After a week and a half in Mexico, I came home without even a hint of a tan. Probably because I hadn’t set foot on a beach on either of Mexico’s palm-fringed, soft-sanded coasts. Saving the resorts of the Caribbean and the Pacific for another visit, I headed to the southwestern state of Oaxaca.

The folk art and legacy of the Mixtec, Zapotec, Aztec, and Mayan people drew me to the region. Although the ruins of Chichen Itza and Tulum near Cancun in the Yucatan allow sun seekers to squeeze a bit of culture into a seaside vacation, Oaxaca boasts spectacular pre-Columbian archeological sites. With a high population of indigenous people whose textiles, cooking, and pottery are appreciated the world over, the state’s living tradition is equally fascinating.

I flew direct from New York to Mexico City and connected to Oaxaca – the capital city of the state by the same name.At the airport, I boarded a collectivo, or collective taxi, bound for my hotel, the Camino Real Oaxaca (Calle Garcia Vigil 407, 951-516-4412, www.caminoreal.com/oaxaca;doubles from about $180).

The Camino Real, billed as the best hotel in town by my guidebook, surpassed my expectations. Set in the exquisitely restored 16th-century convent of Santa Catalina, it consists of a series of colonnaded courtyards, which contain a lovely swimming pool, gardens, fountains, and a restaurant. Its central location put the main sights within easy walking distance – the heavily gilded Iglesia de Santo Domingo cathedral and the attached anthropological museum in its former convent are at the end of the block.

And Oaxaca is the perfect walking city. Although situated in the heart of the Sierra Madre mountains, it’s located on an elevated plateau, so the city is quite flat. The high altitude keeps the temperature at 70 degrees year-round, and its grid of streets – an urban planning technique attributed to the circa 50 C.E. inhabitants of Mexico – should put Manhattanites at ease.

Single-story colonial buildings in saturated pastel hues line the cobblestone streets. The pedestrian-only main square, or zocalo, is bordered by cafes on the east and west sides and the Cathedral Metropolitana de Oaxaca on the north. Although foreigners haggling over richly embroidered blouses abound, the shady square has hardly been reduced to a tourist spot. Mexican men in straw cowboy hats sit at the many shoeshine stands getting their boots polished; local women, their long hair braided with bright satin ribbons, munch on roasted corn, and the gracious restaurants draw a local clientele. It’s the perfect spot to people-watch and sip the complex spiced cocoa that is a specialty of Oaxaca.

The region is well known for sophisticated cookery. Try the myriad varieties of complex mole sauces dressing chicken, beef, or fish. The most famous and unusual is mole negro, a deepbrown sauce that features chocolate as a key ingredient. For dinner, Catedral (Calle Garcia Vigil 105, 951-516-3285) is a good place to try Oaxacan specialties with a contemporary twist. Pastries are also outstanding; my favorite afternoon snack was a custard and rosemary tartlet – although the less-sweet, pretzel-shaped cookies sprinkled with sesame seeds ran a close second. The Mercado 20 de Noviembre has a wide variety of bakery booths to sample from, as well as casual lunch counters to get a quick tortilla.

During my visit, Oaxaca was nearing its elections for governor, so the Palacio de Gobierno, a municipal building,was decked in colorful banners bearing the various parties’ messages. One night during my stay, there was also a calm political rally, which drew out Oaxacans in their beautifully detailed traditional cos tumes. They paraded through the zocalo and el Alameda, an adjoining square, carrying oversized papier mache effigies.

Another evening, a tent was pitched in the middle of el Alameda under its lush trees for a concert and dancing. The live band performed danzon, a slow, sensual Cuban-style melody. According to a Mexican man sitting beside me on the folding chairs lining the improvised dance floor, danzon has gone out of favor in Cuba itself but remains popular with middle-aged Oaxacans. Despite a light yet persistent drizzle, the dancers continued late into the night.

Oaxaca is also a paradise for shoppers.The traditional pearl and filigree earrings, hand-woven rugs dyed with natural pigments, burnished black pottery, and cheerful hammocks are all affordable and easy to find. Bargaining is expected, but not aggressive. Although Oro de Monte Alban is a popular jeweler for foreigners, I found the shops west of Mercado 20 Noviembre between Trujano and Mina to have more selection and much better prices. A pair of delicate, dangling earrings in vermeil cost about $50 at Monte Alban – and a similar pair in 10-karat gold was only about $25 at Joyeria Chabelita (Mercado 20 de Noviembre, no. 508C, 951-516-3918).

The Central de Abastos, the main market in town, is open Saturdays but bustles with activity throughout the week. A visit is certainly worthwhile for the cultural exposure alone. Seemingly endless varieties of chili peppers, herbs used for cooking and as medicine, tropical fruits, vegetables, socks, flip-flops, crafts, butchers – this place has it all. Go early in the day to avoid the overwhelming crush of people who come into the city from the surrounding pueblos to buy and sell as the afternoon wears on.

For elegant souvenirs, check out El Portal (calle Garcia Vigil 715).This refined shop carries local alabaster sculpted into lamps, paperweights, bowls, and other items for the home; the only things that aren’t white are the handmade, undyed fiber hammocks. The store is just down the street from the city’s ancient aqueduct (worth a visit more to see a typical residential neighborhood than as a “sight”). ARIPO, a government-run artist cooperative selling only Oaxacan goods, has a great selection of pottery and clothing at very reasonable prices (calle Garcia Vigil 809, 951-514-2606). Daytrips to surrounding artisan villages and the ruins in the vicinity are popular and easily arranged. Through Camino Real, I booked a few half-day and full-day excursions, costing between $12 and $30, which included transportation in a small van, an English-language guide, and entrance fees to the sites. On one daytrip, I visited Teotitlan del Valle, a rug-making center.While the demonstrations on spinning, weaving, and dying were interesting, most of the time was dedicated to shopping.

En route to Teotitlan, the van stopped at Santa Maria del Tule, known for the enormous tree in the center of town. According to my guide, its estimated age is more than 2,000 years, making it one of the oldest trees in the Americas – 37 adults must join hands to encircle it. The name for the tree evolved over its history – the earliest known name, from the Zapotec language, meant “the tree that grows from water”; the Mixtecs, who conquered the Zapotecs, called the tree “the tree that grows from the swamp,” and the Spanish called it something to the effect of “the tree that deep roots.” (The Spanish also saw that the locals worshipped the tree, and built a Catholic church that seems to cower under its canopy.) The names capture the geothermal evolution of the Oaxacan valley, which archeologists believe was a giant lake thousands of years ago. Now, the tree’s 60-foot-deep roots are fed by underground rivers. It’s certainly worth a stop on the way to the villages or to the ruins of Mitla.

Mitla is less visited than Monte Alban, one of Oaxaca’s star attractions, but is worth the 40-minute drive from the city. Its intricate masonry dating to as early as 200 C.E. required no mortar, and carved pieces of stone fit together to make dizzying patterns representing the elements – waves, wind, etc. – all without mortar. Much of Mitla was demolished by the Spanish, who built a Catholic church with the stones atop one of the ancient foundations, but it is very much integrated into the surrounding town and allows a glimpse into the sophistication of the civilization.

While Mitla’s charm is in its details, Monte Alban’s is in its dramatic scale. Its buildings are held together with mortar, and many structures on the mountaintop site have been restored, reconstructing a degree of its past grandeur.At one time, Monte Alban was home to 30,000 Zapotec people, many of whose descendents still live in the city just six miles away in the valley below. They leveled the mountaintop and built the city with the stones they quarried in the process.

The day I went to Monte Alban, the skies were dramatic and threatening, adding to its mystique. The clerics in the ancient society were known as the “people of the clouds,” and the low-lying storm clouds seemed close enough to touch. The ancient Mexicans did not have the wheel, domesticated animals, or metal tools, making their constructions that much more impressive.

The on-site museum at Monte Alban is lovely and manageable; carvings have been placed inside to protect them from the elements. But the real treasure trove is located at the Museo de las Culturas in the Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo back in the city (Plaza Santo Domingo, 951-516-0677). On display are jade, pearl, and gold objects unearthed from Monte Alban’s Tomb Seven, one of the most abundant archeological finds of its day. There are also objects such as bowls and tools that allow a glimpse into everyday life. If visiting the archeological sites piques your interest in pre-Columbia art as a genre, the Museo de Arte Prehispanico Rufino Tamayo has an excellent collection (Av. Morelos 503, 951-516-4750). Until 1979, it was the private collection of Tamayo, a Mexican painter, and it contains outstanding examples of sculpture from throughout the country.