A Treasure Hunter's Itinerary for Shopping, Eating, and More
Special Thanks to our contributors: Casa Humo Mexican Cooking Classes, La Cocina Mongol "Flor de Luna," and fabulous TWIG Members Laura Lady, Ramiro, Dr, Carmen Velazquez, and Fernanda Gomez Soliz.
Chances are that you want to visit Tonalá for its handcrafts, especially pottery. It is a major center for this activity in Jalisco, along with Tlaquepaque. The town has been a ceramics center since the pre-Hispanic period. A few other handcrafted items are made in Tonalá as well, with blown glass coming second after ceramics. Others include ironwork, woodworking, especially furniture, cartonería (animals, clowns and dolls), tin and brass objects.
Unlike Tlaquepaque, the town of Tonalá has not been geared for tourists in the sense of hotels, restaurants, and scenic streets. Despite this, it receives thousands of visitors each week, most drawn by the street market or “tianguis” that is set up each Thursday and Sunday.
Tonalá is like a handcrafts labyrinth in which you can easily lose yourself and miss the most precious stores. But thanks to our curated guide, you can now spend the most perfect day in Tonalá, avoiding the less interesting stores to focus on the gems.
In this guide you will learn:
🏺The store for best ceramics
🏺 The store for best blown glass
🏺 Where to buy or custom order furniture
🏺 The best stores for your plants & pots
🏺 The three recommended restaurants
🏺 Tonalá’s history, celebrations and legends
Should we start?
