Surfing in Tijuana Area - Baja North - Mexico

Tijuana does have some decent surf breaks, but we do not recommend surfing in this area.

There are two surf spots right in Tijuana that we will cover on this page, but we need to preface this review with the following opinion:

We sell Mexican auto insurance for US and Canadian vehicles that drive into Mexico. Our highest priority is to supply quality Mexican auto insurance and to advise our customers of how to stay out of trouble while traveling to Mexico. Tijuana has very high theft rates for tourist vehicles. For this reason, if you are only visiting Tijuana, we try to compel our customers to walk across the border and use the tourist busses instead of driving your own car into Tijuana. No sense trying to find parking, risking getting your vehicle stolen, and waiting in line to drive across the border when you can walk across the border and get to all of the tourist areas in Tijuana in minutes by riding the tourist busses!

As for surfing, if you are going to take the time to drive across the border, you shouldn't have any problem driving an extra 20 -90 minutes south to get to better and cleaner surf than what is available in Tijuana.

The two surf spots associated with Tijuana are:

Tijuana Sloughs

This surf spot is not actually on the Mexico side of the border. Tijuana Sloughs is just north of the border fence in the US in Imperial Beach where the Tijuana River dumps into the Pacific. You can not access Tijuana Sloughs if you are starting in Mexico because the US Border Patrol will not let you paddle from Mexico into the US! We are only touching on this surf spot because many people assume that it is in Mexico due to the 'Tijuana' name.

If it were not for the pollution and reputation for being sharky, Tijuana Sloughs would be an extremely respectable rivermouth break for advanced surfers. But even when it is big and beautiful, most folks don't feel the need to risk getting sick by venturing into these waters.

Playas de Tijuana

Playas de Tijuana is the stretch of beach just south of the US / Mexico border fence next to the bullring. Although conditions here can be alright for surfing, we do not recommend surfing here. Parking in the area can be a bit sketchy, and the pollution factor is something you should be aware of. Again, driving just a few more minutes south on the toll road will get you to some much better spots.