Guide to the Free Museums of Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico

Oaxaca City, also known as Oaxaca de Juárez, is known around Mexico for several things: its coffee, its traditional food, its colonial architecture, art and culture. Since we didn’t find so many exciting vegan food options in Oaxaca (apart from the few veganisable local dishes), we spent our time in the city focusing on its visual art scene and checking out the many free museums.

There are several, and they don’t only focus on contemporary art, though of course some do. In all of them, you can take photos as long as you don’t use flash and you may wish to leave a donation, but are not obliged to. Some have free lockers where you can leave your bags, and in others they won’t mind you taking bags in with you. Here’s our guide to the best free museums of Oaxaca.

Displaying a permanent collection of works by artists who were born or worked mostly in Oaxaca downstairs and changing exhibitions of guest artists upstairs, this beautiful museum is a great place to familiarise yourself with contemporary Oaxacan art. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).