Tonalá Artisan Market

Tonalá, bordering Tlaquepaque on Guadalajara's eastern edge, is a working craft-production town where the furniture, ceramics, glassware, and textiles sold across Mexico and exported abroad are actually manufactured, giving it a more industrial, less polished feel than its neighbor's boutique-lined streets. On Thursdays and Sundays, the streets around Avenida Tonaltecas transform into a sprawling open-air market where hundreds of workshops and vendors set up stalls selling directly to the public, often at wholesale prices for larger quantities. Visitors browsing the market can watch potters and glassblowers at work in adjoining studios before buying finished pieces, and the scale of the market rewards a half-day or more of unhurried browsing. Outside of market days, many showrooms and factory outlets remain open daily for visitors who want to buy without the crowds. The Thursday and Sunday markets are, by far, the busiest and most rewarding times to visit, since large sections of the street market simply do not operate on other days; arriving in the morning avoids the midday heat and the thickest crowds.