Is Valle de Guadalupe Worth Visiting?

Rent a Car

Firstly, you could rent a car from the airport and start the 90-minute drive to the valley. For reasons you’ll see later, this is definitely the options that we’d recommend. It makes things SO much easier when you get to the Valle, but we’ll get into that later. All of the major car rental companies service the Tijuana airport, so you can really pick whichever company you’d like for your rental services. We’d recommend getting something on the higher/bigger end if you can, because the roads in Valle de Guadalupe are mostly made of very bumpy dirt, which isn’t very fun in a compact car!

The Bus Route

Your second option is to take a first-class bus to Ensenada and then either another bus or an Uber from there to Valle de Guadalupe. The bus from the airport costs anywhere from $10-15USD/$200-300MXN. Ensenada is located about 30 minutes southwest of the valley, and the Uber and bus should both cost less than $5USD/$100MXN. We’d recommend an Uber here, because it can take you straight to your accommodation or the vineyard you’re visiting. If you take the bus, you’ll be left in the center of the town and as you’ll see in the next section, getting around isn’t easy.

Uber from Tijuana to Valle de Guadalupe

Your third option is to Uber straight from Tijuana to Valle de Guadalupe. It is over an hour quicker than taking the bus option because you can bypass the extra distance to Ensenada and just go straight into the valley. When we looked up the price during our trip, the Uber was about $60USD/$1200MXN. If this is in your budget, it’s a great and comfortable option – just pay attention in the next section, because just like I mentioned with the bus option, getting around the valley might be difficult.

OPTION #1 : Rent a Car

Like I mentioned before, having a car really is your best bet here, whether you drove your own car from home or picked up a rental at the airport. It’s the fast way from Tijuana to Valle de Guadalupe, and it’s also the best way to get around within the Valle. While rental cars can be a bit pricey, we found that the prices were pretty affordable and they’re far lower than your other option. Trust us, this is your best bet. Just be sure to drink responsibly and only drive sober!

OPTION #2: Hire a Driver

Your second option is paying a driver about a hundred dollars a day to wait around and chauffeur you through the Valle. All in all, that is a pretty affordable number compared to many other places, and it does give you freedom to drink a little bit more and not need to worry about driving. The nice thing about the first two options is that you have complete flexibility in selecting the vineyards that you want to visit. If you opt to have a driver, you should offer to buy their meals for the day.

OPTION #3: Join a Tour

Your third option is to join a pre-arranged tour. This is one of the easiest options and there are many great tour operators that leave from southern California and from Tijuana, but the big drawback is the loss of time and flexibility. These tours are usually for a day or only a couple of days, and you have a lot less control of your own time. If you’re going for a day trip or a weekend trip this may be something to consider, but if you’re going for a week (which we recommend) you should probably pick another means of transportation.

Plan ahead

Especially during the high season, most vineyards fill up a couple of weeks in advance. Pick which vineyards you want to visit and contact them to make reservations at least a couple of weeks early. If you’re planning a last-minute trip, you’ll still be able to find vineyards, but your choices might be limited.

If you’re with someone else, get different wine tastings

This one struck us at our first vineyard’s wine tasting, and we did this every single time from there on out. If you’re with another person and don’t mind sharing drinks, get different wine tastings! Most of the vineyards will offer at least two options for wine tastings and you don’t both need to do the same one. By each ordering a different wine tasting and then tasting each other’s wines, you can try 8 wines instead of 4 or 10 wines instead of 5 for the same price. We figured this out at Vena Cava Vineyard, because Angel likes more white wines and I like more red wines. We asked if we could each try different wines, and they said that wouldn’t be a problem at all. From there on out we did it every time.

Leave time between tastings

This is for two reasons. Firstly, you just want to relax and take your time! Some of the vineyards are very beautiful and you can walk around their grounds and take pictures. The other reason is that even though they might look close on a map, many of the vineyards are pretty far apart and you might need 40 minutes to get from one to another, mostly due to the bumpy dirt roads that all of the vineyards are on.

Don’t get cheese platters

This is just a matter of personal preference. We really love cheese platters, and we were underwhelmed by all four cheese platters we ordered during our time in the Valle. Overall, the food in the Valle is remarkable, but the cheese platters are really below average.

Dress for the Valle de Guadalupe Weather

Valle de Guadalupe weather is a bit strange. While it’s located on the Baja California Peninsula which is mostly dry and hot, our April visit was pretty cold, and we were wishing that we had packed sweatshirts. Be sure to check the forecast beforehand so you know exactly what Valle de Guadalupe weather to expect!