How to move between Oaxaca's airport and center

Recently, I decided to visit the Mexican city of Oaxaca. I had a work event there, which I extended into a tourist visit by staying a couple more days on my own.

Oaxaca is an amazing city, rich with high-quality art, delicious food, beautiful colonial buildings, and in close proximity to incredible archaeological sites as well as amazing trekking opportunits if you are looking for something wilder. The city is brimming with opportunities to party and boasts one of the greatest concentrations of libraries and bookstores I've seen in the country.

During the first few days at the work event, all transportation was arranged for me. With so many activities concentrated near my hotel, I spent my off days walking around. Imagine my surprise when, ready to leave, I opened my Uber app only to find a message stating that I was outside their area of coverage!

Unprepared and caught off guard, I quickly searched online and discovered that no ride-sharing services like Uber, Didi, or inDriver were available. The city’s cab drivers had successfully run all gig applications out of Oaxaca. Even food delivery services like Rappi were unavailable.

I turned to the hotel counter for help, where they promptly informed me of my options:

Walk with my bags some 8 km to the airport through less desirable neighborhoods and next to a highway (doable but not an attractive prospect).

Wait up to an hour for a bus costing about $1, travel an additional hour, and then walk an extra kilometer to the airport (a bit better but still not ideal).

Let them call me a cab to take me to the airport for about $15.

The cab seemed like the only remotely acceptable option, but I’ve had some bad experiences with cabs in Mexico. Often, they are smelly, poorly maintained, driven recklessly, and leave you open to cons and unexpected charges. So, I try to avoid them whenever possible.

In a last bid to avoid my personal nemesis, I opened Google and searched for "shuttles, airport, Oaxaca." I quickly found a hidden gem: private or shared private transportation. Not knowing much about this option, I called the nearest service that appeared, "Shuttles Oaxaca," fearing I would have to haul my luggage to their pickup spots.

To my pleasant surprise, the phone was answered by a young man with excellent English. He quickly informed me that I could schedule a trip with them in one of their vans for about half the cost of a taxi. They would send me the invoice, as well as a picture and the name of the driver, to my phone. All I had to do was provide them with the address or name of my hotel.

Did I wish to hire an entirevan that would transport 10 passengers? Just pay sone $50. Was I alone? No problem, I could use a shared van to get there.

Was I in a hurry? They had a shuttle picking up a couple more tourists near me at that very moment. If I wanted, they could add me to their trip, and I would even get a discount since it was not a special trip.

For $6 and 10 minutes later, I was comfortably seated in a clean, recent-model van with working seatbelts, no loud music, and air conditioning, comfortably traveling to the airport with time to spare for my flight.

So now you know. If you travel to Oaxaca, don't let hotel managers make you believe that a cab is your only option. You might find that a private shuttle is a better match for you.