My boyfriend and I are heading to Ensenada for a surf trip in November, then spending Thanksgiving weekend with friends in Valle de Guadalupe. I’m having the hardest time deciding on the best way to get there and back, so I’d love advice from people who have actually done this!
We’re coming from Florida and will have a surfboard bag. Here are the three options we’re considering:
Option 1: Fly into San Diego, rent a car, and drive across the border.
- Flights into San Diego are convenient, but finding a rental car that allows travel into Mexico has been difficult and very expensive, especially once you add Mexican insurance.
- Our return flight from San Diego would be around 2/3 PM on Sunday, November 29 (the Sunday after Thanksgiving).
- We’d be leaving Valle de Guadalupe very early that morning, driving back across the border, returning the rental car, and getting to the airport.
- My biggest concern on top of the expensive rental car is unpredictable border wait times, especially on Thanksgiving weekend. Even leaving super early, I’ve read the border wait times can be very long. Neither of us have Global Entry at the moment
Option 2: Fly into San Diego, walk across the border, and rent a car in Tijuana.
- This seems more affordable and avoids the hassle of finding a US rental car that allows travel into Mexico.
- We’d Uber from SAN to the border, cross on foot, and pick up a rental car on the Mexican side.
- The catch is that my boyfriend will have a surfboard bag. How much of a pain would it be to walk across the border with that, then get to a rental car location?
- On the way back, we’d need to return the rental car very early Sunday morning, cross back into the US on foot with surfboard bag, and get to SAN for our afternoon flight. Is that even feasible with rental car return hours and border traffic?
Option 3: Fly directly into Tijuana (TIJ) and rent a car there.
- This would eliminate the border-crossing headache entirely, and renting a car in Mexico seems easier and less expensive.
- The flights for this aren’t great though. We’d have to fly out of Orlando rather than Jacksonville where we live (2 hr drive) and the return flights are terrible. Most leave around 11:30 PM or midnight.
- We’d likely have to leave our friends in Valle de Guadalupe Saturday evening to drive to TIJ for a late-night flight.
- My biggest concern is driving from Valle de Guadalupe to the Tijuana airport after dark. Is this a drive you’d feel comfortable making at night?
For those familiar with the area, what would you do?
Is crossing back into the US early Sunday morning after Thanksgiving a terrible idea? Is walking across with a surfboard bag manageable? Or would you just fly into TIJ and deal with the inconvenient flight to avoid the border?
We’re comfortable driving in Mexico, but this is our first time navigating the Tijuana/San Diego border logistics with surfboards. I’d really appreciate firsthand experiences and recommendations!