Basic Overview

Tijuana, Mexico is the largest city in the Baja California State and has a population of approximately 1.8 million.  The closest city is San Diego, California, USA, with a population of approximately 3.3 million.  These two cities have strong economic ties, with tens of thousands of people moving between the two cities daily.  San Ysidro is the closest border crossing between the cities.  It is the 4th busiest border crossing in the world with over 15 million cars and over 7 million pedestrians crossing annually.  People regularly cross to work, shop, vacation, and visit family.  Mexico has 127 million people, is the 15th biggest economy at a GDP of $1.1 trillion and a per capita of $8,421.  To put this in perspective, California’s population is 39.5 million, a GDP of $3 trillion and per capita is $71,480.  

Throughout the 20th century, Tijuana has always been a tourist destination and for Californians in particular, especially regarding alcohol, gambling and brothels.  It has hot dry summers (except for the beach) and mild winters.  Overtime, it became more than just those three types of tourism.  The industry expanded hospitality to include its beaches, cultural centers, health-oriented spas, foodies and wine and spirits tours.  Unfortunately, the drug cartels’ drug wars dominated the area during the from 2000 to 2011, which a lot violence between cartels and a corrupt government.  The violence expanded to tourists being killed and kidnapped for ransom.  If you ask folks about Tijuana this is what they remember most.  It is still the most dangerous city in the world by murders at 138 murders per 100,000 people.  Five of the most dangerous cities in the world are in Mexico.  

Tijuana is a large city.  It is mostly flat with minimal number of skyscrapers.  You can see California and the border wall.  If you have been to anywhere in the American Southwest, it has similar Spanish with mixed in American architecture and design.  A grid system roadway with large 4 lane one-way streets.  There are strip malls everywhere.  You find a lot of US brands along with the local brands.  The native language is Spanish.  My experience is most people have minimal levels of English unless you are in a place that caters to tourists.  There is not a lot of dual Spanish/English signage.

Exchange Rate

The Pesos to USD is 19 to 1.  For our friends in HK and Thailand, that is 2.56 Pesos to 1 HKD and 0.61 Pesos to 1 Baht.  Food and lodging are extremely cheap.  Higher quality clothes and electronics are actually cheaper in the USA.  You can stretch your dollar far.  They accept USD and cash is king here.  You do need to be cautious because some places will charge you the transaction if you use your credit card and they are not required to disclose that.

Getting to and from Tijuana

Tijuana does have an international airport; however, unless you are flying from overseas, it is easiest to fly to San Diego Airport, use a rideshare, taxi or public transportation to the San Ysidro border.  By car it is under 20 minutes from the airport on a moderate traffic day.  Public transportation can take up to 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Uber advertises that they have drivers that can take you over the border.  That is only true if the driver is willing wait between 45 minutes and 5 hours to return to the USA.

At the border going into Mexico, you show the Mexican immigration officer (one staff person when I was there at noontime Friday) your passport, put your luggage through the X-Ray machine. There are 6 fully armed Mexican border guards.  You pick up your luggage and leave.  They do not stamp your passport nor ask any questions as long as the document is valid.  No Mexican visa is required for stays less than 180 days.  However, depending on what country you may be from you do need to get a Mexican Tourist Card (FMM).

Returning to the USA is considerably longer than going to Mexico.  The best times to cross are between midnight and 5AM.  US Customs does have an app showing wait time but assume they are twice as long as listed.  If you have Global Entry or Passport Card you can go through the express line to get into the USA.  The problem is the line to check in counter during busy periods.  On my trip, we returned on the US Labor Day holiday.  At 4PM the line was clearly over a half mile long and counting.  Even though the app said 75 minutes, realistically this would be well into 2 plus hours.  The US customs agents trickle through a 50 to 75 people into the customer check point at a time.  We got approached by a man asking if we wanted to go through the border in 30 minutes and we ask how.  He said to get on a bus, and I am like how does that get us through the border.  We were not getting a bus.  After a few more questions, he leads us to a bus type travel desk and was told $20 a person and you can get in quicker.  We give it a go and follow one of their employees walking past everyone in the line straight to the front and we just stood there waiting to be let in.  This is the Mexican side of the border and the US Customs has no authority on line cutting or people holding in place for others in line.  This saved us a couple of hours for $20.  US Customs looks at your passport and asks a few questions.  You put your luggage through the X-Ray machine and you are in the USA.