A tour of La Cofradia distillery is one of several tequila-distillery tours that visitors to the town of Tequila can take.

Mike Martinez / McClatchy-Tribune

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TEQUILA, Mexico — Tequila — the drink, not the city — is Mexico's national beverage, a fiery nectar made from the blue agave's sweet juice. Tequila — the town, not the drink — is where visitors come to drink and pay homage to the liquor.

We were still a half-hour's drive away, but already the landscape was filled with blue. On either side of the highway, in fields stretching from the roadside to the hillsides, agave plants sprouted in every direction, like a sheet of azure weeds that refused to be subdued.

The beautiful fields of agave — with their thick, pointed leaves and robust, pineapple-shaped centers — are one reason this town of 35,500 is famous. The other is the drink produced in the many factories here.

As destinations go, the beaches of Cancún and Cabo San Lucas outdraw the agave fields and tequila distilleries that offer tours and tastings. But this town is dressing itself up in the hope it can entice tourists to spend a few days here rather than just a few hours.

In July, the area's abundant agave fields were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, joining a list of cultural and natural properties considered to have universal value. Four years earlier, Mexico's Tourism Office had named the city a Pueblo Magico (Magic Town), providing about $545,000 for municipal and social improvements.

Although tourism numbers are growing steadily — about 93,000 visited in 2005, double the number in 2002, according to the Tequila Mayor's Office — the town seems unaffected by its newfound recognition. On my recent visit, the town square and plaza were quiet, uncrowded and unhurried. They were filled with families or couples enjoying the mild weather most days and nights.

But changes are coming.

A plan by the city's mayor, Miguel Marin, to close off one street from traffic, repave the main road and plant trees and flowers in front of some stores has met resistance by some locals, who simply don't want to lose their parking spaces in the name of beautification.

"We need tourism," Marin said. "We need more hotels, more restaurants, more transportation." If visitors stay the night, he said, "they spend more money, they eat breakfast and lunch, they buy souvenirs."

Residents who embrace that thinking still don't want to lose the city's small-town charm.

"If McDonald's or Burger King come here, it's not good," said Juan Francisco Lopez, a spokesman for the Tourism Office and a lifelong resident. "This is a Mexican town."

Increased tourism, he said, will bring "more jobs, more opportunities. But, for example, we will have problems with a lot of cars and buses, and our streets are small. Right now, there are no crowds downtown."

Even so, tequila tours are plentiful, from the newly built and centrally located Jose Cuervo facility (called Mundo Cuervo), with a distillery that dates to 1873, to smaller factories just a short bus ride away. Some include a stop at an agave field, where a field worker may demonstrate how leaves are sheared from the plant using a sharp, round tool called a coa.

Most tours last less than a couple of hours, which is one reason Tequila is considered a day trip for Mexicans and foreigners, who can make the drive from Guadalajara in a little more than an hour or simply hop a tour bus in town (Hilton Hotel offers one for $33). The Tequila Express, a popular train excursion that includes a tour of the Herradura factory and a two-hour music and dance performance, is another one-day option.

In town, sales agents hawk tours from behind small counters in the plaza and zocalo (town square). Prices generally range from $5 to $7.

Although the size of the distillery might range from big to small, the process of turning agave into tequila is similar at each.

The best tours are those that stop at an agave field, where the hearty blue succulents rise 5 or more feet in height and grow from seven to 10 years before they are harvested. The 7,500-foot elevation of the Mexican state of Jalisco is said to be best for growing agave, helped by the soil of a now-extinct volcano that rises above the city.

At distilleries, visitors walk through the process of making tequila: placing agave plants, known as piñas (Spanish for pineapple), in large kilns for 36 hours or more, then sending them through shredders, where the juice is squeezed from the fibers. The juice is placed in large stainless-steel vats, mixed with water and left to ferment. Then it undergoes a two-step distillation process to purify it and enhance the alcoholic flavor. Finally, it is aged in wooden barrels for two months or longer, although one type, blanco (clear), is not aged.

A trip to Tequila also should include a visit to the National Museum of Tequila and the Sauza Family Museum, both near the zocalo and costing about $2 to tour.

After you've done the tours and museums, there's plenty of time to look around. Tequila is a town where everybody seems to enjoy being outdoors — folks gather in the plaza or the zocalo, in church, in stores and on street corners. Everyone knows one another, and although a visitor can't walk through the town center without drawing notice, I never felt unwelcome.

Where to stay: The best thing about the Hotel Plaza Jardin in Tequila is that it's centrally located, just a block from the Jose Cuervo factory tour. The next best thing: It's cheap, just around $20 for one person. The rooms are basic but clean.