February, 2023

THE SNAPSHOT

When people ask me what my ideal trip is, a “winery trip” is one of the first that comes to mind.  Beautiful settings, relaxing and drinking wine, eating delicious food… what could be better?! I had only heard of Valle de Guadalupe somewhat recently, and once I did I could not wait to plan a trip to this underrated wine region of Mexico.  I mean… Mexican wines?  Not the first thing that comes to mind.  But Valle de Guadalupe is an incredible place and exceeded all expectations!

It is very easy to get to (although not so easy to realize how easy it is — more on that later) being only a 90ish minute drive south of San Diego.  We went from Thursday afternoon – Sunday morning which was a great amount of time to really enjoy and see a lot, but many people go as just a day trip from San Diego.  We visited at the end of February which is still winter and mistakenly searched a different “Valle de Guadalupe” in the weather app.  Unfortunately it was NOT 80s and sunny, but more like a brisk 55 and partly cloudy.  Oh well.  Didn’t get the pool time I was so hoping for but still great weather for winery touring.  All in all, Valle de Guadalupe is beautiful, laid back, eclectic, affordable, and a culinary dream. 

THE DETAILS

DAY 1 

I picked up my friend at the airport Thursday morning who flew in from Chicago, and then we drove down.  Crossing the border was extremely easy; no one even looked at our passports entering or exiting the country.  There are a few ways to get there, I can only really speak to my experience of renting a car in the US and driving all the way to Valle de Guadalupe, but I have heard many people drive a car to the border and park it on the US side then walk across and have a driver waiting for them OR rent a car in Tijuana.  

I rented a car in the US and found the drive very easy; it is mostly one highway heading south then you turn inland towards Valle de Guadalupe.  A few PRO TIPS related to going with the driving yourself option…

1. Don’t drive a nice car.  Car theft is huge in Mexico and you’ll stick out like a huge gringo

2. If you choose to rent a car in the US, make sure to check the “bringing a rental car into Mexico” policy with your company (yea… learned that one the hard way).  I rented from Avis, and you need a corporate account and to pick up from a facility that allows you to purchase Mexican auto insurance (like the San Diego airport)

3. Make sure you have small cash (USD is fine) to pay the tolls along the way

4. Park your car in a safe place (again, the car theft thing)

5. Don’t be your normal speedy self; NOT a good idea to get pulled over by the Mexican policia

Alright, back to the agenda.

We arrived at our beautiful hotel Thursday afternoon called El Cielo.  There looked like many unique and inexpensive Air BNBs in Valle de Guadalupe but I ended up just traveling with one girlfriend so felt much safer in a hotel.  El Cielo is an absolutely beautiful property and has its own winery as well.  It is one of the more expensive lodging options in the area (it ended up being around $450 per night), but it was so nice and we loved having a luxurious space as our home base.

Once we settled in (and realized our idea of a pool day was gone), we decided to do the wine tasting at El Cielo late in the afternoon.  Perfect start to the trip!  That night we also ate dinner at the restaurant hotel, Latitud 32.  It was a very good meal but I wouldn’t go out of your way to eat here if you’re not staying at El Cielo.  We just wanted to have a relaxing first night and not leave the property.

DAY 2

Both Friday and Saturday we booked a driver to take us to all the different wineries throughout the day.  Although the drive from San Diego to Valle de Guadalupe is easy and on paved roads, that is NOT the case for the wineries.  Many are on dirt roads with terrible infrastructure and it is nice to be able to drink to your heart’s content knowing someone else is taking you around.  We found our driver through a friend who I do not recommend… you can try booking on Viator, UberValle, or if you are staying at a hotel ask if they have a service they suggest.  For a full 10 hour day of driving, $100-$150 is a good price.  Our driver also helped craft our itinerary and make reservations (with the exception of a few I reserved myself online because you had to put down a credit card such as Vena Cava and Lunario).    

Both days we were out from around 11am to 9pm.  Time flies when you’re drinking wine all day!  I’ll share the approximate times we visited each stop to give you a sense of how to pace if you are building your own itinerary.  At most places you can choose the group of wines you want to taste and for 3 or 4 glasses costs $15-$35 a person.  Someone had suggested that if you are with another person, select different pairings and share, but I actually enjoyed the tastings more when we chose the same ones.  

SCHEDULE:

[11:15am] Conchas de Piedra: Highly recommend!  Beautiful outdoor setting, great start to the day with some incredible food and their signature sparkling wine.  They are known for their fresh oysters, which my friend enjoyed and said were amazing, and I had vegan pumpkin tempura tacos with homemade tortillas and a veggie ceviche.  YUM

[1pm] Vena Cava: We did the natural wine tasting which probably was my favorite wine of the trip.  Very unique tasting room built inside an old ship

[3pm] Bruma Winery: Super cool winery, also inside, and loved every wine

[4pm] Fauna: MUST try restaurant!  Located on the same property as Bruma, we headed here for a late lunch/early dinner meal.  It is a stunning setting and awesome atmosphere with fire pits and large outdoor communal tables.  We basically got every vegan item on the menu… which was quite a lot!  Shoutout to the head of broccoli dish, my fav

[6:30pm] Bakuss Oyster Bar:  The only place of the whole trip I would NOT recommend.  Our driver suggested this spot as a cool rooftop to end the night with a drink and watch the sunset.  However, it was freezing and completely empty.  I can see it being a fun vibe on a warm summer afternoon with the DJ playing, but definitely do not go at night in winter

DAY 3

[10am] GREAT breakfast at the other restaurant at El Cielo, Polaris.  If you are coming to El Cielo for a wine tasting, this is a really nice spot to eat breakfast before or after

[11:30am] Magoni Winery: I think this was the only winery we visited that had beautiful outdoor seating and of course it was during the one rainy bout of weather we had.  Regardless, we still loved it.  They even had live music after 12:30ish.  PRO TIP: skip the white wines here; try their olive oil

[1pm] Finca Altozano: Wow… the food in Valle de Guadalupe just kept getting better!  Such a pretty restaurant and amazing food with several vegan options

[3pm] Casa Frida: Really fun and funky spot.  It is basically just one big room with colorful Frida Kahlo paintings (and a cat napping on a velvet chair which I could have done without), but we loved this place and REALLY liked the wine here.  So much so I totally forgot to purchase the wine bottles I wanted to bring back (mostly because they had the coolest label artwork)

[5pm] Bloodlust:  We took a tiny wine break and stopped here for a cocktail before dinner.  I sound like a broken record by this point but truly SUCH a cool space, kind of feels like you’re inside of one of those clay dishes you cook a tagine in

[7pm] Lunario: Could not have picked a better final meal in Valle de Guadalupe!  I honestly was SO impressed with the food everywhere we went, but this was hands down my favorite meal.  I did the vegetarian 4 course tasting menu (which they easily made all vegan and was more than enough food) and loved sitting at the chef’s counter.  The food, wine, service, and atmosphere were all AMAZING

DAY 4

Sunday we hit the road pretty early because we were a bit concerned with the border crossing situation… I had heard horror stories about waiting 5+ hours in a car to re-enter the US and COULD NOT for the life of me find a clear answer anywhere online about entering if you have Global Entry.  Well, here is the answer as of February 2023 and it was thankfully the best case scenario!

– Everyone in the vehicle must have Global Entry and bring their Global Entry cards

– You do not need Sentri, but follow all the signs that say “Sentri entrance” (super clear, I know)

– Type “Sentri border crossing” into Google Maps and follow the directions!  It is a completely different place than the regular/long wait time crossing

– It took us about 15 minutes to cross back into the US

It was shockingly so simple once we realized we just follow all the “Sentri” signs.  You hold up your Global Entry cards to a scanner from your vehicle and then drive on through.  Welcome back to the Estados Unidos!