Just returned from doing a Saturday trip on the "Tequila Train", in Guadalajara, Mexico, run by Jose Cuervo. (Official site here: Travel in a Real Train with Jose Cuervo Express | Mundo Cuervo)
It's a day excursion which includes about 2.5 hours on the train, followed by spending the day in the town of Tequila (Jalisco State), with presentations on Tequila, a guided tour of the distillery, as well as time to explore (shop, eat, etc) on your own.
I went with two friends, and we booked into "Diamante" class - the second highest from the "top" offering of four available classes.
There are two possible schedules. You can take the "Sunrise" scheduled, which has a 9am train departure, day of activities, then a return on a tour bus in the evening. You can also take the "Sunset" schedule, where you head out on the tour bus, have your day of activities, and return on the train. We did the sunrise.
To keep this post from getting super long, I'll stick mostly to the train portion of the day, but have lots of other pictures and general trip info I can share.
We flew in to Guadalajara Friday evenining, in preparation for a Saturday morning "Sunrise" trip. (I believe the train only operates on Saturdays).
Saturday morning we had an early breakfast, then walked to the train station, about a mile from our hotel, to depart.
The train departs from an old Ferromex station, where the passenger terminal has been cleaned and somewhat dressed up to serve this train. While there is freight handled at the same location, you won't really see it when you arrive, and the passenger terminal, as far as I know, handles only the Tequila Train.
On arrival, they have coffee and light snacks available complementary, and vendors were also nearby selling other food items. While there are a few seats available, the departure "hall" isn't really what you'd call a lounge space.
You'll check in, based on what car you'll be riding in (e.g. what class of service). This, I thought, was an area where some improvement could be needed. They had one desk for each of 9 passenger cars, and you had to get in the correct line. However, the desks were only marked by 8x11 stand up signs, which you couldn't really see once lines of any sort formed around the desk. We figured this out after waiting in the wrong line for several minutes, til we got close enough to actually see the signs. However, once that was taken care of, check in went smoothly. They'll check your ID against the list, and give you a wrist band with your designed car and seat.
There's a very cursory security check (walking through a metal detector), and then you go out to the platform to board. Check in closes at 8:45, for a 9am departure. We were out on the platform maybe 8:30, and boarding opened a few minutes after, so we boarded about 15 minutes or so before departure. Our "Diamante" car had a mix of 4-place tables, 2 place tables, and sofa type seating, all with assigned spots. I was with two friends, and they put our group of 3 at a 4 place table. The tables are fixed in place, the chairs (which were pretty plush) were not. During the trip, they ask you not move between cars, so I'm afraid I didn't get to see or take pictures of the other classes of service.
A light breakfast (yogurt, fresh melon and berries, mint, and granola) was waiting at each seat upon boarding. Obviously, Tequila (the drink and the town) is a major part of the experience, so I'll make another comment below about how that tasting and general experience went.
Language could have perhaps been better managed. They don't ask during booking if you prefer English or Spanish. I'd say about 80% of our car was Spanish speaking, the rest English. From observation, it seems like most English speaking passengers chose either our class of car, or the top one/one higher. Though they didn't ask during booking, it's obvious they're trying to figure it out ahead - perhaps by looking at home address, or simply your name, as we were all designed "English" on our wristbands.
The staff at check in was largely Spanish only. I translated for our group, but they also had a "roaming" bilingual staff member at the check in desks to translate as needed.
On board, the "guides" were nominally bilingual. As a practical matter, though, most of their information and presentation time was devoted to Spanish (which makes sense, given the majority of passengers spoke Spanish), and the English, when used, was imperfect. I did a lot of translating for my friends, as well as a few others. That said, it didn't detract from the experience (IMHO), and after a bit of Tequila, everyone's conversation became more... lubricated.
The 2.5 hour train trip only takes you about 30 miles outside of town, from the city of Guadalajara to the town of Tequila. The first 30 or so minutes of the trip you're passing pretty gritty urban areas, but that gives way to suburbs, then rural fields. The train cars were very clean, and each had two pretty spacious and well-functioning restrooms.
You'll arrive to a very simple stop on the edge of Tequila (the town), where buses and vans are waiting to take you on a very quick 5 minute trip to the distillery and tourist town.
Here are some pictures, and I'll share more about the rest of the non-train aspects of the trip in a later comment.
It's a day excursion which includes about 2.5 hours on the train, followed by spending the day in the town of Tequila (Jalisco State), with presentations on Tequila, a guided tour of the distillery, as well as time to explore (shop, eat, etc) on your own.
I went with two friends, and we booked into "Diamante" class - the second highest from the "top" offering of four available classes.
There are two possible schedules. You can take the "Sunrise" scheduled, which has a 9am train departure, day of activities, then a return on a tour bus in the evening. You can also take the "Sunset" schedule, where you head out on the tour bus, have your day of activities, and return on the train. We did the sunrise.
To keep this post from getting super long, I'll stick mostly to the train portion of the day, but have lots of other pictures and general trip info I can share.
We flew in to Guadalajara Friday evenining, in preparation for a Saturday morning "Sunrise" trip. (I believe the train only operates on Saturdays).
Saturday morning we had an early breakfast, then walked to the train station, about a mile from our hotel, to depart.
The train departs from an old Ferromex station, where the passenger terminal has been cleaned and somewhat dressed up to serve this train. While there is freight handled at the same location, you won't really see it when you arrive, and the passenger terminal, as far as I know, handles only the Tequila Train.
On arrival, they have coffee and light snacks available complementary, and vendors were also nearby selling other food items. While there are a few seats available, the departure "hall" isn't really what you'd call a lounge space.
You'll check in, based on what car you'll be riding in (e.g. what class of service). This, I thought, was an area where some improvement could be needed. They had one desk for each of 9 passenger cars, and you had to get in the correct line. However, the desks were only marked by 8x11 stand up signs, which you couldn't really see once lines of any sort formed around the desk. We figured this out after waiting in the wrong line for several minutes, til we got close enough to actually see the signs. However, once that was taken care of, check in went smoothly. They'll check your ID against the list, and give you a wrist band with your designed car and seat.
There's a very cursory security check (walking through a metal detector), and then you go out to the platform to board. Check in closes at 8:45, for a 9am departure. We were out on the platform maybe 8:30, and boarding opened a few minutes after, so we boarded about 15 minutes or so before departure. Our "Diamante" car had a mix of 4-place tables, 2 place tables, and sofa type seating, all with assigned spots. I was with two friends, and they put our group of 3 at a 4 place table. The tables are fixed in place, the chairs (which were pretty plush) were not. During the trip, they ask you not move between cars, so I'm afraid I didn't get to see or take pictures of the other classes of service.
A light breakfast (yogurt, fresh melon and berries, mint, and granola) was waiting at each seat upon boarding. Obviously, Tequila (the drink and the town) is a major part of the experience, so I'll make another comment below about how that tasting and general experience went.
Language could have perhaps been better managed. They don't ask during booking if you prefer English or Spanish. I'd say about 80% of our car was Spanish speaking, the rest English. From observation, it seems like most English speaking passengers chose either our class of car, or the top one/one higher. Though they didn't ask during booking, it's obvious they're trying to figure it out ahead - perhaps by looking at home address, or simply your name, as we were all designed "English" on our wristbands.
The staff at check in was largely Spanish only. I translated for our group, but they also had a "roaming" bilingual staff member at the check in desks to translate as needed.
On board, the "guides" were nominally bilingual. As a practical matter, though, most of their information and presentation time was devoted to Spanish (which makes sense, given the majority of passengers spoke Spanish), and the English, when used, was imperfect. I did a lot of translating for my friends, as well as a few others. That said, it didn't detract from the experience (IMHO), and after a bit of Tequila, everyone's conversation became more... lubricated.
The 2.5 hour train trip only takes you about 30 miles outside of town, from the city of Guadalajara to the town of Tequila. The first 30 or so minutes of the trip you're passing pretty gritty urban areas, but that gives way to suburbs, then rural fields. The train cars were very clean, and each had two pretty spacious and well-functioning restrooms.
You'll arrive to a very simple stop on the edge of Tequila (the town), where buses and vans are waiting to take you on a very quick 5 minute trip to the distillery and tourist town.
Here are some pictures, and I'll share more about the rest of the non-train aspects of the trip in a later comment.
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