Paula1022

From San Diego in October heading to San Jose de Cabo. Is this a safe and good trip to plan?

janisj

That is a very long drive -- like 3 full days. There are nonstop flights from SAN to SJD

suze

Is this a vacation trip or you are staying a long time? Do you need the car in Cabo is what I'm asking? Is that why you want to drive instead of fly?

baldone

I'm jealous. The Baja Peninsula is an area I've yet to explore fully. If Cabo is the only
​destination then, yeah, it probably makes more sense just to fly. But I'm getting the sense that you want more than that. Highways are in good condition. Friends in Primo Tapia & Todos Santos say it's safe. I'd do it in a hearbeat.

janisj

The OP is a woman of few words -- but I suspect this may be part of a California trip because 5 mins after posting this she also asked about going to Catalina from San Diego or LA this Fall.

So it very well may be that she is going to SD and since Cabo and Catalina 'are so close' she's trying to fit both in . . . but hard to tell with the scant info provided??

Paula1022

I will have my car in San Diego and want to add on...maybe to la Paz to reduce the long drive?

janisj

La Paz would not reduce the drive time very much at all. SD to La Paz is a 20+ hour drive without a single stop -- so still about 3 days each way. That's a looooong drive solo. I'd stick to someplace like Ensenada (about a 3 hour drive from SD plus how ever long it takes for border control) or Rosarita Beach (90 minutes + border formalities)

The Ensenada area is great - beaches north and south of town, wineries galore in the Guadalupe Valley, some really good restaurants.

mlgb

In October you can also find decent cruise prices for Ensenada/Cabo. This might be more pleasant way to get there, no border lines. Look for the 5-day itineraries if you want to visit both (personally I found Ensenada a little boring).

I wouldn't book anything right now, but you can do some research and see if any departure dates work for you. There are some from San Diego and also from Los Angeles (San Pedro) and Long Beach. The ones out of San Diego that go to La Paz and Loreto might be interesting (Discovery Princess) but they are 7 day trips.

I usually just use vacationstogo.com to do research (select dates, departure ports and month). Whether you book through an agent or the cruise line, you usually get the same prices. A lot of people like Costco Travel but I have an agent I like at VTG. I read a lot of complaints (on Cruise Critic) about using the cruise line advisors directly.

suze

La Paz is not noticeably closer to San Diego than Cabo San Lucas. Do have a road map? Definitely not a drive I would want to make solo myself to either place (unless I was staying for 3-6 months for the 'season' and wanted to get my car down with me). Are you experienced driving in Mexico? Have you road tripped there before? Speak Spanish?

janisj

Ensenada probably is boring off a cruise ship. I've never stayed in central Ensenada, but have stayed south of town in a beach house and at a posh-ish resort also south of town. Day trips out into the Guadalupe Valley with some very good wineries and some really terrific restaurants, the 'geyser' (a blow hole really) at Bufadora, sea kayaking, fishing . . . but really most of my visits revolve a lot around food/restaurants/tequila and wine tastings.

mlgb

Went to the pathetic blowhole & ran the gauntlet of vendors there, ate at the fish taco place which was okay as was the one in Cabo, did some mediocre wine tasting in the town. Mexican restaurants, beaches and wine tasting aren't to be found in San Diego, California or elsewhere in Baja?
If someone is going through the hassle of a land border crossing, that would not be enough for me.

YMMV.

janisj

One must must be unlucky to not find good and even great food in Ensenada. Or maybe one just needs to be contrarian and other's opinions and experience are to be sneered at. BTW I said nothing about wine tasting 'in town'. The Guadalupe Valley has too many wineries to count and is very like Napa was 30-40 years ago. Some meh, some very good, and some bordering on great.

Yes definitely YMMV.

mlgb

I said the fish taco place was okay. My point was, the reasons you listed are not worth the drive. Do you not find Ensenada and the surrounding area pretty darn ugly? If you want to talk about outlying beaches and other areas, that is not "Ensenada".

Why not expand your definition all the way to the tip of Baja?

If the OP is going to visit San Jose del Cabo in October, there is no earthly reason to spend time in Ensenada. Unless one needs to see the greenhouses where the 99-Cent Only tomatoes are grown. Or it's a free day off a cruise ship.

janisj

The ONLY reason Ensenada came up was because the OP seemed to think the drive from SD to Cabo was a few hours not 3+ full days (6 days round trip) and then asked if La Paz would cut the drive -- no it wouldn't. So Ensenada was merely a suggested as a possible alternative more accessible to San Diego. And while there are ugly parts of just about every city on earth, no, I do not find the area ugly. And no, I've never visited 99¢ tomato greenhouses.

pthomas156

I once thought driving the Baja was a lot shorter too! I ended up flying to Cabo, spending a few days there, then renting a car and driving up to La Paz. La Paz was a fun town with a great malecon and some fun water excursions. As I remember, it’s 3-4 hours to La Paz, but you could also stop in Todos Santos. Be careful of the cows that wander onto the roads, and don’t drive at night or you’ll hit a cow before you even see it.