Although it was the brand's first time going down south of the border, many of our ambassadors and employees on the trip are very familiar with the zone. Baja California is a short hour and a half drive from the HQ in Costa Mesa, so it’s no surprise our crew has done a couple stints down there. Here’s our unofficial guide to the Baja road trip. Cross the border and you’ll hit Tijuana. The second most populated city in Mexico, you can choose to cruise around this city, or keep pushing south to more coastal and less developed areas. In our instance, we wanted to surf so we didn’t make any pit stops and kept moving south.
Before we get further down into our guide, there’s some things you should know. The weather in Northern Baja is pretty similar to California, so however it is in Costa Mesa when you left is kinda how the weather will be for your trip. While it can be nice and warm, the bigger bummer is the water temp. When we went, it was just like home. While we didn’t leave our board shorts at home (since there was a pool and jacuzzi where we were staying), you can’t expect it to be cooking outside of those summer months. Back on the road, as you travel deeper into Baja there are plenty of point breaks, beach breaks, and cobblestone setups to offer all different swell angles, tides, and types of waves. This being said, it’s nice to have a versatile quiver on hand. Since we have the power of Surfline and surf forecasting, you can see in advance which boards will suit the conditions best. It’s never a bad idea to bring a fish or a groveler for those smaller days. Also might not be a bad idea to bring a step up if you are tube hunting and up for the challenge.
The next cities you would run into are Rosarito and Ensenada, in that order. Both offering good food options and a locally fun wave, you can take your pick on which one fits your needs better. For us, we spent time in both, and even found a sick skatepark right on the ocean as well as a fun DIY park in Ensenada (see photos below).
For food, tacos are the way. Most on the trip agreed El Trailero was the zone close to where we were staying for either a quick taco grab or a proper feast after we surfed. With friendly staff and very fair prices, you aren’t going to want to miss this spot.
Our trip was only 1 full day and a day of driving in and out, so we really only touched the tip of the iceberg for baja. But if you’ve made it this far, here’s the too long don’t read version of this blog on Baja: fun waves of all kinds, not too far from home, hit the local spots for grub, make sure to bring some friends and pack in the truck, travel during the week for shorter border times.
