Landing at Guadalajara International Airport

What GDL is like

Guadalajara is a working city with offices, universities and a steady flow of visitors using it as a base for the agave country and the towns around it. The airport lies a fair way southeast of the centre, and there is no rail link into town, so the road is the whole story. Arrivals divide neatly into people whose employer has sent a car and people who have to arrange one themselves. The second group is the one that benefits from landing with a line already working.

On arrival

The arrivals area here is a manageable size, the walk from the aircraft to passport control is short, and the queue behind it is usually gentler than at the country's main hub. Bring the line up before landing so you can order a car while the bags come round. Outside the doors there is an organised ground transport area with desks where the fare is settled before you get in. If you would rather use an app, read the signs for the pick-up zone, because it is rarely directly in front of the door you just came through. Sorting this out takes a couple of minutes if you are online and considerably longer if you are not.

How far the airport Wi-Fi gets you

There is free Wi-Fi with the usual sign-in page, and it is fine for a short message while you wait. If you were planning to pull down an offline map of the whole metropolitan area or open a video from your host, it will be slower than you would like. What people forget is the walk out to the pick-up pin, which is far enough that the Wi-Fi thins out and drops. If the driver calls at that moment and you are not on your own line, a two-minute problem turns into a twenty-minute one.

Getting into town

Everything out of here goes by road, and the distance into the central districts is long enough to feel like a journey rather than a hop. Whether you are aiming for the old centre or the restaurant neighbourhoods on the western side of the city changes the time noticeably, so look at the map before you agree a fare or press the button. In the car the map stays open most of the way, and many people are also messaging their accommodation about check-in. If you are picking up a hire car to drive out to the towns around the city, download the map for that area first, because signal along the rural roads thins in patches.

What people ask about this airport

• Find the pick-up zone first — The app pick-up zone is usually not in front of the arrivals door, so read the signs while you are still inside and you will walk less.
• Settle the fare at a desk — The ground transport area lets you pay before you get in, which takes the negotiation out of the moment you arrive at your door.
• Download maps for the back roads — Roads out to the surrounding towns have thin patches, and an offline map pulled down while you were still in the terminal genuinely helps.