Guadalajara rewards visitors who skip the bus-tour version of the city. Staying in Mexicaltzingo, one of its oldest neighborhoods, puts almost everything worth doing within a 10-minute walk or a short Uber ride. These are the ten things we send our own guests to do, in roughly the order we would do them.
1. Walk the Historic Center at sunset
The Cathedral, the Teatro Degollado, the Government Palace and the string of plazas that connect them are a 10-minute walk from Mexicaltzingo. Go between 6 and 8 pm: the light turns gold, the heat breaks and the plazas fill with families. Inside the Government Palace, the stairwell mural of Miguel Hidalgo by José Clemente Orozco is free to see and one of the most striking pieces of art in Mexico.
2. See the Orozco murals at the Hospicio Cabañas
The Hospicio Cabañas is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the reason many art lovers come to Guadalajara at all. Orozco painted its chapel in the late 1930s; the dome fresco known as Man of Fire is the centerpiece. Go on a weekday morning, lie on one of the benches provided and look up.
3. Get lost in the San Juan de Dios market
Also called Mercado Libertad, it is one of the largest covered markets in Latin America: three floors of food stalls, crafts, clothing and medicinal herbs. Eat on the upper level, where the fondas serve birria, tortas ahogadas and seafood broths at neighborhood prices. It is about 12 minutes on foot from Mexicaltzingo.
4. Spend a day in Tlaquepaque
San Pedro Tlaquepaque, 15 minutes away by car, is the crafts capital of Jalisco: ceramics, blown glass and furniture galleries along a pedestrian street, with mariachis playing in El Parián in the afternoon. Restaurants in colonial courtyards such as Casa Luna and El Patio are worth a long lunch.
5. Take a day trip to Tequila
The town of Tequila is about an hour away, and its agave landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can go on your own by bus or Uber, as we explain in how to get to Tequila from Guadalajara, or join a guided day tour; our guide to the Tequila tour with cantaritos covers what one includes.
6. Have dinner on Avenida Chapultepec
Five minutes by car from Mexicaltzingo, Chapultepec and the surrounding Americana neighborhood hold the densest concentration of specialty coffee, chef-driven restaurants and cocktail bars in the city. Weekends bring craft stalls and street musicians to the avenue’s central walkway.
7. Eat birria and a torta ahogada
If you only try two dishes, make it these: birria, goat or beef slow-cooked in a chile adobo and served in its own broth, and the torta ahogada, a pork sandwich on crusty birote bread drowned in tomato and chile de árbol sauce. Our guide to what to eat in Guadalajara covers where to find them and eight more.
8. Watch lucha libre at the Arena Coliseo
Masks, flying leaps, a crowd that heckles everyone and cheap beer: lucha libre is pure Mexican entertainment. The Arena Coliseo, the city’s historic wrestling venue, usually holds shows on Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons; check the schedule before you go. It is about 15 minutes by car.
9. Start a morning at the neighborhood market
You do not have to go far. Mexicaltzingo has its own traditional market with fresh fruit, juices and breakfast stalls that few visitors find. A fresh juice and a couple of tacos there is the best way to start a day of sightseeing.
10. Watch the sunset from a rooftop
Guadalajara sunsets are reliably spectacular, especially in the dry season from November to May. Plenty of bars in the center and in Chapultepec have rooftop terraces, and if you stay at Nora you can watch it from our own rooftop with a mezcal in hand.
Getting around
- Uber and DiDi work across the city, and most rides between central neighborhoods cost $50 to $150 MXN.
- Walking is the best way to see the Historic Center and Mexicaltzingo.
- MiBici, the public bike system, has stations throughout the center.
- Avoid driving at rush hour, roughly 8 to 10 am and 6 to 9 pm.
Explore Guadalajara from a base 10 minutes from the Cathedral.
See rooms at Nora