Guadalajara is an excellent city to visit on a family vacation because it has pretty much everything you could want out of a family city-break. Whether you base yourselves in Guadalajara for a week and explore the city extensively or just spend a few days in town before heading off to Puerto Vallarta or Sayulita for some beach time, everyone will enjoy themselves.

Let’s take a look at the very best things to do in Guadalajara with kids. 

This article is all based on my experiences in Guadalajara with my kids. My kids love big cities because of all the opportunities for fun they offer. They declared Guadalajara a favourite city of theirs, along with London and Mexico City.

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Outdoor Guadalajara 

Guadalajara is an enormous city but that doesn’t mean there aren’t green spaces, parks, playgrounds or plazas where the kids can play and let out their never-ending supply of energy.

Bosque Los Colomos

This is a huge park/forest to the north of Zapopan. Everyone will love exploring, running and playing in this fabulous 92-hectare park. There are playgrounds, wild spaces, a Japanese garden and even an area where people offer horse rides (when we went the horses had definitely seen better days). 

​Parque Mirador Independencía

This park is well worth heading to if you also love stunning views over huge canyons (picture above). Just down the road from the Guadalajara Zoo and Selva Magica, this park is a great place to take a short stroll, admire the views and then let the kids play in the playground.

Parque Agua Azul

This park, in the centre of Guadalajara, is very close to the Palaeontology Museum. It felt as if the park had seen better days but the kids will still have a great time running around and enjoying the large playground. There is an orchid area, a mariposarium (butterfly house) and an aviary in the park.

Parque Metropolitano

This looks like a pretty cool outdoor space to enjoy with kids in the northwest of Guadalajara. The park has an ecological area that includes a maze, butterfly park, traditional games, an aquarium, orchards, a wormery, tortoise area, ecological museum, meteorological area and more. 

Vía Recreativa

On a Sunday morning, like many Mexican cities, the heart of Guadalajara closes itself off to motorized traffic and opens itself to pedestrians, cyclists / people on scooters / skates / skateboards and more.

Not only can you explore without the worry of getting hurt by cars, you will also find markets, free concerts in the streets, street performers, street food vendors and even areas specifically set up for kids to play.

➡️ Avenida Chapultepec (between Av Vallarta and Av Hidalgo you’ll find a space for kids 4 – 12 to play and take part in fun activities such as trampolining, bowling, jigsaw stations and more. 

Plazas

Just like in any other Mexican city, there are plazas everywhere and plazas, as pedestrianised areas, are the perfect place to let your kids run off some steam when you’re exploring a city.

Let’s face it, sometimes they’ll be bored in a museum or a church and the best way to deal with their boredom is to find a way to have them let off steam after you emerge from said dull building (or, you know, bribe them with ice creams).

Top running plazas in Guadalajara

⭐️ Plaza de Armas 

⭐️ Plaza de la Liberación 

⭐️ Parque Morelos

⭐️ In front of the Museo Cabañas (super fun because there are sculptures to examine too) 

⭐️ Parque Revolución

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​​Cultural Activities in Guadalajara

Guadalajara is the capital of the state of Jalisco, it’s also the second biggest city in all of Mexico. As you might imagine, there is plenty of culture to be found in this big city and much of it is perfect for children. Just wandering the streets of downtown Guadalajara is a cultural activity in itself! 

Monuments and Sculptures

It’s pretty hard to not notice the incredible monuments and sculptures in Guadalajara, Zapopan and Tlaquepaque. My kids loved having their photos taken with their favourites. There are too many to list but these are our highlights.

Guadalajara Cathedral area

You should at least show the kids the Guadalajara Cathedral while you’re there, it’s pretty impressive. Just behind the cathedral is the Rotonda de los Jaliscienses Ilustres – my kids enjoyed checking this out and seeing how many women were included. 

Escultora Cabeza Gigante

You absolutely can not miss this fabulous sculpture when you’re looking for things to do in Guadalajara with kids. It’s magnificent. 

Fuente de los Niños Miones

As you walk towards the Hospicio Cabañas, be sure to pass by the Fuento de los Niños Miones (Fountain of Naughty Children) – my kids found this absolutely hilarious. Once they’ve seen this, maybe they’ll pay attention to a few of the other incredible statues and sculptures that absolutely litter the gorgeous historic centre of Guadalajara. 

La Sala de los Magos Cósmicos

The other sculpture that will blow their minds is located outside the Hospicio Cabañas – La Sala de los Magos Cósmicos by the outstanding Alejandro Colunga, one of my favourite sculptors anywhere in the world. This museum, by the way, regularly makes it into lists of the best museums in Mexico.

Visit Mercado San Juan de Dios (Mercado Libertad)

This is the largest indoor market in all of Latin America. While you may be interested in the crafts and food sections, let the kids spend a little while searching through the video game section to win some brownie points for later! 

This is a great place to try a Guadalajara specialty, the torta ahogada – the drowned sandwich. it’s really quite delicious. We also found great doughnuts and ice cream around the market, which of course helped the kids stay focused on not being too whiny.

Museums in Guadalajara

I actually wrote a whole detailed article about the museum scene in Guadalajara because we had such fun exploring the museums of Guadalajara.

⭐️ There are two museums specifically for children in Guadalajara:

➡️ Museo Trompo Magico and Globo Museo de la Niñez

Our kids loved Museo Trompo Magico almost as much as they did Museo de Papalote in Mexico City, which they remain firm in calling the best museum in the world.

Other museums in Guadalajara are actually very well set up for children too. Most have child-focused exhibitions or screens (let’s face it, that’s all the kids really want, right?). I particularly recommend

➡️ Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Jalisco

This fabulous museum explains the history of the state of Jalisco and has great child centered interactive displays too.

➡️ Hospicio Cabañas 

You must visit for the outstanding and entirely mesmerising Orozco murals. The building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and although the kids won’t care much about the murals, they’re important to see and there are rooms with buttons to press later. (you can see that my kids did not care much for the art!)

➡️ Nuestros Dulces Factory

This small museum in Tlaquepaque offers a short and sweet (hah) tour around a traditional candy factory. This is a winner with the kids.

Electric Carriage Ride Central Guadalajara

Traditional horse and carts in Mexico are controversial. Some tourists and locals alike seem to enjoy them but animal lovers are very much against them. A great alternative in Guadalajara is to take an electric cart ride around the city. My kids absolutely loved the experience. 

Tlaquepaque and Zapopan

Both of these small towns that make up part of Metropolitan Gudalajara are worth visiting at least for a day each. 

Tlaquepaque highlights with kids

🎶 Tlaquepaque is a pueblo magico that is known as the birthplace of mariachi music so it’s a great idea to head here to eat lunch and watch a performance in the Plaza de los Mariachis.

🛍 This is also a great place to pick up some gorgeous souvenirs and traditional arts and crafts. 

🍦 Nieve de Garaffa Chapalita has the best ice-cream I’ve ever eaten. Yes, the lines are ridiculous but they’re worth it. Figure out what flavours you want before getting in line. And remember, you can go half-and-half on flavours.

🍬 The Nuestros Dulces museum – mentioned above.

🎨 Find the tile replica of Diego Rivera’s Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central.

​Zapopan highlights with kids

💦 In front of the convent in Plaza de las Americas, there are water fountains that the kids will absolutely adore on a hot day. It comes on four times a day at 11.30 am, 2.30 pm, 5.30 pm, 7.30 pm. There’s also a musical fountain show at 8.45 pm and 9.30 pm.

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Other Kid-Friendly Activities In Guadalajara

Zoologico Guadalajara (Guadalajara Zoo)

I rarely recommend zoos but I was incredibly impressed with Guadalajara’s zoo. I believe it’s one of the best I’ve been to, the animals have more space than in many other ‘good’ zoos I’ve visited.

🐧 We particularly enjoyed the penguin enclosure (wow, it was amazing), the aquarium, and the sky zoo (a cable car OVER the enclosures – hold on tight to the little ones!!). The sky zoo offers some amazing views over the nearby canyon.

Selva Magica

Just next door to the zoo is Selva Magica, a theme park that I can highly recommend if you’re after something theme-parky. 

🎢 Selva Magica has rides suitable for all ages of kids, including teens and tiny ones, yet isn’t a huge, unmanageable place at all.

Other activities I’ve read about but we didn’t do

Acuario Michin  (aquarium) or Sealand for penguin and snow fun

Volta Racing  (go-karts for over 14s)

Up n Joy – trampolining, climbing and more (also has a nanny service area and a specific area for kids under 6). 

Ameyalli Rope Climbing – Indoor and outdoor climbing for all ages. My kids love to climb so we are always looking for climbing opportunities like this.

Sky Park Punto Sur – this looks like a kid’s idea of heaven and would be perfect for a wet day when you’ve exhausted all the museum options or just feel like being kind to the kids. 

Natural Adventure Park – If you don’t have time or transport to get out of town, then for outdoor activities such as aerial tree top walks, ziplines, climbing and more, this looks like a perfect city day out. 

Punto Surf -I would love to take my kids to this indoor surf centre.

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Day Trips from Guadalajara

⭐️ The fabulous pueblo magico of Tequila (yes, home of tequila) is a short day trip from Guadalajara and yes it’s fun even with kids. I’ve been with my kids and on an adults’ only trip and had a great time both visits. It’s possible to take a train ride to Tequila but this is quite a boozy trip generally, so probably better to take a car.

⭐️ Lake Chapala and Ajijic – Take a day trip to see the largest freshwater lake in Mexico

⭐️ Guachimontones – an incredible ancient ruin lies just over an hour from Guadalajara.

⭐️ Thermal Waters in the Bosque de la Primavera – take the kids to splash about in this thermal river, it’s a great day trip.