Is Baja safe? Should you drive? Things to know before you go

Homework is important earlier than journey in Baja California, particularly should you’re contemplating a street journey.

Questions over Individuals’ security in Mexico have been underlined by the mid-January loss of life of Orange County public defender Elliot Blair, who suffered unexplained head injuries at a Rosarito Seashore resort; and by the early March capturing deaths of two Individuals and one Mexican in an apparently botched kidnapping in Matamoros, 1,570 miles east of Tijuana.

Right here’s a rundown of sources I consulted and components I weighed earlier than my eight-day drive to Cabo San Lucas in early January.

Total security

The U.S. State Division classifies Mexico’s states in 4 methods for would-be vacationers. Probably the most extreme recommendation is “don’t journey,” which at present covers the states of Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Zacatecas and Tamaulipas (which incorporates Matamoros) on Mexico’s east coast.

The state of Baja California is within the second most extreme class — “reconsider travel” — due to crime and kidnapping, particularly homicides within the non-tourist areas of Tijuana. The State Division urges those that do journey to stay on predominant highways. The State Division additionally places the states of Chihuahua, Durango, Jalisco, Morelos, Sonora and Guanajuato (the latter contains San Miguel de Allende) in that class.

The state of Baja California Sur, which begins about 450 miles south of the U.S. border, is within the State Division’s much less excessive “train elevated warning” class.

Canada’s authorities urges Canadians to “exercise a high degree of caution” in Mexico.

The web site elcri.men, which summarizes and analyzes Mexican crime statistics, stated Baja California had the third-highest murder fee amongst Mexican states in 2022, largely due to Tijuana. By the identical measure, Baja California Sur had the fourth-lowest fee amongst Mexican states.

If finding out up on circumstances within the Baja peninsula makes you or your companions uncomfortable, keep away. Even when nothing goes flawed, feeling unsafe can break a visit. (I didn’t drive the peninsula with my household; I drove it with two individuals who felt snug with it.)

Driving in Baja

Along with a sound driver’s license, Mexican legislation requires anybody driving into the nation to have Mexico-specific legal responsibility insurance coverage.

Many corporations focus on insurance coverage for Individuals driving south, providing legal responsibility insurance policies that always price from $10 to $40 per day. Extra intensive insurance policies can double the associated fee however could offer you extra peace of thoughts. Distributors embrace AAA, Allstate, Bajabound.com, Baja-mex.com, Discoverbaja.com, Geico and Mexpro.com.

All authorities agree that driving at night time in rural Baja is harmful due to the numerous roaming livestock. As well as, drivers needs to be prepared for lengthy, slim stretches of two-lane blacktop with out shoulders or turnouts.

Two different issues: Drunk driving is simply as unlawful in Baja California and Baja California Sur as it’s in California. Additionally, it’s unlawful to enter Mexico with a gun with out written authorization prematurely from Mexican authorities.

Extra driving suggestions:

• Often drivers in Tijuana, Rosarito Seashore and Ensenada are pulled over after an alleged infraction and supplied an opportunity to pay a effective on the police station or on the spot. Don’t argue or pay on the spot, many Baja veterans say. As an alternative, they are saying, one of the best response is to ask for a written citation and conform to pay the quotation at the police station or by mail (or challenge it). A further choice: calling Baja California’s bilingual Vacationer Help Hotline (078, across the clock) from any cellphone with roaming privileges in Baja.
• Police checkpoints are positioned each few hundred miles alongside the peninsula. Officers sometimes ask drivers the place they’ve come from and the place they’re going. We went by way of about six checkpoints, the dialog by no means lasting a couple of or two minutes.
• Many roads to scenic spots are dust, not blacktop, and finest dealt with by autos with four-wheel drive and excessive clearance.
• The peninsula is so massive that the majority vacationers select to discover chosen parts. Many vacationers fly to Los Cabos, La Paz or Loreto, hire a automobile on the airport, drive a loop and return the automobile the place they started. Selecting up and dropping off a rental automobile in numerous areas is feasible in Baja however can double the associated fee. Topoterra is the one firm I may discover that will hire me a car in San Diego and let me drop it off (for a payment) in Los Cabos.
• In Baja (and all of Mexico) distances are measured in kilometers, gasoline is bought by the liter (and normally pumped by an attendant) and velocity bumps (topes) pop up in some city areas. Fuel costs in Baja have recently fluctuated round 22 pesos per liter (about $4.50 per gallon) and are sometimes cheaper than in California.
• Past the Pemex station in El Rosario there isn’t one other gasoline station till Villa Jesús María (simply north of Guerrero Negro), 200 miles south.
• Extra detailed recommendation is obtainable by the Automobile Club of Southern California, Bajabound, AllAboutBaja.com and different sources.

Fuel on the market alongside Mexican Hwy. 1, in Catavina, one of many solely spots to buy gas alongside a abandoned 200-mile stretch between correct gasoline stations.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Instances)

Communication and legal guidelines

Southbound vacationers should present a passport or passport card and are required to get an FMM tourist permit on-line or in particular person from Mexican immigration officers on the border. For journeys of greater than seven days, the associated fee is about $36 (687 pesos).

The extra Spanish you converse, the higher. In the event you’re hoping to camp on ranch land, one of the best preparation could also be hiring an area information who may help get you permission.

To ease internet entry and communication with the U.S., many common winter guests to Baja use Starlink, which for $599 up entrance and $135 month-to-month permits a road-tripper or RV driver to entry the web from nearly wherever in Baja.