Mexico · Estado de Jalisco · Zapopan
San Francisco Tesistán, Zapopan — Area Guide & Where to Stay
San Francisco Tesistán is a village in the Zapopan municipality of Jalisco whose Nahuatl name Techistlán means the place where the Techictli bird abounds.
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Where to stay in San Francisco Tesistán
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
Zapopan takes the bookings. Tesistán is a village of houses and walled yards rather than hotels, and the run into Zapopan is short enough that a room in the city serves a day spent out here. The plaza is the centre.
Older and larger houses stand around it, some of them former trojes built taller than the rest, and most keep a patio that once held chickens and cows. Newer estates sit on plots of about ninety square metres.
About San Francisco Tesistán
What are the main landmarks in San Francisco Tesistán?
The parish of San Francisco de Asís anchors the village. Fifteen temples fall under its jurisdiction, religious groups inside the community go back more than ninety years, and its baptismal font dates from the late 1800s. October belongs to the patron saint.
The novenario runs nine days, organised by the villagers themselves, and the parish festival for San Francisco de Asís falls in the same month. Maize has its own week in August. The Feria del Elote fills it with music, gymnastic displays and the Pan de Elote the village is known for.
What is the history of San Francisco Tesistán?
Tesistán is older than any record of its founding. The Nahuatl name Techistlán, meaning the place where the Techictli bird abounds, later became Tesistán, and the INAH confirmed prehispanic origins in 1985 from the crafts found in the archaeological ruins. A precise founding date cannot be given.
By the time the Spanish conquerors arrived Tesistán already formed part of the Kingdom of Tonallan, so the settlement predates the paperwork that would ordinarily fix a year. Rivers, crops and cattle kept it fed. Contact with the city was slight, and only a few went in to sell maize and other produce, which is why the village lived close to self-sufficiency for so long.
The first road ended that. Electricity arrived, brickmaking began as a trade, and the growth of the city eventually made selling land more profitable than working it.
Where is San Francisco Tesistán?
San Francisco Tesistán stands in the Zapopan municipality of Jalisco at about 1600 metres above sea level, connected to the municipal seat by bus routes that run from early morning until late at night.
Updated September 2026