Zapopan

Zapopan is a major city within the Guadalajara metropolitan area, best known as a center of Catholic pilgrimage and, more recently, of contemporary art and upscale living. Its colonial heart centers on a vast basilica, while its northern edges hold some of western Mexico's most dynamic new development.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan anchors the old town, home to a small, revered image of the Virgin. Each October, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims accompany the figure on foot back to the basilica in the Romería, one of Mexico's largest religious processions, filling the plaza and surrounding streets with music and devotion.

Around the basilica, the historic center rewards a stroll. A pedestrian arcade lined with craft shops leads to the church, and the Huichol art museum beside it displays the vivid beadwork and yarn paintings of the Wixárika people, for whom Zapopan is an important cultural hub. The basilica's twin towers and carved stone facade make a fine backdrop, and vendors sell candles, sweets and religious keepsakes along the arcade.

Modern Zapopan is a different world. The Andares district and the corridor toward it hold designer shopping, restaurants and the acclaimed MAZ contemporary art museum, while leafy residential neighborhoods make it one of the wealthier parts of greater Guadalajara. Visitors typically combine the devotional old town with the polished new quarters, moving easily between them by taxi or the metro area's transit. The city works well as a base or a day trip from central Guadalajara, only a short distance away. Craft lovers come for the Huichol beadwork, the faithful for the basilica, and design-minded travelers for the art and architecture. The temperate dry season from November to May, and especially the October pilgrimage, are the liveliest and most comfortable times to experience both sides of the city.