Driving from Canada to Mexico - is this a bad idea?

[Darryl_Lict]

I would also like to mention that in Baja California you will see some of the most surreally beautiful vistas that I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been all over the planet. Make sure you stop in San Quintin and have a humongous plate of crab claws at that funky hotel on a spectacular beach overlooking a beautiful bay. There has been much talk of building some huge natural gas port or mining operation so see it before they destroy it. There are actually 10,000 foot mountains and some beautiful wine country, so do some wine tasting on the way. Halfway down is the town of Guerro Negro where you can take a panga boat out and actually pet gray whales.

There’s the town of Santa Rosalia with an iron church designed by Eiffel which was shipped around Cape Horn. It was a French colony so the town is full of unbelievably hot señoritas (I know you’re a woman, but what the hell). Stop in Mulege, a charming shabby fishing village with about a billion palm trees. La Paz is a spectacular town with all the modern amenities, luxury resorts and a bunch of golf courses if you’re into that sort of thing. There is a spectacular waterfront promenade that is ideal for sipping margaritas. Between La Paz and Cabo are miles and miles of pristine beaches. I think that they’ve built tons of condos down there, but when I was there, there was absolutely nothing. Make sure you bring some snorkeling gear. Eat a bunch of fish tacos. They are the most delicious thing ever, and you will never get tired of them.

As a word of warning, check the weather reports carefully. There are parts of the highway that get flooded by temporary rivers and are completely impassable. This is a seasonal thing and wasn’t a problem when I was there in July, although it was about 110°F.

[Atrael]

About 4 years ago my wife and I drove from Cancun to Acapulco on our vacation to Mexico.

As we rented the car in Mexico, insurance wasn’t as much of an issue with us, but do make sure that you get specific mexican coverage.

For the most part we never felt unsafe even though we were driving through some fairly desolate parts of the country. However I would recommend doing research before you go.

I was able to find a site online that was for people that RV’d all over the place. There was one link there that had a mile-by-mile description of every gas station and exit on the route we took. So look for something like that. This site has something similar to what I was talking about although they’re for purchase, not free. Although at $7 for a km by km road log it’s pretty cheap.

In my opinion if you stick to the main tourist areas and on the main roads you really shouldn’t have a problem. Check to see if your cell phone works in Mexico, and if not consider purchasing one that does. There are several short-term rental places you can pick up a phone for a pre-paid phone for emergencies.

We were stopped several times at checkpoints along the drive and never felt a sense of danger or anything. They asked to look in the trunk once or twice, but that was it. If you don’t have anything to hide, it’s not really that big a deal.

Do check the locations you’re planning on visiting and make sure there is no local unrest. Mexico is more like a collection of states, some of which have an indiginous population that is none to happy with the way things are going. So be aware of any current unrest and steer clear of those areas.

Research Research Research. Look up everything. Every city you’re driving through, or staying at. There may be a very intersting site just down around the bend, but you miss it because you didn’t know about it. Read people’s blogs, or travel accounts. Don’t try and find all your information from just one site, read several. What I’d do is have a word document open, and if I found anything particularly intersting I’d just copy and paste it into the word file. So at the end I could organize the whole thing by location and then we could decide what made the cut and what didn’t.

Allow more time than you think. I remember planning for the road trip and figuring that a 260KM trip was pretty short and that we could arrive at the next location with pleanty of time to site-see or enjoy ourselves. Turns out that a 260km trip on a windy-twisty two lane road through the mountains means that you can only average about 40-50km/hr. Much longer driving days and less time to enjoy ourselves. So look at the condition of the roads you’ll be driving on, not just the distance when figuring out your time line.

Have a great time!