You’re going where?
That’s the one question a lot of my friends and co-workers when I told them I was going to Guadalajara for a week.
Despite being Mexico’s second largest city (with 5 million people in the metro area), Guadalajara still isn’t well known to us gringos.
But that’s fine by me! When I go to Mexico I like to avoid all the touristy spots like Cancun and Puerto Vallarta.
I like to experience the culture of Mexico and not some small city flooded with frat boys on spring break.
And Guadalajara certainly fits the bill! There are a ton of attractions in the city.
Let’s do a quick sound off…
The Guadalajara is the birthplace of Tequila and mariachi music. In fact, mariachi is one of the things the city is known for!
It has incredible architecture and history. And for the guys, the ladies certainly live up to the reputation of being some of the most beautiful women in Mexico!
This October, I was lucky enough to spend a week in Guadalajara and it was amazing. I was even luckier because my trip coincided with Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead).
So, what is there to do in Guadalajara? Tons!
Here are 9 must do things in Guadalajara for solo travelers!
1. Guadalajara Cathedral
Construction of one of the cities oldest buildings began in 1558 and wasn’t finally completed until 1618!
One of the things Guadalajara is now known for is this beautiful cathedral!
The building’s signature Gothic towers weren’t built until the 19th century when an earthquake damaged the previous structure.
When I first laid eyes on the cathedral, it reminded me of Notre Dame in Paris. Obviously, Notre Dame is a lot bigger, but the similarities are there.
In fact, even the stained glass windows were imported from France!
I went to the cathedral on my first night. But because my flight was delayed, I got there too late and it had already closed.
But I was fine with that. The cathedral is beautiful at night and I was able to take some beautiful pictures.
The cathedral is also located in the Plaza de la Liberacion – it’s basically the main square of the historic district in the city.
The square is flanked by several other landmarks like the Guadalajara sign and the opera house.
At night, many people enjoy a romantic stroll with their partners, families walk around with their kids, and there’s even some music in the background. And don’t forget to watch out for the street performers!
I went to the cathedral the next morning and it was beautiful! I actually visited on a Sunday and people were attending their regular Sunday church.
Oddly enough, this was my first time in church!
Anyways, the cathedral was beautiful. The inside is a mix of white and gold. And there’s also a giant organ in the building (one of the largest in Mexico I’m told).
2. Rotonda de los Jalisciences Ilustres
If you step outside Guadalajara Cathedral you’re pretty much right by the Rotonda. It’s a circle of 17 Doric colums that celebrates the region’s writers, artists, and revolutionaries.
In fact…some of their ashes are tucked into the monument.
I don’t think you’re actually allowed into the monument itself (it was gated). But you can admire it from the outside. It kind of reminds me of Greece.
Admittedly, you aren’t going to spend the whole day marveling at the structure, but it’s worth it to take a few quick pictures since it’s so close to the cathedral.
3. Visit the San Juan de Dios Market
If you ever wanted to see organized chaos, check out the San Juan de Dios Market!
This is the largest indoor market in Latin America and let me tell you this place is like a maze!
It consists of three floors. And every shop owner at this market has a small stall where they sell their goods. Fair warning, some of the products are counterfeit.
I saw a few stalls selling Guchi, Hugo Boss, and other luxury brands!
You can literally get anything here. You can buy handcrafts, clothes, shoes, groceries, candy, electronics, food, and even buy pets!
Yep, on the second floor, they were selling birds and rabbits haha!
Most of the restaurants are on the second floor. And they serve some delicious food. You can smell the food from a mile away.
The market is pretty crazy. You’ll hear a lot of yelling and screaming as people barter around. And with every turn you take there seems to be more and more rows of shops!
I decided to get some food here and I wasn’t disappointed! The funniest part was when I ordered a beer. The lady said something to her two year old daughter who promptly dug into a cooler and fetched me a beer LOL
4. Visit Tequila
Did you know there is a town in Mexico called Tequila? Yep! The world famous drink is named after this town.
Jalisco is the Mexican state where most of the tequila in the world is produced.
And you can tour many of the distilleries in the region.
Now I know what you’re going to say. I hate tequila! I have too many bad memories of this toxin from college!
But let me tell you something. You have just never had good tequila!
I’m a big tequila nut and I had a great time exploring the tequila producing region. In fact, I booked three tours to this place.
I did two tours with Experience Tequila, which is run by my friend Clayton.
Even if you’re not interested in learning more about how Tequila is made you need to visit this city. It’s only about 50 minutes away from Guadalajara.
The distilleries are amazing. They are often very big and include a lot of cool things like underground caves, churches, and man made lakes and ponds!
The actual city is beautiful. It reminds me of an old Spanish city. Tequila is a great day trip away from Guadalajara.
5. Lake Chapala
Now if tequila isn’t your thing, Chapala might be a more suitable day trip away from the city.
Chapala is a beautiful lake town about 50 minutes south of Guadalajara. I rented a car to drive down there one day. And the town did not disappoint!
Lake Chapala is one of the largest lakes in the region. Admittedly, it isn’t as clean as some of the other lakes I have been to. However, the sights are unbelievable.
But be warned, it can get pretty hot during the day! I was there in October, so I can only imagine how warm it would be in July and August!
The #1 thing to do in Chapala is walk on the boardwalk (also known as the Malecon). Try to get there earlier in the day. I found ample parking at 10 in the morning. But an hour later, all of the spots were full.
On the boardwalk, you’ll see a ton of kids playing around and even locals boating around. Along the boardwalk is also a small market where you can get souvenirs, candy, and other goods.
If you’re staying in Chapala for lunch go to La Palapa Del Guayabo. It’s a huge restaurant that sits right on the lake. And they also have some live music in the restaurant.
I asked the waiter to recommend me some fish to eat and he pointed at the golden red snapper. Thinking nothing more than that, I ordered it!
It turned out to be a monster fish! I think it measured over 15 inches LOL.
It was a ton of food, but I loved it.
Aside from Chapala, I would also recommend visiting Ajijic (pronounced Ah he he).
The town is about 15 minutes west of Chapala depending on traffic. This town and Chapala are known to be very popular retirement places for Canadians and Americans. In fact, I say the ratio between expats and locals is around 50/50.
6. Visit Tlaquepaque
Tlaquepaque is a city about 15 minutes away from Guadalajara. It’s still technically within the metro limit, but it’s a whole different world.
The city is known for its hand made pottery and blown glass. Along the main road there are dozens and dozens of small mom and pop shops selling hand made goods.
You can buy a bunch of stuff like leather goods, china sets, handmade pottery, and even get something to eat from the street vendors.
I went to Tlaquepaque numerous times on my trip because I loved it so much.
And my favorite experience was going through the city during Day of the Dead. During this festival, the locals honor their dead family and friends by building beautiful altars and remembering their lives.
It was incredibly beautiful at night. Beautiful music was playing in the background and the town was alive until well into two in the morning.
One of the main sights in Tlaquepaque is El Parian. It’s a large plaza filled with restaurants and bars. In the middle is actually a stage where they will have live mariachi events or someone singing at night.
But truth be told, I thought the food quality at El Parian wasn’t the best. There are much better restaurants in Guadalajara.
7. Hike Barranca de Huentitan
One of the underrated must things to do in Guadalajara for solo travelers (in my opinion) is hike La Barranca de Huentitan.
Now there are two entrances to the place. One is near the Zoo and the other is near the police station.
When I entered my destination into Uber, it automatically brought up the location near the police station. That entrance doesn’t lead all the way down to the Grade de Santiago River.
Luckily, I was hiking with an older guy who turned out to be a cab driver! After using some google translate and sign language, he told me he could take me to the other entrance, which I gladly accepted.
Fair warning, this is a very long like – I would budget between 4 – 6 hours of your day to do this.
Hiking down is the easy part (it takes about 1.5 hours to get down).
A short cut (if you’re daring) is to hike on the tracks. Yep…there’s an abandoned railway rack on the side of the mountain.
Many of the locals were using that to climb up and down the mountain. I didn’t use it on the way down, but I did on the way up.
You’re going to have to be in very good shape to make it up because some parts of the track go almost vertical on the way up.
Anyways, once you get down to the base you can hear the river. It doesn’t smell that great to be honest and there is a fair amount of pollution in the area.
But the prize of his hike is the Arcediano Bridge.
The original bridge was built in 1894 to cross the Grade Santiago River. In fact, this was the first suspension bridge built in Mexico.
The bridge was unfortunately destroyed in 2005 and a new one was constructed in January 2013.
The new bridge is made almost entirely of red bricks and wood planks. It’s a great place to take some photos and admire the river below.
8. Eat the local food!
One of my favorite things to do in Guadalajara was to eat the local food. It’s cheap and it’s fucking delicious.
Now there’s a lot of food Guadalajara is known for, but I recommend you try these ones:
Torta Ahogada
The name literally means “drowned sandwiches”.
I’m not sure what the name of the bread is, but it’s filled with meat (typically chicken, but there are other variations) and drowned in a spicy tomato sauce.
The bread is interesting because it’s crusty on the outside so it doesn’t get soggy when dipped into the sauce, but it’s actually soft and fluffy on the inside.
This is good drunk food by the way 🙂
Birria
Oh my god. This is thing is fucking amazing.
It is a basically a version of lamb soup. It’s made by mariating the lamb with garlic, chili, and tomato. The broth is cooked in a big oven and slow cooked for hours.
It’s served with onions, cilantro, and your choice of hot sauce along with some tortillas.
Most restaurants actually served the stew in a very thin plate, which made it harder to finish the last drops of this delicious dish!
A dish that is pretty similar is Carne en su Juro. It’s basically the same thing, but made with beef instead of lamb.
Jericalla
If you’re looking to satisfy your sweet tooth after dinner, check out Jericalla. It’s basically like a Mexican flan.
It’s made with eggs, milk, and sugar. Pretty simple ingredients, but it’s fucking delicious.
The top is usually a little burnt so the sugar caramelizes.
Pozole
Alright, pozole can technically be found throughout Mexico, but this is a popular dish with the locals. And they impart their own local flavors into the dish.
Pozole is a traditional Mexican stew with pork, lettuce, corriander, radish, and seafood. I ordered a big bowl at the San Juan de Dios market and it was so good!
9. Eat at some fine restaurants!
Aside from the local food, I would also recommend checking out some of the area’s high end restaurants.
You’ll be paying about $50 – $150+ per person (including drinks) depending on where you go.
But I would say the price is worth it. Guadalajara has undergone a food renaissance in recent years. A lot of chefs from Europe have come here and brought over modern European cooking techniques to traditional Mexican food.
The two restaurants I would check out are Lula Bistro and Hueso.
Lula Bistro only offers tasting menus (between 8 and 16 dishes). It’s run by Darren Walsh, who has worked at numerous Michelin Star restaurants throughout Europe.
If this restaurant was in western Europe, it would have one (maybe two) Michelin Stars. So it’s a steal to be able to eat at a restaurant of this quality.
The second high end restaurant I would recommend is Hueso. The cool thing about this place is there’s only one table in this restaurant.
It’s a giant wooden table that runs through the entire restaurant. It’s set up so you eat communal style. And I like that because it makes it a much more social environment.
Getting around Guadalajara
Guadalajara is a big city so you need to be able to get around to see many of the sights I’ve talked about.
The best way to get around is Uber. And it’s freaking cheap too. For about $5 (even during surge hours) you can get almost anywhere across the city.
Also, be sure to tip your driver. They don’t make that much even driving for Uber.
I actually never used the public transport in Guadalajara because Uber was so convenient, so I can’t comment on it.
By the way, There are basically no Uber drivers at the airport, so you’ll have to take a Taxi. The taxi is about three times as expensive as Uber so that’s kind of inconvenient.
To get a taxi simply go into the airport and there are multiple desks where you can buy a ticket. They charge based on where you are going to in the city.
I paid around 300 pesos ($15) to get to Guadalajara Centro (the historic district).
Also, if you want to go to Chapala or Tequila, I would rent a car. Sure, you can go on a tour, but it’s not as fun.
Driving in Guadalajara was pretty crazy. I was nervous at first, but I learned to love it.
My favorite things about Guadalajara
Alright, to close out this post, I just wanted to talk about some of the things I really liked (and didn’t like) about this amazing city.
Great culture
I love the culture of the city. I’m always a little confused when people talk about Cabo or Cancun as experiencing Mexican culture.
To me, that’s not really experiencing the “real” Mexican culture. Those areas are overrun with gringos. No…I want to go to a city where I’m the only foreigner.
The culture is amazing. The food is great. There’s a ton of history in the city.
If you want to experience Mexico, go to Guadalajara – you won’t regret it
Food is amazing
The food in Guadalajara is simply amazing. From street food to restaurants, the food is incredible. There’s nothing quite like it.
If all you’ve been eating is chipotle or Taco Bell for your life, you’re in for a real treat.
The great thing about restaurants is that they’re all very cheap by American standards.
Safety
Is Guadalajara safe?
One thing a lot of people told me about Guadalajara before I went was the crime in the city.
While I was there I didn’t notice a lot of crime. In fact, there were actually a ton of police patrolling the streets in the historic district (where I was staying).
Sure, some of the areas looked run down and a little “ghetto”, but I never had problems. No one wanted to start a fight with me and no one tried to intimidate me or rob me.
The people in the city are amazing and actually very helpful if you want to ask for directions. Don’t believe the news about the crime in the city.
Late night life
This could be a pro or con depending on how you look at it. But like most of Latin America, the party doesn’t get started until late! Most bars are open until 4 AM or 6 AM!
On the first night I went out to a bar, it was basically empty at midnight. I asked the bartender what time it normally gets busy and she told me 2 AM!
So if you like to party late, then Guadalajara is your city!
Your dollar goes very far
One of the best things about Guadalajara is the purchasing power of your dollar.
It’s very cheap to go out and have a great time with food and drinks.
I was able to eat some very fulling meals for $10, which included multiple beers and a desert and tip of course. Even the nice high end restaurant’s won’t burn a big hole in your wallet.
You can live like a King (or Queen) in Guadalajara.
Earn in dollars and spend in pesos – one of life’s greatest hacks.
Some things I didn’t like
Now there are some really great things about Guadalajara, but there are also some things I didn’t like about the city.
Here are the things I didn’t like:
The streets are pretty dark at night
While I never felt like my life was in danger, the streets in Guadalajara are very dark. The city did not invest a whole lot of money to light up the streets, especially in the historic district.
So be prepared to walk back home in the dark if you’re out late.
Uber drivers tend to cancel on you very often
I think this was my biggest annoyance in Guadalajara. My Uber drivers would often cancel on me.
It would take two or three times before I finally got a driver who would come to my location. I don’t know if it’s because I was a foreigner or if I was in a bad part of the city.
But it really annoying to have to deal with that. This issue caused my commutes to increase by 20+ minutes waiting for a driver to finally come get me.
Night clubs are very small
One thing I noticed about the nightlife in Guadalajara is that the night clubs are very small.
Like…very small. When it gets busy at these places you’l be elbow to elbow with many people.
And I had more than a few people spill drinks on me. Not fun when that happens.
But it is what it is. That’s my only gripe with the nightlife scene in Guadalajara.
The rest of it is very nice. The actual clubs are look very cool and I had fun drinking some Mexican cocktails (and no, I don’t remember what they were called haha).
If you don’t speak Spanish you’ll be at a disadvantage
I traveled through Guadalajara without speaking much Spanish.
And I could have had a lot more fun if I knew more Spanish. Most of the people in the city will not speak English at all. So you need to be comfortable not being able to fully communicate with people.
But that’s why I’m trying to learn Spanish when I go back next time!
Final thoughts on Guadalajara
Overall, I had a blast in Guadalajara. Next time I plan to stay longer and maybe even go west to some of the beaches in Jalisco.
And hopefully when I go back my Spanish will be a lot better.
So if you want to have adventure, eat great food, and drink tequila, then Guadalajara is the city for you!