Tequila - great for tequila tasting experience. Drive or take a bus. The bus costs about US$9-12 round trip and about 1.5 hrs each way. It is beautiful countryside. For a memorable weekend day trip, take the Tequila Express --- it's a fun atmosphere with tequila shots and roving mariachis crooning you all the way to Tequila. The train leaves Saturday and Sunday mornings at 10am from the Guadalajara train station, returning the same evening. (http://www.tequilaexpress...) Jose Cuervo distillery has a packaged tour that will pick you from your hotel, take you to an agave farm, then to the distillery, show you around the distillery, give you samples, take you to their galleria and offer a free margarita and 10% off at a restaurant. The city is quaint and worth exploring.
Lake Chapala, the main regional vacation spot with picturesque towns like Chapala and Ajijic the latter of which has a sizeable gringo expat community.
Guachimontones pronounced "WHAH-chee-mohn-TOHN-ace", a prehispanic 300 BCE - 900 CE archaeological site near the town of Teuchitlán about an hour west of Guadalajara known for its unique circular stepped pyramids. This 100-plus acre complex was only discovered in the 1970s.
Mazamitla, a picturesque town in Los Altos south of Lake Chapala.
Tapalpa a great mountain town near Cd Guzman, offers hotel and cabana like rooms for a nice weekend retreat
San Juan de los Lagos, second most visited pilgrimage site in Mexico after La Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Places further away include Puerto Vallarta, Bolañas an indigenous huichol community, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and Colima.
