Lake Chapala or Tequila: comparing the two most popular tours from Guadalajara.
Lake Chapala and Tequila are the most popular tour destinations from Guadalajara. So what can you expect from each? What companies should you use? And which of the destinations makes for a more rewarding trip? I cover that in this post.
Note: I’ll cover in detail the differences between two of the larger companies doing tours in Guadalajara. But just know that, generally, itineraries between different companies are very similar. On both tours we would often run into other groups (from different tours) at the same stops.
The Lake Chapala Tour
I booked this tour on Getyourguide. The operator is a company called GDL Experiences. You can book the tour multiple ways, however you do it you’ll pay the same (about $40 US).
The main highlights advertised in the tour: the Pueblo Magico town of Ajijic, the town of Chapala, and a boat tour of Lake Chapala. The reason I booked this tour was simple: I wanted to see the towns of Ajijic and Chapala. Taking a tour from Guadalajara is a much more efficient way of getting there and seeing what there is to see (ie rather than doing it independently). Plus there are a lot of extras as I cover below.
I booked the tour on Getyouguide. Pick up instructions were that we all meet at the Fiesta Americana hotel (a huge hotel outside the center). The day before the tour I received a Whatsapp message from GDL experiences and was invited to join a group chat. Very early the next day we received messages from our guide (Javier) explaining once again the pickup instructions. Through the Whatsapp chat we could all see each others messages so we knew that everyone was on schedule. Very well organized.
At 10:30 we all piled into a luxury minivan for our tour and left Guadalajara. We were 15 on the tour, 12 people being Mexican (from different parts of the country), the other 3 of us being Canadian (the other Canadians apart from me being a couple in their 50s from Winnipeg). Age varied from people in their early 30’s to an old man in his 80’s who was accompanied by his daughter. Javier addressed us all in both Spanish and English.
The first stop on our tour was mid-way between Guadalajara, the ranch of famous Mexican singer Vincente Fernández (it’s called Los 3 Portrillos if you want to search for it on Google). I had never heard of him before, but he is considered the best Mexican singer of all time and one of Rolling Stone’s 100 best singers of all time. His origins were as a Mariachi singer who sang in plazas as a lot of Mariachi singers do. But he made it big: and you see it here with his ranch (which has a guitar shaped swimming pool, his tomb, and lots of horses and ponies).
We had 20 minutes to walk around the ranch, then 20 minutes at the huge gift shop down the road (which featured lots of cowboy hats, cowboy boots, cowboy shirts and memorabilia of Vincente Fernández including coffee mugs with his face emblazoned on it). Next to the gift shop was a huge restaurant where you were greeted by a large cutout of the man himself (the real Vincente Fernandez died in 2021).
After roughly 45 minutes at the ranch/gift shop/restaurant we all met back at the van and climbed aboard: but not before Javier offered us drinks. In the back of the bus he had a bar set up and poured us a mix of tequila and Squirt. A nice way to get the day started.
Javier went back to driving (he was a 1-man team, both guide and driver) and 10 minutes later arrived at a Tequila “restaurant” called Casa Calera: a large setup at the side of the road which had a large bar, tasting rooms, and various outdoor sets where people could dress up like cowboys and take photos of each other looking ridiculous. We were quickly brought to a tasting room where we could try tequilas. “Oh no, here is where are forced to pay out cash” I thought. No. We were given a brief explanation of tequila and then were served 7 generous shots of different tequila. Excellent. It was all included in our tour and we even got a free shot glass. I was so impressed by the tequila that I bought a bottle of aged tequila at the gift shop (paid 180 pesos, 50% off since we were part of the tour). Then back to the bus where Javier again went to the bar at the back of the bus and mixed drinks. By this time it was around 12:30 and I was already tipsy.
The next stop was a restaurant on Lake Chapala just past Ajijic. Getting there took a while: the one lane road runs through Ajijic and sees a lot of traffic.
It was around 1:30 when we arrived. It was a huge restaurant on the lake (called Mariscos El Carnal) which obviously survived off the tour groups brought there. But the views of the lake were fabulous and there was a pleasant breeze. I saw a pelican and a few storks. It was very nice.
It was obviously a touristy restaurant but with the setting I didn’t feel screwed over. We all sat down, ordered (some of the others ordering more tequila. I stuck to sparkling water). Singers came by and sang and most of us gave them tips. I had grilled fish with rice and a salad. Total cost 305 pesos. Was it worth it? Maybe not. But considering everything I didn’t feel cheated.
Going down some steps from the restaurant there was a pier. Here we had our next activity: a boat excursion in the lake. It lasted 20 minutes which was fine as really not that much to see…the highlight however are the high, lush hills behind Ajijic which are stunning and which I’m sure makes for good hiking.
Finally, after everyone had a bathroom break, we were back in the van. Our next stop was the actual town of Ajijic which was 10 minutes away.
It was 4:30 when we arrived at Ajijic’s promenade. Javier stopped the van and told us we had an hour. His words of advice “Ajijic is very expensive, go further into town away from the promenade if you want to buy something. Visit the main plaza, see the church, walk around the small streets. Ajijic is famous for its murals. Then walk back along the promenade and we’ll meet up at the Ajijic sign”. So I guess we were in our own to explore.
Ajijic is indeed pretty. Lots of murals, lots of flowers, lots of pretty little coffee shops and restaurants where we saw lots of white faces. The streets are rough cobblestones (which reminded me of San Miguel de Allende) but the sidewalks modern and smooth (unlike SMA). But a charming town that is smaller than I thought. I kept thinking, this is the famous expat town everyone talks about? It IS pretty but there’s not much to the town.
We all met up at the Ajijic sign and waited for Javier. The sun was getting low in the sky and I thought maybe I had misunderstood. Were we still going to visit the town of Chapala?
Yes we were. 20 minutes later we pulled into Chapala. It was 6:15, the sun was setting. We parked at the promenade, Javier again telling us we had an hour. “Walk the promenade, go down the main street to the church and the main plaza”.
Chapala was busy, full of locals. There was a festive air, Mariachi bands played, fishermen were pulling their boats up the main beach. The promenade is very long, a busy market area running parallel to it. A few steps inland is a pretty but odd church (with two very dissimilarly sized towers).
I liked the town of Chapala a lot (at a certain point I’ll write a post comparing the two towns).
At 7:15 we all met back up at the bus and were driven back to Guadalajara. It was 8:30 when we arrived back at the Fiesta Americana hotel. From there I took an uber to where we were staying.
Thoughts on the Lake Chapala tour? Overall I thought it was very good: lots of activities, saw a lot. We definitely got our money’s worth. If there is a criticism it’s that it was only at the end of the day that we actually got to see Ajijic and Chapala. Maybe a bit too much time was spent on lunch and other activities. But overall I give this tour an 8/10. Lots of fun.
The Tequila Tour
I booked this tour on Booking.com but you can also book it through Viator or with the tour company itself (Panoramex tours). Either way it comes out to the same price: 40 US (the same as the Chapala tour).
Just like the previous tour, this one was well organized. I received an email from Panoramex tours the same day that I booked telling me that I would be picked up where I stayed (very convenient!). The same day as the tour they sent me Whatsapp messages keeping me informed of pickup time. They picked me up at 9:20 in front of the apartment.
The team consisted of 2 people: Carmen the tour guide and Daniel the driver. Both were very welcoming and Carmen’s English was very good.
We drove around for a bit, picking up other people. By the time we finished we were 6 people taking the tour: a mid-30s Mexican couple, a similar aged American couple of Indian origin, a Japanese girl who spoke Spanish but not English, and me. By 10 am we were headed towards Tequila.
About halfway to Tequila (about 30 min since leaving Guadalajara), we arrived at a tequila factory called Don Elias.
We were given a tour of the factory, starting with a look at the blue agave plants on the site. All tequila is made solely from agave plants. Some info/statistics: agave plants have to grow 8 years before they are ready to be plucked from the soil. Each plant produces about 10 bottles of tequila. We were shown the agave ovens where the “pineapples” from the plants are cooked (“pineapples” because the bulb from the agave really does look like a big pineapple), the conveyor belts that shops up the pieces of cooked agave, and the huge tanks where the residue of agave is distilled. The key to tequila? Make sure a bottle always says ” tequila made from 100% agave” and not just ¨tequila¨. Because a lot of people add sugar to produce tequila faster. Unlike tequila that is made from 100% agave, non-pure tequila WILL give you a headache and a bad hangover. And as far as ethanol, an agave by-product that people say is dangerous…well, you’d have to drink about 8 bottles of tequila in a short sitting to make yourself sick.
There were other details that I’ve since forgotten. But the tour was educational.
The last step was the tasting room where there were 4 bottles of tequila to try. In the room were the American oak barrels in which the tequila is stored, the taste of the tequila depending on the period of aging (we tasted a tiny sample of an 8 year tequila and it was just fabulous). A good tequila is like a good brandy.
I have to say that compared to the Chapala tour, the sample sizes on this tour were very small. Enough for you to take two mini sips, not enough to give you the slightest buzz.
Back in the van, we made a small stop at some stalls down the road where they sold hats and where a girl sold ice cream. I bought an elote ice cream which was excellent.
About 20 minutes later we stopped at a property famous for Cantaritos called Cantaritos Ruta 47 (a Cantarito is a tequila-based cocktail using different fruits of your choosing which are served in a clay cup known as a jarrito de barro). You could see that it was a regular stop for tour groups – it was large establishment where you could order a variety of different cantaritos and enjoy them while listening to some Mariachi singers. It also had fields of agave along with horses and a pony.
Was it a worthwhile stop? I’m not sure. And whereas Javier was serving us tequila from the back of his bus , on this tour I paid 230 pesos for an cantarito that tasted the same.
It’s an unattractive drive on that road to Tequila, the highway littered with tequila producers, distributors, tequila stands, restaurants serving tequila. If there was a river or stream the water would probably have been replaced with tequila.
We arrived in the town of Tequila itself. A straight drive from Guadalajara will take you about an hour and 15 minutes. In our case, with the various stops along the way, it was about 12:45pm when we arrived (having left Guadalajara at 10).
We parked in the center of Tequila, on a street with colorful buildings. Tequila looked like a quaint town and we walked with Carmen a few blocks to the center and stopped in front of the Jose Cuervo tequila factory (which takes up a large part of town). There Carmen stopped and explained that she would take the tour members that had paid for the supplemental tour of the factory…but that the others were free to go off on their own and that we would meet up at 4 pm to go back to Guadalajara. I hadn’t paid to see the Jose Cuervo factory (I had read reviews that it wasn’t really worth it. Something the other members of our group confirmed later). So I had about 3 hours to kill in Tequila.
How do you kill 3 hours in Tequila? The main square is quite pretty and I sat there for a while still sucking on the cantarito from our previous stop. I found it amusing to see people lining up to get a photo in front of the Tequila sign and then all the weird posing they would do once at the sign. Mexicans love that stuff.
I finished my drink and left the pretty clay pot it came in for someone to take. I wasn’t going to lug it around Mexico or take it on the plane home with me.
Tequila’s church is pretty enough and worth a visit. I walked down the main street which, again, is filled with everything to do with tequila products. The town of Tequila is very, very touristy and it’s just a jumble of small stores and bars dedicated to everything dedicated to tequila and the agave plant.
As I say, Tequila is a pretty enough small town. Next to the Jose Cuervo factory is a pedestrian street named calle Jose Cuervo. It’s pretty and has colourful flags waving about street level.
I walked some other streets, seeing colourful buildings. But honestly, step away from the couple of blocks in the center and pretty soon you’ll see nothing really pretty or remarkable.
Back towards the center, I saw a whole bunch of tourist “drinking” buses, jampacked with Mexican tourists drinking tequila to blasting music.
I decided to have lunch and chose a typical Mexican diner. Fonda La Martina was good and inexpensive, steps from the main square.
After that, I retraced my steps for 45 minutes, killing time until meeting up with the bus and everyone else.
At 4 pm we were all gathered again. Got in the bus and drove to Guadalajara. Arrived around 5:30 and said goodbye to the other people (coming back, the Panoramex tours usually have 3 stops and people make their way home from there. But because we were so few, they dropped me off a block from the apartment we were staying in).
Thoughts on the Tequila tour? I honestly thought it was a bit boring. The first stop at the tequila factory is educational and I appreciated that. The stop at the cantarito “ranch” was unnecessary. Finally, while Tequila (the town) is cute, an hour is all it needs. 3 hours of free time was too much – unless getting smashed in a tequila tourist bus is your thing.
So…Lake Chapala or Tequila?
I mentioned that GDL Experiences’s Lake Chapala tour was great value. We did, saw and experienced a lot. The reverse is true for Panomarex’s Tequila tour. I didn’t think we did or saw too much of anything. I’ll give it a 6/10 only because Carmen and Daniel were friendly and good guides/drivers. But otherwise I just wasn’t impressed by the whole experience or the town of Tequila (I actually thought Tlaquepaque, just outside the center of Guadalajara and another Pueblo Magico, is more interesting). I also thought it was ironic that we were given more tequila to drink on the Chapala tour than on the Tequila tour. As I had mentioned to Javier at one point, “this isn’t a Chapala tour…this is a drinking tour”. He laughed. The Lake Chapala tour was just a whole lot more fun (as you can see by the photo at the top of this post).
So it goes without saying that, given the options, I recommend the Lake Chapala tour over the Tequila tour. It’s just more interesting and you’ll see two pretty towns and a beautiful lake…all that certainly beats the ho hum geography, the forgetful town that is Tequila, or the tacky stretch of concrete that takes you there.
You can book GDL Experiences’s Lake Chapala tour here. It’s the top rated Chapala tour from Guadalajara.
Looking for accommodation in Guadalajara? We stayed in this great apartment in the Colonia Americana neighborhood.
Related: 11 Unforgettable Off-the-beaten path adventures in Mexico
Related: Why you should visit Zacatecas
Related: Hiking Nevado de Toluca
Leave a Reply