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The 5 Best Bars in Oaxaca

Mezcal is the spirit most of these bars are built around. The best bars in Oaxaca cluster in Centro, along Macedonio Alcalá, 5 de Mayo and the streets around them. On Macedonio Alcalá, Selva has built its drinks on seasonal ingredients since it opened in March 2019 and is No. 43 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2026. A few blocks away on 5 de Mayo, Sabina Sabe, named for the Mazatec medicine woman María Sabina, spreads one of the world's largest mezcal collections across several drinking rooms. Mezcaloteca has set traditional mezcals side by side in guided tastings since 2010, In Situ Mezcalería pours fine mezcals for tasting, with a sister cocktail bar at In Situ Bodega on Calle Reforma, and on Morelos, Nois keeps a cocktail bar on the ground floor of the former Cine Oaxaca. Some rooms are walk-in only while others take reservations, so check before you go. These are the five we would start with.

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  1. Selva Oaxaca Cocktail Bar
    NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTCocktail Bar

    Selva Oaxaca Cocktail Bar

    Opened in March 2019 by the Art Cocktail Club as 'an ode to the diversity and richness of local ingredients and Mexican spirits', SELVA drinks its way through Oaxaca's markets, plants and communities under beverage director Alexandra Purcaru, mid-century rooms filled with agaves and indigenous art around a courtyard on the Alcalá. No.29 on North America's 50 Best Bars 2025, No.43 in 2026.

    Order thisSelva en una CopaAlipús mezcal, hoja santa, lemon, agave, Ancho Reyes, juniper bitters, Oaxacan cheese, basil
    C. Macedonio Alcalá #403-int. 6, RUTA INDEPENDENCIA, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax., Mexico
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  2. Sabina Sabe
    NORTH AMERICA'S 50 BESTCocktail Bar

    Sabina Sabe

    'A love letter to mezcal': Sabina Sabe runs through a series of rooms with vast amounts of the spirit on display, compelling cocktails built on Oaxacan ingredients, traditional dishes, and artwork throughout by Mexican artist Alejandro Magallanes. Down-to-earth and comfortable, it reached No.20 on North America's 50 Best Bars in 2022 and No.22 in 2023.

    5 de Mayo 209, Ruta Independencia, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de JuárezWed-Mon, closed Tue
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  3. In Situ Mezcalería
    Cocktail Bar

    In Situ Mezcalería

    In Situ Mezcalería is a mezcal bar in Oaxaca's Centro, founded by mezcal author Ulises Torrentera and editor Sandra Ortíz Brena. It also runs In Situ Bodega on Calle Reforma, a cocktail shop with a cocktail bar shared with Versus, where it holds its events. Its line is fine mezcals for tasting, under the house motto that everyone drinks the mezcal they deserve. Versus bottles agave spirits made with seasonal regional fruit and natural ingredients from Oaxaca's markets. The house also releases small batches from its own palenque in Yeguesía, distilled in clay pots, and hosts events such as an October producer visit with Calixto Velasco of Santa Catarina Albarradas.

    Calle Reforma 306, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax., Mexico
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  4. Mezcaloteca
    Cocktail Bar

    Mezcaloteca

    Mezcaloteca is a mezcal tasting room in the center of Oaxaca, open since 2010 and devoted to preserving and sharing the diversity of traditional mezcals and the biocultural processes behind them. Its collection gathers mezcals from several Mexican states that meet the criteria for traditional mezcal, and it champions the maestros mezcaleros who make them. Tastings are personalized and set three to five traditional mezcals side by side at the bar, with hosts guiding guests through categories, processes, regions and how to taste. Mezcaloteca has recently moved to a new space on Rufino Tamayo, sells bottles under its own label and opens its distillery for occasional booked visits.

    Rufino Tamayo 902, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax., MexicoDaily 12:00-21:00
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  5. Nois
    Cocktail Bar

    Nois

    Nois is a two-story restaurant and bar on Avenida José María Morelos in Oaxaca's Centro, in a building that keeps its original cantera stone facade and was long known as the Cine Oaxaca. Guests pass through the cantera door the house calls "n" into the ground-floor bar, a lounge pouring seasonal cocktails with fruits, herbs and spirits from the region, with seats in the lounge or up at the counter. Upstairs, at the top of a spiral staircase, the restaurant serves a tasting menu guided by Oaxaca and its seasons, from an open kitchen designed so diners can watch the team at work.

    Av. José María Morelos 701, Centro, 68000 Oaxaca de Juárez, Oax., MexicoBar Mon-Sat 14:00-00:00
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