Fun Things to Do In (and Around) Guadalajara, Mexico

Three weeks have passed since our amazing trip to Guadalajara and we still can’t get over how much fun we had! It is a beautiful, vibrant city with so many things to do that 5 days wasn’t nearly enough time to see everything we wanted to see. I hope that one day we can go back to see everything we missed!

That being said, we still crammed lots of adventure into the few days we had there. Here’s a list of a few of the great things to do in Guadalajara:

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1. Charreria – Charreria is the national sport of Mexico and is a display of horsemanship. It was the forerunner of the American rodeo. It’s full of displays of astonishing strength and skill. The audience rewards the best displays of horsemanship by tossing items like hats and shoes into the dusty arena, which are later tossed back to their original owners.

Charreadas are held in Guadalajara every Sunday, starting at noon, at the Lienzo Charro de Jalisco arena. Tickets cost 20 pesos (about $1.50 USD) and the competition lasts about two and a half hours.

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2. Sample the local Tequila – We’re not big drinkers, but I couldn’t go all the way to the heart of tequila-making country and not sample the local product at least once! Well, actually, make that twice…I had one at the charreria and then a wonderful margarita at the upscale Cocina 88. You can also tour a tequila-producing factory in the town of Tequila, the place for which the drink is named. Our friends over at GDL Tours have a few different options to make your trip a memorable occasion.

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3. Eat Carne en Su Jugo – This was a culinary gem of a find! This regional dish is Mexican comfort cooking at its best. Carne en Su Jugo (Meat in its Juices) is one of those dishes that, no matter how many times you eat it, you still want more. We went to Karne Garibaldi (the local king of Carne en Su Jugo) for lunch four days in a row! On trips we usually never eat at the same restaurant more than once, in order to sample the widest variety of local cuisine possible, but this particular dish just kept calling us back. On an interesting side note, Karne Garibaldi holds the Guinness Book of Records entry in 1996 for the fastest restaurant service. They set the record at 13 1/2 seconds for a table of six.

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4. Visit Tlaquepaque – This little town outside of Guadalajara has it all: live mariachi, folkloric dancing, inexpensive and unique souvenir shopping, great restaurants and, most importantly, the experience of munching on chocolate-covered grasshoppers! There was so much to see and do that I could have stayed here for many hours more. One of the things that I loved about this town, and Mexico as a whole, were the ever-present sculptures and other works of art in public spaces. It really infuses the country with a rich, vibrant cultural consciousness. There are so many beautiful pictures that we took in Tlaquepaque – you can view more of them here.

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That’s just a few things that we did! Next time, I have to tell you about the horse-and-buggy ride through historic Guadalajara, our trip to the Pacific Ocean, our boat ride with crocodiles and much more!

Have you ever been to Guadalajara? What are your favorite things to do there?