Where to stay for FIL: a one-bedroom in Guadalajara

If you want a true one-bedroom for the Guadalajara International Book Fair, the one to look at in our portfolio is the Luxury Urban Apartment: one bedroom, sleeps four, in the Chapultepec area west of downtown. Nearly everything else we manage in Guadalajara is a two-bedroom, which matters more than it sounds. FIL runs nine days at Expo Guadalajara, from 28 November to 6 December, and nine days is long enough that the shape of the apartment starts to decide how the trip feels.

Chapultepec is a sensible base for the fair. Expo Guadalajara sits south-west of the centre on Avenida Mariano Otero, and from the Chapultepec and Colonia Americana side of town it's a short ride, a few minutes in light traffic, considerably more when the fair empties out at once in the evening. From the airport, plan on around half an hour outside rush hour and closer to an hour on a weekday morning.

The one-bedroom, and what it's actually like to come home to

The Luxury Urban Apartment has a dedicated workspace, which is the detail that decides it for most fair-goers. If you're a publisher, a rights person, an agent or a journalist, FIL is a working week disguised as a book festival: emails between appointments, a call with a time zone that doesn't care about your schedule, a catalogue to get through before tomorrow. A desk beats a hotel bed with a laptop on it. There's a jacuzzi too, which after a full day of standing on exhibition-hall carpet is less a luxury than a repair job.

It also has air conditioning, a garage, a balcony, and a kitchen set up properly: coffee and a coffee maker, a toaster, cooking basics, wine glasses. Late November is mild in Guadalajara, so the air conditioning is more about sleeping soundly than surviving. The garage is the quiet winner during fair week, when every car in the city seems to be heading the same direction at six in the evening.

Long-term stays are allowed here, which is worth knowing if you're one of the people whose FIL stretches into a fortnight either side.

Two people, nine days, one bedroom

For a couple, a one-bedroom is the right size and the right amount of apartment to look after. You get a washer and dryer, so you pack half as much, and a dining table, so you can eat breakfast at home before the halls open rather than queueing for it. The apartment sleeps four on paper; the bed configuration behind that number is worth confirming when you book, because what suits two comfortably is a different proposition for four across nine nights.

Where it tips the other way: if you're travelling as a family, or a group of five, the honest answer is that one bedroom is not the apartment you want for a week and a half. Which brings us to the rest of the portfolio.

When a second bedroom earns its keep

Most of what we run in Guadalajara is a two-bedroom sleeping five or six, and for families and small groups attending FIL together, that's the better shape. A few worth knowing by name:

• Deluxe Double Apartment with Patio - 107 sleeps five and has a dedicated workspace of its own, plus access to the building's gym and coworking area. If two of you need to work and the rest of the party doesn't, this is the arrangement that keeps the peace.
• Deluxe Double Apartment with Patio - 110 sleeps five, has free parking, air conditioning and a high chair, which is the sort of thing you only notice you need once you've arrived with a toddler.
• Lujo y ubicación en Chapultepec 67 sleeps six in Chapultepec, with a hot tub and a Skybar in the building looking out over the city.
• Contemporary Apartment in the Heart of Chapultepec also sleeps six, with air conditioning, a full kitchen and the gym downstairs.

One two-bedroom, 2 Recámaras y Terraza en Zona Premium, sits near Las 9 Esquinas and the Museo Puente de las Damas, on the old-Guadalajara side of the centre. Air conditioning there is in the main bedroom only, and each unit comes with one assigned underground parking space, accessed through an app you'll want on your phone before you land rather than while standing at the gate.

Chapultepec or the centre: pick by what you want after six o'clock

Both areas put you a short ride from Expo Guadalajara. The difference is what's outside the door when the day's panels end.

Chapultepec and Colonia Americana are the walkable evening. Avenida Chapultepec, Chapu to everyone who lives here, is lined with cafés and bars: Cervecería Chapultepec for live music and a drink, Tomate Taquería mid-strip doing al pastor for the after-drinks crowd, Pata de Elefante for brunch on a morning you've decided not to be at the fair by nine. Tikuun Comedor Local changes its menu with the Jalisco season. On Calle Argentina, Mezonte will teach you what you're drinking, and De La O Cantina next door will pour it louder. Santo Coyote on Lerdo de Tejada and Hueso, in an old house built around one long communal table, are both worth booking ahead during fair week, when half the publishing world is in town and eating at the same hour.

Our lofts near the historic centre sit in Mexicaltzingo, a neighbourhood of colonial architecture, temples and a local market where you can eat properly for very little and buy fruit for the apartment. If you want nieves de garrafa, the handmade fruit sorbet Guadalajara does better than anywhere, this is the part of town to ask for it. Several of those buildings have a gym, coworking space and a rooftop terrace with the city laid out below.

Booking for fair week: the practical part

Arrival is self check-in and self check-out, with guest support handled remotely rather than at a desk in the lobby, which suits FIL schedules well. Late flights and long evenings don't need to be explained to anyone. Do complete the online registration before you travel, since that's what releases your access codes, and do it earlier in the day rather than as your taxi pulls up.

Three things to settle before you commit, especially for a nine-day stay: dates, since FIL fills the city and the one-bedroom is a single apartment; the bed configuration if there will be more than two of you; and the pet arrangement if you're bringing a dog, as we take one pet up to 15 kg with its own terms. Booking direct with us means no platform in the middle taking its cut.

And if you can, stay past the closing weekend. Tlaquepaque, the craft town southeast of the city, is twenty to thirty minutes away by car, and it's a better use of a Monday than an airport lounge.