Colonia Americana

Colonia Americana starts where Guadalajara's historic centre ends, on its western side. It was laid out from 1898 under the German engineer and architect Ernesto Fuchs, which makes it one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, a Porfirian-era contemporary of Mexico City's Roma and Condesa. Its wide streets and tree-shaded roundabouts gather neoclassical, art deco, Gothic Revival and rationalist houses, because building went on here throughout the 20th century.

Many of the old mansions now hold restaurants, galleries, design shops, hostels and boutique hotels. Nightlife centres on Avenida Chapultepec between Hidalgo and Niños Héroes, about 2 km west of the cathedral, where one bar follows another and several have live music. In October 2022 Time Out named it the coolest neighbourhood in the world, ahead of Lisbon's Cais do Sodré. The attention has also brought higher rents and property speculation, and plenty of long-time residents have had to move out or close their businesses.

On its eastern side rises the Templo Expiatorio del Santísimo Sacramento, a Gothic Revival church of carved stone. Its first stone was laid on 15 August 1897 to a design by the Italian architect Adamo Boari, and it was not finished until 1972. A mechanical clock in the tower sends the Twelve Apostles out in procession at 9:00, 12:00 and 18:00. On Avenida Juárez, the University of Guadalajara's Museo de las Artes (MUSA) shows temporary exhibitions and has a lecture hall framed by a José Clemente Orozco mural.

Mexico's federal Tourism Secretariat (SECTUR) named Colonia Americana a Barrio Mágico in September 2024, the first in Jalisco; the designation was handed over in Puerto Vallarta.