MUSEO DE SITIO MONTE ALBAN — Attraction in Oaxaca

This review isn’t for Monte Alban, which exceeded all my expectations and was utterly breathtaking. This review is specifically for the restaurant next to the museum. Having spent a couple of hours walking round the site we decided to get a drink before leaving. Took a small water and an apple juice out of the fridge, which had the prices written above and should have come to around 50 pesos. However on taking these to the till the lady added up the two items on a large calculator and then tried to charge us 144 pesos. It was clear we were not buying anything else and when we queried it she just confirmed this price. As a European I’ve come to expect ‘tourist tax’ to be added to just about everything, but I can honestly say nowhere has been more prolific or extreme than Mexico, and it seriously is a joke when staff are overcharging in what should be reputable places of interest and business establishments. We didn’t pay these ludicrous prices and left but I did decide to return about 5 minutes later to take a picture as a warning, not only to other customers but also any employers. As soon as she saw me she covered her face with a newspaper, but fortunately that also prevented her seeing me move to the side to take one. I returned to the museum and she then approached me to ask me to delete the picture. Absolutely not. My nationality does not give carte blanch to others to rip me off constantly. This...

This is a nice place, but not my favorite ruins in Mexico. There is a ton of traffic on the road up. I honestly wouldn't bother trying to go after 10:30am. We took a taxi up from the Zocalo in Oaxaca since we didn't want to do a tour, the cost was 150 pesos, and it was easy to find a taxi to get back to town when we were finished. The ruins are nice but many are not restored or very accessible, the reason to go isn't for the ruins, but for excellent views of the surrounding area. Some descriptions on the placards are in both English and Spanish, but most are Spanish only. There is a small museum here too, showing some of the artifacts found at the site, it wasn't very impressive but only took 10 minutes to walk though. There are also a few snack stands outside...

Fantastic place to visit! Ruins in excellent condition! Easy to access from Oaxaca by taxi for a reasonable price. Would definitely recommend a tour guide, but not imperative. We got a tour guide outside of the ticket office for $700 for a group of 6 with mixed abilities of Spanish ranging from almost none to fluent. Our tour was exclusively in Spanish but was very clear and concise so that even with a little Spanish she was understandable. The ruins themselves are in amazing condition with some of the pyramids kept so that you can climb them and really get the feel of the ancient times. It’s a lovely place to visit but has very little shade and only the ticket office and museum’s amenities so do make sure to bring a hat, water and maybe...