guadalajara is the second largest city in mexico and has a population of 6.5 million so there are many neighbourhoods to chose from that fit your criteria.
it's a world class city and you can keep yourself very busy with the varying cultural opportunities. there is waaaaay older architecture in centro than san francisco. since it is in a valley in the highlands you will find a lot of times that the air quality ain't so good.
i visit guad for various reasons but my big city living days are over.
i live in chapala which is 30 miles south and a one hour drive to centro and tonala. it's located on the north shore of the biggest inland laker in mexico. there are several villages here and a primarily canuck and yanqui expat community of 10-15000 out of the total pop. of 80,000.