Getting to Ensenada Baja California is a pain. Getting back home to California is a nightmare. Crossing the border takes forever. Crossing at San Ysidro entails idling in your car for 5 hours. Walking across entails standing in line for 3 hours. Taking the Medical Lane through Tijuana is 40 minutes, but you need to go to a doctor to get one. Otay Mesa is no better. Tecate is a 2 hour wait by car but no wait on foot. As I wrote here, you take can the bus from Tijuana to Ensenada for 9 dollars one way, but you still have to wait in the pedestrian line to cross back to the U.S. One good option is to take the bus from Tecate to Ensenada which takes a little more than 2 hours.
To get the most of the experience, park on the U.S. side of Tecate in one of the parking lots for a mere 5 dollars a day. Walk across the border to Tecate Mexico and take a 5 dollar cab to the Tecate bus stop. The buses run to Ensenada about every hour. It costs about 9 dollars one way. If you want an air conditioned bus you will pay about 4 dollars extra. I leave in the morning when it is cool and save 4 dollars. The bus is not new, but it is safe and comfortable.
The beauti of this trip is that in a little more than an hour you you go straight through Valle de Guadalupe (Valley of Guadalupe) and past its world famous wineries. You are rewarded with a booming array of must-try limited-release wines, some of the best olive oils in the New World, remarkable aged cheeses, and top-notch cooking at some of Latin America’s most-talked-about restaurants. Less than an hour later and you are in Ensenada. The return trip is the reverse with no border wait.
