Baja Beer Tour
While San Diego is hands down one of the most innovative and successful craft beer destinations in the world, many cerveza lovers are unaware that our neighbor to the south, Baja California, is home to Mexico’s biggest and most important craft beer movement. And this is no coincidence. San Diego’s independent craft beer movement has crossed the border into Tijuana, Rosarito, Ensenada and Valle Guadalupe.
We will take you to 3 of them!
You’ll have the opportunity to taste some of the most delightfully delicious and adaptative microbrews in the world. Secretly, more than a few of San Diego’s top brewmasters are actually from and live in Baja, and are doing some brewing south of the border. Here, small three and five barrel brewing systems are the norm instead of mass-production systems. Keeping it small means a tighter control on quality, and more room for experimentation with very interesting local ingredients. All of this while enjoying the drive along the awesome coastline and getting a taste of food and the Beer!
No more having to put salt or lime on bland cervezas!
We offer customized pick up and drop off for an additional fee.
Please have your Passport and required documents for each guest.
8:00am-8:40am: Meet your bilingual gastro and beer guides at your hotel or at the designated meeting spot: The Jack in the Box, 721 E. San Ysidro Blvd, San Ysidro, on the US side of the US-Mexico border in San Ysidro, California (the San Diego to Tijuana border crossing). It’s an easy drive to the meeting point, or take public transportation (San Diego Trolley), taxi, or Uber.
8:40am-9:00am: Cross the border on foot with your guide through Mexican Immigration and Customs to our safe and insured tour vehicle waiting on the Mexico side of the border.
9:00am-11:00pm: Drive to Rosarito, first to our Hidey Hole Taco stop and then to El Mirador, and Enjoy the drive to one of Baja’s Primer Artisan Breweries!
11:00am-12:30pm: Brewery Stop #1 We will take a tour and then be taken to our exclusive and amazing Private Tasting spot! Have cheese and snacks while Drinking up the spectacular sights and incredible handcrafted beer.
12:30pm-1:00pm: Drive to Brewery stop #2.
1:00pm-3pm: Enjoy a Local Artisan Lunch at our favorite Boutique Hotel, Winery and Brewery, they do it all wonderfully!. Enjoy an exquisite meal prepared by local chefs using local and fresh farm, ranch, ocean to table ingredients for your complete enjoyment. You will be able to explore their spectacular property which includes Boutique Hotel, Tasting Room with gold medal wines, 90 year old Vineyards and more!
3pm-3:15pm: Make our way to Brewery #3.
3:30pm- 5:00pm: Enjoy our last spot to have another unique tasting
5:00pm: Bummer, it is time to go back to the border.
6:00pm: Stop for drinks, snacks and restrooms if needed, and take a drive through unforgettable scenery.
6:30pm-7:00pm: After clearing U.S. Immigration and Customs, we will walk back to your car parked in San Ysidro, California, or catch the San Diego Trolley, taxi, or Uber (while most of our groups usually experience just 10-20 minute crossing times, your arrival time in San Ysidro is highly dependent on the actual border wait time on the day of your tour, which may vary – SP has no ability to affect actual border wait times).
Goodies: SP Charcuterie Boxes and Tour Cup
Our delightfully personalized Charcuterie boxes have all Local fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, crackers, bread, and jams! Enjoy!! We have Vegetarian and Vegan options.
We provide you with our SP Tours tin cup in our effort to cut down on plastic waste! There will be refilling stations at each stop.
We offer customized pick up and drop off, for an additional fee, from all major hotels, transportation hubs and parking lots throughout San Diego County. Our main pick-up location is in the Parking lot on the west side of the Old Town Transit Center.
*For our ESL students, English ONLY! This is an immersion program to better your American English skills. No Exceptions!
*This is a sample itinerary; after paying your affirmed invoice for the full cost of your tour (see details below), you will receive an email with your actual itinerary including any customizations you have requested and links to the boutique wineries and restaurants you will visit on tour. Student Planet will select the wineries and restaurants for your itinerary, noting that we only work with Mexico’s top boutique wineries and the region’s best farm-to-table restaurants. Specific vendor requests (wineries, restaurants, venues, etc.) cannot be guaranteed, however we will make reasonable attempts to fulfill your reasonable requests – additional costs may apply for some vendors – inquire for details and pricing via the booking form. Please understand that our winery and dining partners are independent businesses and we ultimately have no control over their availability, cancellations, and other inconveniences imposed by them. We work with most of the top wineries, restaurants, breweries, and venues in the Region, and if we must substitute a vendor or vendors on your itinerary, the overall quality of your experience will not be affected.
