Planning a trip to Oaxaca, but you’re not sure how to get from Oaxaca Airport to your hotel, hostel, or Airbnb in Oaxaca City?

In this Oaxaca post, I’m going to share with you the easiest, cheapest, and safest way to get to the center of Oaxaca City from the airport. I found that a lot of information online is out-of-date. You’ll also find information on how to get back to the airport at the end of your trip.

This information is based on my two trips to Oaxaca, the last one being March 2024.

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About the Oaxaca International Airport

A few things you should know about the Oaxaca International Airport:

• Oaxaca International Airport is about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) from the historic center, which is where you should be staying. If there’s not much traffic, it should take about 24 minutes to get to or from the airport.
• Even though the airport isn’t that far, be cognizant of blockades. Oaxaca experiences a lot of protests and these protestors like to block roads not allowing vehicles to pass. If this happens, it’ll be harder and it’ll take longer to get to the airport. The day I needed to go to the airport to pick up a friend, there was a blockade on the road to the airport that day. Luckily, by the time, I had to go to the airport, it was over.
• Oaxaca Airport is small and there’s nowhere to sit at all for free before check-in. This is a bummer if you’re waiting to pick someone up or you arrive before the check-in desk opens up. I ended up having to wait for my friend in a restaurant and ordering an expensive drink I didn’t want.
• There are monitors at the airport with arrival times posted. But these arrival times aren’t often correct. My friend’s flight was delayed but the monitors never updated the new times even though the apps on my phone were constantly giving me the new times.

How to Get from Oaxaca Airport to Oaxaca City

You’ve got several options for getting from Oaxaca Airport to your accommodations in Oaxaca City:

• Shared taxi (colectivo – shuttle van) – cheap and fairly convenient
• Private taxi – most expensive but quickest
• Pre-arranged shuttle, transfer, or taxi – can be quick and convenient but it’ll be more expensive than booking at the airport
• Shared taxi (colectivo – taxi cab) – cheapest but least convenient

By Shared Taxi (Shuttle) or Private Taxi

I think the shuttle is the easiest, safest, and cheapest way to get from the airport to where you’re staying in Oaxaca. You can easily book a shuttle (colectivo) from inside the Oaxaca Airport when you arrive.

Before I tell you how to get the shuttle, I need to explain the meaning of “colectivo.” In many parts of Mexico (and much of Latin America), “colectivo” is used to mean both “shared taxi” and “shuttle.” You share the vehicle with other passengers. It can be a taxi cab (4-door sedan) or it can be a shuttle (van). At the Oaxaca Airport it can mean both. Here I am talking about a shuttle. Later in the post, I’ll tell how you can use the shared taxi cabs.

How to book a shuttle & private taxi

When you enter the Arrival Hall after leaving baggage claim, you’ll see a row of rental car agencies on each side of the Hall. Walk past them and on the right side between the two Exits and across from a restaurant, you’ll come to a kiosk with the word “TAXI” in big letters. That’s where you want to be!

You have two options (prices as of March 2024):

• Shared Taxi (Colectivo – Shuttle) – This is just a comfortable and modern shuttle (van) that stops at different hotels to drop off passengers.
  • Zone 1 – MXN$120/person (historic center)
  • Zone 2 – MXN$190/person
• Private Taxi (Especial) – Your own private taxi that goes directly to your hotel; good if you have at least 4 people in your group.
  • Zone 1 – MXN$465/service (historic center)
  • Zone 2 – MXN$680/service

Give the person at the TAXI kiosk the address of your accommodations and they’ll tell you whether you’re in Zone 1 or Zone 2.

At first, I stopped by the Taxi Kiosk before my friend arrived to find out if my hotel (Casa los Arcos) was in Zone 1 or Zone 2 and a female staff member glanced at my hotel address (it was in Xochimilco neighborhood) and said Zone 2.

However, when I returned with my friend to book our shuttle, the same woman looked up my address on her computer and told me Zone 1. Another guest at my hotel was told Zone 2.

You can pay for the shuttle (colectivo) with cash or credit card.

The shuttle is in the parking lot across the street from the terminal–about a 5-second walk.

Give the ticket showing you’ve paid and your address the address of your accommodations to the driver. The shuttle won’t leave until it’s full. We were the last ones to book the shuttle and only had to wait five minutes before it took off. The shuttle was clean and comfortable.

We were also the last ones dropped off. It took almost one hour to get to our hotel.

By Pre-Arranged Shuttle, Transfer, and Taxi

You can also book a shuttle and taxi beforehand.

• Shared Shuttle – You can also pre-book the shuttle. Check prices and reviews and book your shuttle through Get Your Guide or Viator. If you have any problems, they’re easy to contact and very helpful (from my experience). I tried to book this one shuttle on the day my friend arrived and I couldn’t. Book at least a day in advance.
• Private Transfer – This private transfer service is going to be the fastest way to get to your hotel. You don’t need to wait at the TAXI kiosk. Your driver will be waiting for you when you exit baggage claim. This one on Viator gets decent reviews (4.5/5.0 Stars) or this private transfer on Get Your Guide.
• Airport Taxi You can also book an airport taxi through Booking.com. This is what I did when I was in San Jose, Costa Rica, and I was pleased with the service. I was staying at a private residence and Booking.com was able to find my address.

By Red & White Shared Taxi

The cheapest way to get from the Oaxaca Airport to Oaxaca City is by the Red and White Shared Taxis called colectivos. They’re taxis that ply a fixed route between Oaxaca and the surrounding cities. You share with other passengers who get dropped off and picked up along the route.

To take either one, you need to leave the airport and walk over 1 mile to Highway 175 and wait at this bus stop (in front of Farmacia Del Ahorra).

Wait for a Red and White Shared Taxi to come by. It should cost MXN$20. The taxi’s last stop is on Calle del Dr. Pardo in front of a small park called Jardin San Francisco in the historic center of Oaxaca City.

I didn’t take this shared taxi, but I’ve taken lots of shared taxis like this in Oaxaca to and from other nearby cities.

How to Get from Oaxaca City to Oaxaca Airport

You have several options for getting from Oaxaca City to Oaxaca Airport.

• DiDi
• Taxi
• Pre-booked Shuttle or Transfer
• Colectivo – red and white shared taxi

Getting to the Airport with DiDi

I think the BEST way to get to the Oaxaca Airport is by using the DiDi App. DiDi is a company based in China that works like Uber but uses taxis instead of private cars.

For starters, Uber is banned in Oaxaca because taxi drivers claim that Uber is unfair competition. Taxi drivers need to be registered while Uber drivers do not. DiDi, in the other hand, is acceptable in Oaxaca because it uses yellow taxi cabs instead of an individual’s private car.

Other than that, DiDi works pretty much the same way as Uber. You download the DiDi App to your phone. The App can detect your location. You enter your destination and in at least 30 seconds you’ll get a taxi agreeing to pick you up. You’ll learn the driver’s name, license plate, rating, and an estimated amount of the ride. It usually took 2 minutes for my driver to show up (much quicker than Uber).

You can pay for your ride with cash or you can add your credit card information to the DiDi App and charge your ride to the card. I always paid cash. The problem with doing it that way is that drivers sometimes don’t have change.

My friend and I used DiDi twice to get to the Airport and we used it several times for getting around the city to the various Oaxaca attractions. The first time I used it to get to the airport to pick up my friend, it cost me MXN$212. This was at 3:30 pm. I had to wait about 5 minutes for a taxi to come and pick me up.

The second time was at 5:15 am when my friend had to go to the airport. It took 2 minutes for the DiDi driver to pick her up from our hotel (Casa Los Arcos) and she ended up at the airport in less than 20 minutes. It cost MXN$280.

I tried calling a  DiDi taxi one morning at 9:00 am to get to the bus station and it was taking longer than the usual 30 seconds, so I just grabbed the first taxi I saw approach me on the street and used the amount DiDi was quoting me to bargain with the driver. He wanted MXN$80 and Didi was quoting MXN$66, so I bargained him easily down to MXN$70.

DiDi is a great app but it does have some limitations.

1. From my experience, the license plate on the app rarely match the vehicle’s real license plate. That’s how I make sure I get into the correct Uber. So, with DiDi, I always asked the taxi driver his or her name (tu nombre?) to ensure that it matched the name on the App. The driver always asked my name, too, and my destination.
2. The App had a hard time finding some of my destinations. For example, it couldn’t find my small guesthouse (Casa Los Arcos), so I had to use a nearby hotel like the Marriott. This had never happened to me with Uber.
3. The price you are quoted on the app is not the price you actually pay. Sometimes it’s less and sometimes it’s more. I was quoted MXN$203 on DiDi but my ride turned out to be MXN$212. The quote you get on DiDi is an estimate and it depends on traffic conditions.

Despite these issues, I think it’s the best way to get to the airport. At rush hour, you might have to wait a long time to get DiDi taxi.

Ask Your Hotel to Arrange a Taxi

You can easily just have your hotel arrange a taxi for you. Before you jump in the taxi, negotiate a price. I’d try for MXN$200-$250.

Pre-Booked Shuttle or Transfer

I tried booking a shuttle for my friend to get to the airport at 5:30 am. But I tried booking the day before and it wasn’t available for the next day. So, if you want to have a shuttle pick you up, reserve at least two days in advance and make sure you’re in communication with your driver before the day of departure.

There are several shuttles that you can book on Get Your Guide.

You can also book an airport taxi through Booking.com that will pick you up at your accommodations and take you to the airport.

Red-and-White Colectivos

The absolute cheapest way to get to the airport is with the red and white shared taxis called colectivos. These are basic 4-door sedans painted red and white that travel along fixed routes between Oaxaca City and different nearby towns. You share the taxi with other passengers who get out and get in along the route.

The shared taxi you want for the airport leaves from in front of the very small Jardin San Francisco (San Francisco Park) in the historic center of Oaxaca City.

The taxi has a sign on the front windshield that says Animus – Trujano (the final destination). This taxi will drive by the airport access road. When I was looking for the taxi, a man was guiding people into the cars.

By the way, these red and white taxis are a great way for getting to the major attractions outside of Oaxaca, too. You can find detailed information on using these taxis in this Oaxaca travel guide.

How much does a shared taxi cost?

According to the manager of my hotel, it should cost MXN$20. At the most MXN$40.

However, I ran into a problem when I tried to take this taxi.

The guy guiding people into the taxis told me it would cost me (the gringo foreigner) MXN$150. I knew from experience taking these taxis all over Oaxaca that I was being cheated, so I called DiDi and booked a private taxi (MXN$200) that I wouldn’t have to share with anyone and that would take me to the terminal.

Final Thoughts on Getting from Oaxaca Airport to Oaxaca City

Sometimes when planning a trip, getting from the airport to your hotel, hostel, or Airbnb can be the most anxious part of your trip. Once you arrive at your accommodations, you can then focus on having a good time and experiencing the best attractions of Oaxaca.

I think the best way to get to your hotel from the Oaxaca Airport is by shared shuttle or if you can afford it by private taxi from the TAXI kiosk inside the airport. Make sure the person at the TAXI kiosk checks your hotel location so that you’re charged for Zone 1 and not Zone 2.

The best way to get to the airport is using the DiDi App. If you don’t use the App and you’re just getting a taxi from your hotel, expect to pay MXN$200 – $250. DiDi is also helpful in getting around to experience the best things to do in Oaxaca.