Where to Live the California Life At Half the Price

“Be careful,” a friend urged when I mentioned we were about to cross the San Ysidro border from San Diego to Tijuana.

My husband Dan and I were headed south, to Ensenada, to meet up with some old friends for a long-awaited reunion.

We weren’t concerned for our safety, but we understood her fear. After all, Tijuana ranks as one of the world’s most dangerous cities… up there with Kabul and Caracas. But it’s also the world’s most-visited border city… sprawling over 246 square miles.

As any of the 100,000 or so people that cross this border each day will tell you, reports of the dangers of Tijuana are greatly exaggerated.

In 1915, sleepy Tijuana was home to only about 1,200 residents. But five years later, along came U.S. Prohibition laws. When Californians realized that alcohol, casinos, prostitution, horse and dog racing—all banned at home—could be enjoyed just across the border, the “road to hell” (as outraged temperance supporters called it), led right to Tijuana.

Pleasure palaces like the grand Agua Caliente Casino, with its racetrack and golf-course lured renegades, nonconformists, celebrities like Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Charlie Chaplin, and more than a few high-profile American gangsters.

By the end of Prohibition in 1933, Tijuana had grown to 120,000 people. Today, it’s still one of the world’s fastest-growing cities, with 2.2 million people. It’s also one of North America’s biggest manufacturing centers, with more than 600 plants servicing automotive, electronics, consumer products, industrial, aerospace and medical device industries.

That’s not to say there aren’t spots in Tijuana where one shouldn’t venture for any reason. But the majority of the violent crime that the statistics are based on occurs primarily in just three regions of the city… Reforma, Sanchez Taboada, and Camino Verde.

There are areas of extreme poverty, yes, but Tijuana is also a city like any other, with green parks and upscale shopping malls, schools, churches, and a cornucopia of hospitals, clinics, dentists, and pharmacies… many conveniently located right at the border crossing.

Expat Life in Tijuana

Out of those 100,000 people that cross the border every day, about half of them live in Tijuana but work or attend school in San Diego. And many are American citizens.

Why? The average rent for a one-bedroom home in San Diego these days is more than $2,900. The price to buy a single-family home hovers near $1 million. And that’s not anywhere close to the beach. But in Playas de Tijuana, seven miles from the border crossing, you can find one- and two-bedroom apartments renting near the beach for as little as $500 to $1,000 a month.

In the upscale Gabilondo neighborhood, southeast of downtown Tijuana and 10 minutes from the border crossing, U.S. expat Shawn Morgan lives with his Mexican fiancée in a modern three-bedroom condo they rent for $1,900 a month.

Does he have safety concerns? “No, not really,” he says. “Although the numbers I have heard about violent crime in TJ are pretty high, I believe them mostly to be results of the cartel/drug trade. I’m not outside, walking around in areas that I’m not familiar with in the evening, and I haven’t seen anything that feels dangerous to me.

“I like that I can have a nice, large condo for half the price it would cost me in downtown San Diego,” Shawn adds. “And the array of restaurants and bars within a short walk means that I don’t have to drive very often.”

Living in Tijuana is more expensive than it is in other Mexican cities, he says—he has also lived in Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta. “But in comparison to California, it’s still relatively cheap.”

Our stay in Tijuana, however, was fleeting. We were headed south to Ensenada…

Ensenada: Wine, Seafood, and the Great Outdoors

“I’m crushing on Ensenada,” Dan said after our first day there. I’d thought he might.

Ensenada is a big sprawling seaside city of about a half-million people. It’s not a place of all-inclusive resorts, yet tourism fuels the economy. There are beaches for exploring, and you’ll find Baja’s most consistent surf break at its first-ever state park, San Miguel, just north of the city.

High season coincides with summer months, from July to September, when both air and water temperatures make for the best beach going. But thanks to the temperate climate, just about any time of year is good for a visit.

Cruise ships dock here almost daily, with passengers disembarking to visit the wine region, stroll the malecon, shop along Lopez Mateos Avenue, go hiking, ziplining, horseback riding, on an ATV adventure, or to the famous marine geyser of La Bufadora, and—from December through April—on whale-watching tours.

One of the biggest annual events is the Baja 1000 every November, attracting competitors from around the world who traverse the peninsula by dirt bike, dune buggy, trophy trucks, and more.

Easy, Low-Cost Living

Beyond tourism, Ensenada is a big working city, home to Mexico’s second-largest seaport.

Canadians Renata and Tom Bassi have lived in an area called Punta Banda for seven years now, and “we’re never going back,” Renata says.

Tom’s a musician and they appreciate the live music scene. “Mama Bear’s, Indio Bonita, the Tequila Grill… these are good places for live music, especially in the summer,” Renata says. “Sharky’s is a place for sports like Monday Night Football. There’s a fun group of people here.”

Most all expats here say northern Baja’s cost of living is low compared to the U.S., but higher than elsewhere in Mexico, largely because of that borderland influence. Renata estimates their expenses at about $3,000 a month, and that includes the rent for their home, just a block off the beach.

Luis Amador—a dual U.S./Mexico citizen living in Ensenada—adds that “utilities are much more affordable. Electricity is paid every two months, and I average between $15 and $40 for each bi-monthly bill. My air conditioning is only used three to four weeks of the year and I only use electric heating in the bedroom during cold months. My monthly water bill averages $15 to $20.”

He spends about $75 to fill his 100-lb LP gas tank for cooking, and that lasts for almost the entire year. “Gas for my car is about $4 a gallon. High-speed internet is about $50 a month.

“Eating out is much cheaper than in the U.S.,” Luis says, “a good steak goes for about $20. Medication is cheaper here, too, as are most medical services. A physician’s consultation runs between $5 and $10. A doctor that comes to your home costs $50 to $70. A housekeeper is $25 for a full day.”

Grocery costs depend on personal consumption. You can find great prices at local mercados and in stores like Walmart, Mexican brands cost less than U.S. brands, readily available in big box stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, and Smart & Final. There’s Home Depot for your hardware needs, department stores like Sears, and the upscale Mexican clothing chain Liverpool.

Housing costs are all over the board, depending on things like size, location, and furnishings. You can pay as little as $200 a month to rent an apartment in the city. On the beach, a four-bedroom, four-bathroom, furnished home rents for an average of around $1,500 a month.

If you’re looking to buy, you’ll find similarly varied prices. On the north side of Ensenada, in communities such as La Misión or El Sauzal, ocean-view homes are priced from about $350,000 for a roughly 2,500-square-foot home with a double-car garage.

On the oceanfront at the Bajamar Community and Golf Course, an 1,800-square-foot home with three bedrooms and three bathrooms is currently on offer for $309,500. From here it’s about a 30-minute drive south to downtown Ensenada. And of course, the farther from the beach you are, the lower the prices.

A 20-Year-Old Scandal That Created a Myth

South of Ensenada—past the expat-preferred Velmar Hospital and the city’s major shopping district (where all those big box stores are), and past the vast greenhouses and fields of onions, beans, and sunflowers—is the stunning Punta Banda peninsula, with plummeting ocean vistas and the famous clifftop La Bufadora waterspout.

Where the peninsula connects to the mainland, just before the road climbs upward, a spit of sand—beach on one side and a vast estuary, home to more than 70 species of birds, on the other—is known as Lengueta Arenosa. It’s famous for its beauty and tranquility… and a more than 20-year-old scandal.

The lurid details of what happened can be found online, but the short story is this: In 2000, the Mexico Supreme Court ruled that a local developer, in collusion with some corrupt local officials, had illegally claimed rights to land where a number of Americans had built homes.

These American “owners” lost their homes, and the news that Mexico was an unsafe place to buy real estate steamrolled around the world. It’s not true, of course. The court had simply ruled in favor of the rightful owners, a local ejido community farming group.

Two decades later, Punta Banda is once again a thriving community, home to Ensenada’s largest numbers of expats. The ejidos—commonly called campos—remain. Some have been privatized and you can buy the land. In others, people are comfortable with leasing from the ejido and either installing a mobile home or building on it.

There’s no such thing as formal zoning laws from what we could see, but a rebellious jumble of RVs and manufactured or custom-built homes, many with low price tags and million-dollar views.

One such home in Campo Lomas del Mar offers a huge garage/workshop, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fully equipped guest house, and a sprawling party patio with an outdoor bar/kitchen and to-die-for views of the bay. It’s selling for $299,000 with a land lease of $4,800 a year. Just down the street, you can rent a one-bedroom home for $320 a month or a two-bedroom for $400.

Ensenada Practicalities: Get There, Stay, Dine, and Do

Fly: If you’re coming from the U.S. or Canada, it’s easiest to fly to San Diego. From there, you can Uber (our fare was $31) or taxi to the border. Or take a Metro Transit System 992 bus ($2.50/$1.25 for seniors) to the Blue Line trolley ($2.50) south to the PedEast San Ysidro crossing. (There is also a border crossing at Otay Mesa farther east and the Cross Border Xpress to/from the Tijuana airport for those with same-day boarding passes.)

If you’re traveling from within Mexico or points south, check out flights into Tijuana International Airport (TIJ). From there you can rent a car or grab a bus.

Drive: You can, of course, drive your own car across the border. Unlike the rest of Mexico, because the entire Baja peninsula is a Free Trade Zone, you do not need a TIP (temporary importation permit) for your car. You do, however, need Mexican auto insurance, which you can get online in advance.

Only select car rental companies in San Diego allow you to take their vehicles into Mexico, so check with them first. An option is to pick up a rental car in Mexico, just after the border crossing or at the airport.

Be driven: You can hire someone to pick you up at the San Diego airport and drive you the 90 miles to Ensenada, starting at about $200. We chose to meet our diver at the end of the pedestrian walkway just across the border. Javier Najera (+52 661 196 0757) charged $75 to take two of us from there to our downtown Ensenada hotel. For getting around Ensenada, rely on Uber or—less expensive and preferable in this area—Didi.

Stay: We spent our first two nights at the new Holiday Inn Express in Ensenada, a perfect place to explore the downtown tourist area (and they do a great buffet breakfast). For the rest of the trip, we opted for an AirBnB rental in the Moderna neighborhood. Other recommended hotels in Ensenada include the beachfront Torre Lucerna or Estero Beach or, downtown, the El Cid or Posada El Rey Sol.

Dine: In Ensenada it’s La Hoguera all the way for traditional Mexican food and fresh, at-your-table-made salsa; Mariscos de Bahia for seafood (along with any roadside taco stand, look for where the locals congregate); and for an elegant upscale meal, Pranvera, in Moderna. In Valle de Guadalupe, the farm-to-table Fauna is a top choice.

Drink: Two establishments in Ensenada claim to have invented the luscious concoction of tequila and lime juice known as the margarita. You must, of course, try them both. Hussong’s claims to be the oldest cantina in Baja California, while Bar Andaluz inside the former Riviera Hotel and Casino is rumored to have been backed by Al Capone and frequented by boxer Jack Dempsey and Hollywood elites like Rita Hayworth, Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz. My opinion: The margarita at the Andaluz is the tastiest and Hussong’s (with a raucously fun atmosphere) packs the most punch.

Don’t Miss: Take a stroll down the touristy Avenida Lopez Mateos, also known as 1st Street, and along the waterfront malecon to Plaza La Bandera and the Mercado Negro fish market (we went three times during our visit for the smoked marlin and tuna).

If you love wine, artisan beer, olives, and cheese, you must visit the Valle de Guadalupe, just 30 minutes from Ensenada. Jorge Palafox (+52 646 135 3631) can set you up on a tour of the best wineries. Our cost for a driver for six people for the day was $100, not including tastings, which start at about $10 for a flight of three to four wines.

Resources: There are many helpful Facebook groups to join if you’re considering a move to the Baja: Expats in Tijuana to Rosarito Living, Ensenada Expats, Ensenada Living.

For real estate, reach out to Eddie Alpuche of Baja Casa Realty. Tijuana attorney Rafael Solorzano can verify titles and help with closings.