Chapala - Information about Lake Chapala, real estate, Lake Chapala living, culture, photos, videos, webboard and history

Welcome to Ajijic and Lake Chapala Retirement Area

We want to congratulate you for looking into Mexico's largest
North American retirement community.

As pioneers in real estate (1st one lakeside) and the publishing business, we have introduced many to our local idyllic scene. We feel this is what we do best, showing you what graceful and carefree retirement is all about.

Let us share with you our excitement and knowledge on the Lake Chapala area. Be among the many that have already begun a new and enjoyable life.

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Lake Chapala, the Area Known as “Lakeside”

Lake Chapala is the largest freshwater lake in Mexico, with 1112 km².

This area is known as “Lakeside” to residents from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Europe, among other places, and “la ribera” to Mexicans. Due partly to the eclectic mixture, it has developed a continental Old World charm which blends smoothly with a distinctly Mexican ambiance.

Cobblestone streets, tile-roofed homes, riotously colorful gardens blooming year around, and incredible open-air markets and restaurants are common sights, backdropped by lush green mountains surrounding the lake. The hills are laced with flowering trees and plants, and accented by waterfalls, caves, petroglyphs, indigenous sacred sites, and a variety of hiking trails and places to explore.

Over 10,000 retirees call lakeside their home, call us, we can show you around!

Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, and its international airport are less than an hour away, so Lake Chapala area residents can have anything at their disposal. If for some reason it can’t be found in Chapala or Ajijic, it can be found in Guadalajara. With the airport so close, it is easy to travel to the United States or anywhere in the world.

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Climate And Weather in the Lake Chapala Area

Other prime retirement locations cannot come close to matching the climate in the Lake Chapala area. High humidity, searing summer heat, hurricane and tornado threats and miserable winters are all foreign to the Lake Chapala area. Temperatures are consistent year round. The sun shines all day almost every day. Consistently low humidity adds to the comfort level. The wind is very gentle or non-existent. Sunrises and sunsets vary only about an hour from winter to summer.

A combination of tropical location, high altitude and a large body of water produce a climate in the Chapala area that is second to none in the world. Although National Geographic magazine has done the full analysis and declared Lake Chapala to have the second best climate, those who live here are quite content to be that close to the ideal.
Continue Reading more about climate and weather…

Cost Of Living

Other than excellent climate, the reason many North Americans have for moving to Mexico is the cost of living. Most prices are lower compared to those “back home”. It is hard to understand why so many people on small pensions or Social Security will struggle with miserable climates, high utility and medical bills, and other services, when they could live better in Mexico.

Where is Chapala?

Chapala is located in the central area of the state of Jalisco, Mexico, at the north shore of Lake Chapala, 26 km. (16 mi.) east of the Lake’s western end, and 42 km. (25 mi.) south of Guadalajara, Jalisco. Chapala is the largest city on the shores of Lake Chapala, it is a traditional Mexican city, where you can take walks along the shore of the lake and contemplate the beautiful boardwalk. The climate in the Chapala area is temperate, with rains in summer. The rains occur between the months of June and October. The coldest periods are from December to February. Its average temperature is 72°F / 22°C. The temperature ranges from a low of about 50°F / 10°C in the winter months, to a high of about 90°F / 32°C in summer.
Read more about Chapala…

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Living in Lake Chapala

The Lake Chapala Society–Open Circle

December 4 – Our First Step in Mexican Music

By Escuela de Mariachi Pedro Rey arises from the need to teach and spread to a new generation the real mariachi style and preserve Mexican traditions in this way to offer an alternative for the musical study focused on mariachi for children, youth, and adults from Ajijic and the lakeside.

Director, Daniel Medeles, who has great experience in teaching music for children, without a doubt a musical family legacy supports him as a person trained to perform this job.

Continue Reading Lakeside Living…

Home of the Week

“Everything You Need in One Property”

Amazing sunsets, golfers dream property located in Upper Chula Vista. Two level home, main house features 3 bedrooms with complete bathroom each, jacuzzi in master bedroom. Laundry area, fireplace, kitchen with granite countertops, dining and living room with view to the golf course, lake and mountains. The outdoor area has a covered terrace, pond, solar heater swimming pool and direct access to the golf course.

More about this home…

Home For Sale In Lake Chapala

Let us help you find the house of your dreams!

Click here to see all homes for sale in Lake Chapala

MORE ABOUT LAKE CHAPALA

15 Activities to Enjoy in Lake Chapala

Retirees find that keeping occupied is not a problem; the only dilemma is finding the time to do all the available activities. With over 200 existing organizations in the area, there is a variable of “things to do” year round. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of activities in the towns of La Ribera de Chapala to keep you entertained and participating in this beautiful community.

This is a brief list of some of the activities, places and organizations, which are not numbered in any particular order. Hope this is of great help for you.

Let’s start and have some fun!

Enjoy this video of Lake Chapala area

Play Video about Chapala-Malecon

Moving to Mexico

There are a lot of people thinking about moving to Mexico.There seem to be several factors contributing to this exodus...

Nurseries (Viveros) in Lake Chapala

Here is a list of Nurseries in Lake Chapala. I hope this list guides you to your flora destinations.

Ajijic: location, activities, history, festivities and articles.

Ajijic is the Largest North American retirement community in Mexico. Read information about climate, retirement, location, history and art.

Activities to Enjoy in Ajijic

Ajijic offers a wide variety of activities for those who visit it or those who live permanently. We invite you...

20 Reasons Not to Retire to Lake Chapala

For a variety of reasons more and more Americans and Canadians are contemplating moving abroad for retirement. For many, Mexico...

Ajijic Photos

Ajijic, is a magical town of creation, inspiration and connection with nature, where you can enjoy the magnificent climate most...

A Woman in Ajijic

An extraordinary story that tells the daily life of a woman in the old Ajijic of the 40s

Chapala Railway Station to Become Museum

By Ilse Hoffmann(Published in El Ojo del Lago, November 2000) “I want to put a stop to the rumor that has...

Ajijic Tianguis

By Catherine A. MacKenzie Early Wednesday morning transforms an ordinary street in Ajijic into a party among strangers. Inside, the...

The Battle Of Mezcala Island

By Robert M. Burnet Mezcala Island, a rocky and chayote-covered outcrop near the north shore of Lake Chapala, today bears...

I Live In Ajijic

By Neill James (Ed. Note: The following article was first published in 1946 in the magazine Modern Mexico. Ms. James,...

Flora and Fauna in Lake Chapala

The term ecosystem was coined in 1930 to denote the physical and biological components of an environment considered in relation...

Lake Chapala Towns

For more than 10,000 expatriates, mostly Canadian and American, attracted by a climate described as “eternal spring,” the shores of Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake, have become a permanent home.

Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico

Ajijic is situated on a narrow strip of land between the mountains to the north and the Lake to the South. It is flanked by San Antonio Tlayacapan to the east and San Juan Cosala to the west. It is seven kilometers west of Chapala. Its average annual temperature is 19.9 degrees Centigrade “68F”.

“In pre-conquest times, Ajijic (Ah-ee-heec) was spelled Axixique or Axixic (pronounced “Ah-she-sheek.”) The final “c” was pronounced by Spanish rules, but whenever anyone pronounces it, people in these parts know he is a stranger. Ajijic means “The Place Where the Water Springs Forth” in Nahuatl.”

Since Tuesday, December 1, 2020, the town of Ajijic, located on Lake Chapala, has been declared the ninth Magic Town of Jalisco (Pueblo Magico), delivered by the federal tourism government.

AJIJIC REAL ESTATE: Homes for sale and rent in Ajijic

Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico

Chapala is located on the north shore of Lake Chapala, 26 km. (16 mi.) east of the Lake’s western end, and 42 km. (25 mi.) south of Guadalajara. It is the oldest, most populated, and the most easterly of a string of villages – Chapala, San Antonio Tlayacapan, Ajijic, San Juan Cosala and Jocopetec – known locally as Lakeside.

Founded in 1538, the town probably took its name from Chapalac, one of its earliest Indian chiefs. Or perhaps it came from the Mexican “Chapatla,” the “place where pots abound,” referring to the primitive Indian practice of appeasing the gods by throwing pots, spotted with blood from earlobes, into Lake Chapala. “Grasshoppers Over the Water” – Nahuatl “Very Wet Place” – Coca “Place Where the Pots Abound”- Nahuatl