PREPARING YOUR TRIP TO HIERVE EL AGUA
If you're preparing a trip to Hierve el Agua, this post is for you!
Just scroll down to see the top questions and answers for getting to Hierve el Agua and planning your day there.
Is Hierve el Agua open?
Yes! It reopened in Fall of 2021.
How do I get to Hierve el Agua?
There are four main options for getting to Hierve el Agua: Public transportation, group tour, personal driver with car, or renting a car to drive yourself.
Public Transportation
This is the cheapest, but longest option. From Oaxaca City, you'd take a bus or colectivo taxi to Mitla. Just go to the Northeast corner of the Oaxaca Guerreros baseball stadium, where the VW car dealership and McDonald's are. The ride to Mitla will be around $25 to $40 pesos. (With inflation rising, so are the prices of everything, so the exact price may change. These are prices for January 2023.) Getting to Mitla takes around 45-60 minutes.
The bus or colectivo will leave you where the camionetas to Hierve el Agua leave from. To confirm, you can just ask "¿De dónde salen las camionetas para Hierve el Agua?" and they should confirm if you're in the right spot. These taxi trucks wait until they're full (6 to 8 people) before leaving, or you can pay for the empty seats. Each seat is around $75 pesos. It takes another 50-60 minutes to get from Mitla to Hierve el Agua.
Tour to Hierve el Agua
I can recommend professional certified tour companies that I trust. Just drop me an email by hitting the contact link on this page, or WhatsApp at 52-951-594-3025.
Private Driver or Car rental to Hierve el Agua
I can also recommend drivers with their own vehicles and car rental companies. These are small local businesses that have strong reputations for treating customers right.
Is Hierve el Agua free?
The entry is $50 pesos per person, and parking there at the site is $150 pesos.
A planned wedding photo shoot with a photographer costs extra -- around $500 pesos.
Are there restrooms at Hierve el Agua?
There are restrooms at the top where the parking is, and at the bottom where the cascades are. They cost $5 pesos each. The ones where the cascades are also have changing rooms. These are rudimentary facilities.
Are there restaurants at Hierve el Agua?
There are many places to eat at the top where the parking lot is. They serve hot, fresh food, and cold drinks, and the usual bags of chips and cookies and canned soda. These are informal shops and kitchens more than actual restaurants. Many of them do provide shaded areas with tables and chairs.
What time does Hierve el Agua open and close? What is the best time to go to Hierve el Agua?
Hierve el Agua opens at 7 AM and closes at 5 or 6 PM (depending on sunset at each time of year). The best time to go is in the morning, for a couple reasons. First, you beat the crowds. Tours start arriving at around 10 AM. Second, after the pandemic they started putting a limit of visitors which was set at 200 people per day. Third, there is very little shade; the early morning hours have softer light. Fourth, there is a lot to explore and you may run out of time if you get there too late. Fifth, getting out of there at dusk or after dark can be more difficult, not only due to visibility on those roads, but also due to little to no public transportation going down after dark.
I hope you found this information useful. Please get in touch if you have any more questions, or if you are looking to book your photography session at Hierve el Agua. You can reach me at the contact link on this page, by WhatsApp at 52-951-594-3025, or by Instagram at Instagram.com/douglasfaverophotography.