{Note: This post was written while I lived in San Diego, hence why I drove to Mexico, rather than flew. Obviously, anyone that travels to San Diego can make this trip as well via car, but as an FYI, make sure the rental car agency allows trips to Mexico.}
For someone who is always telling everyone to travel, travel, travel… I can be a bit of a hypocrite sometimes. When invited to Valle de Guadalupe in Mexico for the weekend, I was trying to think of the last time I left the country. After some thought, I realized I hadn’t needed to whip out my passport since I went to Aruba back in 2012. Of course, I’ve traveled since then, but always in the confines of the U.S. border. With this realization, I got super giddy at the thought of heading to Mexico.
For this trip, I was only able to enjoy Mexico for literally one day (I left San Diego at 1:30 pm and returned at 1:30 pm the next day). That’s not to say though that I didn’t pack in a full 24 hours of activities, from vineyard-hopping, a 5-course al fresco dinner and ending the trip by getting lost in downtown Tijuana. Interested in visiting Mexico yourself? Check out my weekend below:
Prior to Departure
Before leaving for my road trip to Mexico, I learned that U.S. car insurance doesn’t work there (doh!). Therefore, I hopped on the Triple AAA website and purchased 2-days worth of car insurance, in case, you know, Jeff crashes the car while staring at the beautiful coast line en route to Valle de Guadalupe. It only takes about 15 minutes to purchase the car insurance and will cost you about $30 a day. And for those thinking you’ll pass on it to save some cash… I learned it’s actually a law! I doubt you’ll want to be pulled over and have to explain that one.
When it came to packing, I knew I wouldn’t need much. It’s not that cold, even at night, during the fall & winter months in Mexico. Therefore, I threw in a pair of jeans, a sweater, boots and some toiletries in to my weekender bag and filled my purse with mine and Jeff’s passport, the Mexican car insurance papers and about $200 in cash.
Saturday – 1:30 PM
And on the road we go! Jeff couldn’t leave San Diego with out watching this about 234923802 times. After driving about 20 minutes from Pacific Beach, we hit the Tijuana border. Surprisingly, we drove through border patrol in just about two minutes and were on a merry way down the scenic route, heading south towards Rosarito. (PS – make sure to turn your phone off or in airplane mode — you don’t want to rack up those roaming charges!)
Now, I thought the beaches and coastline in San Diego were amazing… I didn’t even know (until our drive) how even better it is in Mexico. As I’m writing this, I know Jeff would want to chime in about how unreal the surf looked. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a surf trip, so his board was left at home.
Eventually, it was time to take a sharp left to head inland to Valle de Guadalupe. From there, we drove through hills, through valleys and passed small neighborhoods as we made our way to wine country. In less than two hours, we pulled up to the stunning Hotel Boutique and I knew we were in for such a treat. Just from looking at the photo below, you can see how beautiful the small hotel is, with ivy growing up the walls. I forgot to bring a bathing suit, so unfortunately I didn’t get to hop in the pool, but I know that’s the first thing I’ll pack for next time.
Saturday – 4 PM
Immediately after dropping off our luggage, Jeff and I met up with friends for a quick vineyard tour before our dinner at 6:30 pm. Within minutes, we arrived at Adobe Guadalupe Vineyards. Holy mackeral. We made it right in time for the last sun light and was treated with this amazing view of the vineyards tasting room. For those visiting the area, I highly suggest making a stop here. You can’t see it in my photo below, but in addition to the wine tastings, they invite a food truck to come by to provide some light food. And of course, it made me so happy that the owner’s five dogs were frolicking around the property, enjoying everyone’s company.
Saturday – 6 PM
After a quick tour of a second vineyard just up the street from the Hotel Boutique, we made our way back and jumped into a van to head over to Deckman’s en el Mogor, an al fresco restaurant that sits on the edge of el Mogor Badan winery. I had never been there before and when chatting with a fellow traveler about the restaurant, he described it perfectly. He summed it up as pretty much a “fancy picnic.”
Upon arrival, we were greeted with a glass of wine and a spread of oysters for the dinner’s cocktail hour. If you’ve been keeping up with my bucket list, you’ll see I only crossed off “eat an oyster” just a few months ago. I was so glad I got over this stupid food fear and was able to enjoy them for this meal.
From there, we stepped into the picnic area of Deckman’s and took our seat at one of the family style tables. Since they didn’t have any heaters, earlier that day, haystacks were built up around the tables and covered with mud to keep all the heat confined in the dining area. From there, the rest of the night was a complete whirlwind. Each dish that was brought out was cooked to perfection. I was excited to try a few dishes that I had never had before. Eventually, after a few rounds of wine, we made our way back to the hotel. At that point, I was shocked to see it was nearly midnight. The last six hours had completely flown by.
Sunday Morning
The next morning, after a quick breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant, Fuego, we made the trek back up the coast to San Diego. I had printed out directions for the return through the border, but could already tell that it was going to be difficult to find our way back with out freaking out once or twice. Well, let me tell ya… I now understand why they tell you to not drive down to Mexico unless someone is with you that has done it before. The drive to Tijuana was easy as pie, but once we entered the city, stress levels for both Jeff and I went through the roof. Long story short, we took a wrong turn and found ourselves driving through a flooded alley in downtown Tijuana, with no clue how to get back to the highway. At that point, I said screw it, I’m turning on my phone’s GPS and if it means I’ll get charged for roaming fees, so be it. Unfortunately, my phone picked the perfect time to conk out and became utterly useless. Thankfully, I printed out the teeniest tiniest map of Tijuana before we left, which only had a few street names on it. From figuring out which direction we were heading by determining where San Diego was (you can see it across the fence — so close, yet so far!), we eventually found the main road back to the highway, and eventually to border control. With a huge sigh, I’d never been happier to see my home on the other side of the barrier.
One lesson I did learn: stop relying completely on a cell phone’s GPS. I know it’s old school to print and/or buy maps, but my miniscule map was definitely our saving grace. (I know some people reading this might say, “Hey, why didn’t you just ask a local where to go?” Unfortunately, Jeff and I know zero Spanish, besides: hola, gracias, como estas… you know, the basics).
Would I suggest others head to Mexico? 100%. I wish we could have explored other regions, but we still had a great weekend trip and I highly recommend a visit to Valle de Guadalupe!
Extra Tidbits
– Where to get Mexican car insurance
– Hotel Boutique Website
– Deckman’s En El Mogor Website
– Map of Tijuana
– *Make sure to bring cash to pay for tolls on scenic route
– *If you go to wine country, you can only bring back one bottle per person to US – you must declare this at the border
