Going to La Jolla & San Diego for a week in the beginning of November. We are staying at the Sheraton Grand Torrey Pines for 3 nights, then at the S.D. Marriott for 3 nights. We are looking for things to do other than shopping,the zoo, as this is our 2nd trip here. Is Tijuana worth a trip? Or what about Borago Springs? And how far away are they? One last question, is there anywhere in S. California to go horse riding on the beach? Thanks for any advice.

Tijuana is worth the trip, but 1 of the main reasons to go there is for the inexpensive shopping. So If you do not want to do the shopping, don't go. There is a trolley that goes from San Diego to near Tijuana. IF you do go, be prepared for a few things. One is that you may have to harden yourself against the numerous children that sit on the streets begging or trying to sell gum to you. But also, don't be afraid if some children offer to help carry your purchases for a few quarters. If you go, be prepared to do alot of haggling for prices. The shops there are great for bargaining prices down. You can get some good leather jackets etc at very reasonable prices. Because of this pension for haggling, make sure that you bring alot of $1 bills. If you start pulling $10's & $20's out of your wallet, the shop keepers will see that & will not do as much bargaining.

If you go to Tijuana, take the trolley and then after the border, negotiate a cab ride (BEFOREHAND!!!) to the Rosarito Beach Hotel in Rosarito Beach. Not only is the shopping better quality, but it is a much more pleasant place. Plan to have a margarita and a nice lunch at the Azteca restaurant at the Rosarito Beach or La Lena and then ask them how you book horses to ride on the beach. You could also go to a Jai Alai game at the huge stadium in TJ. Anza-Borrego Park is beautiful (and huge) if the wildflowers are blooming--which is in the spring, as I recall. The town itself is pretty rural, not like Palm Springs. One nice side trip from SD would be to visit the Mission San Luis Rey near Oceanside. It contains much of the art that was taken from Mexico when the missions were secularized. Another whole day can be spent in Laguna Beach looking through the art galleries. Never seen horses on the beach in San Diego but up in Descanso you can rent horses to ride up through the mountains--try Holidays on horseback in the 619 area code. Hope that helps a bit. SD is a nice city. And, have you been over to Coronado on the ferry?

I own a business in Tijuana and of course spend a lot of time there although I live in San Diego. I would recommend a visit to Tijuana but my suggestions differ from the others. I would travel to the border via the trolley or drive. If you drive, leave your car on the US side. Right after you cross into Mexico. you will see hundreds of taxis. Take a taxi to "La Zona del Rio". This is the more upscale area of Tijuana and where the locals shop. There are many fine stores and restaurants. Tijuana is in the "Free Zone" so you can get very good prices on perfume etc. You do NOT bargain at the stores there. If you just want to see the standard tourist stuff and buy souvenirs then go to La Avenida Revolución. However if you want to see another side of Mexico that is not so ugly then go "La Zona del Rio". There is a large shopping center there with fine shoe stores, clothing, jewelry etc. This area is only 5 minutes from the border. Make sure that you agree on the price for the taxi before you get in.

If you go shopping in the tourist areas, whether in Tijuana or Rosarito, the original asking price is typically double what the actual selling price should be. In other words if they tell you a price of $20.00, offer $8.00 and you can probably settle at $10.00. Smile a lot when bargaining and don't get nasty. It can be a lot of fun if you go about it in the right way.

Have fun.

Ditto for the previous post re/ shopping at "La Zona del Rio". I went there based on recommendation from friends in SD and had a delightful time. Despite the fact that there is no haggling, there were exceptionally good prices on many products including designer jeans and leather goods. Take the SD trolley down - it's an easy and pleasant ride. The comment from several folks regarding negotiating cab fare BEFORE entering the cab cannot be overemphasized. I was looking for a particular store whose location I was uncertain of; took a cab and the driver circled the block twice, then bringing me to the store (which was 100 yards away from where we'd been standing previously!). He demanded $10 for the ride. I refused to pay the full price but the point is well taken - know how far your destination is and get the price first.

Thank you B. Irving, Kam, Tijuana Tom, and Owen for all your invaluable input. It definately does seem to merit a trip. Here's to margaritas and haggling! PS. Kam - thanks for the other suggestions on side trips. Mission San Luis and Laguna sound very interesting.

Jen-

I would definately recommend a trip across the border! If you go to Tijuana, leave your car at the last US exit and walk across. For a BETTER trip, get Mexican insurance before crossing and drive over. Drive down to Rosarito (signs are everywhere) and shop, swim, relax. We stayed at the La Paloma condos for the Labor Day weekend, and they were incredible! Beautiful water AND we took a horseback ride along the beach!!!

Here's a different view point. Don't go to Tijauna under any circumstances. Without a doubt the ugliest, most depressing, dirtiest place I've ever seen. Shopping just cannot be so necessary that one would undergo those conditions. Head or a US mall instead, and avoid ther kids, Indians, taxi drivers, cops, etc. Downer.

I'm going to put in a second No vote here. I went to Tijuana once, and I would not go back for any reason I can think of. My son recently had a similar take on the subject. But...to each his own. Just do follow all the precautions in the above postings. Not taking your car over the border is high on that list.

Fred:

If Tijuana is the worst place that you have ever seen then your travels must be very limited. Tijuana is not exactly paradise and it does have its problems. However you seem to have a problem with kids and Indians. The kids are innocent and the Indians are just poor people trying to get along in this world with tremendous odds against them. I agree that the taxi drivers can be annoying and the police can be a problem some times. But kids and Indians Fred? What a warm compassionate person you must be.

A different take. When my wife and I visited Tijuana, we came away with a feeling of great uneasiness. How could so many people, living on the edge of total poverty, live so close to the luxury of San Diego? How could so many callous Californians ignore the plight of these thousands? How long would it be before a tidal wave of humanity stormed the gates of privilege? The coming decade will tell the tale.

My trip to Tijuana brings a big smile to my face. I don't know if I would go back. Maybe if I had some of the other suggestions posted here. I would definately not drive my own car there, although I wouldn't give anything for the many times we have laughed about it now. I was with a friend visiting California and we met up with another friend who lives there. We drove down from LA and stopped in many neat places (Balboa Island, etc) Anyway someone mentioned going to Tijuana and our friend from California insisted he could drive us down there no problem. So off we go. Across the border. (I might also add this was my first time even crossing the border and also my other friend's) So we get off the interstate and immediately are in this totally foreign place. All signs in Spanish, we could not read. There were all these sad looking people and children and animals wondering around. Needless to say we were completely disoriented. The two females in the car(we now refer to ourselves as Lucy & Ethel) of course panicked, locked all the doors, etc. The driver please his heart probably wanted to leave us there. So he was dealing with us along with trying to drive. The intersections were interesting. Four cars pull up and each one easing a little bit at a time until someone decides to go for it and guns it across the intersection. There were potholes in the road that looked like these sinkholes that we see in the news sometimes from Florida. Our driver (he deserves a medal of commendation) says "Do ya'll want to get out?" We immediately are like, "Are you crazy. The only out we want to be is of this town." So he starts trying to get back to the interstate and while we keep driving around the place trying to get out, all of a sudden Lucy & Ethel start getting over their initial reaction. So then we are like, "Well, I guess we could get out for a little while." So then he starts looking for a place to park the car. Of course every place he finds we are like"no way we can leave the car here" Finally we gave up and headed back to the border. We have had many laughs about this episode. Even though it has provided many moments of entertainment I would of course not plan to do it that way again. If you go don't drive. Plus some of the other places mentioned here sound like they would be much more enjoyable than where we were.

BTW, Coronado is a very neat little island if you have time to go over.

Enjoy your trip.