if any, resulting therefrom paid by the passengers. We reserve the right to cancel any tour prior to departure, in which case payment will be refunded without further obligation on our part. Roots, Rails and Rambles shall not be responsible for any injury to person (whether or not resulting in death) or damage to property.Baggage is at the owner's risk entirely. The transportation companies concerned are not to be held responsible for any act, omission or event during the time passengers are not aboard their carriers or conveyances. The passenger contract in use by the carriers concerned (when issued) shall constitute the sole contract between the transportation companies and the purchaser of these tours and/or passage. By accepting the ticket the passenger also agrees to its terms and conditions. By forwarding of deposit, the passenger certifies that he/she does not have any mental, physical or other condition or disability that would create a hazard for him/herself or other passengers. Roots, Rails and Rambles reserves the right to cancel or withdraw any person as a member of the tour at any time. Roots, Rails and Rambles management reserves the right to refuse service to anyone whom it considers incompatible with the best interests of its services or its guests.