I am starting to plan our 2020 Feb. trip to Mexico and I am thinking of including Guadalajara, its suburbs, and Tequila for 6 or 7 days.We like historic areas, being able to walk around easily, museums and big cities. We will also return to Oaxaca, Mexico City and Guanajuato for about 6 days each. Do you think Guadalajara would suit our interests and if not, any other ideas would be appreciated.

It would certainly meet some of your requirements. We spent Christmas in Guadalajara towards the end of our trip last year. It is a pleasant enough city but not my favourite place by any means. Some nice museums and architecture and it was buzzing on Christmas Eve but dead for the rest of the time we were there. The cathedral was amazing and the Mercado huge, one of the best in mexico. We found the food a bit lacklustre and not up to the high standards we found elsewhere in the country. Tlaquepaque was really nice and, in hindsight, I think we may have had a different opinion had we stayed there.

As you liked Guanajuato, I think an alternative to consider might be Zacatecas, similar Guanajuato in some respects but smaller and a couple of the best museums/ galleries we visited in Mexico. Some photos and details of our time there https://accidentalnomads.com/2018/11...-with-donkeys/

I think it is about 3-4 hours from Guanajuato.

Guadalajara is my least favorite big city in Mexico, but that's just me. I, like crellston, really liked Zacatecas. Another option, if you were to do something that included Zacatecas would be San Luis Potosi. Aguascalientes is in the area, but it doesn't have an abundance of the classic colonial/Porfiriato architecture as the other places mentioned but nonetheless it's very walkable. The Palacio el Gobierno has some impressive murals.

We will include Zacatecas. It seems to be worth 3 or 4 days, not including travel days. After reading about SLP, I am not sure, but will continue to read about it. Baldone, can you say why you did not like Guadalajara. If we go we probably would stay in Talaquepaque for part of the time.

It would fit into our plans as it is 5.5 hours from Mexico City by bus and on our way to Zacatecas which is 3 hours from SLP. How many days in SLP would you recommend for a first trip? We like slow travel more each year, as we get older. I'm done rushing around to "see it all", but I don't like a lot of down time either..

I think it was a combination of things that I didn't like...the sprawl, the traffic, the smog. The centro histórico didn't wow me either, my recollection was it was a fairly unimpressive combination of old and new architecture. We did visit Tlaquepaque, but didn't stay there. It was nice. Our hotel, Villa Ganz, was in the Zona Rosa and was excellent. It was just one of those places I wouldn't rush back to. Maybe it was the fact that we visited at the end of a long trip and were road weary. Plus we'd been to Mexico City and Morelia first, so maybe some let down because of that.
Here's a trip report I did on SLP some time back, tho it also includes the Huasteca.
San Luis Potosi & La Huasteca

Baldone: I'm lightly thinking about a trip to Mexico in late November for up to ten days. One of my ideas is to check out some rentals in Vallarta. So Guadalajara fits in well with that, although I'm not encouraged by the comments of you, and Crellston, and a few others (the two of you have always given great, sound advice). If I did go there, I'd just wander around, try to find great food, find some ranchera music if I could.... Again, I'm a little put off by the comments here about the city BUT, Villa Ganz was the hotel I was considering so just wanted to know if there were any other comments you could make about that hotel...would you recommend staying there for about five nights or so???

Would staying in Tlaquepaque also be a good option, and therefore traveling into the center by taxi and uber?? Is it totally touristy and without any local flavor--jsut shops?

I imagine that area to be a little like Coyoacan, or San Angel...but you might laugh at that (??)


Onen more quesstion, about Guadalajara in general:

Mexico City would be among my favorite cities IF the traffic situation were not so dismal.

I know Guadalajara is the second-largest city in the country but could I expect that it's a bit easier to get around than the capital? ( I'd take taxis.)

Love that last sentence and I have no idea!! I'm confused more and more... about now it's a 10-day trip in November??? Then a 6 week stay in next summer in Vallarta in July?
suze

I'm sorry to be confusing you, Suze.

I originally was planning to go to Mexico City for about a week, alone, in late November. This was just one destination I was considering for that time of year.

In addition, Totally separate plan-- I want to rent a condo in July for myself and my partner. The idea is to get away from NY for part of the summer, and rent a condo where I can swim and he can relax and watch his games. I looked at Huatulco and even at San Miguel, but options with good pools seemed to be limited in those areas; I've been to both a few times in the past and liked them, but I do want to be able to swim laps.

When I got overwhelmed about the different options in PV, someone here or on TA suggested a "scouting trip," since I was going to rent a place for a relatively long time--a month.
So I then thought of going not only to Mexico City, but to PV as well, in November, to look at condos for the July rental.

Then I realized that Guadalajara is closer to PV, so am wondering about a few days, solo, in that city, and then taking bus to PV to look around at rentals and to just have a good time alone.

Reading this over myself, I am getting confused, but I hope I wrote it out so it's a little more clear. We are talking about two separate visits to Mexico--one in late November for up to ten days, and another, a rental for a month, in summer. I've only rented a place twice before--once in Merida and once in Sevilla--both turned out well but they were for about ten days...renting for a month seems more daunting because of the time length...if I pick a dud, I have to deal with my partner's annoyance, too.

Is this the question that confused you?

<<<Mexico City would be among my favorite cities IF the traffic situation were not so dismal.
I know Guadalajara is the second-largest city in the country but could I expect that it's a bit easier to get around than the capital? ( I'd take taxis.)>>

What I am asking is if traffic is any lighter in Guadalajara than in the capital, Mexico City. One of the things that knocked Mexico City off my favorites list is the horrendous traffic jams, which made it difficult/annoying to get from one neighborhood to another. I don't take the subway, I get around in Mexico with taxis, or walking.

Does the help at all???

Thanks again for taking the time to help me here!!

Gracias. Actually I think I'd already caught up with your ideas. One shorter scouting maybe trip including Guadalajara and Vallarta for a week or so. Then the summer trip to PV for 4-6 weeks. I got it now, right?

Sorry never been to Guadalajara. I go to PV to relax and fun in the sun and kick back. I wouldn't be interested in a long bus ride to a major city. Neither Mexico City nor Guadalajara has ever 'called my name'. Sooo no experience to share and zero idea about the traffic situation -haha.

Okay..you've given plenty of help already.

That's the basic plan..a city and then the condo scouting...!!

Eks, the villa ganz was pretty much how it looks on their website-quite charming. We often do at least 1 splurge during a trip, and that was it. There wasn't much that we were interested in within walking distance however, so we had to take taxis (pre-uber) everywhere. I don't recall which room we had. I think we only had 3 nights and visited Tlaquepaque, Centro & the San juan market. We hired a driver to check out Ajijic & Chapala. Usually we stay in the historic centers of cities we visit, but didn't this time. We took the bus from Morelia as that trip as we hadn't moved to Mexico yet. We were in Guadalajara for a non-touristy visit a year & half ago & drove, and I found the traffic bearable, about like Queretaro and not as bad as Monterrey. Tlaquepaque indeed had a lot of shops and we didn't investigate staying there. From what I saw, I was underwhelmed, but maybe I didn't see enough. I've heard good reviews about the Americana Colonia.
Funny story, upon returning from dinner our last night in Villa Ganz, instead of chocolates on the pillows, there was a 750 ml bottle of tequila! We had it in our carry on, and had no issues boarding in Guadalajara. However, Houston was another story. We didn't have much experience with TSA at that time. The agent said couldn't keep it in our carry on, but we could buy a special box for more than probably the tequila was worth. We didn't have time to get out of line, so we told him he could have it. He said, 'I can't, it's against regulations' and I think he was about tears as he dropped it in the trash.