FIRST DRIVE TO BAJA! advice

cathy o. · Since 11 Aug 2014 90 Posts

Hello people in the know! I'm planning my first road trip down to Los Barriles from PDX. Driving an enclosed truck with some household goods, equipment, etc... Leaving after Christmas. Looking for suggested routes, timing, overnight lodging/camping, places to stop and checkout, etc.. Was planning on 3-5 days of driving.

Thank you!

Sasquatch · Since 09 Mar 2005 2103 Posts PNW Bigfoot

Sounds like a great trip ahead.

LOTS OF BETA on this topic. Use the search function above.

Don't speed, travel during the day light hours only.

PM Kip aka wylieflyote is his handle on this forum.

wylieflyote · Mon Oct 21, 19 2:07 pm

stringy · Since 23 Jun 2006 1738 Posts vancouver XTreme Poster

from san diego here's a quick tip that I use.
start the day off as early as possible.
I cross over at sand ysidro. be sure to stop and get your tourist card.
follow the highway 1 towards the coast line then head south. there are a couple of tolls so be prepared. it's pretty much highway 1 the whole stretch. try and get to guerrero negro before dark. this is why you want to leave at the crack of dawn. fill your tank in el rosario before heading to GN.
spend the night in GN. there are lots of hotels with secure parking. I like to stay at terra del sol
next day it's possible to make it all the way to LB but it will be a long day behind the wheel. maybe break this day up into two days and stay in loreto for the night before heading to LB. Lapaz is a good place to buy groceries. watch for cows on the road especially at night and also watch out for the stop signs in constitution. its a racket in that town.

if you can I would caravan and have someone with you to split the time behind the wheel.

ldhr · Since 21 Jul 2009 1490 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

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wylieflyote · Sat Oct 26, 19 6:23 pm

jaksavage · Since 02 Dec 2009 216 Posts hood river Stoked

I would split off of I5 @ stockton/fresno and use 99 to drive south. This avoids the LA crazy busy 5 lanes of stop and go hell. several hours long.
99 goes over cahon pass and then you can cross over to otay mesa or san yisidro.
Much lower stress route.
Fuel up and carry a spare 5 gallons if you can.

Get pesos for tolls and your visitor pass for enough time, months?
Big stores , motels and gas will take credit cards.
ATMs worked fine for us.

San quintin has easy motel if you cross later in the day.
GN is good too.
San Ignacio historic and is nice, Loreto is nice, all easy stops.
La Paz is busy but has shopping. Los Barrilles market is pretty decent too.

Constitucion is confusing, roughly every other intersection has a stop sign, they are not obvious, I drove slow and stopped if I was in doubt. No problem.

Don't drive at night.
Be aware of killer potholes between GN and Loreto. Where you least expect them.

I drove down in 3 days from San Diego and back north in two days. We took the cutoff to Mexicali coming home. It was 2 slow (10mph) hours of ROUGH road. But I would trade that for the 2 hours of LA freeway any day.

Be prepared, be careful and enjoy a beautiful drive.

wylieflyote · Sun Oct 27, 19 10:11 am

10 years of 5 months each year spent in Mexico. Mainland and Baja. My opinion is that it's a mistake to draw larger amounts of pesos for your longer stays. The ATM's work fine, you generally get excellent exchange rates. Do not use a card for purchases unless you are at a major store like Walmart, Soriana, Bodega.