The Tecate Border crossing appears to have an average wait time of 25 minutes. It is a one lane in and out and appears to have very laced security. I really recommend it over the Tijuana crossing.... read more

Tecate Border Crossing - Public Services & Government Near Me - Tecate, California

HELL NO! You might as well just move there, you're going to spend half your life in line to cross back anyway... literally usually a line at least a mile long, and driving to Otay Mesa / Tijuana are a million times worse yet. If you go to Mexico by car, don't plan on coming back to the US any time quick, unless you cross on foot, and you can only do that from 6 am - 10 pm, Mex to US, but 24 hours a day US to Mex. read more

Twenty years ago, this was my favorite border crossing from Mexico. No more. Don't get me wrong. The CBP officers here are great (the only reason for 2 stars). But there is no SENTRI lane. The single automobile queue on Calle México in Tecate is long and slow. Signage to enter the queue on México side is misleading at best (and nav systems don't get it right either). Follow either, which tell you turn left into the queue, and chances are high that the Tecate Policia will pull you out of line for a visit to the local police station to pay a MEX$3800 fine cash. read more

Crossed this border a few days ago on a Sunday. The signs are misleading to get to the end of the line, there is one small coffee shop on the side of the road where you can use the bathroom for 1$. We had waited in line for one hour and all of a sudden the tecate police told us to get out of line and follow them to the police station. We had to pay a 40$ fine for "cutting in line". It was very random and frustrating because we did not cut the line, had already been sitting there for an hour, and then had to get back in line and wait another 3 hours. I saw another review that mentioned this may happen so looks like we were just randomly targeted. read more

Rhis is about q quarter mile from the California entry. Our time to cross today was 2 1/2 hrs. We bought ice cream paletas, a masa pan, and a gave 5 pesos to a vendor to throw out some trash we had in the car. The rostilocos at the michoacana are my favorite. read more

Tecate Border Crossing - Primero Dios altar can be found across the the Colegio Levato. - Public Services & Government Near Me - Tecate, California

Crossing time is inaccurate, They closed a few minutes 2pm. Why aren't they opening the border at full capacity like the rest? read more

Tecate Border Crossing - U.S.Customs agents showing you how goods are more acceptable than citizens. Youd let me cross after 2 if I was from a petroleum company. - Public Services & Government Near Me - Tecate, California

Entering Mexico from California is Easy. But leaving Mexico to get back into the US can be difficult - or at least time consuming and exhausting. There are four main border crossings back into California from points south in Baja - 1. San Ysidro - located just north of Tijuana's city center and putting one right at the 5 north heading into San Diego (this is the most direct crossing and also the busiest). 2. Otay - located north east of the Tijuana airport - and entering the US just south of the Otay Lakes area in san Diego county - this is a less crowded crossing but still too busy and still filled with huckster who try to get you to buy things as you wait in the long line of cars. 3. Mexicali - a smooth easy and clean border crossing with few huckster and a much shorter line to cross - but it is located so far east that it is really only worth it if you are going towards Arizona (or at least Palm Springs. 4. Tecate (My Favorite) - which is located 30 minutes east of Tijuana and just north of Tecate, which is cute and clean little city and well worth grabbing some lunch in before heading back to the US. The lines here are much shorter than San Ysidro or Otay. THE POSITIVE - Lines are Shorter, usually by more than half the time (or maybe even a quarter of the time on a Sunday when everyone is trying to get back to California after a weekend in Baja. Tecate is also a nice city to visit as a last stop in Mexico before leaving. There is an easy and pretty ride on the 2 and the toll road from Tijuana that goes directly to the Tecate crossing. There are also roads straight there from Ensenada and from the Baja Wine Road just south. Once back in the US you will have a lovely drive back to San Diego to get on the 5 - but it is a little long. But the main additional positive about this crossing is that there are almost no hucksters trying to sell you something or trying to wash your car windows. THE NEGATIVE - The signs leading to the actual entrance to the beginning of the line to cross are few and far between and it is easy to miss them, especially at night. But unlike TJ, if you miss your street to the crossing it is easy to back track and find it (backtracking is nearly impossible to do in TJ itself - but Tecate is small enough to actually go around the black and things like that). Once you are in the line, things go rather quickly. read more

We were told that this border crossing is faster than San Ysidro, so we gave it a try. It is a very long and narrow two lane road going up and down hills. We waited maybe 2 hours or so on a Sunday afternoon. I'm sure the wait varies a lot depending on day and time, but you can always check online to see what the wait times are. There are tons of people walking up and down the streets selling stuff. The only thing we wanted were churros! They were actually delicious, but if you want them super fresh, don't buy it form the person walking, but wait until you see the actual churro stand where they're frying them up right outside of a house or building! When directly at the border, they ask you a few questions, and you're on your way! (But takes about an hour to drive back to San Diego) read more

I've been in line almost 2 hours...it's 1:46 p.m. and I'm NOT going to make it....‍...I don't understand WHY it states 1 hour wait when it's REALLY 2 hours..my advice...always give yourself a 3 hour head advantage to cross when it says on the app 1 hour wait ...I'm pretty sure they're gonna close the gate in my FACE!......oh well...I have SENTRI...so I gotta go through Tijuana...... read more

Tecate Border Crossing - I have been in line since 12:99 noon...‍ - Public Services & Government Near Me - Tecate, California

It's a border crossing to get into/out of Mexico to the United States. As far as border crossings go though, the Tecate Border Crossing is probably the fastest in my opinion. From the Tecate side, the line to get through starts at the end/bottom of a very steep hill. We got in line (from the car) at a little after 5pm on a Saturday, and it took us a little over an hour to get to the actual gate and pass through. If you have an RFID-enabled type of identification, such as the US Passport Card, you'll be able to flash your card to the scanner they have upfront, in order to facilitate faster screening. The agents here are friendly, like to make small talk/crack jokes - which is unexpected (but welcome/appreciated), in an otherwise tense process. There are porta-potties along the hill - because depending on the time/day, the crossing can take anywhere from a few minutes (rare) to a few hours. There are also street merchants (I mean that literally) - that will walk up to your car window and try to sell you stuff. They're all friendly, and you don't even have to roll down your window if you want to tell them "no thanks". The lady near the end of the line (top of the hill) that sells the toy turtles is sweet. Obviously passing from the US into Mexico at this crossing is quick, it's the other way around that takes awhile. All in all, much more efficient than the larger crossings such as San Ysidro or Otay Mesa. Also, the Tecate Border Crossing is a Pokestop for any who are lucky enough to get any cell coverage. read more

I would NOT recommend crossing at Tecate back into the US from Baja. It used to be a pretty quick border crossing but now it has similar wait times to San Ysidro and usually longer than Otay crossing. It's only two lanes and if one of the border patrol agents is being very thorough, it could double your wait times. Oh, and they removed the porta-potties! I think when the US closed the TJ border a few times last year a lot of people shifted east to Tecate and now it's absurdly crowded. It's a shame, Tecate is a great border town, with awesome food/shops and a real positive vibe to it - but we won't cross there anymore. If you look at all the positive reviews about Tecate border crossings, they are mostly older reviews. Bottom line, I recommend crossing Otay early in the morning before 6am to avoid all the ridiculous wait times. read more

About a month ago my husband and I drove to the Tecate border and my husband walked across to get a 1997 Crown Victoria he had painted and was restoring. He was in line about an hour and JUST as he was the next person the car died!!!m We were supposed to leave for a 12 day trip the next so time was of the essence. My husband is 70 and he has all kinds of worst case scenarios going thru his mind. The agent was so kind and he and a bunch of his custom agent buddies PUSHED his vehicle out to the United States side. I dealt with these agents 20 years when I used to go down weekly and 99.9% were very kind and human to me. My husband wanted me to write a review for him. These agents saved the day and our trip the next day. Thank you. I used to tell them when I would go thru that I was too old to do anything illegal. read more

Why does this crossing closed at 10pm? Why doesn't it stay open 24 hours like the others.

We were the 5th car back when the cutoff hit. They closed the border at 10pm and I had to race to Otay Mesa on the toll road. Good thing I still had the cash to pay the Cuota. read more

Old man agent Hernandez looks burnt out from work. Guy is rude, unclear, and looks pissed off lol. Anyway guy was at booth and I was next. Usually the agent signals you to pull forward. I like to respect agents and move at their command. He never signaled me. No eye contact. He instead whistled and I thought he was calling one of his colleagues. Then other agent in other booth clearly tells me to pull forward, which I appreciate. Hernandez, be like the other agent, show some effort and be clear no one can read minds dude. Or maybe it's time to hang the boots. I would love to join cbp. Ohh and then he asks me if I'm ok to drive or intoxicated. Dude im waiting to be called up. read more

I've crossed at Tecate for 30 yrs. Right now the north bound crossing closes at 4 and the line can be long on the weekends. 1pm on a Wednesday is easy! I usually cross on a Sunday or MOnday so I cross at Otay in the ready lane. My last three crossing were on a Monday, Late morning. Fastest was 45 mins and longest was 2hr 15 min. read more

I've crossed the Tijuana border hundreds of times, but this was my first time at the Tecate border crossing. This is a small 2 lane crossing and it gets a lot less traffic, but because it's only two lanes if it is busy, you could have a long wait. This crossing is open from 5AM to 11PM We got in line at 8am on an August Sunday morning. We were less than one mile from the actual crossing when we first joined the line. From that point it took one hour to make the crossing. It was not too painful and the agent we talked to was friendly... maybe TOO friendly, we were ready to roll, but he was chatty! haha That early, there were not really many vendors along the line, only a couple of people asking for change and a couple of vendors selling tortillas or sweets. It is my understanding that peak times can get pretty busy; that would be weekday mornings and Sundays. read more

Very professional, knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. I had an excellent experience for my first time at this crossing. The US border guards were great and really worked together to get everything done efficiently. Honestly, great group of staff here, who knows what they are doing and are very resourceful in completing tasks which they are not as familiar with. A+. read more

I have crossed this border today after several years and it seemed to me much more organized and fast. 1.5 hours waiting to cross from Tecate to San Diego, not that bad, considering i heard is much slower from the other lines. What i like is that you can at least entertain yourself eating churros, Mexican paletas, nieves and tamarindos and all sorts of goodies. The wait is more relaxing also if yo know Spanish and can read the fun messages in the walls. The transaction of checking passwords was very smooth and quick once your car reached an agent for inspection. Courteous people. read more

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Always always get sent to second inspection . I already see it coming . Regardless of the vehicle I cross over with . They have the smart-ass comments " Maybe I'll get lucky " when my car gets sent to 2nd. I even mentioned it to the customs officer , he then told me " it's better than waiting 3 hours in TJ" . At that point I rolled my eyes . I go to Tecate to visit , to hang out and relax . Not to get harassed or have a dog leave its hair all over my car . read more

Currently waiting and it's the longest I've ever seen it. Likely because of how long the wait at San Yisidro is. Looks like it could take us about 3-4 hours to get across. Still dealing with the normal line cutters read more

I came here I did cross faster than last week I did 4 hours over on otay crossing and San Ysidro don't even say I've done 6 hours of wait there , let Me get to the point it was raining this past weekend in Baja I mean yesterday Sunday January 7 2019 I went to the ranch where we are from over in Ensenada for a funeral, border patrol looked at me and asked me To remove my glasses well I did ,he also sent me to inspection for my truck being dirty it has never been an issue for me over through otay or San Ysidro maybe because I wasn't pulling my trailer with my quads ,does that make my 2016 Dodge Ram 2500 diesel a suspicious vehicle he told me I might be hiding drugs I was like really that's how I see all the trucks coming back from Baja dusty and dirty ? Any one have ever had an issue with a dirty car Thanks read more

They lie! CBP claiming the Tecate border is currently operating at a 30 minute wait time. Now way that's possible. Stop lying to the public

BEST. BORDER-CROSSING. EVER. After a week of building houses in Ensenada with a local church, my friends and I were exhausted, and wanted to get back to San Diego as soon as possible on a Saturday morning. That left two options: Wait for about three hours or so in the Tijuana line, or go about 40 miles out of the way and drive over to Tecate. Score. It was a scenic drive through Baja's wine country, and the crossing itself took NINE MINUTES to get through. Nine. That's right. Estoy feliz. Woot. The border crossing spits you out just east of Dulzura, or 40 miles east of San Diego proper, in the heart of October '07 Fire country. It's an easy drive on the 94 back into the city. Damn, I think I'm gonna always come back this way now. read more

First time crossing on foot, so much better in my opinion, you get to experience the city alot better, and walking through the border feels like a little museum when you go inside the office. alot of neat stuff. love tecate will definitely be going back. read more

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I have been through Tecate to San Diego border check once before and it was a snap. Today the R lane person took 1 hr longer than left lane. Agent who was Asian seemed to gloat his lane was taking so long and actually asked us how long we were in line. Some cars he had people turn off engines. Such a jerk! read more

Sunday 1/2/11 6:00pm - We waited for 1h15m before we reached freedom in the USA. I thought Tecate border crossing was supposed to be fast?!?! We did enjoy the scenic drive through the wine country and drank plenty of wine but all the fun wore off when we came to the realization that the route was really out of the way. Highway 3 sucks and our car was clearly unhappy with our choice to take this route. Yes, Prius was pissed off when we went over something rough on the road too fast. Now Prius is makes a loose plastic clicking noise when the engine is on. So sad considering that it is less than one year old. There are only 2 lanes at the border crossing and you have to go up and over one large hill before reaching the gate. If you have a stick shift, you will get a very good left and right foot exercise waiting for your turn. If your car is automatic transmission (like Prius), you will get a good right leg workout. While we were waiting for what seemed like eternity, numerous vendors approached our car with things for sale. Since we still had 33.5 pesos, we decided to buy 1 torta de jamon y queso (20 pesos and really gross) and 1 tamal (12 pesos and not hot but better than the torta). I then paid $1.50 USD for a bag of warm and delicious churros right before we reached the USA. We were so relieved when we passed the border crossing but it took another 30 minutes to reach civilization. The road in the US was dark, windy and dangerous. No thanks! read more

Stopped here in the EARLY AM to get some gas...literally just feet from the border (really the only store on the US side). Everything was fine but it was somewhat alarming the number of questionable folk that were congregating at the station while I filled the Outback...forming like a strange circle you may see in a Children of the Corn movie. hurry the S*** up stupid pump! As I pumped "gas-water" I started to have flashbacks of all the horror movies I've seen over the years that resembled my current "eerie" situation...I needed to be smart and on my toes! What actions would NOT lead to certain doom??? I decided if anyone got too close some basic level kung-fu would buy me a little time HOWEVER I may need to bust a Dukes of Hazard "car hood slide" when I made my way back to the car from getting snacks. I mean come on...even though I was surrounded by the undead I still needed some snacks and a soda for the ride back to Carlsbad :O) I guess they all could sense the presence of a kung fu, car hood sliding master becasue these undead creatures did not attack...I was lucky......this time. I give this janky border gas station 5 "non-undead deadbeats in need of coffee and creeping me out" out of 10 read more

Be very careful of the policies in the area! First time crossing here got stopped by the policia, and he claimed I didn't stop at a stop sign then claimed we weren't wearing our seatbelts both untrue! He then said we needed to go to the police station to pay our ticket. We ended up paying him $20 so we can just go home! read more

Tecate Port of Entry is only open from 5am to 2:00 PM due to COVID restrictions with land borders. From the end of march until now (end of july) they are open with reduced hours until further notice. Otay and San Ysidro are open 24/7 with reduced lanes. This used to be a faster easier port of entry not so much anymore. read more

Here's a good one. We've been on a little vacation with another couple and we stayed at a friends house on the beach just south of Ensenada. We decide to return to San Diego via Tecate, because I thought it would be faster than San Ysidro. We have a beautiful ride through the vineyards and rocky mountains and soon we arrive in Tecate and we park at the Plaza and have a nice lunch and listen to the locals taking turns playing accordion and guitars and a little drum, too. Then we proceed to the border and wait and wait and wait for about two hours... My wife is driving and she gets to the border check in booth(I don't know what it is called formerly) and the agent asks for our passports and if we have anything to declare. My wife answers, nothing to declare and after a few minutes the agent returns the passports and we start to leave the booth area. She passes the passports to me to sort and hand out to our friends and ourselves. In a few seconds I notice there are only 3 passports and mine is not among them. I tell Linda to stop the car. We're only about 100 feet from the booth and I get out of the car and start walking back to the booth and a guard comes out to greet me and says don't go no further and I tell him that the other guard didn't give me my passport back. Well, the guard says something cute like 'there's some stupid stuff going on here today' and he says wait here. He goes to the other guard and comes back with my passport! I walk back to my car and proceed back to San Diego. Thanks US Customs for being so aware, not! read more

my review isn't so much for the border crossing itself, it's for what you get once you're across. tecate is a border town, but it couldn't be any different than tijuana or mexicali. it's a small town, so it feels more like any ordinary small town in mexico, and only about 40 miles from downtown san diego. of course, the brewery is there, you can walk there from the border to take a tour or get a free beer in the beer garden. there is a small plaza in the middle of town lined with shops and restaurants. they don't really cater to tourists because not that many tourists go here. go on a sunday afternoon, you can get a michelada and some made-from-scratch caldo de res sit outside under the trees and just watch everybody in town out for a walk. read more

in so far as the border Port of Entry. Really it all depends on who you get as a customs officer. most of them are fine. There is a guy who wears a smoky hat (you know like what a drill sergeant wears) that guy is an ass hole half the time. If you ever have a problem you should speak with the supervisor. The supervisors are mostly ass holes worse that the agent that pisses you off and really do all they can to further demean you. If you complain online you just get a generic letter form the Public Affairs Officer saying they have the authority to inspect at the border. It is the same letter with no bearing on your situation. Onc ein a while they will have Border Patrol aiding in the inspections. These guys are disproportionally ass holes. When you see a customs agent holding an M-4 you cant take a picture but you should and it is worth keeping. They are scared shitless of the weapon. I dont think most of them know how to use it. Oh and depending on who is staffing the Check Point on the 94 you might deal with more BP ass holes. Sometimes if you are walking through in tecate they will have thier dogs sniff you. As demeaning as it might be to have the dogs sniff you and your children they make sure to make it more demeaning by having the dog stick its snout up your ass and your private area. i speak from first person experience. Most of the agents are ok but if you have a prblem no one gives a fuck. At one point they would have cars get Xrayed hile the drivers were being exposed to the Xrays. read more

A lot better that Tijuana. Wine country was classy and there was no traffic. It was kind of weird that you crossed and then drive 10 miles through the middle of nowhere and get checked again. Family trip with kids and dogs so they didnt give us a hard time at all. read more

It's a two lane line with a few vendors walking up and down. Left from Puerto Nuevo around 130pm and got to San Diego City at 5pm last Sunday so it still took a few hours- but prob less than going over the TJ or Otay Mesa border. Border Patrol stopped us for a "Random" secondary inspection, but it wasnt too long and just had their dogs sniff the whole car...They seemed pretty chill in general... I heard it's a scenic drive, but I didnt find it scenic- maybe compared to TJ it's scenic, but not the type of "wine country" scene I would expect ...There is a secondary inspection once in the USA after like 15 mins, but it was very simple and little wait read more

It had been 10 years since we'd been to Tecate, Mexico, and that had been by way of the historic train tour. So on the way back from a hiking trip in Jacumba, decided to spend some time in Tecate, and have lunch across the border. It was Easter Sunday, and there are several parking lots to choose from - all very full but we found a spot thanks to the nice people working one lot, that squeezed us in. Only $5 to park. We walked across the border, and despite all the parked cars, it was a ghost town walking in, and walking back out for that matter, I was amazed. (We walked into Tijuana a few years back, and it was horrible - over 3 hours to get back to the US side.) I kind of felt sorry for the guards, Easter Sunday, there they were, probably bored as could be, but very nice. Now that I have a feel for the area, will definitely try to get back. There is an archaeological site we would like to see, a museum in town (closed for Easter), and the Plaza is ringed with restaurants - ours was good, sat outside. Loved that various groups were at the Plaza playing Mariachi music! The Tecate brewery has been bought by a German company, and is under construction with tours to reopen in 2017. Probably we'll go back when that is back up and running. read more

Before trying to cross the border back to the USA from Baja Make SURE you have a map and GOOD directions ..also a Mexican GPS will help. Recent experience on our family vacation in Ensenada being told to go home thru Tecate instead of Tiajuana was a nightmare. We were told to just take the 3 to Tecate all the way but somehow ended up going wrong way on the 3 finding ourselves in the mountains and the dessert ...finally with the help of several nice truckers who spoke little English we finally crossed the border thru the MEXICALI entrance..it took us 11 1/2 hours and it was a little nerve racking. So if you plan trying to try to save the wait time at Tiajuana make SURE you get proper directions! And have plenty of Gas and good tires and water. That being said Ensenada was peaceful we stayed on the beach, beautiful...and visited La Bufadora...Fun ..kids went horseback riding on the beach and got to drive ATV's so really enjoyed all that. read more

for the most part this crossing is great, I've crossed numerous times without problems. But...if you have a situation outside the box (in other words they don't just send you thru) you're dealing with idiots with authority. Yeah, I know, which is border patrol/customs in general, but this is the backwoods version, which can be good or bad depending on how the situation breaks... read more

We reached this crossing into the states a mere 10 minutes before they closed at 11;00 p.m. It had been a long 16 hour day starting in San Felipe. Pulling a large trailer with our truck thru, believe it or not, a rain storm ! Even our 2 cats were ready to kill anything that moved. The officers on duty that night could not have been nicer. Even when we discovered that I couldn't find my passport ( those damn cats ! ) and told them I did have my old passport...NO PROBLEM. These guys are up against the wall most of the time dealing with us idiots. GIVE THEM A BREAK. We have crossed the border over 50 times in the last 22 years and yes we have met a few of their officers who obviously needed a long long vacation. Sure, they ask a lot of questions, but remember this.....they could give you a I Q test. Think about that for a while. Better for some of us that they stick with the easy questions, like who are you and where have you been. dah dah read more

i pass through the crossing at least once a month for the last twenty years, the wait all depends at what time and day of the week you cross on weekday in the morning the wait could be from 30 to 90 minutes after 10am its much faster last time I cross I was lucking no car at all I drove straight to the booth it has happen to me about 5 times there they also provide free wi fi just word of caution be careful during fire season because they well close some roads and make you detour a long way out only happen twice. on weekend expect at least an hour wait much faster then Tijuana the fasts I have cross there was like 15 minutes but then that was around 30 or more years ago read more