How do I find short-term, furnished housing in Guadalajara?

August 4, 2016 9:57 AM

My family may have an opportunity to travel to Guadalajara for a few months for my spouse's work. How do we find a place to stay?

We're a family of four -- mom, dad, 5.5yo, 3yo. Neither of the adults have traveled for this long with kids; previous long-term traveling has been the hostel type. How do we go about finding a place of about 2 bedrooms, in a reasonable neighborhood? I've looked at AirBnB, but I assume that will be expensive. I understand way more Spanish than I speak, but I can speak/write basic schoolgirl Spanish.

posted by linettasky to Travel & Transportation around Guadalajara, Mexico (3 answers total)

To answer the direct question straightaway: the most common website in Guadalajara for apartments and shares is Comparto Depa. You will occasionally find stuff, in English, on the GDL craigslist site, but Comparto Depa is much better. You can put up an ad or respond to other people's. It's pretty easy, although much more apartment hunting/sharing comes through contacts than the internet.

But where do you want to live?

Basics of Guadalajara:

Guadalajara is actually 4 conjoined municipalities: Guadalajara, Zapopan, Tlaquepaque, and Tonalá (to which sometimes people add Tlajomulco, even though El Salto is much closer). Where you want to live depends on, I assume, where your partner is physically working, but also what kind of life you want to have there and what kinds of Mexicans you'd like to be your neighbors.

The "gente naís" (wealthy to super-wealthy)? Lomas comes to mind first. Maybe Bugambilias. Both are *far*.

Where the hip kids are, but still cheap: Santa Tere (I think this might be "Sta Teresita" on the maps, no one calls it that).

Nice, close to familiar amenities (e.g. good coffee), walkable with kids and safe? Lafayette/Americana comes to mind (bureaucratically two neighborhoods, functionally a single one). Chapalita might fit as well.

A cute colonial experience, with a small network of car-free streets? Tlaquepaque Centro or Zapopan Centro both fit.

Want to live by a big park? Somewhere near Colomos is probably best, the Providencia neighborhood comes to mind immediately but there are probably others.

FWIW, I'd stay away from anything between the train tracks, Mariano Otero, López Mateos, and the Periférico (which makes a big trapezoid to the south of the city).

If you have more specific question, fire away!
posted by migrantology at 11:49 AM on August 4, 2016 [4 favorites]

vrbo.com has a lot of listings in Mexico, and many of those are rented on a monthly basis.
posted by correcaminos at 1:29 PM on August 4, 2016

Response by poster: Migrantology, check your Memail -- I'm not wholly comfortable putting more details right here.
posted by linettasky at 2:04 PM on August 4, 2016