just a quick tip- if your gf is into wine, i highly recommend visiting el cielo winery in valle de guadalupe. took my gf down there last summer during a mexican excursion and had a great time. they have a big open field with a couple soccer goals where you can let your dog run around (we chatted briefly with a couple from SD who had their dog with them), a pretty fancy restaurant with outdoor patio seating where you can let your dog can hang out with you while you eat (very modest pricing, relatively speaking for america), and a really solid wine selection. the views are stellar and you can walk around the vineyard and check out all the different varieties of grapes and stuff. it's a cool change of pace from the street/taco vendors and standard mexican fare if you want to have a romantic "date night with the dog" type of thing.

I'll hop in here because my wife's family owns a ranch (literally) right down the street from El Cielo.

El Cielo can be nice but that's also where all the cruise boats take their gringo tourists to feel "cultured" Plus they are trying some ambitious wines in a very short amount of time. My notes from El Cielo are that their wines will improve with age, they're simply trying to push out too many wines that need more age. Having said that, the underground facilities they have built are very impressive.

I enjoy a lot of wineries in the area and I'd recommend Aiximia (unique wines, hostess was fantastic), Montefiori (nice, new tasting room with a view) and Decantos (great wines & try the charcuterie board, it's very tasty). All of these are extremely reasonable in price, great way to spend an afternoon.

I agree with the above poster. Have had more fun/better experience at some of the smaller wineries that cater more towards locals and their families and their family visiting from US etc.

Have been to El Cielo numerous times and it's always good, but nothing great and is def has more of a tourist stop feel to it than some of the other places I've gone with local friends/girls/etc

i didnt go on a cruise trip, it was recommended to me by a local and had great reviews online. clearly you have affiliation with and incentive to steer people towards your family's winery, so whatever. there are several wineries down there so it's not the only option, but idk how pet-friendly the other places are, idk which other ones have a restaurant on site, and this guy said he was primarily looking to do something outdoorsy with his dog, so it seems like a good fit after a day of hiking/camping.

i didn't think that it had a "touristy" feel to it at all, fwiw.

Did you miss the rows & rows of buses? They're always slammed with big buses when cruise ships are in port and are offered as a day excursion. Uber also has a promo for them and sends more tourists to El Cielo.

Well I gave you three good ones so you can avoid the tourist spots in the future - get out there!

you really sound like one of those elitist snob types about wine tbh (moreso than my gf). we showed up later in the day on sunday, about 6-7pm, and stayed until well past closing time. wasn't a single tour bus in the parking lot. in fact, there weren't many people there at all.

you can hate all you want but the fact is the wines, chocolate pairings, restaurant, hosts, view, pricing, everything was great. bonus points for being very casual and dog-friendly. it's a solid recommendation for this dude, given what he's shared about himself and his intentions.

fwiw, after doing some googling and speaking with a few people, it was a toss-up between el cielo and decantos, but we were feeling chocolate truffles more than charcuterie, so that was pretty much the tie-breaker

Quick question any advice regarding Nice Hotel in Tijuana close to markets in town or

Looking at chilling out at Las Rocas Resort for a long weekend.

Looking to enjoy some of the Local Escort services and some Cola.

Had a great trip, thanks for the suggestions. Had a sweet couple of nights at the beach at Alisitos K58. I think we got lucky that it wasn't crowded at all. I imagine it gets quite busy on summer weekends because it's in a great surfing spot and there are decent restaurants in walking distance. Pretty cool to have lobster and margaritas and walk back to a campfire.

We had planned to do two nights in Valle de Guadalup at San Antonio de Necua. It's a really nice spot, but the noise at night was unreal, the craziest cacophony of various birds, dogs, coyotes, sheep, goats, and everything else... so we wound up leaving the next day.

We only checked two wineries, El Cielo and Montefiori. Both were awesome. I'm really looking forward to getting back out there to try the rest.

Spent an afternoon in there going to la Bufadora and had some wicked seafood at Guerrenense in Ensenada. Anyone live down there? Seems kind of preferable to Rosarito from what I saw. Some nice breweries, walkable downtown with cafes restaurants and all that.

Nice!!!

i lived in ensenada, it's definitely better than rosarito in basically every way. you have to be more adept at speaking spanish since less of the populace knows english, but that's cool anyway because making the effort will earn you more respect with the locals.

glad you had a great time- next time you go down, BE SURE to check out tacos puebla on la avenida pedro loyola.

things i liked more about ensenada-

-better scenery
-more reliable internet
-friendlier locals
-more employment options for locals leading to higher standard of living (some still commute to SD daily)
-more diverse food options/restaurants
-costco (and a super walmart)
-less crime
-proximity to wine country and fishing excursions
-more active nightlife
-wider array of storefronts and downtown area


rosarito is basically a dusty brown tourist trap/extension of tijuana with about 70k people whereas ensenada is a legit mexican city with a population of about 300k, iirc. there's a university and a lot of younger people, solid veterinary services (i took one of my dogs to veterinaria gusmar when she had a horrific ear infection), several grocery store chains and imo the best tacos in baja at tacos puebla. if you really want to set up shop and settle into the culture, it's definitely the place to be.

the "downside", i guess, is that it's a solid 2 hour drive from SD, but the bright side is that pretty much everything you need is there, so there's very little reason to be running back and forth (the baja expressway or whatever they call it runs right along the coastline so it's a real easy and scenic drive, and goes through several little towns that have their own hidden gems wrt beaches and food, as you mentioned).

Enseneda is starting to sound pretty good, thanks for all the info.

Any tips on housing there? Maybe a cool condo to check out or a website? Otherwise airbnb has some okay options to get started it seems like.

there are a few local realtors down there that you should be able to find via google, most are just american ex-pats but for the time being check out my man jorge over at adanesne apartments, he probably has a nice clean room in the middle of the city that you can rent short-term and he might be able to steer you in the direction of somebody who can help with more permanent/long-term housing accomodations. my gf and i stayed in one of his apartment units for a few days when i took her down there to visit back in late july- tell him greg and megan steered you over to him, he might remember us. dude is super helpful and his english is pretty decent fwiw

https://www.facebook.com/adanesne.apts/

Thanks man, you've been crazy helpful. Cheers!

no doubt, let me know if you end up settling down there or if you just want some input/advice about whatever. i'd certainly love to take another vacation down there for a few days next year, i'd probably still be living there if my grandfather's health hadn't started deteriorating so rapidly.

Great info, thanks for posting

Hi, I live in Texas and I plan to move to Mexico to play online poker for a living and hopefully it works out. I plan on staying down there for about 6 months so if anyone can recommend an area that is safe and close to stores and bars cause I wont have a vehicle down there. Also if anyone would like to meet up and hang out cause I don't have any friends that play poker. Message me here or on Instagram @dreday_07

Anyone use the real estate company Baja123 before, or know if they are reliable or not? I've been corresponding with them and they have a few properties I'm planning to look at next weekend.

Here's an example of the options they sent me http://www.baja123.com/Playas_de_Ros..._92178778.html

Sounds like a nice place, maybe not the best located but tons of amenities. I'm guessing I could do a bit cheaper going around and doing legwork, but then again maybe not as I don't really know the rental scene down there.

I live in this tower, T2 at Calafia. Trying to decide which of the units it is as I see it's only a 2 bedroom. I pay $1100/month for my 3bdr/2bath place but I'm assuming the square footage is around the same. I live in one of the corner units, they're potentially slightly larger than the 2 middle ones (there are 4 units/floor) but really not sure.

I don't have a realtor and don't know anything about this company or else I would comment. I just rented through the owners as I lived in the same unit when I first moved down in 2011 (for IIRC $1k/month) and then I moved a handful of times before messaging the owners to see if I could move back in 2014.

Calafia is a bit of a pain in the ass to live at if you don't have a car and you like to go out for food etc frequently. There's not really much of anything within walking distance other than Mercado del Mar and 1 pizza place. Obv not sure on your situation but just mentioning that.

Grounds are nice, it's always windy as **** here and usually significantly cooler than in town as Calafia is out on a point. The wind can be brutal at times. Jacuzzi's in T2 are okay, the one is pretty hot and the other one so-so. T3 is under a different HOA and it's been a bit of a ****show lately and I actually am not supposed to use the gym in tower 3 (T1/T2 gym really suck) or anything else in there, but have a key due to my owners having their unit in T3. Clubhouse is okay but like pool table was pretty beat up last time I looked. That jacuzzi down there is usually warm if the sun is out, the jacuzzis over by T3 take forever to heat up.

Overall I personally like Calafia but it's mostly due to the fact that my internet is super solid (had many problems at other places I lived) and I'm someone that prefers to live a bit outside of town and then just drive very frequently into town for food/drinks/whatever. My old roommate moved out to move downtown mostly due to the fact that location sucked and he didnt have a vehicle, gym wasn't good enough, and yeh, he just wanted to be able to walk places/live closer.

Thanks for the detailed write up, I guess I can scratch this one off my list as I won't have a car most the time. Nice to hear their prices are within range of what's appropriate at least.

Cheers!

If anyone does have recommendations for realtors or condos to check out I'd appreciate it, gonna be there next weekend to look around.

I see this thread hasn't got a lot of action recently. However, I should be in Rosarito tomorrow if plans go accordingly (we all know own what Mike Tyson said about plans though, "Everyone's got one till they get punched in the face. ")

Anyways, ideally Iooking to find a roommate or two, but if anyone knows of a 1 bedroom available for a few months that's fine. I've been promised use of a truck and 5th wheel trailer in April so not looking more that a few months ahead.

Room available in a spacious 2 story, 2 bedroom 2 1/2 bath house

your own bathroom across the hall, million dollar ocean and city views from your bedroom!

$425 a month includes utilities

pm for more details

also open to shorter term stays

anyone with room available for a month or 2?

I currently have availability for the room with private bath...I can do daily or weekly as well, if anyone wants to grind in between Vegas and Rosa

Still available?