Most travelers heading from the Guadalajara/Lakeside area to the southern Jalisco coast—destinations like Barra de Navidad, Melaque, and La Manzanilla—choose to take the toll highway (autopista) to Manzanillo rather than the free Highway 80, which passes through towns such as Cocula, Tecolotlán, Autlán and La Huerta.
Highway 80 has long suffered from neglect, despite running through a rich agricultural region known for sugarcane, agave, mango and banana production. However, recent resurfacing and other improvements to roughly 50 kilometers of the route have made the journey to the coast potentially less stressful.
Much of the work involved resurfacing, carried out between late 2024 and early 2025 under the national Bachetón program, an initiative focused on restoring the most deteriorated sections of Mexico’s federal toll-free road network.
Getting to Barra from Ajijic
Taking the autopista route from Ajijic to Barra/Melaque—via Ciudad Guzmán and Colima—is longer at approximately 350 kilometers, but faster, with a drive time of about four and a half hours. However, it comes at a cost of nearly 500 pesos in tolls.
Highway 80 is shorter at around 300 kilometers, but even with recent upgrades, the drive typically takes over five hours.