A mural of Bowie as Aladdin Sane juxtaposed with the Virgin of Guadalupe sets Babel's alternative tone, a kind of Mexican dive bar with regular live music from an eclectic cache of performers – it could be son (folk), blues, trova (troubadour-type folk), jazz or cumbia (dance music originating from Colombia). The chairs are covered in old newspaper, should you get bored.
La Nueva Babel
Oaxaca City
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca
0.25 MILES
Got two hours? You'll need it for the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures, housed in the beautiful monastery buildings adjoining the Templo de Santo Domingo. This…
2.87 MILES
The former capital of the Zapotec people is today an illustrious ruin, but for over a thousand years it served as the second-largest ceremonial site in…
0.24 MILES
Gorgeous Santo Domingo is the most splendid of Oaxaca’s churches, with a finely carved baroque facade and nearly every square centimeter inside decorated…
26.01 MILES
Second only to Monte Albán in their importance, though not as old, the ruins of ancient Mitla date from the final two or three centuries before the…
3.78 MILES
If you like your pre-Hispanic Mexican ruins suitably ‘ruined’ and crowd-free without compromising on authenticity or spectacular setting, opt for Atzompa…
Centro de las Artes de San Agustín
9.45 MILES
Pretty San Agustín's large, early-20th-century textile mill has been superbly restored as the Centro de las Artes de San Agustín (CaSa), a spectacular…
6.06 MILES
Visitors flock to the village of El Tule to behold El Árbol del Tule, which is, by some counts, the fattest tree in the world. California's General…
0.22 MILES
Traffic-free, shaded by tall trees and surrounded by elegant portales (arcades), the Zócalo is the perfect place to start soaking up the Oaxaca atmosphere…
Nearby Oaxaca City attractions
0.07 MILES
A top-class museum, even by Oaxaca's high standards, showing off a wondrous collection of pre-Hispanic art donated by the city's most famous artist,…
2. Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños
0.11 MILES
Changing exhibitions by artists from Oaxaca and elsewhere – often provocative contemporary work.
0.11 MILES
You’ll find art by leading figures such as Tamayo and Morales, plus a fine selection of handicrafts and rugs, at this commercial gallery founded by the…
4. Centro Fotográfico Álvarez Bravo
0.11 MILES
With a taste for provocative social commentary, this contemporary gallery displays weird and wonderful work by local and international photographers.
0.12 MILES
The 18th-century baroque Templo de San Felipe Neri is where Benito Juárez and Margarita Maza were married in 1843; Margarita was the daughter of Antonio…
0.13 MILES
Historic, romantic, dignified and safe, wonderful Calle Alcalá (traffic-free since the 1980s) is what Oaxaca is all about. It runs north from the…
7. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca
0.13 MILES
Exhibitions of first-rate contemporary Mexican and international art in a beautifully revamped colonial house.
0.16 MILES
This commercial gallery presents a wide range of quality art, and includes a room devoted to surrealist painter Rodolfo Morales’ work.