If you’re planning to travel from the brightly coloured city of Guanajuato to bustling Guadalajara, then this is the complete guide you need! We’ll cover the best methods of transport, bus timetables and how-to guides for booking your bus, benefits of taking private transport, and more.
⛪️ Why visit Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, is famous for its ties to tequila and mariachi. With beautiful areas to explore in the city itself like the Centro Histórico with its impressive cathedral, the largest indoor market in Latin America & the UNESCO Hospicio Cabañas, the city alone is one to explore.
Equally, outside of the city you can visit the birthplace of tequila (aptly named Tequila!), and the nearby beautiful town of Tlaquepaque.
If you happen to visit during late Oct – early Nov you’re in for a treat, as the city is home to the popular Calaverandia festival – a Day of the Dead themed park which opens in the evenings on the run up to Día de Muertos!
We think 3 days in Guadalajara is perfect to see all the sights! There’s loads to do, so we won’t list them all here, but if you’ve got time check out our 15 Best Things to Do in Guadalajara post for all you need to know.
How far away is Guanajuato from Guadalajara?
Guanajuato is roughly 275 km from Guadalajara, which should take around take 3.5-4 hours to travel by bus or car.
🚌 Travelling by Bus
Travelling by bus is the cheapest (and in our opinion, the BEST) option. Every time we’ve taken a bus in Mexico we’re always impressed, especially those north of Mexico City run by ETN. All the buses we took were clean & comfortable – and they often have reclining chairs!
Buses depart from Terminal Central de Autobuses de Guanajuato, which is a 10-15 minute drive out of the centre of the city. We used Uber to get to and from the bus station, which cost us about MX $120 (£4.50 / US $6.50). You can also get a public bus for about MX $15 from the entrance of the bus station to the central market in Guanajuato.
You’ll find a handful of departures each day, with the first leaving around 7:30am and the last around 11:00pm. Check out the full timetable for Guanajuato to Guadalajara here. The journey takes around 4 hours and tickets tend to start from £46 (US $61) when booking with Busbud – more on that below.
Once you arrive at Estación Central de Autobuses you can use Guadalajara’s fast & easy metro network to get to the station closest to your accommodation, or hop in an Uber/taxi for door-to-door transport.
Booking with Busbud
Just a quick note on Busbud: an online-booking platform for bus transport in Mexico. We’re planners, which means we love to book in advance where possible rather than leaving things until the last minute, which is why Busbud came to our rescue during our time in Mexico.
You can of course attempt to turn up to the bus terminal and buy your tickets in person, but that comes with the risk of full buses or trips that don’t align with your schedule or plans. We encountered a lot of full buses in Mexico, so if we’d have tried this it’s likely we’d have had to wait until the next day to travel!
On top of that, the entire app/website is in English, so if you’re not confident speaking to staff at ticket counters in Spanish it’s a real saviour.
That’s why we found booking our buses in advance on Busbud.com was so helpful. Tickets are stored on the app and you can even choose your seat ahead of time (passengers tend to stick to their given seats in Mexico).
Check out Busbud’s website here.
🚗 Travelling by Car
Drive yourself
Driving from Guanajuato to Guadalajara is super straightforward and will take around 3.5 hours to complete.
Simply head west on 110D then north on route 45/45D. Once you hit the 80 head west and follow the 80D until you’ve reached the outskirts of the city, then follow signs to city centre.
Note: This route includes toll roads! Often roads in Mexico with the letter ‘D’ are the ones with tolls e.g. 80D, whereas its counterpart without the D (80 in this example) is toll-free.
Taking a route without tolls will add on 1-2 hours cutting through the countryside. Follow these Google Maps directions, making sure ‘Avoid Tolls’ is selected in the options.
If you’re renting a car for the journey, make sure to check out Rentalcars.com. It’s a site that let’s you compare prices upfront and avoid hidden fees – it’s what we use every time we hire a car abroad! Use this handy tool to start checking out rental car options below:
Private transfer
If you don’t want to take a bus or drive yourself, you do have the option to take a private transfer to take you from Guanajuato to Guadalajara!
It’s going to be much more expensive than the bus or driving yourself, but it comes with some big advantages: more comfortable, secure luggage and it’s often quicker. Take a look at these recommendations:
➡️ From Guanajuato to Guadalajara – Private Transfer with Optional Sightseeing
🥃 What to do in Guadalajara
3 days is the perfect amount of time to visit Guadalajara’s main attractions, which involves visiting the nearby town of Tequila (the birthplace of… tequila!), seeing the striking murals by José Clemente Orozco in the Museo Cabañas, and plenty more.
Check out our list of the 15 Best Things to Do In Guadalajara before you visit for the full list!
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