Day trip to Tequila, a magical town in Mexico

I have been posting a lot about European destinations, but I haven’t talked about Mexico that much. As some of you know, I’m Mexican, so I thought that, since I was sort of an expert in the matter, I might as well give you some insight.

I wanted to publish this a while ago, but I had a bit of drama in my life and some unexpected trips (I spent the last weekend in San Francisco, yay!), so I am struggling to catch up. But here I am! And since I’m in a good mood, I decided to talk about something fun: Tequila.

And no, I don’t mean the drink, although it is involved as well. However, I’m talking about a day trip to Tequila, the town. Yes, you read right. Tequila is not only the responsible for many morning headaches; it is also a gorgeous place in the heart of Mexico.

Luckily for me, my hometown is just an hour away from this Magical Town (it’s not an euphemism, people actually know it as a “Magical Town”). So a few weeks ago one of my oldest friend decided to drag me out of home and back on the road. We took an amazing day trip to Tequila and I have all the info for you here.

But what’s the deal with Tequila?

Good question. As I said, Tequila is a town, and yes, it is named that way because the main production of tequila (the drink) happens in that area. Agave fields, which are the plants where the spirit comes from, surround the whole region and the village itself is full of distilleries and production plants.

There are plenty of restaurants and tourist attractions in the area, but at the end of the day, we all know that it is an alcohol-filled town and one of the main reasons to go is to sample the local specialty. It is, after all, Mexico’s national drink.

How to get to Tequila?

I usually leave this type of question until the end, but I think, in this case, it is important to answer it right away.

As I mentioned, every trip to tequila involves some kind of drinking. I’m not saying you should get pissed and end up throwing up on the Mexican streets, but every shop has free samples and most distilleries have tequila tastings, so it is a bit obvious that driving there is not the best idea. If you do decide to drive, remember to take with you the person you hate the most and make them the designated driver.

No, but seriously, besides driving, there are also several buses that can take you there at a very affordable price and even small groups that share vans and split the costs. However, every Mexican in the country knows that the best way to get to tequila is, undoubtedly, by train. And not any train, I’m talking about the Tequila Express o the José Cuervo Express.

The Tequila Express and the José Cuervo Express

Let me start by telling you that we don’t have passenger trains in Mexico, except for these. The Tequila Express is just as magical as the Hogwarts Express, but on a PG-18 version. Same goes for José Cuervo.

In both cases, you board the train in Guadalajara (my hometown), and the moment you set foot inside you are welcomed with a drink in your hand and a Mariachi band. I’m not exaggerating. The Tequila Express is every single Mexican cliché inside a wagon. You’ve got the drink, the music, the food, the loud people… You name it.

The train staff feeds you and lets you drink during your whole journey while you listen to Mexico Lindo y Querido until you reach your destination. Once there, they guide you to a distillery and give you a tour around the town that lasts for most of the day. Afterwards, you board the train again and drink your way back to Guadalajara, where you definitely will need to take a taxi.

I’ve been told it is as amazing as it sounds, but I haven’t seen it for myself, because, even though it sounds awesome, it is also on the pricey side. I mean, the price is not that much when you compare it to the amount of alcohol you receive in exchange, but still, my friends and I decided we did not want to pay $70.00 USD each and we decided to split the petrol and drive instead (we found a designated driver).

You can check the different packages the Tequila Express offers or you can also see the José Cuervo train, which uses the same concept. I do believe the experience is worth it and hopefully one day I’ll share it with you guys.

What to do in Tequila… Before the arrival

Getting to Tequila is an adventure by itself. One of the advantages of driving there is the fact that you can stop in some of the many road stalls that sell some classic tequila drinks.

On your way there you will encounter different places offering some of the most popular tequila cocktails. And no, I’m not talking about margaritas. If you want to drink tequila like a true Mexican you need to try Cantaritos and Vampiros.

Cantaritos are a typical cocktail served on a clay cup. They have orange and grapefruit juice, lime soda, salt and slices of orange, grapefruit and lime. It has a very soft flavour, but beware: it is dangerous. You can drink a whole jar and feel nothing and the moment you stand up you’ll feel it right in your legs. That is if you manage to stand up.

Vampiros are another drink that mixes tequila with lime soda, powdered chilli, lime juice and sangrita. Sangrita is a classic pairing for tequila and it is a mix of orange and lime juice, chilli and salt. I’m aware it might sound weird, but it is actually very refreshing.

The most famous place to sample some of these drinks is called “El Güero”, and it is right before the entrance of the town. However, we stopped there and thought it was a bit overpriced, so we decided to pick a random bar next to the road, Los Titanes. It was much more affordable and equally tasty. So I’m encouraging you to do the same, pick something on your way that looks interesting and save some money for shots. After all, if you are already doing a day trip to Tequila, you might as well add some drinks to the mix!

What to do in Tequila: Take a tour!

When we finally reached our destination, we decided to take a stroll around the town centre. Tequila is small and you can cover a lot of ground in no time. However, it is a colourful and lively place.

You can find plenty of souvenir shops, restaurants and jewellery stalls around, so it is cool to explore a bit. There are many murals and street vendors and performers to entertain tourists, so you will never get bored. However, since we were already there, we decided we might as well do like the Romans do and take a tour around one of the distilleries.

If you arrive directly to the town, you can head to the main church (it’s hard to miss, just follow the giant building) and wait for the tour guides to come to you. They are always lurking around the square and are eager to attract some tourists. Just a heads up: if you are not a local, they are probably going to try to overcharge you, so be alert. The key is to deny their services a couple of times and they will get the price down, so hang in there! Every Mexican likes to bargain and you need to be really sly to get a good deal.

We finally booked a tour with Tequila Orendain Distillery. It is not José Cuervo (the most famous one), but it was still pretty good. We paid around $300 pesos per person ($15.00 USD more or less) and it included transportation, a visit to the agave fields and the entrance to the distillery with the free tequila sampling.

Visit to the agave fields

If you don’t know where tequila comes from, you are going to find it soon enough. Agaves are the main source of tequila. These big spiky plants grow up around the region and UNESCO declared them part of the World Heritage. If you are already taking a day trip to Tequila, a visit to this place is definitely worth it!

My group and I hopped on a tequila barrel-shaped bus and they dropped us off at one of the fields. It’s sad, but it was my first time actually setting foot on them after 26 years of being a Mexican. However, I loved the experience. Also, I got to discover some of the perks of travelling with friends, since Lizzy, my childhood pal, took some awesome shots of me around all these baby tequilas!

The heat was unbearable, but there was a stall nearby selling cantaritos, so we decided it was time to hydrate before continuing our tour.

Tequila Orendain Distillery

No day trip to Tequila is complete without a distillery tour.

Tequila Orendain is a well-known drink in Mexico. It might not be the most popular, but it’s still good. They took us inside the factory and explained to us the necessary process to produce tequila.

We checked all the big machines and agave plants and they explained us that they first need to boil the agave to extract its juice. We could even sample some cooked agave and it tasted amazing! It was sweet and soft and almost like a dessert!

After that they explained to us how they managed to distil the spirit and they took us to the back to let us sample some freshly made tequila with different alcohol concentrations.

From that moment, the official tasting began and we also got to try different kinds of tequila (white, gold and aged) and we even sampled some flavoured tequila drinks with fruits and spices.

The tour guide explained a method that was supposedly going to help with the burning sensation you get after a shot. In theory, you have to sip the drink, leave it in your mouth for a few seconds to really feel the flavour and then swallow it. I was eager to try it and paid a lot of attention to the procedure, so when I finally put it to practice…

It didn’t work. Anyways, I wouldn’t be called a Mexican if I hadn’t given it another go, so I kept sampling all the variations until my friends and I ended up giggling and joking at the lamest things.

With that amazing mood, we decided to end our day trip to Tequila by getting back to town for a bite and then hitting the road to Guadalajara.

Other tips for your day trip to Tequila

• Bring water with you. It is usually warm and you need to keep hydrated after the drinks.
• Visit La Capilla. If you are looking for a pub to enjoy some drinks like a local, La Capilla is a good choice. It is the oldest canteen in the city and although it’s not as fancy as other bars in town, it definitely has some charm, so you can’t miss it during your day trip to Tequila.
• Don’t worry about the language. Tequila is pretty touristy, so plenty of people speak English.
• Do take a moment to explore the town. Drinking is awesome, but you can also find some interesting sights around the center.
• Don’t drink and drive! It might seem harmless and fun, but you are probably going to end up tipsy from your trip, so if you have no way to return to the city, hire a taxi or spend the night there until you are recovered.

Final thoughts of my day trip to Tequila

Overall, I thought it was an amazing experience. It had been a while since my last day trip to Tequila, so I really enjoyed myself. Connecting a bit more with my Mexican roots has been a very interesting process and I can’t wait to explore some more.

If you have any questions regarding my day trip to Tequila or about Mexico or travelling in general, don’t forget to ask on the comments!

I guess I’ll see you on the road.

Love,