Explore Tijuana, Mexico, without getting lost on this day trip from San Diego, a great choice for first-time visitors. Visit cultural attractions, sample authentic Mexican street food at a sidewalk taco stand, and do some shopping and sightseeing. Opt to walk or take public transportation and experience the city like a local. Your guide can suggest stops and adapt the itinerary to fit the needs of the group.

Explore San Diego’s sister city, Tijuana, without getting lost with a guide
See more of Tijuana in less time—ideal for first-time visitors
A small group tour for a personalized experience
Lunch and bottled water included on this San Diego tour

What's Included

Food tasting
Lunch
Local guide

Food and drinks
Alcoholic drinks (available to purchase)

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

727 E San Ysidro Blvd, San Diego, CA 92173, USA
Front Doors of McDonald's *Border Regulations it may change the meeting point (customer will be advice)*

End point

Retorno Sentri
Rtno Sentri, Cuauhtemoc, 22010 Tijuana, B.C., Mexico
Just near to the Border in the Side of Mexico so you can just cross the Border to US.

What To Expect

Start this Tijuana full-day tour by meeting up with your guide and small group in San Diego. Your tour group is limited to just 12 people to provide an intimate journey through the city, which is ideal for first-time visitors who want to travel through Mexico safely with a guide.

Once you meet up, your guide helps your group with border crossing into Mexico before you set off exploring Tijuana by foot. During your full-day tour, do some sightseeing with your guide to see cultural attractions and learn about them, too. A traditional Mexican lunch, as well as food samples are included, so you can get a peek into the culinary side of the city.

This Tijuana experience ends once your guide gets you safely back across the border back into the US.

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Children must be accompanied by an adult
Not wheelchair accessible
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation

Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
Passport is required
Border Regulations it may change the meeting point (Customer will be advice)
If you are US citizen and don't have a passport, Birth Certificate (Not Copy) and ID are required
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 12 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.5

374 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 374 reviews

Really Good Overview of the City

Mark_L, Apr 2024

The tour honored my ticket even though I was the only one booked for that time slot. The one-on-one attention was awesome and we got to see a good overview of the city, including the modern sections. Unfortunately many of the normally-visited sites were closed that day, but my guide Carlos was able to find interesting and unique ways to show me other parts of the city and lifestyle of the Mexican border town.

Diego and Tadeo were...

Stav_R, Apr 2024

Diego and Tadeo were charming and pleasant. Tedao made the experience lovely, he was professional, funny and nice. We really enjoyed the trip and recommend that anyone who wants to visit Tijuana must do it with them. Tasting the tequila was an unforgettable experience. Thank you:)

TJ is a not a pretty city - but don’t be put off!

richard_y, Apr 2024

Without doubt the highlight of the tours was the people… Let’s be honest TJ isn’t a picture postcard destination, it’s a genuine hard working border city. The mixture of quirky places and excellent local food made it.

FUN

Maria_B, Mar 2024

The walking tour was fun. Our guide Tadeo made it really interesting. The landmarks, the food and the coffee, that coffee was really good 😄

Informative guide

Irene_S, Mar 2024

Tadeo was an excellent guide. Informative, professional and pleasant. It had changed a lot since I had been there last, for the better.

Wonderful experience!

Sylvia_C, Jan 2024

Our tour guide Marisol was very knowledgeable and very pleasant. I would highly recommend this tour. We had to end up walking across the border, but there were no issues whatsoever. It was very easy. We ate at a local place, did tequila taste testing and shopped! A wonderful experience!

Very nice

Hessel_H, Jan 2024

The tour was great fun. A nice way to explore the city for the first time. The guide Marisol was also great!

We had a great time on...

Skye_A, Jan 2024

We had a great time on our day trip to Tiajuana. Humberto was an excellent guide and told us about so much history of Tiajuana. It was a super fun day.

Fun experience

Lavilyn_B, Dec 2023

We had a great time in Tijuana. Our tour guide, Tadeo, was excellent! He was very nice and knowledgeable. Thank you Tadeo! Well done.

See the real Tijuana

Rebecca_B, Dec 2023

We got the see the nooks and crannies where the interesting places are. We tasted tequila and beer, and had a wonderful lunch. We learned about both the present and past of the area. It was a great day, with the wonderful guide.

Alexander was very...

Wayne_L, Oct 2023

Alexander was very knowledgeable and also agreed to mail a postcard and letter for me. He told us the post boxes along the road were interestingly not functional.

Great tour, would recommend!

Kimberly_D, Oct 2023

This was a great tour if you just want a taste of Tijuana and you’re not ready to explore on your own. Our tour guide Alex took us around to some of his favorite spots, including taco shops, market places, and other essential Tijuana landmarks. He gave us time to take pictures and buy souvenirs and gave us options about what we were interested in doing/seeing. He answered all of our questions and made our first trip to Mexico a fun experience! You will likely have to cross the border and meet the tour guide on the other side. They wait by the information building which is right beyond the rotating metal gates. Advice: if you have to turn on international roaming on your phone, do it before you cross! Service will drop once you leave the gates and you can’t go back the same way once you exit. At the end of the tour, Alex took us directly to the line at the border crossing back to the US, leaving no room for error. The return trip takes longer, so be prepared to wait on the line for an hour or two, maybe more depending on the day. It’s not so bad if you’ve made friends with your tour mates. Highly recommend this tour if you are visiting San Diego and have a free day.

Fake one not worth money

Ahmed_F, Oct 2023

Fake one not recommended as you can do everything yourself and your expenses I paid 93 usd not getting anything other than lunch

Response from Host, Oct 2023

Sorry that you feel this way, but when you go on your way for 3 times and at the end take off before the time, most common will not have the real experience. Again we are sorry you feel this way but try next time fallow up with local guide or experience manager so you can get the full experience.

Exploring Tijuana

Dann_T, Oct 2023

It was a great exprience to Explorer the city without hassle. The knowledge of guide makes it easy to Explorer for whom never been in Mexico.

Good

kelly_m, Sep 2023

The guide Alex was amazing as is the tour & u get to see a lot of Tijuana the food was good there's a lot of walking

Enjoy an afternoon south of the border with Crossing Borders!

Richard_F, Aug 2023

The reviews of this trip are mixed but in our case we had a great experience as first time Tijuana visitors. Reading other people’s reviews was very helpful as anything that was different than plan had been noted by other travelers and so was not a surprise when it happened on our tour. We had a fantastic afternoon with Tadeo on the Tijuana tour. He was very friendly, knowledgeable and took us on a route that had a fun mix of historical spots, places to take photos, explore some Mexican cuisine and do a little shopping. We felt safe the entire time and felt like we got to see both tourist Tijuana and and have some local experiences. Other residents greeted him at most stops and along the way and that added to the fun. He would periodically send “the boss” pictures of our progress through the planned route which added confidence the tour had some oversight in a period where news reports Mexico is not always safe. Our group size was 5 people. Special moments we’re hearing about Tijuana’s role during prohibition and learning the Ceasar Salad was invented in Tijuana and the restaurant that is its home is still open. Tijuana also has a long tradition of manufacturing and there was an interesting exhibit in the museum about the history of aircraft manufacturing in TJ. We also enjoyed the local lunch at a family owned restaurant and learning TJ has a craft beer scene like San Diego with many fine local selections. At the candy shop we had our first encounter with cactus candy. We also learned the history of the Piñata… The tour started at 1pm and the agency gave us instructions and a contact number for him in the morning. I exchanged a few texts with him before we left San Diego to take the trolly to San Ysidro. The agency sent a mail asking us to meet at the McDonalds on the US side of the border but that plan changed and we were asked to cross the border on our own. Other reviews had mentioned this had happened so we were unsurprised and able to adapt to the change. We crossed and waited for him in a coffee shop, and were able to text him our location so he could find us easily on the Mexican side. Going from US to Mexico was fast and easy at mid day. Crossing back from Mexico to the US after the tour had a longer line but took 60-90 minutes and we encountered no problems. It was very helpful to have a guide as first time visitors. The signage to and from the city bus/van service was not always clear and it was painless with a friendly escort. We could have taken a taxi or Uber but with a guide there were no security worries about transport, getting lost, or accidentally wandering into a dangerous neighborhood. Well done.

Humberto, the tourist...

Sandra_M, Aug 2023

Humberto, the tourist guide was amazing! He was super friendly, attentive. He took us yo best places and thought us a lot of their history.

Great for first timers

Christopher_S, Aug 2023

Humberto made things convenient for us much appreciated . Great tour if going to Tijuana for the first time

Fun, new, safe

Harrison_H, Aug 2023

This tour was great, Victor was great, I would highly highly recommend it, it is 100 percent safe and well done

Do not recommend this tour

Urmi_C, Jul 2023

Our guide Victor was very polite but that’s where the good part ends. Our group was huge and should have had at least one more guide. Victor was unable to manage it. He often spoke to the folks in the front and others couldn’t hear. Our tour started 30 minutes late waiting for part of the group to arrive. The museum was skipped. Souvenir shopping was constantly pushed and we only covered 4 blocks of markets in almost 4 hours. 2 tacos and one non-alcoholic drink is included in the price. Pickup was supposed to be from San Diego before border crossing and was changed last minute to Tijuana where we crossed on our own.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Sorry to here you didn't like it, we have a limit of 14 people with one local guide this is with kids. Adults not more than 12 per local guide. the waiting time for others of the group is 20-30min max to respect other on the group. And we advise that, because we are in an international border we arrange starting 24 hours before and last minute. Sorry that you did not like it again. And thank you for the review of the guide we will improve on his training with the big groups (12-14).

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