Tonala

If Tlaquepaque is the gallery, Tonala is the factory floor. This is where much of western Mexico's pottery is actually made - barro bruñido burnished with pyrite stones, high-fire stoneware, petatillo with its fine crosshatch, the fanciful animals and sun faces sold nationwide - along with blown glass, wrought iron, papier-mache, carved wood and blue-glazed tableware by the pallet. Twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays, the town's central streets close for a tianguis that stretches for kilometres: workshop families set out that week's production on tarps and tables, wholesalers load trucks, and prices sit at a fraction of gallery levels for anyone willing to hunt. On other days the permanent shops and workshops stay open and welcome visitors to watch throwing, burnishing and firing, with the ceramics museum and the artisans' house giving context. It is dusty, sprawling and gloriously unpolished - the place to buy in quantity, to see how the objects are made, and to accept that the good stuff needs looking for.

What you actually see

• The tianguis - kilometres of craft stalls twice a week.
• The workshops - throwing, burnishing and firing in the open.
• The ceramic styles - bruñido, petatillo, stoneware, blue glaze.
• The wholesale scale - trucks loading what shops resell.

When to go

Thursday and Sunday mornings for the market at full size; other weekdays for calm workshop visits. Start early - stalls set up at dawn and heat builds by noon.

Honest expectations

Quality is uneven and the hunt is the method - the best pieces sit beside the tourist tat. Bring cash, a bag and patience for crowds. Shipping is arranged through the larger shops, not the tarp stalls.

Nearby

Tlaquepaque's galleries lie fifteen minutes back toward the city; Guadalajara's centre is half an hour northwest.