Chose the Tequila grand Tour Company forca day trip to the area.
A stop at Vicente's ranchbwas impressive with the largest cowboy store in Mexico.

On to the town of Lake Chapala, walked the pier and thecwalkway along the lake front, checked outvthe market, the city hall mural and the photos in the museum.

To Ajijic for a walking tour of the artisan streets, impressed with one lady wear store as the seamstress worked right on site.
Lunch on the lake, beautiful setting and catering to foreigners... German , Italian and American choices

I visited this Mexico`s biggest lake in last June.We took a car from Gudalajara and travelled 1 hour to reach Chapala. It is wonderful place for weekend trip with family or friends.There we roamed around the lake shore.There are many hotel you can taste all kind of Mexican food,especially sea foods are really good.We rented one boat and went to Scorbian island.It is a scenic view during sunset.we enjoyed this oneday trip.

Having lived in this area for well over a decade, we find it an excellent place to live and after having explored much of the rest of Mexico, I'd have to say that we haven't found anywhere which would be more suited to retirement living.

Over the years this has become a very international community with many newer residents from Europe as well as Canada and the United States.

The climate is considered to be one of the two best in the world, the other being an area in Kenya. Now, I doubt that I would enjoy Kenya at my age, so we're back to this area as being overall the best for retirement living, in our opinion.

The new Malecon in Chapala is a real attraction, beautifully done, and very easy to walk or even visit in a wheelchair.

A short ride from Guadalajara airport, for adults this would be definitely be on my list of places to visit, if I didn't already live here. There are many pretty decent hotels and B&B's, some are outstanding.

I would not advise extended stays with children or younger teenagers, there are really not a great deal of interesting things to see or do for these age groups, however it is a good spot to establish yourself for longer term stays and much easier to navigate than Guadalajara. Easy access to many other attractions within a 4 hour radius.

If you're in Guadalajara for a few days, spending a day to tour this area would not be disappointing. It is nothing out of the ordinary, however. And you'll see lots of Americans and Canadians in the Ajijic area, which, at least in my case, was not something I went to Mexico to see. And with a large foreigner population comes higher prices.
In short, it's pretty, and it's Mexico's largest lake, so it's something to see. But if you have a short time in the Guadalajara area and have to choose between, say, the Tequila area and Lake Chapala, go with the Tequila area.