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.

Play Video

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.

Read more about Lake Chapala…

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…

Play Video

Living in Lake Chapala

January 28, 2023, 3:00 pm, THE “ROOFTOP” ROMEO’S” GET BACK… to January 1969”

For a commemorative ROOFTOP concert at El Bar Co Ajijic, one of Lakeside’s most popular bands, THE ROMEO’S, will perform a number of Beatles songs, along with their own repertoire of popular rock and roll classics in support of NIÑOS INCAPACITADOS who provide financial assistance to those families whose financial means are limited with very sick children to help cover the costs of medical diagnosis, treatments and medicines. These costs are increasing rapidly, as are the numbers of families requiring such assistance. The need never ends.

Our current roster is 145 children. NIÑOS INCAPACITADOS has been serving the Lakeside community since 1974. In 1993 ‘A.C.’ status was achieved. We are one of the featured charities in the December 2022 issue of The Ojo del Lago, center section.

Continue Reading Lakeside Living…

Home of the Week

“Lourdes! Chapala, Close To Amenities”

Great property, sitting in a private street well located. Now is a collectors property, full of beautiful antiques and unique furniture, some stay or depends if you like some pieces. The floor plan is easy to move around.

FIRST LEVEL: Big garage, can hold 5 to 6 cars, big wearhouse, workshop and a front terrace. Living room, kitchen and dining are open concept, high ceilings, fire place, beautiful stone wall. Kitchen is big enough to set a breakfast table or an island, there is small bar, pantry, coffee station, laundry, half bathroom, a religious niche could be used for a reading area or other activities.

More about this home…

Home For Sale In 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

More About Lake Chapala

More About Lake Chapala Lake Chapala is the largest freshwater lake in Mexico. For more than 10,000 expats, mostly Canadians...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

Climate and Weather in Lake Chapala

Mexico as a whole has been graced with an unusually temperate climate year-round given its tropical setting. The rainy season...

The History of Lake Chapala

By Lawrence H. Freeman At nearly 50-70 miles long and 15-20 miles wide, covering some 417 square miles, Lake Chapala is the...

Lake Chapala, México

About an hour south of Guadalajara, Mexico’s second largest city, Lake Chapala is the largest freshwater lake in Mexico. This...

Non Profit Organizations at Lake Chapala

Non Profit Organizations at Lake Chapala AJIJIC SOCIETY OF THE ARTS (ASA): AjijicSocietyOfTheArts.com Provides local artists an opportunity to meet,...

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