Mexico’s second-largest city, Guadalajara is a vibrant metropolis where you’ll find sleek modern buildings on the one hand and some of the country’s most cherished traditions on the other. But head just 40 miles northwest, and you’ll find yourself transported to a landscape that has shaped Mexico’s cultural identity for thousands of years—the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the “Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila.”

This vast landscape, covering 85,642 acres, tells a story as old as civilization itself. For over two thousand years, the spiky blue agave plant has thrived here. Initially cultivated by pre-Columbian cultures for cloth and fermented drinks, it wasn’t until the last four centuries that this hardy succulent found its true calling as the sole ingredient in tequila, Mexico’s iconic spirit.

The terrain is a sea of blue-green stretches to the horizon, dotted by centuries-old haciendas and distilleries. This is no mere agricultural landscape; it’s a complex ecosystem, carefully cultivated and evolved over generations.

At the heart of this is the town of Tequila, a “Pueblo Mágico” where you can find the very essence of the spirit that’s named after it. Here, dozens of distilleries, from industrial giants to small artisanal operations, keep alive a tradition that has defined this region for centuries.

In Tequila, the National Tequila Museum offers visitors interactive exhibits that takes them on a walk through time, from ancient fermentation techniques to modern distillation processes, painting a picture of how deeply intertwined tequila is with Mexican identity.

The landscape itself is a living museum. Hiking trails and horseback rides offer intimate encounters with the agave plants— you can actually touch the leaves that will one day become the spirit in their glass. As the sun sets, the fields take on an almost otherworldly quality, the blue-green leaves shimmering in the fading light. It’s an Instagrammer’s paradise!

The careful cultivation of blue agave has shaped not just the physical landscape, but the cultural one as well, influencing everything from local cuisine to traditional music and dance.

As night falls and the sounds of mariachi fill the air, you can’t help but feel a connection to the generations who have worked this land before. Each sip of tequila becomes a taste of history, a distillation of Mexican culture and tradition.

A visit to the city of Guadalajara and the town of Tequila are part of A Closer Look Tours’ custom Colonial Cities tour.