Mexico’s Tequila Express train has rolled back onto the rails after a nine-year break. It first launched in 1997 to fuel tequila tourism and ran until 2015. In September 2024, a 170 million peso investment brought it back for a 65 km ride from Guadalajara to Tequila.
By 2023, Tequila was drawing some 1.2 million visitors a year eager to explore local distilleries. It offers a direct ticket to the spirit’s cultural roots.
The carriages feel more like a boutique hotel than a party train. You step into a bar carriage with marble-topped counters and wood-panelled walls. Low-light lamps cast a warm glow while piped mariachi music sets the mood.
A bartender artfully stirs creamy cocktails, topping them with fresh herb sprigs. You can even sip Almave, a non-alcoholic spirit made from blue agave. TV screens tease the distilleries and tacos waiting at your destination.
Passengers are mostly well-dressed middle-aged Mexicans with the odd backpacker in tow. A mic-wielding guide hands out shot glasses and walks through flavour notes as you sip.
Onboard, you watch agave fields roll by through extra-large windows in the refurbished carriages. In the distance, Jalisco’s mountains frame rows of blue agave, part of a Unesco-listed landscape.
Arrival in Tequila means instant immersion in local stories and street art. You pose with giant TEQUILA letters that scream Instagram fame. Nearby, a mural shows lightning striking agave to birth the first fermented juice.
Tequila’s oldest cantina, La Capilla, beckons with its famous batanga cocktail. The house drink mixes lime, cola and local blanco tequila in a glass that still feels like a secret shared across generations.
Next day, you head to Atanasio Tequila’s agave fields in a truck. Under a scorching sun, you learn to use a barretón to pull a hijuelo from the sandy soil. Each young agave you lift represents years of careful cultivation and a one peso wage.
Planting that hijuelo means starting a seven-year journey. This hands-on field tour turns every shot into a salute to the farmers’ skill.
This return is more than a novelty ride. The train’s relaunch in Latin America’s biggest tequila hub lifts local tourism and sparks economic growth. You’re not just drinking. You’re connecting with a craft shaped by culture and hard work.
It also shows how sustainable travel can benefit small communities with hands-on experiences. Government and local operators poured around 170 million pesos into making this one of the world’s most unique short-distance trains.
“Drinking, drinking, drinking,” said Carranza. “We were forgetting about the essence, the roots… we don’t appreciate how much the field workers work.”
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