I would like to share with you our recent experience we had with Sr. Florencio Moreno…read moreTour date: February 6, 2021 What: Mezcal tour We are a party of five adults who are mezcal enthusiasts. After much online research, we engaged in conversation with Florencio about touring some palenques. As we all know, the COVID pandemia has created some difficult challenges but after Florencio made thorough research into the 'accessibility' of some these remote palenques, off we go. Florencio picked us up at our VRBO promptly at 8 am as scheduled. He has a comfortable van and he had plenty of ice cold water for us all. I will not get into the details of the trip itself (because you need to try it for yourself :-) but it was perfect. Cannot say enough great things about the whole day! Florencio is very, very knowledgeable about mezcal  (and many, many other  things about the area). He is absolutely 100% enthusiastic, professional, responsive and just an all around great guy. A true gentleman and a pleasure. I guess the best thing I can say about our mezcal adventure is we are DEFINITELY going to hire Florencio again next year for our 2022 Mezcal Expedition. Thanks again Florencio. You were awesome! Mark, Jonathan, Fred, Rachael & Barb San Miguel de Allende

Florencio isn't just a tour guide, he's a true local and academic…read more We had a fantastic day with him, learning about local Oaxacan culture, history, and archaeology. Though the tour options are endless, we chose to do one of the more traditional "hit the highlights" rounds. I wasn't anticipating enjoying our trip to a traditional Zapotec market as much as I did. If interested in true Oaxacan culture, I would highly recommend going with him to one. It's the sort of thing we would never have seen or learned about if we weren't with him. No one at this market was catering to tourists. All of the food was delicious and locally grown or made. And we got to see and hear people speaking in their native language instead of Spanish. We also explored the local church, and learned how local laws within Oaxaca truly work to keep the town safe and clean. A truly remarkable experience. Mitla was of course what we expected, however having Florencio's explanations and knowledge enriched the experience immensely. Every question I asked had a detailed, interesting answer, and Florencio often elaborated to include information about the most recent archaeology studies/papers. We of course also went to Hierve el Agua and Arbol del Tule. But the other hidden gem was when Florencio took us to a Mezcaleria. I'm hesitant to even write about this part because I don't want everyone to know this secret. We didn't go to one of the flashy roadside stands where they do tastings at the places with labels. We went straight to the source. Before the Mezcal gets bottled up with a fancy label, it's made at a local Mezcaleria and sold in bulk. The particular location we went to is owned by a 9th generation Mezcal maker and his son (10th generation). They warmly welcomed us onto their property where they had just finished working for over 14 hours in the fields. We were shown the different agave that they farm, and tasted it fresh (like sugar cane, only better). And then the Mezcal. Talk about pure. It's perfectly clear with tiny pearls on top when poured, and the flavor is incredible. We bought as many bottles as we could fit in our suitcase and now regret not bringing an extra suitcase. I recognize the hesitation tourists have with hiring a guide. It's hard to figure out if someone is taking you to tourist traps when you're not a local. Florencio is the real deal. While in the Zapotec market, he didn't expect or even offer to have us buy anything. However to support the market and the people, as well as satisfy his stomach, he bought tortillas and chapulines for himself. We knew that the Mezcaleria wasn't a tourist trap as well when we saw how remote and isolated it was. However when we realized that Florencio was also going to be a customer and buy for himself, we were even more impressed. For any tour in Oaxaca, we would absolutely recommend and return to Florencio.

Randall was an unbelievably great tour guide, and made Oaxaca come alive for us. He took us to…read morethree local distillers chosen to compliment and contrast each other, and we tried over 60 mezcals throughout the day. His personal relationship with each distiller made it feel like we were visiting good friends, and the entire experience was deeply meaningful. Randall also filled the tour with amazing discussions on everything from history to chemistry to mythology stories, gave us surprise additional mezcal tastings to test our palates, and extended the tour because we were all enjoying it so much. He is overflowing with knowledge on mezcal and very generous in sharing it. Mezcal Educational Tours was fantastic, and you should specifically request Randall. The entire day was the highlight of our trip to Mexico - we walked away wanting to return to Oaxaca and drink mezcal with Randall again.

Randall was our guide and his experience and deep wealth of knowledge made this the most fun and…read moreeducational mezcal adventure you could ever dream of. Didn't know a lot about this spirit but now feel I can speak about the origins, distillation process, variations, and a little bit about the culture surrounding the mezcaleros. It's a crash course! Randall is a gem and a really great guy, honored to have had his presence for the day and the meszcal legends he introduced us to. He really knows how to read the room, encouraged me to try more (try the pulque!) and I'm glad he did. Highly recommend!

David was a great host and gave us a great welcome introduction to the city. Highly recommend,…read moreparticularly in the first couple days in town to give better context and appreciations for the city.

This 2.5 hour walking tour offers a leisure walk around centro of oaxaca and history and…read moreinteresting facts of Oaxaca. Our tour guide Dijan (sp?) was Mexican but spoke fluent English. He was casual, helpful and offers many good facts and tidbits on Oaxaca..and if you want more info, he was happy to give you more information as well. At first I wasn't sure if the 2.5 hours was going to be too long for me, but the tour went by fast and I learned a lot more about life and living in Oaxaca than I ever did before joining the tour! It was casual, friendly and enjoyable. Everyone in the same walking tour group stayed the entire 2.5 hours tour! Definitely check this tour out. The tour was very available...meaning..they offered multiple tours a day...so...take some time out to learn more about this wonderful city in Oaxaca!

Juan is not only an extraordinary tour guide but also an utterly delightful man. He has deep…read moreknowledge of Oaxaca which comes wrapped in a completely natural and comfortable manner. I wish we'd had another day or two with him. We had time to add on an additional couple stops and even had an earthquake during an excellent lunch!

Juan was an incredibly thorough tour guide. We used him for three days recently - one day at Monte…read moreAlban, one day at Mitla and one day to explore the artisan villages to the south of Oaxaca. His knowledge about the history of the area is incredibly deep. We learned so much and he was able to adjust his itinerary for us as he learned more about our interests. On an operational note, Juan was always really responsive via email, he arrived on time every morning and his car was really clean and comfortable. Strong recommend all the way around!

We just took a 2 day tour to Apoala. We had a great time. Hiked about 4 hours each day, meals in…read morethe puebla. Jumped over a lot of rocks in the river, wear good shoes! Yves and Claudia have been doing this over 20 years and know the villagers and routes very well. We will be back for another tour in the future!

Yves and Claudia operate a truly exceptional service. Yves has an incredible wealth of history,…read morescience and personal connections to offer and made our day in the Sierra Norte the highlight of our two months in Oaxaca, and of the several extended annual vacations here.

We took a cooking class at Seasons of My Heart when we were in Oaxaca for a few days a week or so…read moreago. It was wonderful, and I'm so glad we had a day for this experienced. We met in the morning at the arranged meet up point (in the city center); our group was a total of 9 (all Americans - different ages and different relationships to each other, and from different parts of the country). Our driver drove us to Etla, where we met our teacher for the day, Yolanda. She walked us around the market in Etla for a hour or two, explaining about various ingredients and products for sale (we tried some cheese, some tamales, some chapulines...). After the market tour, we got back in the van for the drive to the cooking school (it's a bit of a drive, but worth it)! The school is so lovely - a large open room with plenty of space for the group to spread out to work on various recipes. The wonderful staff served us a great lunch of chilaquiles rojos, and then we went outside, where Yolanda talked us through each of the five recipes we were going to make for our dinner together that day. (Note: you will be split into groups - everyone doesn't make every single recipe. I worked on one recipe, but Yolanda would call the group together when important things occurred in other recipes so the whole group could learn - such as when charring chiles on the comal or crimping the memelas! Several couples/units within our group of 9 decided to split up and not work with their spouse/sister/cousin/friend, so that groups could learn more; my husband and I worked on different recipes. I feel like I got a ton out of the experience without working on every recipe!) After a few hours of cooking, we sat down to enjoy dinner together (we got all the recipes to about 90% and the school staff finished them up a bit while we got ready for dinner). Our menu included: memelas with asiento, frijoles, cheese, and salsa; sopa de guías calabazas (a pre-Hispanic soup); ensalada de hojas verdes con jícama, guayaba y pepitas; mole coloradito oaxaqueño with chicken; and budin de elote with piloncillo sauce. Everything was delicious, and it was so fun to enjoy a meal with people we had spent the day learning and cooking with. The cooking school staff were lovely - helpful, kind, friendly... Yolanda was wonderful, as were all of the staff who helped us on the day of our class! If you are interested in Oaxacan cuisine, cooking, and/or eating, I recommend taking a class! A unique experience that was great for our first trip to Oaxaca!

This was a truly amazing experience and I would highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in…read moreOaxacan cuisine. Our host, Susanna, had a couple of cookbooks and PBS shows under her belt but was as friendly and welcoming as could be. The classes take place in the massive purpose built kitchen on her ranch and she is but an amazing teams of chefs and support staff. Over 7 hours, we cooked, learned, chatted, stirred and finally ate. I am definitely adding some of the recipes to my rotation. She demystified mole and patiently guided all the budding chefs in our group. She also made a real effort to accommodate vegetarians and gluten free individuals in our group.

Great mezcal and great tour . I would definitely choose this place. Is friendly and it's right on…read morethe way to the waterfall

Two excellent tours (Mitla and Monte Alban- both all day) with excellent, knowledgeable guides…read more We were further impressed by their permitting the driver who picked us up at our hotel to bring us to the tour commencing area (Quinta Real Hotel) to take us back to our hotel to pick up an important item we had forgotten. We still got back to the meeting area before all tour members had arrived. This momentary management decision was most appreciated.