I would like to visit Mexico for a day while on an upcoming trip to San Diego.I'll have a rental car. Can I drive down to the border and park on the American side and walk over? Is it safe?...I'm travelling solo on a business trip. How long of a drive is it to the border?

Emily,

I haven't crossed the border since 9/11, but I hear it takes a LONG time to get across--not to the Mexico side, but coming back to the US. Yes, you can drive to the border (only about 15 minutes from downtown SD--LOCK YOUR CAR) and walk across. The Mexico you'll see is not a glamorous tropical resort--it's reality travel. The images of the poor, dirty, children begging for money will be forever ingrained in your memory. Knowing that, if you have a mission (buying a particular item at a good price), it can be worthwhile. Safe? Usually, but I wouldn't go at night. Dress down.

If you'd rather, there are day-long or half-day tour buses that will take you with a group down to the city of Tijuana to do some shopping, then go down to (I think) Rosarito, a more beachy resort town. That's what I'd do if I really wanted to go. I've had family do that tour, but I can't remember what tour company it was...you can probably Google it and come up with something.

Or, you could just spend an extra day enjoying "America's Finest City," or go north to Laguna Beach and hang out there for a day.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

There have been reports recently of American tourist women being raped by Tijuana policemen. So far,not much, if anything, has happened to the perpetrators. I would not go to Tijuana if you paid me, especially alone.

i have friends that love going to tj for the day. personally, i hate it. but it is easy. lots of parking right at the border. if you are staying near a trolly line, you could even leave your vehicle in your san diego hotel, take the trolley to the border and walk across.
i do enjoy rosarito beach though so the tour idea is a good one. most rental car companies will not let you drive down.

We were in San Diego for a week this summer with our 2 teenagers who wanted to say they had set foot on Mexican soil - so off we went. Parked in lot at border, walked across.

A very depressing trip. Lots of apparently poor people selling junk made in some other equally poor country. A number of bars and liquor stores, t-shirt shops, and pharmacies selling virtually any prescription medication without a prescription (or at least that was what the box said - who knows what it actually was).

Stopped in a really disgusting public bathroom. Saw a man selling crucifix windchimes - that was pretty offensive.

Afraid to eat or drink anything - everything was very dirty and dusty (but it was August).

You can't easily bring a rental car across the border. (Have to buy foreign insurance that they peddle everywhere within a few miles of the border). Getting into Mexico was simple and fast. Getting out - we stood in a long line for over an hour. Part of the delay may have been because the INS was rounding up at gunpoint a group of young Mexican men. Immigration guy at the counter scrutinized our passports more than I have had done at any other border (and we are a middle aged blond couple with 2 blond kids).

Heard enough - not a trip I would make again. Felt safe (it was daytime), but it wasn't much fun.