Guadalajara Travel and Things to Do Guide

A metropolis of 5.5 million inhabitants, Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city, is famous for its modernity and for its electronic and information technology industries. Hotel venues in Guadalajara comprise 9,000 hotel rooms, and the city's meeting venues have been welcoming international business since the signing of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Guadalajara is also home to one of the largest communities of expatriates from the U.S. and Canada (20,000), which has led to many bilingual services in the area. The expatriate community expands from Guadalajara to the nearby scenic towns of Lake Chapala and Ajijic. Guadalajara offers many English-language clubs, churches, libraries, a theater, hospitals with bilingual staff and a weekly newspaper, The Colony Reporter.The International Airport of Guadalajara is located 25 minutes from downtown. Since 2008, the airport has expanded international operations significantly; its 350 daily operations make it the second-busiest airport in Mexico, after the Mexico City International airport. And it is just a four-hour drive from Mexico City thanks to the Guadalajara-Mexico City superhighway.The recently remodeled Expo Guadalajara is the city's largest exhibition center, holding up to 50,000 people. Guadalajara hosts national and international events, such as the annual International Book Fair, the second largest in the world, as well as the 2004 Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union Summit, and the 2010 International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference.