Tecate Beer – The ExhaustNotes Blog

Tecate, not ordinarily a tourist destination, is more than just an entry point into Baja. This little town has a lot to offer, and when I stay there, I usually opt for the Hotel Hacienda. The Hacienda is easy to get to, it’s comfortable, it’s inexpensive, and it’s next door to one of the best restaurants in all of Tecate.

The Hotel Hacienda is at 861 Avenida Benito Juarez. Turn right after crossing the border and ride west about a mile. The Hacienda will be on your right.

As the map above indicates, the Hacienda is easy to get to. You just go south into Mexico about two blocks after crossing the border, hang a right to head west on Avenida Benito Juarez, and ride about a mile. The Hacienda will be on your right.

The Hacienda isn’t fancy, but it’s comfortable and clean, and the parking is secure (you park in a courtyard and you won’t have to worry about your motorcycle). The last time I was there, a room was about $35, and they always have hot coffee available in the oficina. What’s great about the Hacienda is that Malinalli’s is next door. Malinalli’s is absolutely one of the best ever for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I’ll tell you more about Malinalli’s in a minute.

There’s just no telling what (or who) you might run into in the Hacienda’s courtyard parking lot.

A couple of Royal Enfields put away for the evening at the Hotel Hacienda.

Tecate is home to the beer company of the same name, and most folks think of Tecate as a gritty industrial town. Trust me on this: There’s a lot more to Tecate than just a beer company.

The Tecate brewery, located in the middle of town, is visible from just about anywhere in Tecate.

On the U.S. side, Tecate is not much more than the U.S. Customs and Immigration station; on the Mexican side, Tecate (population 102,000) is a much larger and far more intriguing place. Founded in 1892, Tecate’s history reaches back 12,000 years when the region was settled by the Kumeyaay Native Americans who still inhabit the area.

Getting to Tecate is a beautiful ride in itself. California SR 94 winds its way through the mountains just north of the border. Roughly 25 miles east of where 94 originates near San Diego, take a right on 2-mile-long SR 188 and you’re there. There’s a sign warning you not to bring guns into Mexico (duh), and suddenly, you’re crossing the border. There are no Mexican officials or inspections as you enter; you just ride right in. You can do that going south; don’t try it going north.

Crossing the border into Mexico at Tecate.

As soon as you cross the border, you’re in Tecate, Mexico. The road you see at the intersection ahead is Benito Juarez. Make a right, and the Hotel Hacienda is about a mile up the road.

Even if your plans are for a longer and deeper Baja visit, my advice is to spend at least one night in Tecate and enjoy the town’s best kept secret, which is the cuisine. Two restaurants that stand out are Amores for dinner and Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos, right next to the Hotel Hacienda, has exquisite regional Mexican recipes, all prepared with fresh ingredients. Don’t think salsa and chips; this is the real deal and the cuisine is both exceptional and inexpensive. When Gresh and I did the Enfield trip a couple of years ago, we parked our bikes directly in front of Malinalli’s (as you can see in the big photo at the top of this blog) and we ate there both on the way into Mexico and on the way. Sue loves this place, too.

Just a few of the selections at Malinalli’s. Trust me on this: Malinalli’s is superb.

Blue corn tortillas and other Kamayeey cuisines make Malinalli’s stand out.

Amores, nestled between the central plaza and the Tecate brewery, features local foods and wines. It’s a dinner spot, it’s what you might call haute cuisine, and it is absolutely outstanding. It’s prices are higher than what you might ordinarily encounter in Tecate, but it’s still inexpensive by US standards. They offer a choice of how many courses you might have for dinner, but the choices are what the staff feels like cooking that day. You won’t be disappointed; this is a memorable dining experience.

Two of several staff members at Amores. The dining was world class.

One of the five dinner courses we enjoyed…grilled octopus.

If your tastes run to simpler dining experiences, Tecate has you covered there, too. There are numerous taco stands along Benito Juarez, and if there’s a bad one, I haven’t found it yet. Watching the chefs prepare tacos is a treat unto itself, and they are absolutely delicious.

A taco chef at work in a Benito Juarez taco stand.

Taco taste tester extraordinaire Joe Gresh.

I usually try to work my Baja visits such that Tecate is my point of entry and my point of exit. I like staying in the Hotel Hacienda and enjoying what Tecate has to offer, and bookending a Baja visit with a stay in this cool little town always works well for me.

Want to see more about our travels in Baja? Check out our Baja and Epic Rides pages!

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Read about our other favorite hotels in Baja!

Santa Rosalia’s Frances Hotel
Mulege’s Historico Las Casitas
Bahia San Quintin’s Old Mill

Getting into Mexico through Tecate is about as easy as it gets. All you need to do is find your way to California Highway 94, which twistiliciously parallels the border below Interstate 8 (the mind-numbingly boring slab that runs from San Diego into Arizona). Roughly 25 miles east of where 94 originates near San Diego, you’ll see Highway 188. Highway 188 is only a mile long, it turns due south off 94, and it runs right into Tecate.

On the US side, Tecate is little more than the US Customs and Immigration station with a couple of buildings scattered along the road. Just keep riding south. You’ll see the signs warning you not to bring guns into Mexico (duh), and suddenly, you’ve entered Mexico. There is no Mexican border control officer. You just ride right in. You can do that going south. Don’t try it in the other direction, though.

I guess I should mention, too, that you’ll need your US passport. You can get into Mexico without showing your passport, but if you want to get back into the Estados Unidos, well, you get the idea.

The place to get your Mexican tourist visa is a bit complicated to get to. Well, sort of. It’s right there as you enter Mexico, the first building on the right, once you’ve crossed the border. You’ll bounce over a couple rows of Bots Dots (those annoying grapefruit-sized metal domes). The drill is to park (but there’s no place to park), walk across the road you just rode in on, hoof it back to the Mexican customs building (but there’s no sign on it), walk around the road through a gate as if you were walking out of Mexico, cross back again, and, if you’re like me, wonder what you’re supposed to do next. Look for the steps, go up a half a flight, and then enter the Mexican immigration area. There are no signs. Just wander around looking like you’re lost (you won’t have to act, because you will be), and ultimately, somebody will ask if you need help. I get the feeling not too many people actually get a visa when they enter Mexico. But you’re supposed to. There. I’ve said what I’m supposed to.

When you get back on your bike (or in your car), continue south on the street you came in on, and you’ll immediately see the sign telling you yep, you’re here…

A better view of the sign welcoming you to Tecate. Note the sign below…the wine country is straight ahead. Baja wines are quite good. We’re pointed due south in this photo.

Tecate is laid out kind of like a T, with the top of the T following the border to the east and the west, and the long part of the T heading south toward the Ruta del Vino wine country. The drill here is to go a block or so past the Tecate welcoming banner you see in the photos above until you T into Avenida Revolución, and then turn right. If you go about a mile or so, you’ll see one of the two places I stay when I’m Tecate. It’s the Hotel El Dorado. It’s okay and it’s not expensive. My preferred place to stay, though, is the Hotel Hacienda, which is another mile east on the same Avenida Revolución. The Hacienda has that amazing Malinalli Sabores Autóctonos restaurant I wrote about in the ExNotes blog yesterday in a connected building. The Hacienda also has more secure parking (they lock up the parking lot at night). I think the rooms at the Hacienda are a wee bit nicer, too. The price at both places is about the same, and they are both on the right side of the road as you continue west.

Hey, one thing I ought to mention is that Mexico has stop signs that look exactly like ours, but somehow they are way harder to see. If you’re approaching an intersection, start looking for a stop sign. They won’t jump out at you.

You’ll see plenty of gas stations, and in Tecate the gas stations take credit cards (that’s not always the case further into Baja). Until recently, Pemex was the only gas you could buy in Mexico. Being a government company, though, Pemex ran out of money for exploration (and then they started to run out of gas), so the Mexican government now allows other oil companies. We saw BP, Chevron, and ARCO stations in Tecate.

Tecate is dominated by the Tecate Brewery, which is the tallest thing in town. The brewery is smack dab in the center of town, and you literally can see it from just about anywhere. They used to offer brewery tours, but alas, I was unable to book one. Maybe they still do, but neither the phone number nor the email address on the Tecate website worked for me. I wandered onto the Tecate factory grounds to try to get a tour, but I struck out. A worker told me the Tecate Beer Garden is still open, but there were no tours. He said the Beer Garden was well hidden between two iron-grated doors. He was right. We couldn’t find it.

The Tecate brewery dominates the Tecate skyline. You can see the plant from anywhere in town.

Mexico’s post office uses motorcycles for delivery. The bikes we saw were CG clones offered by Italika. It looks like a cool job.

So, imagine you’ve just crossed the border into Mexico and you are at the apex of that T described earlier (the T that is Tecate). If you turn right and head west on Mexico Highway 2, you’ll eventually run into Tijuana (although why anyone would ever want to do that is beyond me). If you turn left and head east on Mexico Highway 2, you’ll eventually run into the Rumarosa Grade (a very scenic place described earlier in our blogs about the Janus trip) and then Mexicali. If you go straight and head south on Mexico Highway 3, you’ll leave Tecate and dive deeper into Baja. Highway 3 becomes the Ruta del Vino and it is a fabulous ride through the northern Baja wine country. Highway 3 ultimately intersects Mexico Highway 1 (Baja’s Transpeninsular Highway) and the Pacific Ocean at the northern edge of Ensenada.

We’ll pick up with the Ruta del Vino in tomorrow’s blog, so stay tuned!