San Juan de los Lagos

San Juan de los Lagos is one of the original places for mass pilgrimage in Mexico and certainly in Jalisco. Miracles began to be attributed to Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos in 1632. Ever since then religious faithful have made their own long trips to the site in search of their own miracles, or simply to participate in venerating the Cihuapilli, that is, in Nahuatl, the Great Lady. Even today, the iconic figure can be found in devotional shrines all over the country. 

The thing with Mexican pilgrimage sites in Mexico is that they have a long history welcoming visitors - even a history of hundreds of years. That's far longer than the modern tourism period begun only really in the 1930s. What you get is a comfortable and rich location that is confident in the nature and specifics of the area attractions all while learning, more recently, to expand that offering to include natural and cultural attractions too, 

The Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan is the center of religious and devotional life. And this story is told in some detail in the nearby Museo Cihuapilli. The collection of related religious artworks remains rather staggering in its age, focus, and detailed depiction. 

But San Juan de los Lagos is also a thriving city of some 50,000 residents. Streets are alive with commerce and trade, much of it unchanged in character since far earlier times. Even the purely secular visitor will find lots to marvel at. The town feels Mediterranean, and sometimes North African, in its age, stone, and the sheer intensity of devotional art and iconography visible everywhere. The main municipal market in the center of town is not to be missed. 

The town is only about two hours from Guadalajara, and Primera Plus runs multiple buses daily from there. But San Juan has always drawn visitors from the nearby states of Aguascalientes and Guanajuato (especially). From the Aguascalientes capital, the trip takes between one hour and 90 minutes, and the route is very popular. From the León area, the trip takes about 2.5 hours although one could drive it in just about one hour. Flecha Amarilla and Futura make the trip multiple times daily.