Pueblos Mancomunados

The Pueblos Mancomunados - "commonwealth villages" - are eight Zapotec communities that hold their sierra forests in common and, since the 1990s, have run one of Mexico's model community-tourism projects across them. The product is simple and excellent: roughly a hundred kilometres of signed trails linking village to village through cloud forest of pine, oak and bromeliad-hung madroño, walked or ridden with local guides, with cabins, comedores and temazcal steam baths waiting at each end. Routes run from gentle half-days - Benito Juarez to Cuajimoloyas along the ridge, with the Piedra Larga lookout and a zip line over the valley - to multi-day traverses down into the warm Latuvi valley on the old "Camino Real" that carried Oaxacan goods to the coast. Altitudes swing between 2,000 and 3,200 metres, so mornings come frozen and afternoons mild; mushroom season in July and August turns the villages into fungus festivals. Money stays in the communities that own the forest, which is precisely why the forest is still there.

What you actually see

• The trail network - a hundred kilometres between eight villages.
• The cloud forest - pine, oak and bromeliad ridges at 3,000 metres.
• The village cabins - woodstove nights and comedor meals.
• The lookouts - Piedra Larga and the ridge-line viewpoints.

When to go

November to May for dry trails and clear ridges; July and August for the mushroom festivals in green, misty forest. Book guides and cabins through the community office ahead.

Honest expectations

Altitude is real - the first day at 3,000 metres humbles most flatlanders. Cabins are simple and cold at night; blankets are provided, layers are yours. Guides are required on many routes and worth it.

Nearby

Capulalpam de Mendez's stone lanes lie down the sierra; Oaxaca city and the valley markets are two hours south.