Hostal Del Mercado in Oaxaca, Mx. – A Great Hostel Review!

We booked our trip to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead completely last minute. We got a super cheap flight out of Tijuana just two days before we left, we made room reservations with Hostal Del Mercado online (yes, they spell hostel with an A instead of an E) and we just hoped for the best.

We were happily surprised when we got there. It was clean, quiet and the location was perfect! The people running Hostal Del Mercado were also very nice and one guy in particular was really helpful. However, there is a bit of a language barrier – it helps if you can speak a little bit of Spanish.

The quaint Oaxaca hostel provided breakfast every morning and it was fantastic! I was totally shocked. Two women came in every morning and served up hot & cold breakfast everyday. When we were there we saw: fresh fruit (every day), juice, bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausage, toast and then there was always an interesting local breakfast item as well. One day it was tortillas baked with a sauce on them – yum! The Mexican hostel also provided free WiFi and free, filtered drinking water. The free water was huge because as a traveler you can spend a lot of money every day on bottled water. On top of that it was only $11/per person a night for the 6 person dorm room.

The location couldn’t be beat! It was just a couple blocks from the Zocalo. The Zocalo is the main square in Oaxaca where a lot of the festivities take place. Any time of year you visit Oaxaca, you should definitely try to stay near the Zocalo. It’s a happening place with cafe’s, bars, restaurants and a nice green space & church right in the center. It’s also very safe. We never felt uncomfortable at all during our stay, even when walking around at night.

The other great thing about Hostal Del Mercado is that it is located right across the street from a major indoor market that we stumbled up one day – the 20 de Noviembre Market. It is named for the street it is on and you can see some more pictures from that market on another post I wrote about it. I LOVED that market and consider it a MUST SEE for any trip to Oaxaca. This is where we ate a lot of our meals during the day and most things were only a couple dollars.

So not only was the hostel right across the street from the awesome market and two blocks to the Zocalo, it was also right near the chocolate district. If you walk just a couple blocks (in the opposite direction of the Zocalo) you will land in the chocolate making area of the city. The smell of chocolate literally wafts down the streets. You can just follow your nose – it’s that potent and yummy! Oaxaca is known for their amazing amazing chocolate. If you want to see some mouth watering photos of the food in Oaxaca please check out the post – The Wonderful, Beautiful Food of Oaxaca.

Here are some more pictures from the hostel.

Their bathroom situation was interesting because all of the toilets were actually in the showers. They had plenty of shower/toilet rooms so there was never a line but it was interesting. It was always fairly clean but it was still a little odd trying to avoid the toilet while taking a shower. This wouldn’t prevent me from staying here again though. At least you know the toilets are getting cleaned several times a day by the shower!

Another thing worth noting is that we stayed in the 6 person dorm room, which really is more like a 10 person dorm room. If you book the 4 person dorm room (which at the time was more expensive) please be aware that it isn’t really a “room”. Basically they took  a large room and divided it up with 6 beds on one side and 4 on the other. They used closets and a room divider to make the two separate “rooms”. Again, not really a big deal but if you were booking the 4 person dorm room for you and 3 friends, you won’t truly be alone.

They had a couple of bonuses as well – a large balcony overlooking the street below, a large tv/pool room and a roof deck. The stairs going up to the deck were a little iffy but otherwise it was a nice change of pace to sit up there and chill out. Also every bed gets a huge locker with a key. We felt completely safe leaving our things there.

We really enjoyed our stay at Hostal Del Mercado and would recommend it to everyone.

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