Tonalá, Jalisco

Main church in Tonala

Lovely side street scene

Awesome painted apartment blocks as you enter the town

Busy street stalls in the town centre

I think that the little town of Tonala has a bad reputation that is not fully deserved. Nestled next to the touristic and well manicured Tlaquepaque, Tonala seems dusty, dirty and chaotic in comparison. After previously visiting once on a market day (Thursdays and Sundays) I was hopeful to actually be able to see a calmer and more beautiful town than previously. The market stalls take over the whole town and it is trickier to see the buildings and architecture on these days. Additionally there are hundreds more people making the whole venture one for the determined and brave.

Templo del Santuario del Segrado Corazon

I am not a big shopper so really the time to visit for me was on a day where the market was not happening. At first you can really see a strong difference from the other areas of the city. The suburbs seem rougher and less moneyed than other parts, although with many beautiful murals painted on the housing blocks as you enter the town.

The main square was calm and pretty, a range of little taco and food stands surrounding the main plaza with a large amount of benches for locals to relax and chat in the shade. The main square hosts a beautiful and quite unique looking church called Templo del Santuario del Sagrado Corazon with its pointed arch features and multi spired roof – not sure I have seen one like this in my travels in Mexico before and really makes a change from the standard Mexican style churches which are all around in the country.

Cerro de la Reina church

A short walk uphill from the main square is the lovely Cerro de la Reina – The Queen's Hill. Named after an indigenous queen who once lived on top of the hill. From here you can see great views over the city and surrounding area and also can admire the petite hermitage church which was built over the place that was home to an indigenous queen. A wedding was taking place here when we visited and it looked incredibly perfect for such an occasion.

Two small museums are well worth a look while you are here. The Museo Nacional de la Ceramica – explores the beautiful ceramic work of Mexico and of the local area, the building itself is worth visiting for with its odd alcoves and window frames often depicting fish and suns. Around 10 mins away on foot is the Tonallan Musuem which has two main sections – an indoor one with temporary exhibitions about different areas of the state (when we visited it was about Sayula) and an outside ceramic section which housed giant spinning tops with a variety of painted scenes and patterns. Both museums were also free! Hurrah!

Window detail at Museo Nacional de la Ceramica

Food wise – Tonala doesn't seem to offer a great range of restaurants and food establishments that are so well established in neighbouring Tlaquepaque, but we ate good food in front of the City Hall with a view of all the people hurrying around and later had good seafood with hugely friendly waiters at El grajo.

All in all, I would definitely recommend visiting Tonala – a wide range of galleries, ceramic and furniture shops await for those that are interested. Many of these have open workshops so you can see the goods being created. I didn't see these so much on this visit so I think this could be more apparent on market days. For a more relaxed stroll around the town I would recommend visiting on a Saturday where the market is absent.  

Tonalá se encuentra a una hora en autobús del centro de la Guadalajara. No tiene fama de atraer turismo en días distintos al Jueves y al Domingo, que es cuando se encuentra el mercado de artesanías a lo largo de la avenida principal. El mercado es muy recomendable para conocer el trabajo de artistas locales con precios directos del artesano.

La plaza principal es un lugar muy tranquilo. Se encuentra rodeado de iglesias, puestos de comida, del mercado municipal, así como del Ayuntamiento.

A unos diez minutos caminando de la plaza principal se encuentra el Cerro de la Reina, Lugar de referencia para Tonalá. El cerro tiene ese nombre porque una reina indígena vivió ahí cuando llegaron los españoles y se puede apreciar monumentos en su honor en el cerro como en la plaza principal.

Cerro de la Reina.

En el cerro se ecuentra una pequeña parroquia y se puede apreciar más a profundidad lo enorme que es la ciudad.

Tonalá tiene dos museos. El primero es el Museo Nacional de Cerámica, que cuenta con una exhibición de artesanías locales y de otros estados pasando por diversos estilos de creación.
El segundo es el Museo Tonallán, este museo es más pequeño y cuenta con exhibiciones temporales acerca de diversos municipios del estado. En esa ocasión era acerca de Sayula.
Los dos museos son de entrada gratuita.

No hay muchas opciones para comer, así que decidimos ir a un restaurante de mariscos que parecía muy popular. La comida y la atención es muy buena.

Tonalá puede resultar muy distinto a otras partes de la ciudad, pero es recomendable ir un fin de semana en la mañana a conocer un poco más de Jalisco y su cultura.