Tijuana, Mexico. Perhaps Mexico’s most infamous city, from an American perspective at least.
But this border town has much more top offer – beyond the headlines.
As Mexico’s 6th biggest city, you’ll find many people here living a normal life. Although it takes awhile to scratch below the gritty surface, eventually you’ll find a more elegant Tijuana lying beneath its reputation.
POPULATION: 1,400,000
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RENT AN APARTMENT IN TIJUANA
$600. Since it’s on the border, you won’t find things to be as cheap as in the interior of Mexico. You should be able to find something acceptable for about $600 a month.
NIGHTLIFE IN TIJUANA
7.5/10
This is Tijuana. The nightlife is good. Along with your typical seedy tourist joints, you can also find several more upscale clubs. Like any major Mexican city. But I’m still going to recommend the Hong Kong strip club. Maybe it’s the dirtbag in me
I recommend: Hong Kong
IS TIJUANA SAFE?
Tijuana has a nasty reputation for crime and violence. Narcos were tearing this city up as little as 4 years ago. I’m pleased to say it’s much safer now. But you still need to take precautions. Don’t walk around alone at night as a foreigner. There are predators lurking. If you stick to the main strip, however, you should be fine.
THINGS TO DO IN TIJUANA
Head down to Ensenada for wine and surfing.
HOW TO GET TO TIJUANA
Tijuana is a very well connected city. It is the entrance to the Baja Peninsula and Mexico at large. There are daily direct flights from Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.
COST OF LIVING IN TIJUANA
The following data is from Expatistan, a crowdsourced database of prices and cost of living around the world. In our experience, the data tends to underestimate cost of living, so take the following as the minimum you might need to live here.
*Figures are listed in USD
You’ll need a minimum of $1137 USD/month to live in Tijuana, Mexico
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s Tijuana. What more can I say? While it doesn’t offer a great quality a life, and it’s a rather ugly city, you can find some great food, nightlife and beautiful girls if you’re willing to look. Unless you really want to live close to the US, there are better cities in Mexico to call home. You can check out a whole bunch of them in my Mexico guides.
OVERALL RATING: 6.25/10
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