Before this trip we had only been to one town in Baja California.  Slimy and shady,  Tijuana is a close stop for some cheap food and drinks but not very exciting unless you’re into drugs and hookers.  Ensenada was surprisingly different.  We crossed into Mexico at Tecaté where we didn’t even need to wait in line, nor talk to anyone about coming into the country.  We drove through the Valle de Guadalupe, beautiful Baja wine country.  The only wine region in Mexico, the vino there was AMAZING.  We first stopped at Vinos Lechuza, whose owner, Ray Magnusen, Zach had met through work in San Diego.  After we had a whole tasting of Lechuza’s magnificent wines (some of the best in Baja wine country), Ray gave us a whole second round straight out of his aging barrels, showed us around the area a little bit, and took us to Michelin-starred chef Drew Deckman’s new popup restaurant right across the road.  Deckman’s setup was incredible and totally changed our views on what gourmet dining can look like!

Picnic-chic restaurant with a view! Wish we could have stayed for dinner!

The Valle de Guadalupe had really taken off in the last few years with more and more places opening every season.

That evening we made our way to Ensenada town, only a 15-20min drive from the Ruta del Vino.  The city has everything you need but isn’t super big and obnoxious.   We ate some awesome tacos and tasted more vino.  It was a nice spot to walk around and, to say again, awesomely different from Tijuana.  We stayed at the Ensenada Inn, which was nice and quiet and had a good place to park our car.

We only spent one night, but since its so close to our home in San Diego, we hope to make it down to Ensenada again for a weekend in the near future.  Click here to check out day 2 of our Baja road trip adventure!