Full-Day Monte Alban Archaeological Site and Oaxaca Artisan Experience

Our guides were absolutely incredible and so friendly would 100%take a tour from them again they were extremely knowledgeable

This is NOT an English tour! I can’t believe it’s advertised on Viator as such. The guide showed up late. Didn’t speak English, and was unapologetic about it. My friends speak Spanish so they were ok but I don’t so I was bored all day. The line to get in to Monte Albán was long and our guide kept telling us we might not get in and we should just turn around. We waited in line and finally got in over an hour later. At the end of the tour the guide didn’t even drop us off at our hotel because he said he was late for another tour. The booking said we would get an English tour with hotel pick up and drop off. I didn’t get what I paid for. I don’t recommend this tour and I hope Viator takes them off the site!

I would have given this more stars were it not for our guide Angel. It was booked as a tour in English. Turned out to be in both Spanish and English, both spoken very fast, and English with a heavy accent. I understand both languages, and it was clear that he spent more time explaining in Spanish, cutting short the info provided in English. If you only understood English, you would not be able to follow the flow, and if you were hard if hearing, impossible. The sites visited were interesting and informative and should be seen. The convent was not open for visitors, which came as a surprise to our guide. That shouldn’t happen. Monte Alban was only allowing a certain numbers of visitors due to COVID, which is understandable. We waited for an hour in a vehicle lineup before being able to enter. The alebrije and black pottery sites were very visual, and the goods for sale reasonably priced.

The tour itself was FANTASTIC! I love the guide (spoke very good English and engaged the English group 50/50), Monte Alban is probably the best ruins I've seen, the artisan stops were fantastic, the place for lunch was yummy and reasonably priced compared to other tours. Would definitely recommend! The only flaw, however, was significant. I booked this tour at least 3-4 days in advance, and according to the website pickup at hotel is at 9:30 am. However, we woke up to 2 calls at 6:30 am telling us in Spanish that pickup was actually at 7 am, and we needed to be ready. We received one text and one email at 12:03 am that day (after we had all gone to sleep) stating that we'd be picked up at 7 am. This is really poor communication on the part of the tour company - how difficult is it to send the email earlier? Also - this might be quite pricey comparatively. I booked a Mitla tour in town from an operator next to the Zocalo for just 200 pesos per person. I assume others got lower prices because their tours didn't seem to include entrance to Monte Alban (~75 pesos).

Gabriel was a great guide. This was a good balance of activities! Monte Alban is impressive and seeing the artisans was a good stop also

Good: English guide in Monte Alban was fantastic (I think his name was Mario) Bad: Too short free time for Monte Alban & Monastery with strict time limit (1h & 15 min, respectively) but no time limit for shopping place. Lunch was also no good. Pick up ban was late for over 40 min without any contact.

Great small group tour of Monte Alban and other attractions with Gabriel our guide and driver in a brand new vehicle. We were picked up on time and given an excellent commentary on the site and the museum with plenty of free time to explore on our own. There were visits to a couple of craft workshops which were enjoyable and low pressure. The buffet lunch stop was excellent in a beautiful garden setting. Gabriel is an outstanding guide with excellent English who kept the tour on track throughout the day.

We requested an English speaking guide and Gabriel was knowledgeable, well informed, and patient with our group of six people. We stopped at Monte Alban first and walked across the site while he explained what the structures were used for. We had enough time to walk around, climb the tallest ones and explore on our own. We also visited an alebrije artists' area, and another one featuring black pottery. We were able to purchase some lovely things to bring back home and took many pictures.

Very nice trip overall - the guide was extremely knowledgeable. I was the only person in our group that didn't speak Spanish, but the guide did a wonderful job of making sure to keep me included and translating conversations to English. I would highly recommend this trip.

It was an amazing experience. Monte Alban was even bigger and more beautiful than I thought! And since July is the rainy season in Mexico, the valley bellow was very green. The Zapotecs chose a perfect place for their pyramids. Our guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant. I travel with my sisters and we all learned and shopped a lot. And the alebrijes wood carvings in the town of Arrazola were beautiful, although I would have liked to see more of that town. I highly recommend this tour