Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [287]
Cien Años ( 634-3039; Av José María Velasco 1407; mains US$12-18; 8am-11pm) One of Tijuana’s temples of alta cocina (haute cuisine), Cien Años is worth the splurge. The chefs have dug deep into a box of ancient Mexican recipes, some going back to the Aztecs and Mayans, and have devised some unusual concoctions (how does ‘spinal marrow soup’ sound?). No shorts, jeans or T-shirts.
La Diferencia ( 634-3346; Blvd Sánchez Taboada 1061; mains US$15; noon-10:30pm Mon-Sat, noon-8pm Sun) Take a taxi to the Zona Rio for sumptuous dishes like out of Like Water for Chocolate (poblano pepper stuffed with beef and fruit; salmon with mango and habanero sauce) in the gracious dining room or covered patio. No tank tops or flip-flops.
Shopping
Many Americans make regular trips across the border to buy prescription drugs, which are much cheaper here. Other popular buys include leather goods, pottery, basketry, frocks, Mexican wrestler masks and, of course, tequila. Wise shoppers, especially for alcohol, will check prices at home first. Note that US Customs allows 1L per adult (over 21) to be imported duty-free. Each person returning to the USA is allowed to bring $800 worth of duty-free goods across the border.
Tolan ( 688-3637; Av Revolución 1471; 11am-5pm Mon-Sat) Founded by a prominent local artisan, this quirky collection of Mexican handicrafts is the most sophisticated in the town. Prices aren’t cheap, but the quality’s high.
Mercado de Artesanias (Plaza Viva Tijuana) This is the first big outdoor market you will encounter when coming over the border by foot. You’ll find TJ’s biggest concentration of souvenirs, crafts and curios, most of them mass-produced. If you see something you like, bargain for it.
Getting There & Away
Most sights in Tijuana are within an easy 20-minute walk from the border crossing. Just follow the blue and white signs reading ‘Centro Downtown’ through Plaza Viva Tijuana, take another pedestrian bridge across Río Tijuana and walk another couple of blocks to the northern end of Av Revolución. If you travel by taxi, be sure to take a white and green one (because these ones have meters).
BUS
Greyhound offers direct buses from San Diego to Tijuana. There are four buses daily to Tijuana; the trip takes an hour and costs $12/24 one-way/round-trip (Click here).
CAR
For day trips from the US to Tijuana, leave your car on the San Diego side. Traffic is frenetic, parking is competitive, there’s likely to be a long wait to re-enter the US, and US rental car agencies don’t allow their cars across the border anyway. Parking lots on the San Ysidro (USA) side of the border charge about $7.
If you do drive, Mexican law recognizes only Mexican seguro (car insurance). Driving in Mexico without this can land you in jail. On the US side of the border, there are many insurance offices at the Via de San Ysidro and Camino de la Plaza exits off I-5. Expect to pay a minimum of $10 to $15 per day for short stays.
TROLLEY
An easy way to reach Tijuana, the San Diego Trolley runs from downtown San Diego to San Ysidro ($3, about 30 minutes) every 15 minutes from about 5am to midnight. From the San Ysidro stop, take the pedestrian bridge over the road and go through the turnstile into Mexico.
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Palm Springs & the Deserts
* * *
PALM SPRINGS & COACHELLA VALLEY
HISTORY
ORIENTATION
INFORMATION
SIGHTS
ACTIVITIES
TOURS
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
SLEEPING
EATING
DRINKING
ENTERTAINMENT
SHOPPING
GETTING THERE & AWAY
GETTING AROUND
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK
ORIENTATION
INFORMATION
SIGHTS
ACTIVITIES
SLEEPING
EATING
GETTING THERE & AWAY
ANZA-BORREGO DESERT STATE PARK
ORIENTATION
INFORMATION
SIGHTS
ACTIVITIES
SLEEPING
EATING
GETTING THERE & AWAY
TEMECULA
ORIENTATION
INFORMATION
SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES
SLEEPING
EATING & DRINKING
ENTERTAINMENT
GETTING THERE & AWAY
* * *
The desert is a land of contradictions: vast yet intimate, remote yet sophisticated, searing yet restorative. Over time you may find that what at first seemed barren and boring