Car rental - driving San Diego to Baja Mexico

ferf1223

could you not drop off your US hire car in SD and pick up a new one in Tijuana and use that for the Mexican leg?

John259

Beenie wrote: »

I think we definitely need to re-think our trip.

What are the main factors that attracted you to that trip? Could you perhaps find anything similar staying within the USA? For example if desert and canyon scenery is the main factor then you might like places such as Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks in California http://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm and http://www.nps.gov/deva/index.htm , all the wonderful national parks on the Grand Circle in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona http://www.grandcircle.org , and Big Bend National Park in Texas http://www.nps.gov/bibe/index.htm

Bri1

All the car rentals I have done in CA strictly prohibit you from taking the car in to mexico, I think there is a reason :-)

Beenie

We want to visit Baja California to see the whales up close.

The lagoon near San Ignacio is famous for its shallow waters and huge number of visiting whales.

We lived in the US for 3 years and have seen Utah, Colorado, Arizona , done the Pacific Highway in California, driven Route 66 twice, and all the famous sights that you care to mention. Even seen whales already (in Hawaii) BUT that was all in our own car so we've never had the headache of US car rental. Double headache if you're going to drive in Mexico!!!

Alan_Bowen

If all you want to do is see the whales they pass San Diego Bay from January to April and there are daily whale watch boat trips. I freely admit that I loathed Mexico but until you get as far south as Cabo, you really could save yourself a lot of driving and hassle. Fly to Cabo, daily flights if you must, but better still stay north of the border. When I first visited San Diego there were daily cruise departures to Ensenada, around 60 miles south of the border, there is a reason why they don't operate anymore.

Beenie

Just to update you, we are flying to San Jose del Cabo from Los Angeles now. We will pick up a hire car when we arrive. The drive will be different in that we are now driving north up the peninsula and avoiding anywhere near the borde/Tijuana after the advice given above. So we will get our 'fix' of whale-watching, kayaking, snorkelling, drinking margaritas etc. without the worry of driving near the gun-toting lawless border types! Thank you all for your input.