It is said that if you sample Chapulines a highly seasonal local delicacy, you are sure to return one day to Oaxaca. But more of a draw than its famous fried grasshoppers is the colonial heart and multiethnic soul of the capital city itself.

Baroque churches of locally mined stone glow in the semitropical sunshine; at an elevation of 1550 metres, Oaxaca enjoys warm weather most of the year, rarely getting too hot or cold.

Excellent museums also demonstrate the city’s commitment to arts and culture. The Museo de Arte Prehispanico Rufino Tamayo displays the private collection of Oaxacan abstract painter, muralist, and sculptor Rufino Tamayo, donated to the state in 1975. About 2,000 pieces representative of pre-Cortesian Mexico are displayed in a restored colonial home in the heart of downtown.