I returned yesterday from Oaxaca, as part of the Road Scholar Best of Central Mexico tour:
https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/23083/The-Best-of-Central-Mexico-Magical-Towns-and-Bustling-Cities/itinerary/
A central hotel?
We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express Oaxaca-Centro Historico, the only chain of our trip, and a transition back to home. The lobby area had some local decor. In the very large room, you may not have known you were in Mexico. Mine had a very large outdoor patio with table and 4 chairs, high walls and no view. Many rooms had French balconies. The breakfast room has both indoor seating and outdoor courtyard seating, which wasn't open during my February stay.
The hotel is very quiet, near a pretty square and a slightly downhill 8-ish minute walk through shops and restaurants to the zocalo.
Are January, February good times…not too rainy, neither 40 nor 90 degrees Fahrenheit?
Our February temperatures were 80s daytime except one day in the 60s. Nights were in the 40s, so mornings and evenings were still cool enough for a sweater or jacket, and mornings were best for the ancient sites.
Day tours, such as Culinary Backstreets?
Our tour took a very fun cooking class as a group. The young, entrepeneurial chef of Cocina Quiote led us through the traditional steps of grinding ingredients for a salsa, making our own mole, and pressing our own tortillas, which he taught us to cook and flip on a flat grill. It was fun with our tour group and you can also sign up individually through GetYourGuide.
Our tour visited a family weaving business for a fascinating demonstration of the entire raw wool to colorful rug process, including how she uses seeds, nuts and plants to dye the wool. In a nearby town, we visited a small Mezcal business to see the production process and enjoy tasting a variety of traditional and flavored drinks. I bought pistachio flavored and passion fruit flavored Mezcal!
Perhaps you could find day trips to a home weaving business and Mezcal production.
What are Don’t Miss sights? I am intrigued by the Big Tree!
The gardens around the Tule Tree are splendid, lovingly manicured. Even our tour spent an hour there, admiring the leafy sculpted menagerie, and watching the parrots flit around the big trees.
How many days would you advise? Am thinking 5-6.
Our tour spent nearly 3 days, including the ancient site, and efficiently connecting the tree and gardens, the home weaving demonstration, the Mezcal production tour and tasting, and the cooking class into a single day. As a group, we visited one museum with the findings from Tomb Seven.
I would estimate needing 6 days to do all that on your own and allow time for museums and markets. If you were to find a day trip that laced a few things efficiently together, you might need a day or two less, which you could then use to sit and relax with a coffee and enjoying the pretty squares!
Is a lot walkable if staying very centrally?
The cooking class is around the block from the Holiday Inn Express, an easy walk from the zocalo.
The home weaving business and Mezcal town are near each other and would require a drive.
Safety?
It was an interesting week in Mexico, but you couldn't have known from the days we were in Oaxaca. The zocalo was lively and full of people into the evenings. The pedestrian only streets were full of tourists and diners. I felt perfectly comfortable, even in the early evenings as a solo female.
