After taking a 5 day cooking class in Puebla, we headed to Oaxaca for a different culinary experience and to take in this cultural mecca. Casa Oaxaca enabled us to exhale and deeply relax.

Each morning started with an incredible breakfast, included in the hotel cost, on their lovely open patio. Listening to the water fountain and eating their delicious gourmet food encouraged us to start the day slowly. The room offered a similar respite, with a comfortable bed and chairs, enjoyable shower, and great light.

Although it's not well advertised, you can take a cooking class with the chef of the restaurant Casa Oaxaca (which is a few blocks away). We've taking cooking classes in several countries, and this was the most personal and fun. The market visit with Chef Alejandro Ruiz was a like a delightufl visit with his friends that let his passion for the foods of the region shine. The same light, upbeat energy infused the kitchen as we prepared a wide range of dishes in the "nuevo Mexican" style. This is an undiscovered foodies' delight!

Casa Oaxaca was also extremely accomodating to us as we were traveling with our 10-month old daughter. They arranged for the mother of a staff member to be her nanny and gave us complete access to the kitchen for washing and sterilizing bottles.

Casa Oaxaca was the site for a week long cooking class offered by A Cook's Tour, a cooking school tour company. We stayed at the hotel and took cooking classes from the hotel chef Alexandro. The hotel accommodations were wonderful (but some guests had beds that were a little hard; mine was fine), the staff really friendly and gracious, and the food was fantastic. We ate at several other well known restaurants in town but they paled next to Alexandro's kitchen. He is also a great guy. The accommodations are elegant and intimate. I would definitely recommend this hotel.

My wife and I spent six days at Casa Oaxaca. This is a wonderful place to stay. The courtyard is totally serene - a wonderful oasis in the heart of the historic district of the city. The staff is very attentive and professional. They go out of their way to make your stay a pleasure. The rooms are a little dark, but they are comfortable and spacious. Breakfast in the courtyard is superb.

Our only complaint is that the excellent restaurant (dining al fresco in the courtyard) is quite popular and occaisionally the noise of the patrons can be annoying if you retire to your room early. Ask for one of the two rooms off theback courtyard where the pool is and this won't be an issue.

We hope to go back next year!

After a week on the Pacific coast we stayed at Casa Oaxaca for just one night.It happened to be my wife's birthday as well, and we were delightfully surprised with Oaxacan chocolate-banana cake with Margaritas and samples of the hotel's aged mezcal...OO-LA-LA!!!Two thumbs up for the wonderful staff.