Tapalpa

Tapalpa is a rustic mountain town and hideaway for those seeking a break from busy Guadalajara and the ever more popular Chapala area. The name comes from the Nahuatl word tlapalpan meaning land of colors. That starts to clue you in to the kind of place it is.

Higher in altitude, cooler, year round, it's also surrounded by enchanting forests of pine, oak, and ask. Even more intriguing, the most popular attraction is the Valley of the Enigmas, a staggering expanse of giant, rather playful-looking boulders strewn about as though they were pebbles dropped from the pocket of a giant. The less charitable name, in Spanish is Las Piedrotas, or simply The Big Rocks. The stones eventually reach something of a natural crescendo in the staggering Los Frailes Natural Park a bit further to the north. But the stones lend a whimsical tone to the entire town some four kilometers to the south. 

After hiking the valley, many visitors will stop on the road back to the town center. The hills and valley here are teeming with weekend lodging places, small hotels, and cabin rentals. It's an enchanted valley where regular visitors commune with nature and relax on long weekends. It's also home to an old paper mill that ran from 1840 through 1923. This was once home to some 105 workers, their families, and supervisors. People stop at the old complex to gape at the stunning ruins of the La Constancia mill, and what was the earliest paper factory in this part of the country. 

If you head back into town, you'll notice that most every building is painted white with red tile roofs. The natural stone from the area is used everywhere, in the architecture of the historic buildings. There are a number of temples and chapels, and the old church is preserved right next to the new. A few blocks away, the municipal market offers everything by way of food, produce, sit-down eateries and fresh cooked meals. 

The Sur de Jalisco bus line runs buses from Nueva Central Camionera de Guadalajara every two hours, for a trip that takes about two hours. Driving from Ajijic takes about the same time, and the overwhelming majority of visitors will arrive from either of these two locations (Ajijic or Guadalajara).