Tijuana is a city shaped by movement. Home to the busiest border crossing in the world, TJ is astir like nowhere else. Despite being a place countless people travel through, the city is no stopover; it’s a destination in its own right. Just make sure you arrive hungry.

The Locals

Mariana Sánchez of Nana en Tijuana & Kevin Gómez of Aruba Day Drink

Better known as “Nana,” Sánchez is a proud Tijuanense and the founder of walking tour company Nana en Tijuana, with which she showcases the real Tijuana, far beyond border town clichés. We asked her for her insider’s view.

May 7, 2025

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Tijuana native Kevin Gómez’s pandemic project, Aruba Day Drink, quickly became a West Coast cocktail destination, landing on The World’s 50 Best list for North American bars in 2023 and 2024. Gómez knows what new spots are worth trying and which underground classics still warrant a trip, so we hit him up for where to go when touring TJ.

Best Places to Explore in Tijuana

Sánchez says to start in Zona Centro (downtown) or Zona Río, the city’s main hubs for food, shopping, and entertainment. The Cacho neighborhood is the go-to spot for trendy cafés and bars, while Hipódromo offers a bustling stadium and the massive Casino Caliente. Sports fans should visit between January and May to catch a Xolos soccer match, a Toros baseball game, or a Zonkeys basketball showdown, she adds.

Top Cultural Attractions in Tijuana

Want the ultimate introduction to the city? Book a walking tour with Nana En Tijuana. Stroll through Avenida Revolución, explore the Pasajes for unique local shopping, and visit the history museum in the Antiguo Palacio Municipal. Tijuana’s Cultural Center is the heart of the city’s arts scene, hosting free exhibits and performances. Looking for something quirky? Check out the The Taco Museum for an interactive food experience.

What to Eat in Tijuana

Tijuana is a foodie’s paradise, starting with tacos. Sánchez’s top picks? Birria Sí for rich, flavorful birria tacos; Mariscos El Mazateño for fresh seafood tacos; and Tacos La Pasadita De La 20 for unbeatable carne asada. Want a sit-down experience? Lion Fish serves up incredible seafood, La Casa Del Mole is a must for traditional Mexican cuisine, and Misión 19 delivers a high-end dining experience.

Gómez digs Tacos El Francés‘ carne asada and adobada tacos and recommends that you “make a reservation at Oryx to try the tasting menu and the signature taco negro”—a tweak on the classic Ensendada-style fish taco. Still seeking more tacos? “You can’t go wrong with Las Tres Salsas, Tacos El Vaquero, Vicky’s Tacos, or Taco-N-Todo,” Gómez points out. For seafood, try the ceviche at Mariscos Raúl.

Of course, it’s not only Mexican fare in TJ. To explore other cuisines, “I’d go to Chan’s Bistro for Chinese food, grab a burger at 80/20, or have a pizza slice at Mr. Wink,” Gómez says.

And, there’s Caesar’s, where its namesake salad was invented just over a century ago. “Order half a salad and some snacks from the tapas menu,” Gómez advises. “Trust me, it’s not a tourist trap.”

Best Places to Drink in Tijuana

When it comes to caffeinated bevs, Gómez is partial to Pichino’s Coffee & Crew, Montenegro Café, and Unity Coffee House.

For boozier concoctions, Gómez often heads across the street from Aruba Day Drink to Minimal, an appropriately sleek cocktail bar doing creative and sciencey things with traditional Mexican ingredients. And more mixed drinks await at Nórtico, a speakeasy behind Oryx. Or drop by Dandy Del Sur for its frozen marg. “Order it with Cascahuín Blanco or Orendain,” Gómez suggests.

November 29, 2023

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If craft beer is more your style, try Farland Aleworks, Madueño Brewing Co., and Cervecería Insurgente.

And many of these spots can slake a thirst for cultura, too. “Lately, the jazz scene has been growing in different bars and coffee shops around the city,” Gómez says. “It’s a fantastic midweek option.”

A Perfect Day in Tijuana According to a Local

Sánchez starts her day with coffee—recent favorites include Serenne Café for a chagaccino, Brewja Barra De Café for cold brew, or Container Coffee Roaster Co. for house-roasted beans. For breakfast, Carmelita Molino Y Cocina (and its in-house coffee shop Jacinto) is a must, while Inspiración 9 offers a delicious vegan lunch. Dinner? Keep it casual with Los Muñecos’ tacos de papa. To end the day, explore Tijuana’s nightlife— join a free dance lesson, catch a lucha libre match, or do an impromptu bar crawl through Zona Centro.

There’s never been a better time to explore our next-door neighbor. It’s now a breeze to hop on a flight out of Tijuana airport, and Mexican airlines have launched many new nonstops, making much of the country more accessible than ever to San Diegans. That’s why we went beyond Baja to cover the country from coast to coast. It’s not a comprehensive guide, but a good jumping-off point to experience the magical parts of the country. Through these pages, take a quick tour of Mexico starting at the jungles and shores on its Caribbean side, then work your way west back home. ¡Vámonos!

Choose Your Destination:

Cancún || Oaxaca City || San Miguel de Allende

Mexico City || Guadalajara || Mazatlán || Puerto Vallarta

Los Cabos || Loreto || Ensenada || Rosarito || Valle de Guadalupe || Tijuana

Yucatán Peninsula

Cancun

There’s more to this Caribbean paradise than clubs filled with spring breakers—if you know where to stay.

Guide to Mexico – Cancún

Why I Went

“Just play it cool, Letchworth,” my wife says as we exit our airport shuttle. “You belong here as much as anyone else.” I immediately fail this test when a bellhop asks if he can take my heavy suitcase, and on instinct I say, “Oh, no thanks! I can manage.” To his credit, he nods and waits until I’m distracted—by the two glasses of Champagne at check-in—to whisk it off anyway. We’re not at the Interstate Frontage Road Super 8 anymore, Toto.

This is just the first taste of a consistent standard of luxurious attendance at Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach (rooms from $347). Kohleun and I pride ourselves on being seasoned travelers, but as our 20s waned, so did our capacity for sleeping on the floor of the Amtrak observation car. On our first trip as a couple, it took only one night sharing a hostel room with six backpackers to realize we could afford to raise our standards a little.

And yet, stepping into our king-size suite, which could hold both my old studio apartments and opens onto a perfect Caribbean horizon, I’m still out of my depth. We’ve gotten the resort’s new premium package, “Ú,” whose amenities are so numerous we keep stumbling across their brochures like a scavenger hunt.

“Complimentary 30-minute WaveRunner ride for two?” I boggle.

“Unlimited access to the Gem Spa!” Kohleun prioritizes.

And just as I tear into the minibar’s unlimited supply of peanut-butter crackers, she waves the room service menu at me and says, “Let’s think bigger.”

It’s easy to imagine how differently this trip might’ve gone back when we were living on barista and adjunct-professor money and still had iron livers. We passed by that scene on our way in: the all-night Señor Frog and Friends party district. Since the drinking age in Mexico is 18, Cancún’s Hotel Zone is notorious for attracting American coeds looking for a spring break they’ll never remember.

But we’re here to give Cancún a second look, from the perspective of someone who can appreciate finer things at a more deliberate pace. And the Grand Fiesta Americana doesn’t disappoint: Its philosophy of service is to anticipate their guests’ every need.

Overhearing us mention wanting to go into town, a lobby rep offers a primer on local public transit. At Le Basilic restaurant, the servers not only place our napkins in our lap but replace them whenever we leave the table. In the “Grand Club” VIP beach section, an attendant bounds up with fresh towels whenever we emerge from the sea. There’s even somebody waiting by the back doors to wash the sand from our feet. Middle-class guilt flaring, it’s all we can do to make it rain with tips.

They must be on top of Quintana Roo’s reported seaweed problem, too, as both the hotel’s private beach and the closest public one are equally pristine. I embark on the Gem Spa’s Ten-Step Hydrotherapy Program with an open mind (and a stomach full of carbs, which step one, The Steam Room, expressly warns against). Kohleun loves step three, The Clay Room. I’m skeptical of step six, The Ice Room (aka “rub a snowball on yourself”), but the uninterrupted device-free time to be present, the hourlong massage add-on, and the concluding nap under a warm blanket turn my biological clock back a year.

Granted, you don’t have to leave the country (or even the county) to vacation like royalty. So what does Cancún have for the over-30 crowd that you can’t see anywhere else? The Mayan cities of Chichen Itza and Tulum are 138 and 84 miles away, respectively, but since we can’t spare a day trip on our brief stay, we get our archaeology fix at the nearby Museo Maya and at El Rey, a village with surviving temple walls, lintels, and colonnades from the sixth century, now home to an iguana kingdom.

In eight short years, Baja’s gone from a virtual dead zone to one of the globe’s top food and drink destinations. With the world watching, how will innovators in Tijuana and Valle de Guadalupe handle growing crowds and attention—without selling their souls?

The Baja Moment

Misión 19’s trio of local ceviches over a bed of rusty nails and seaweed, a tribute to a local beach.

Misión 19’s trio of local ceviches over a bed of rusty nails and seaweed, a tribute to a local beach.

That smell has always saddened me. That’s Tijuana’s handshake to the world—a pungent spritz of sewage? The Tijuana River Basin runs under the San Ysidro border crossing, carrying a flotilla of discarded grossness. Most tourists like their travel destinations more redolent of spa eucalyptus. The smell is why some of them don’t come here.

“Tijuana’s not for everybody, and that’s okay,” says Derrik Chinn, an American journalist who’s lived there since 2007. Chinn owns Turista Libre!, leading gringos on cultural excursions through Tijuana. When he started, Mexican cabbies threw rocks at his bus. In September, the TJ newspaper hailed his contribution to the city.

“The city’s been a tourist trap since Prohibition,” he says. “The drug wars and border waits gave the city a much, much-needed chance to define itself for itself. The tourists weren’t coming. What if they never came back?”

Prohibition is why Tijuana became what it became. Hollywood A-listers came here to gamble at Caliente, watch bullfights on acid, escape America’s crushing sobriety. Preachers called it “Satan’s Playground.” By the ’80s, Avenida Revolucion was a prolific vice market made grotesque by the drastic socioeconomic divide between the sellers and the buyers. It was the place to get drunk, drugged, mugged, prostituted, marginalized, corrupted, blasphemed, kidnapped, and thrown in a moldy jail forever and ever.

Of course, that was always part of Tijuana’s allure—fear being the catalyst for pleasure that it is.

The Baja Moment

Chef Javier Plascencia

Chef Javier Plascencia

Then Nortec Collective happened. In 1999, this small army of Tijuana DJs, musicians, and artists became internationally famous. Art stole the spotlight back from the donkeys painted like zebras (zonkeys).

Then there was blood. In 2006, the Mexican government stopped partying with the cartels and started arresting them. With a power vacuum created, aspiring cartels fought in the streets over the lucrative crime market. American media peeked over the fence and inflamed the scene even more.

The Baja Moment

“Raining Machetes in Mexico!”

“How to Survive A Battery Acid Attack in TJ!”

Americans overreacted and wrote off the entire country. Like someone from Mexico City saying, “Sorry, niños. There’s murder in Chicago. No Disneyland this year.”

Now, the dust has settled and Baja is one of the most buzzed-about culinary destinations on the planet. Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, and Rick Bayless are praising it on TV. The Wall Street Journal is taking it seriously enough to critique the region’s wines. This year’s esteemed S. Pellegrino list of Latin America’s Top 50 Best Restaurants included two in Baja. 

A couple years ago, star Tijuana chef Javier Plascencia told the New Yorker and the New York Times he wanted to see Baja become an international food destination one day. Just like San Francisco or Mexico City.

That day is now.

Tijuana’s most brilliant tourism initiative seems to have been ignoring tourists. By doing so, they created an exciting native culture that’s attracting a more sophisticated breed of visitor.

“People are open to seeing Tijuana less as a tourist, and more as a traveler,” Chinn suggests. “As a tourist, the city is adapting to you. As a traveler, you’re adapting to the city.”

This time, chefs were the Nortec Collective—cultural ambassadors luring foreigners back to Mexico. Famed chefs like Benito Molina (Manzanilla), Diego Hernandez (Corazon de Tierra), and Miguel Angel Guerrero (La Querencia) cooked at events in the U.S. Jair Téllez—often called the Thomas Keller of Baja—helped design the menu at former San Diego restaurant El Take It Easy. Top San Diego restaurants have added Baja Med dishes (grilled octopus, tiraditos, gourmet tostadas, etc.).

The Baja Moment

Baja California’s wealth of locally caught seafood and farmers market produce is helping spur a culinary renaissance.

Baja California’s wealth of locally caught seafood and farmers market produce is helping spur a culinary renaissance.

A lot of credit has deservedly gone to Plascencia. The chef was raised on both sides of the border. He’s bilingual. He looks like a Mexican George Clooney. Most importantly, he can really cook. He is the gateway.

In eight short years, Baja’s gone from a virtual dead zone to one of the globe’s top food and drink destinations. With the world watching, how will innovators in Tijuana and Valle de Guadalupe handle growing crowds and attention—without selling their souls?

The Baja Moment

Misión 19’s trio of local ceviches over a bed of rusty nails and seaweed, a tribute to a local beach.

Misión 19’s trio of local ceviches over a bed of rusty nails and seaweed, a tribute to a local beach.

That smell has always saddened me. That’s Tijuana’s handshake to the world—a pungent spritz of sewage? The Tijuana River Basin runs under the San Ysidro border crossing, carrying a flotilla of discarded grossness. Most tourists like their travel destinations more redolent of spa eucalyptus. The smell is why some of them don’t come here.

“Tijuana’s not for everybody, and that’s okay,” says Derrik Chinn, an American journalist who’s lived there since 2007. Chinn owns Turista Libre!, leading gringos on cultural excursions through Tijuana. When he started, Mexican cabbies threw rocks at his bus. In September, the TJ newspaper hailed his contribution to the city.

“The city’s been a tourist trap since Prohibition,” he says. “The drug wars and border waits gave the city a much, much-needed chance to define itself for itself. The tourists weren’t coming. What if they never came back?”

Prohibition is why Tijuana became what it became. Hollywood A-listers came here to gamble at Caliente, watch bullfights on acid, escape America’s crushing sobriety. Preachers called it “Satan’s Playground.” By the ’80s, Avenida Revolucion was a prolific vice market made grotesque by the drastic socioeconomic divide between the sellers and the buyers. It was the place to get drunk, drugged, mugged, prostituted, marginalized, corrupted, blasphemed, kidnapped, and thrown in a moldy jail forever and ever.

Of course, that was always part of Tijuana’s allure—fear being the catalyst for pleasure that it is.

The Baja Moment

Chef Javier Plascencia

Chef Javier Plascencia

Then Nortec Collective happened. In 1999, this small army of Tijuana DJs, musicians, and artists became internationally famous. Art stole the spotlight back from the donkeys painted like zebras (zonkeys).

Then there was blood. In 2006, the Mexican government stopped partying with the cartels and started arresting them. With a power vacuum created, aspiring cartels fought in the streets over the lucrative crime market. American media peeked over the fence and inflamed the scene even more.

The Baja Moment

“Raining Machetes in Mexico!”

“How to Survive A Battery Acid Attack in TJ!”

Americans overreacted and wrote off the entire country. Like someone from Mexico City saying, “Sorry, niños. There’s murder in Chicago. No Disneyland this year.”

Now, the dust has settled and Baja is one of the most buzzed-about culinary destinations on the planet. Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, and Rick Bayless are praising it on TV. The Wall Street Journal is taking it seriously enough to critique the region’s wines. This year’s esteemed S. Pellegrino list of Latin America’s Top 50 Best Restaurants included two in Baja. 

A couple years ago, star Tijuana chef Javier Plascencia told the New Yorker and the New York Times he wanted to see Baja become an international food destination one day. Just like San Francisco or Mexico City.

That day is now.

Tijuana’s most brilliant tourism initiative seems to have been ignoring tourists. By doing so, they created an exciting native culture that’s attracting a more sophisticated breed of visitor.

“People are open to seeing Tijuana less as a tourist, and more as a traveler,” Chinn suggests. “As a tourist, the city is adapting to you. As a traveler, you’re adapting to the city.”

This time, chefs were the Nortec Collective—cultural ambassadors luring foreigners back to Mexico. Famed chefs like Benito Molina (Manzanilla), Diego Hernandez (Corazon de Tierra), and Miguel Angel Guerrero (La Querencia) cooked at events in the U.S. Jair Téllez—often called the Thomas Keller of Baja—helped design the menu at former San Diego restaurant El Take It Easy. Top San Diego restaurants have added Baja Med dishes (grilled octopus, tiraditos, gourmet tostadas, etc.).

The Baja Moment

Baja California’s wealth of locally caught seafood and farmers market produce is helping spur a culinary renaissance.

Baja California’s wealth of locally caught seafood and farmers market produce is helping spur a culinary renaissance.

A lot of credit has deservedly gone to Plascencia. The chef was raised on both sides of the border. He’s bilingual. He looks like a Mexican George Clooney. Most importantly, he can really cook. He is the gateway.

Mexico’s independence day celebration

“El Grito de Independencia,” or “The Cry of Independence,” is the rallying cry on this night.

Politics and pledges of allegiance aside, there’s something wonderfully, guiltlessly noncommittal about partaking in the independence festivities of a nation other than your own. No matter the country, it usually involves a lot of food, booze, and pyrotechnics. Americans are famous for thinking Mexico won its independence on Cinco de Mayo, which actually marks the Mexican army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Mexico’s true independence day happened on September 16, 1810. It all started the night before, when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rallied the townsfolk of Dolores, Guanajuato, to revolt against the Spanish monarchy.

These days the traditional main event on the night of September 15 in every Mexican pueblo, no matter the size, is the mayor’s reenactment of Hidalgo’s speech (grito), a must-see for any gabacho (foreigner) who’s a grito virgen.

Tijuana’s version usually happens less than a mile from the San Ysidro border crossing, outside the municipal palace, amid a street fair that stretches over to Paseo de los Heroes below the Monument of Independence (known as “las tijeras” for its resemblance to a pair of scissor blades). Grab a beer and a huarache—carne asada and queso fresco piled atop a thick slab of fried corn masa that’s shaped like a sandal (hence the name), arguably the most iconic staple of celebratory Mexican street fare—before the show, which starts around 10 p.m.

Go big at the cavernous Cantina de los Remedios on Paseo de los Heroes and Diego Rivera in Zona Rio. Bullfighting memorabilia, vintage beer babes, and wise one-liners like “If you drink to forget, pay first” cover the wall. Dueling for-hire norteño and mariachi bands fill the monstrous space. You’ll usually find a live feed of the El Grito festivities from Mexico City on the big screen, but, more important, happy hour stretches until 11 p.m.; beers and cocktails come in pairs for the price of one.

You’ll need help recovering the next day. El Potrero on Boulevard Agua Caliente is shaped like a giant hat and has been a TJ breakfast staple since the 1960s. Order chile en nogada, the go-to dish this time of year—its trio of chile, sauce, and pomegranate seeds represent the red, white, and green of the Mexican flag.