Quinta Don Jose is located in Tlaquepaque, about 15 minutes form downtown. Tlaquepague is a lovely area with tons of wonderful shops and restaurants. If you want to go to the historice district, the hotel's driver will take you for $8.00. Quinta Don Jose has lovely rooms and an absolutely wonderful staff led by it's owners, Arturo and Estela Magana. I was there last week with a visitor from the U.S. and am going back this Wednesday to celebrate my birthday.

The Quinta Don Jose Boutique Hotel (QDJ) is indeed a jewel. The proprietors, Arturo & Estela Magana, as well as the incredibly attentive staff, are their key for success. The hotel guests are treated as family members with every effort made to satisfy requests for service, answering questions, and generally making the experience of QDJ a very special and enduring remembrance. The hotel grounds are maintained in a "manicured" state. The restaurant offers an excellent choice and quality. Let's not forget "Charlie," the bartender, who will prepare your drink of choice with a flair and expertise which has made him the QDJ bartender celebrity. We stayed in Room 11, the Master Suite, located adjacent to a courtyard patio. The room is loaded with amenities and offers a very private and quiet environment.

In addition, Tlaquepaque offers some of the best shopping and dining in the area and, at the same time, it is only a short ride to Guadalajara Centro. QDJ maintains a fleet of new Toyota vans which can be reserved for tours, special events, and area transportation.

Needless to say, we are looking forward to our next visit to the QDJ Hotel.

Linda & Morley Marston
Mancos, Colorado

Based on the neighborhood we were traveling through, we didn't know what to expect. As soon as we went through the gates, it was like we went to an oasis. There was 11 of us, and we felt very special from the moment we arrived. The margaritas were awesome...especially the mango ones. We ate in the restaurant and it was very good and very reasonably priced as well. Breakfast the next morning was very good. The grounds were very nicely maintained. We thoroughly enjoyed our one night stay at this great little hotel.

We've stayed at this hotel both for 4 days to celebrate an anniversary and most recently on our final night of a car trip driving from Canada to Puerto Vallarta.

I won't reiterate what others have said but rather focus on why we found it to be the perfect stop on a long trip.

1) Wonderful parking. Not only is it secure, you just drive in, the gate closes behind you and your car is both safe and handy. We arrived after a long day and didn't even take our things out of the car before having a cool drink lounging on the chairs by the pool. Because it's so secure, no need to bring anything in you don't want to. Because it's handy, it's no problem to run back and forth if you forget something.

2) Restaurant on site for dinner as well as the included breakfast. One of the few disadvantages of Tlaquepaque is that many of the restaurants close quite early. Also, if we're travelling (we find) the last thing we want to do when we stop for the day is to get back in the car and look for a restaurant. The food (it's Italian) is fine and inexpensive. We were able to have a drink, move right along to the restaurant for a simple dinner and then go right upstairs to our room.

3) Very comfortable rooms. We stayed in room 8 whch I would recommend highly. I'll try to put some pics on but I note there are already pictures there. It overlooks the garden, has high ceilings, lit niches, a wonderful comfortable bathtub and a queen bed. I forget what we paid but it was basically the same as we always pay (Holiday Inn Express type rates).

4) Lovely relaxing grounds. We've stayed in downtown Guadalajara a few times and found it noisy (discos mostly but also traffic). At Quinta Don Jose you come in and close the gates and it's like being in a garden. I believe they have a few rooms that face the street still so you might want to avoid those.

5) Helpful, but low-key staff. Since we were so tired after our trip (we had been driving already 6 days, we really weren't feeling very sociable. I found the staff to be quietly helpful but not intrusive. They even cut the grass with a mechanical mower. That's class!

6) Nice amenities: free WiFi and one computer for guest use, a swimming pool (in addition to the restaurant). Lovely peaceful gardens with birds and a cute little dog.


Tips: Not all the rooms are equally good. As was pointed out, there are still rooms that face the street, and I guess a few that have no natural light. Neither of those facts would have bothered us as we were so tired, but if bothers you, ask for what you want.

I believe that whenever we go to Guadalajara again we'll stay at Quinta Don Jose whenever possible. We've stayed in one other b&b in Tlaquepaque and while also very nice, we didn't like it as well as QDJ. We've stayed downtown and that's also interesting but I think that, overall, for us, we prefer the tranquility and very browsable shops of Tlaquepaque. It's still only about 20 minutes from the historical centre with its wonderful places like Teatro Degollado (which we love--especially the Filharmonica de Jalisco).