Mexico · Estado de Jalisco
Where to Stay in Guadalajara, Estado de Jalisco
Church bells ring over colonial Guadalajara, capital of Jalisco in western Mexico, known for the Guadalajara Cathedral and its mariachi tradition.
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Where to stay in Guadalajara
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Guadalajara lodging concentrates in the colonial centre, and where you base yourself sets what you walk to first. The old core wins for most. The square around the Guadalajara Cathedral, the Sagrario Metropolitano, and the Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres puts the museum quarter within a short walk, close to the murals of the Hospicio Cabañas and the market halls of the San Juan de Dios Market.
West of the centre, the leafier avenues near the Templo Expiatorio and the Museo de las Artes of the Universidad de Guadalajara offer a calmer, tree-lined base with the city's arts life. If you want the cathedral, the plazas, and the market on your doorstep, stay in the historic core; if you prefer green avenues and gallery streets, take the university quarter near the Templo Expiatorio. Both sit inside the same capital of Jalisco in western Mexico.
About Guadalajara
What is Guadalajara known for?
Guadalajara is known as the capital of Jalisco and the second-largest city of Mexico, a colonial centre in the west of the country. The old town holds it together. Grown up around the twin-spired Guadalajara Cathedral, the city is known for the murals of the Hospicio Cabañas, the tequila and mariachi heritage of Jalisco, and the vast San Juan de Dios Market beside the historic core.
What are the main landmarks in Guadalajara?
Guadalajara sets its landmarks around the colonial plazas at its centre. The cathedral towers over all. The twin-spired Guadalajara Cathedral and its Sagrario Metropolitano face the Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres, while the frescoed vaults of the Hospicio Cabañas, the Museo Regional de Guadalajara, the crypt of the Panteón de Belén, and the halls of the San Juan de Dios Market hold the heritage of Jalisco.
What is the history of Guadalajara?
Guadalajara was founded in 1542 in the western highlands that became the state of Jalisco, and it grew as a colonial city long before it turned toward independence. The church came first. Its Guadalajara Cathedral and Sagrario Metropolitano rose over the plaza, and the Hospicio Cabañas was later raised as a great charitable house whose frescoed vaults are now inscribed as a World Heritage site among the finest of the colonial west.
Both the Museo Regional de Guadalajara and the walled crypt of the Panteón de Belén keep the deeper past of the colonial town, while the Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres honours the figures Jalisco produced. From that founding of 1542, Guadalajara became the capital of Jalisco and the second city of Mexico, a centre of the tequila and mariachi culture born in the surrounding country of the west.
Where is Guadalajara?
Guadalajara lies on a high plateau in the west of Mexico, in the centre of the state of Jalisco. The land sits high and open. The city spreads across a broad upland basin ringed by low hills and volcanic country, the raised ground of Jalisco giving it a temperate air despite its place in the warm western reaches of the country.
What is the climate of Guadalajara?
Guadalajara has a mild upland climate softened by its altitude on the Jalisco plateau. The air stays temperate. A summer rainy season brings afternoon storms across the highland basin, while the dry winter and spring months turn warm and clear, the high ground keeping the western Mexican heat gentler than the lowlands below.
How do you get to Guadalajara?
Guadalajara is the road and air hub of western Mexico, the point where the highways of Jalisco converge. Many routes meet here. Its international airport is among the busiest in the country, and the toll roads run east toward Mexico City and out to the Pacific coast, tying the capital of Jalisco to the rest of the western highlands.
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Updated July 2026