Hierve el Agua and Teotitlan del Valle Tour from Oaxaca

We had a great trip with...

We had a great trip with Sebastián, Hierve el Agua was beautiful and would definitely recommend spending 2.5-3 hours there! Lunch was delicious and we loved the weaving tour at the end.

Petrified waterfall tour

My sister and I booked this tour and absolutely loved it. It was our favorite part of our trip to Oaxaca. Arriving early before all the other tourists was amazing, because we got to experience it all to ourselves which was so special. Our driver was great and the whole experience was very rich and fulfilling. Highly recommend this tour!

Not really a guided tour

Not really a tour but more a drive in what seemed like a safe comfortable vehicle. I liked that we left early (7a) so we had Hierve el Agua to ourselves for about an hour. The weaving shop in Teotitlan del Valle was interesting but I would have liked to visit a few different shops. Our small group opted to skip lunch and head back to town. The only "guiding" that took place was when the driver pull to the side of the road to point out some petroglyphs. For a solo traveler it seems like an OK deal but if you're with a group I would look at renting a car or hiring a driver instead.

Early visit to Hierve el Agua

Very pleasant trip by van with 4 other people. Javier was a great driver and host, and was very attentive to our needs. We had ample time at Hierve el Agua, a good lunch stop, a local weaver, and an additional visit to a Mezcal place. And still got back to Oaxaca by mid afternoon.

A fabulous 15th birthday present for my daughter!

We had a wonderful day with a good amount of time to spend at Hierve de Agua which was stunning, not to be missed. We did the hike and got very hot and sweaty which made the pools blissful to plunge into when we got back to the top. Could have spent another hour there at least. The lunch was lovely and we really enjoyed the textiles visit, both family run places with very friendly people. Our driver was friendly and patient and seemed to get us to each place before the crowds arrived. Thanks for everything.

Great day trip!

We booked the day trip to Hierve el Agua and Teotitlán. Enjoy Oaxaca was very communicative and provided just enough information to make our reservation easy. Kley was our driver for the day, and he arrived right on time at 7am in a nice Mercedes van and spoke great English. The views of the countryside outside Oaxaca were beautiful and the trip was just wonderful! I don’t enjoy hiking but that hike was perfect as it had lots of great stops for photos of amazing views and ended with a refreshing dip in the mineral pools. The stop at the Zapotec weavers’ studio was very cool and we loved the demonstration of the weaving process. It was a great trip!

Wonderful day trip from Oaxaca.

Spectacular to see this site. Alberto was an excellent driver/lead who looked after us well. Highly recommended.

Trip to Hierve,Tule,Teotitlán and Mezcal tasting

Favourite leg of this Tour was Hierve el Agua.The tour also includes Tule which is impressive,Mitla ruins which are quite interesting but not as impressive as Monte Alban and a visit to carpet making in Teotitlán del Valle and a Mezcal tasting. In the latter 2 stops the Demo on how the products are made is fascinating. Driver was Isaias and Tour Guide was Edelmira.The guide was friendly but her English was only Fair and she was hard to understand at times. I would have liked her to give better directions in Hierve so that I could figure out what option to choose. So here is my version of what to choose… There are 3 choices: -To the left Down the path to the pools -To the Right until fork in road gives several views not available the other way and only slightly challenging if you turn right at this fork. -Also to the right but at fork,go left and it takes you to the base of Hierve.Definitely worth it for the views,but the way back is fairly challenging,especially for those not used to the Altitude. Great views. For the swimming I recommend water shoes or something for your feet to walk around in,unless you don’t mind getting your tennis shoes or sandals wet. It can be very slippery in certain spots and Water shoes help. Lunch was at a buffet style restaurant,which is not my Favourite style of food,but the selection was very extensive and easy to find enough for anyone to eat. Lunch is Extra. This is another good point. Be sure to have sufficient cash for food,entrances to different options,tips for the Demos and even change for the Restrooms. Also,tips for the Guides who I suspect make a good part of their salary from tips. Overall it was a great trip and I definitely recommend.

Great tour, Enjoy Oaxaca tour company gets kudos

Hierve el Agua was spectacular, and we especially enjoyed the visit to the weaving village. We were really surprised to see how much work went into making one of their woven rugs. They are incredibly talented artists. Javier our guide was top notch. A special shout out to our tour company, Enjoy Oaxaca. They had a vehicle problem the first day so we scheduled the tour. They treated us to lunch that day and paid for our taxi to the airport as a thank you for the inconvenience. They went above and beyond, but it was much appreciated.

It was a fantastic tour! Our guide was great, well informed and bilingual. The tour better than expected. Would highly

The area, the guide, the information It was exceptional. Better than we’d hoped. Blah blah!!! That’s it

Best tour agency

Amazing experience at Hierve el agua, great guide with Ede, she is so kind and helpful. Mezcal and Telars process is so interesting

Get to Hierve el Agua Early and Beat Big Groups

As previous reviews have stated, this is basically just a transport service to Hierve el Agua and Teotitlan del Valle, so we weren't surprised that a tour of the falls wasn't included. Communication from the operator was good and our driver, Javier, was friendly and got us to where we needed to go. So this is a good option if you want to get to the falls early and beat large groups. Expect an early start (6:30-ish pick-up)! On an aside, if you're visiting the falls on this tour, be careful and bring hiking shoes if you can. There are lots of uneven steps and slippery, rocky slopes - we actually didn't make it down to the bottom of the path because we witnessed a woman falling and breaking her wrist ahead of us! The pools were freezing the day we went, so only the bravest went in (this was in November) as it was also cold and windy that day. Be prepared to pay a road tax (20 pesos), entrance fee (50 pesos) and for your own meal at the restaurant, but the food was good and cheap. We enjoyed the weaving demonstration at Teotitlan del Valle, but we were a small group and there was a lot of pressure for us to buy a rug (a couple in our group did, but it would have been very awkward if they hadn't). The rugs were beautiful, but they are very expensive. Despite us leaving with an understanding of the painstaking process and amount of time required to make a single piece, we couldn't afford them (about £600- £1,500).

Transportation is all you get, so it is overpriced

I paid $60 for this tour. What mainly drew me to this is that it leaves 1 hr earlier than other tours and visits Hierve el Agua first. this ended up not being an important pro - at least the day I went - because a group of us did the hike around for an hour and came back, and the pools were still not too crowded. Another potential benefit I saw was that this tour says that entry fees (20 MXN for road use, 50 MXN for entrance) and lunch are included, but this too turned out not to be a pro, since they are not included. this information was added by Viator and not the company, so the group of us had some issues to figure out on the trip. The company reps were very sweet though and - after some messaging back and forth and pushback from me - explained this to me and offered me reimbursement for the entrance fees and lunch and said they would take it up with Viator. Compared to many other tours that stop by the tule tree, a mezcal facility, and mitla, this tour is of a comparable price but much less packed. It also says a guide is included, but it is not. This is what the trip looked like for me: The night before, you get confirmation of what time your pick up will be with the information about the driver. The morning of, you get picked up in a Mercedez Benz van along with other folks. The driver says nothing except a high level overview of the trip timeline. He drops you off at the entrance of Hierve el Agua and tells you that there are guides for hire (free, but expecting tip) and to meet him back at the entrance in two hours. Then you stop by Teotitlan del Valle for a speedy tour, so if you don't buy anything you will be there for 15 minutes at most, and the driver translates the tour in english for you if need be. Effectively all they provided was transportation to hierve el agua, transportation to Teotitlan del Valle, which is right on the way, and transportation back. If you aren't set on visiting Hierve el Agua earlier than some of the crowds, consider taking another tour that has more stops for roughly the same price. If transportation is all you need, consider El Andador tour company with a physical location in the city two blocks from the Zocalo. They aren't _really_ a tour company or well reviewed, but they only claim to provide the transportation to and from places. I don't think they would pick you up in a Benz though. Their tour for Hierve El Agua includes stops at Tule, a Mezcal factory, and Mitla and costs 250 MXN. Thats $14 with the current conversion rates.

Good activities, tour could be better

This was a great full day tour with the waterfall, lunch textile town visit, mezcal tasting and even a bonus stop per my request. However, our guide didn't stay with us at all points of the adventure, causing some awkward scenarios with other guides and a need for one of us to translate for the rest of the group. Also, there are many small costs like entrance fees and tips, so be sure to bring pesos in smaller bills or consider a tour that includes lunch and fees.

This tour is mainly...

This tour is mainly transportation. However, everything was communicated well and our driver was very kind and helpful. You can pay for a guide at Hierve El Agua if you’d like. I particularly enjoyed the place we stopped at for lunch. The family at the restaurant was so welcoming. The demonstration in Teotitlán de Valle was interesting but felt rushed.

Great way to visits outside Oaxaca

Alberto was very knowledgeable and helpful. We bustard an extra site on the way to the main attraction

Lovely tour

Our guide, Javier, was very informative, spoke better English than I do, and made sure we were happy the entire tour.

Hierve El Agua is worth the trip

Besides the transportation, nothing else is included. The guide was average. He didn’t offer much except to make sure we got to where we needed to be. But it is a spectacular place to visit so it was worth it.

Interresting tour

Nice tour, very interresting. Ony 4 peoples on the van. However we booked an english tour and the visit were in spanish

Fabulous

This was a fun tour, Javier was a great guide. The food was wonderful and the sights were gorgeous. Highly recommended!

Hierve el Aqua

Alberto was an excellent guide, spoke great English and was a safe driver! We would definitely recommend this half day trip! We loved spending some time in the water after our hike!

Really interesting!

Our guide was super nice, and we enjoyed the waters, and would wish stay longer next time. The weaving village is really cool, and would have wanted to spend more time there as well. The mezcal distillery was interesting as well.

Nice Day Trip!

The door-to-door pick-up is a great feature, just please be considerate and be ready when the driver comes so the others are not left waiting in the van. The driver/guide was very friendly and informative and spoke English well. The trip has four stops and our guide told us exactly what to expect at each one, which I appreciate. We loved seeing the textile demonstration and having a bit of time to shop. The Hierve el Agua is the main part of the trip, but be warned about the steep walk down (that's not the hard part) and then the lower path below the "falls" and back up to the pools. This kicked my ass and I am a fit, outdoorsy person, but at the altitude and mid-day heat - it was far more strenuous than anticipated. Fortunately we brought a lot of water, some bananas and peanuts to refuel as we got dizzy from the heat and steepness. This longer route was apparently a misunderstanding between our driver/guide and the local guide that takes people to see the sites. This local guide will only speak Spanish, and so my husband and translated for others in the group (not a problem). But there were some of us who were really put off by not being prepared for how tough the scramble back up hill was going to be, and without speaking any Spanish about how tired you feel, any fear of heights, or the fact that you're dizzy - it could be a bit dangerous. Our driver/guide was frustrated that the local guy took us so far, it wasn't his plan for us, so try to be as clear as you can in your questions of what to expect about this walk. Other than that - a great day trip to sample the sights.

Primarily a shuttle service

The trip was fine, but not special. The van was clean and comfortable and picked us up exactly on time. The driver was nice. As another reviewer noted, however, this is really just a shuttle service, not a tour. The weaving and mezcal stops were essentially marketing opportunities rather than particularly informative (though the work that goes into dying and weaving rugs is very impressive). Hierva el Agua is worth visiting, but there are lots of other tours that go there as well. I'd suggest checking out one of those - or be aware of what you're buying in this one. It is a perfectly good shuttle service.

Wonderful experience and amazing price

This trip was a blast. The textile demonstration was fabulous with friendly staff answering any questions that came up. Hierve El Agua is a must see when visiting Oaxaca so it was a delightful part of this tour. And of course you can’t come to Oax without trying Mezcal. It’s a great price for the experience you get! The company Enjoy Oaxaca organized this tour so well. We had an amazing driver, Javier, and the customer service leading up to this trip was so responsive and helpful. If we had a question about the tour I could message them via WhatsApp and heard a response within an hour. Highly recommend! The next time we come we will definitely be booking through this company again. And we’ll be recommending this tour to our friends!

TOURIST TRAP. DON'T DO IT!!! 11 hour day

This tour was an absolute tourist trap. I was expecting a half day to see the rug making and Hierva El Agua. The day lasted 10.5 hours. We left at 8am and didn't get back until 6:30. NONE of the admission prices were included, so I have no clue why the tour is so expensive. The tour I booked said nothing about visiting Tule Tree or Mitla, I didn't sign up to visit those, but had no choice. At each stop we were given like an hour to shop (I wasn't interested in shopping either). We also went to a mezcal tasting at like 1030 in the morning which is a bit early to be drinking Mezcal. Also nothing about that mentioned in the description. And then we were all funneled into this really overpriced and mediocre lunch buffet. Beverages were not included but the tip was. 200 pesos for the worst food I've had in Mexico since I've been here. I paid for it because at that point I was starving and had no clue when the next chance to get food would be or how much longer the trip would be. After SEVEN hours of driving around we finally got to Hierva El Agua but by that point I was so thirsty and tired that I barely enjoyed it. Also, I guess paying for the tour doesn't include a guide either, because when we got home Hierva El Agua the "guide" told us we could pay someone who could show us around. I really don't understand what I paid nearly $50 US dollars for if it didn't include anything. Every place we went he collected more money from us and pressured us to go shopping. I feel like I got scammed. I was wondering why the reviews weren't worse on here and a friend told me that Tripadvisor does paid reviews so the reviews aren't really accurate. I learned a lesson this day!! The only part of the day I enjoyed was the rug making, it was really interesting and cool. Oh also, I signed up for the English speaking tour but I was the only English speaker and the "guide" didn't really speak English so I had to guess what was going on most of the time. At least the bus had A/C. DON'T BOOK THIS TRIP

Great day trip!

Excellent demonstration of the weaving process by Nelson. We also enjoyed Huervas al Agua although the water was colder than we imagined. It was also a very windy day so that just added to the coldness.

Nice experience

Pick up was done on time and transport was very clean and comfortable. Enjoyable tour and lunch was good as well

Great trip

well worth the money . It was great to get out of town to see the countryside. Nice Mercedes sprinter van comfortable, right

It was a great day!

The company was very responsive and communicative the whole booking & pick up process. The car was new, clean and comfortable. Our driver Javier spoke perfect English, I felt safe with him driving and as the only female he opened my door every time I got in or out of the vehicle. It was nice to get out of Oaxaca City and see small towns and the mountains. It was a great day at Hierve del Agua, textile and mazcal factories.

Nice but expensive and no guide included for Hierve El Agua.

It was a nice trip, but the guide in Hierve el Agua was not included. And the lunch was in a restaurant (we felt forced to eat there). Too expensive considering the pack.

Good, but long drive and hot in the van. Van packed

The driver was 1 hour late to pick us up from original pick up time. They told us morning of, but still wasting time. The ride was good because it was broken up between a few cool stops. The van was packed to the brim making it very uncomfortable though. We had to ask to turn on the AC every time we got back in the van. It was so hot in the back we felt sick. Hierve el agua was great. The buffet was ok. The driver went to drop people off in the most inefficient way. Many people asked to get out at a random location because we were so far from Centro.

Nice tour - lots to learn and see

The tour was great - I liked the small group. The tour to the rug making place was fantastic - the art of their craft was beautiful and i was so interesting to learn about the process. The Hierve del Agua was interesting to see, but the hike we took with our tour guide was definitely way more intense than what we had planned on. I wished I would've skipped that part. The dinner was good - pretty typical Oaxacan food that was good, but nothing compared to the food I've been eating all week in Centro. The mezcal factory was great - interesting to learn about the artesenal mezcal making process.

Great day

Great day! Would recommend. Well organised and friendly. Hierve el agua was beautiful, great setting and we did a little hike too.

Custom Tour - excellent (english speaking & knowledgable) tour guide!

Antonio from Oaxaca ConMigo Tours took the three of us to outlying areas to see Hierve el Aqua (wear shoes that you can hike with), visit local eateries, see small towns (Tule) and visit the large Sunday Tlacolua Market (selling everything from rugs to live chickens- Sundays only). The guide provided color commentary throughout our day on a variety of topics (Mezcal, local customs, politics, history, geography, etc) and changed our itinerary on the fly throughout the day depending on our interests. The communication prior to trip was also excellent. Decide what you want to see and do - and they can make it happen and will recommend more. We had friends who booked with a Zocalo vendor offering daily tours - and their guide just drove them around without explaining much. So glad we picked this one through trip advisor and had Tony as our guide! He also seemed to know Mezcal very well and would add the option to visit a local distillery if doing it again.

Hierve el agua was...

Hierve el agua was amazing and beautiful experience. The rug makers were interesting and talented and informative.

Worth Seeing

Hierve el Agua was an amazing tour. The views were spectacular!!! It would of been nice if they had guides to explain how this was formed. You can swim in the 2 lagoons. It is a bit of a hike but worth it.

Kyle

He was a great driver, gave us options, and showed us great places to go and eat. We were able to taste mezcal And see how textiles are made. I recommend taking his tour.

So long!

Unfortunately, the driver would 100% ignore if you need a toilet. Sound like we’re a rush? Well not really. He stopped for himself at Miltra brought his own snacks and water in a convenient store while everyone was waiting for him on a van for almost 10 mins!! Everyone on our tour had witnessed this. He lied to me that there’re no toilet despite passing lots of public toilets even with parkings. I’ve been to 50+ countries and have taken lots of tours everywhere in the world. I can totally say from my taking tours experiences that this driver from this company couldn’t care less about his job. He should quit. He is absolutely useless One star all the way!!

Amazing tour in a comfort van

Highly recommended to take this tour to experience Oaxaca best natural pool, amazing view and culture. The can is really comfy, with a pick up right in front of your hotel door, except for the lunch is not included, you’ll have to pay for the buffet. But still worth it and the tour is amazing!

Got exactly what was advertised. No complaints at all

It ran like clockwork. Pick up was on time at 8 and back in Oaxaca city at 4.45. Sufficient time offered for each of the locations on the tour - hierve el agua was 2 hours to spend - you decide how you want to spend it. The zapotec weaving, mezcal distillery were interesting and didn't feel forced. Lunch was decent and buffet. Enough options even if you're vegetarian.

Great experience bad lunch

The tour was good the driver was friendly and nice. There was 2.25 hours at Hierve el Agua which was a good amount of time we went for a circular hike which was well worth the effort as you see the bottom and can look up as well. Even with this there is time for a dip in the pools if you wish. The Teotitlan del Valle textile makers were excellent and much better then other artisan tours that are normally included in these kind of combined tours. The mexcal tasting was a bit lackluster but doesn't take out much time so is ok. I would however say that the restaurant they take you too is not great and gave us diarrhea (only time we got it in Mexico at all) so I might suggest bringing something with you instead of you can as you have to pay extra for this on top as well anyway.

Brilliant experience at the waterfall

Amazing seeing the waterfall and being able to swim in it! I would say it’s definitely worth using a local to take you on the walk around the waterfall. The other parts of the tour were also really great (we bought a blanket and some mezcal) but we didn’t have lunch until 3pm (it was ok but not massive variety of you are a vegetarian) and the ‘tour guide’ was more of a transport provider than anything. However, we met great people and loved seeing another amazing part of the world.

Bertha Birthday

The beauty of the place the only suggestion is to provide a bus with more space between each row and a guide who provide more information about the place .

Well-run trip

Straightforward, well run trip from Oaxaca to Hierve el Agua with stops at a weaving workshop and a mezcal distillery. Good transport and right amount of time at each place. The guide gave us instructions for a 1hr walk that we could do independently at Hierve el Agua - well worth it to get a view of the waterfalls.

Three tours in one.

The beauty of Hierve de Agua, the informative information at Mescal El Ray de Matatlan and textile weaving demonstration.

MAgnificent Ancient Art Today

The driver was excellent up and down the mountain. However, this is not a tour. It is transportation to some very interesting places. The Zapotecos weavers who create real art was the highlight for us.

Amazing day trip - highly recommend it!

The amazing views from the waterfall. Really enjoyed the visit to the family run weave shop too. A thoroughly enjoyable day all round!

Underwhelming, to say the least

8:30am: hotel pick up, the most our driver spoke to us the entire trip. Expect to spend close to 9 hours of day in a bus crammed with other tourists. 9:30am: First stop at an artisan textile workshop in teotitlan. The family is lovely and the demonstration of how they make and dye their wool is cool (but was mostly in Spanish) but then you are shown to a sales floor filled with overpriced textiles. The tour description says you will have the opportunity to walk through the town, this is not true. You are kept in the show room floor to look at expensive rugs for what feels like forever. Then you are herded back into the bus to drive two hours on bumpy dirt mountain roads with lots of switch backs so if you suffer from any motion sickness, reconsider this tour. 12:00pm: Hierve el agua has some nice views but there was only two pools open to swim in, the rest were marked off with caution tape. There is no explanation of anything about the site, our driver simply opened our bus door told us when to return to the bus and walked away. You have two hours to spend there, then head back down those bumpy roads to lunch at a buffet style restaurant. 3pm: lunch. Driver again says almost nothing as you get off the bus; we had to ask one of the waiters for any clue on cost and time at this restaurant. you have 1 hour to eat @ $165 pesos per person (drinks not included) then another 30 minutes drive to final stop. 4:30pm: tour of mezcalaria. Seemed like it was good for those who spoke Spanish, but as we do not, we missed a lot of what was shared. This, despite asking for English tour and guides several times. Again, driver of no use as he just opens the bus door to offload and reload us like sheep. Spent about and hour at the mezcalaria then finally headed back to Oaxaca. 6:00pm: drop off at our hotel. Underwhelming to say the least. A day of our lives we will unfortunately never get back.

Awesome tour but a little fast paced

Very nice tour, our driver was very friendly. The explanation of how textiles and mezcal were made were a little rushed, but otherwise everything was amazing. The road to Hierve El Agua is a little bumpy, so if you’re prone to motion sickness and/or have children with you it can get messy, especially with altitude sickness thrown in the mix. The restaurant that we were taken to near the end of the trip was the best! It was buffet style and they had soooo much for to choose from. So many moles, salsas, meats, soups, everything. The tortillas were hand made. The agua frescas offered were delicious as well. Honestly it was the second best part of the trip!