Experience a week of discovery as you explore Mexico City's museums and Día de los Muertos festivities, learn about Nahua history and traditions, and immerse yourself in Oaxaca's vibrant markets and food culture.
A glimpse of the places, people, and moments along the way. Use the arrows or swipe; tap any image to enlarge.
Seven days, paced for children. Each day is one or two anchors with room to breathe around them.
Land and settle in to our hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Polanco — home to the embassies, the Museo de Antropología, and Chapultepec park. An easy first evening together, with nothing to do but meet the other families and get a good night's sleep.
A real Mexican breakfast of chilaquiles, then the Museo de Antropología — one of the great museums of the world, and surprisingly gripping for children. The Zócalo and Templo Mayor in the late morning, with tacos and pozole for lunch on the square. Time to rest at the hotel, then an afternoon in leafy Coyoacán: the Frida Kahlo Museum, the Casa Azul where she lived with Diego Rivera, followed by dinner and traditional Mexican ice cream, and a stroll through the artisanal markets.
Early in the morning, face-painting artists come to paint the children's and grown-ups' faces. Then into the heart of the celebration: the Day of the Dead parade, and lunch at the vast Mercado de la Merced. Time to rest at the hotel before the afternoon at Xochimilco — the history of the floating chinampa gardens, told from a brightly painted trajinera as we drift the canals.
A morning flight to Oaxaca City and into our hotel near the historic center. Then into the city's flavor: the Mercado 20 de Noviembre, a chocolate-making demonstration, and hands in the work — grinding and whisking traditional Oaxacan hot chocolate and shaping pan de yema. The bold among us try chapulines (toasted grasshoppers seasoned with chili and lime). After lunch, time to rest at the hotel, then dinner in the center and esquites in the evening.
Breakfast in the market, then up to Monte Albán for an introduction to Zapotec culture among the ancient terraces. Tlayudas for lunch, then time to rest at the hotel. An afternoon mole-making class — the long, patient, many-ingredient kind that children love to stir — and afterward time to stroll and explore the streets of Oaxaca.
Another market breakfast, then a barro negro class shaping the region's famous black clay, followed by lunch at the market and time to rest at the hotel. In the afternoon, an alebrije-painting class and an Oaxacan textile class on the loom, then dinner enjoyed with a mariachi band.
A goodbye breakfast together, then flights home — a week of the real Mexico carried back in everyone's pockets.
Not a schedule of things to look at — a handful of things to do, beside the people who do them every day.
Grind, whisk, and taste traditional hot chocolate, then shape pan de yema to go with it.
An afternoon in a cooking class building mole from many ingredients — slow, fragrant, and forgiving of small hands.
A barro negro and alebrije class: pinch pots from famous black clay and paint a small wooden creature to bring home.
A textile class where children try the weaving that has clothed these valleys for centuries.
A trajinera ride through Xochimilco's floating gardens, with the history told as you go.
A short form to hold your place and open a conversation. It isn't a final payment.