Airport Name: Miguel Hidalgo International
Airport;
code GDL.
Location: 14 km southwest of the city.
Facilities: This two-story terminal has a
nice
shopping area, a good restaurant/bar,
and a revolving exhibition of art and
historic artifacts. The new $5 million
domed domestic departure lounge is
ultra-modern. Numerous car rental
agencies have counters in both the
domestic and international arrival
areas.
From the airport, vans known as combis
whisk visitors from the terminal to any
location. Rates to most hotels range from
$10-13 US per person.
To get around Guadalajara, cabs are plentiful
and have set, published rates (some
have meters). There is also very efficient
and economical bus and tram service
that crisscrosses the city. Once you are in
the downtown corridor, the best way to
explore is on foot. There are also romantic
horse-drawn carriages (calandrias) that
operate downtown. You'll pay about $15
US for an hour tour. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Another option is to hop one of the deluxe
linea dorada buses that operates
between the Plaza Tapatia and several
prominent points of interest around the
city. Cost is $3-4.5 pesos (drivers will make
change); buses run every 15 minutes.
As Guadalajara has
grown into a major business
center, the Guadalajara hotels
inventory has grown
from an assortment of older downtown
colonial-style properties to include an
excellent, if somewhat limited, offering of
international-class hotels. The completion
in 1987 of Expo-Guadalajara (Latin America's
largest convention facility) and opening
of the World Trade Center (Fall, 1996)
spurred several properties to undergo
extensive renovations. As in Mexico City,
a shortage of deluxe lodging has led to a
recent wave of price inflation, although
rates are still less expensive here than at
most beach resorts. Reasonably priced
lodging is available at several older, yet
well maintained, downtown properties. |
