Tijuana – Ensenada Scenic Highway

Review 29
The scenic Highway to Ensenada is one of my favorites, it’s beauty resembles the Big Sur to Cambria stretch of Highway. Rollinghills and quick back to back turns makes you wish you were driving a sports car. (Video)
The current speed limit is 70 mph, in my opinion the highway is not designed for this speed. There’s areas you could exceed 100 mph but the danger is the uneven road. That being said if you do have the opportunity to drive this highway use your better judgment, your experience and know your vehicle capability.
This is a toll road with two pay booths per direction, The current toll is $ 2.10 per booth North and south. Mexican pesos or US dollars only, no credit cards.
On weekends expect 3 to 4 sobriety checkpoints, all week you can expect a bunch of drivers that think they have nine lives.
I suggest you drive this highway during the day unless you’re extremely comfortable driving at night with zero street lights.
Have fun responsible, peace out!
(excuse the miss spells and grammar errors, talking to my phone as I’m driving)
Plan B.

The Tijuana-​Ensenada Scenic Highway (Autopista Escenica Tijuana-​Ensenada) was constructed in the mid-1960’s to boost tourism and extends 61 miles (98 km) from Tijuana to Ensenada in this northern part of Baja California known as the Gold Coast. This is Mexico’s Federal Highway 1D and is also known as the Carretera TJ — Ensenada. You can also just call it: the Toll Road.
If I knew you guys haven’t reviewed this yet, I would have taken more pictures, but I’ve been down here 100 times and didn’t see the need. Do American Unilocalers dissolve south of the border? Maybe Karla baby should head north up here and show how it’s done. She knows who she is.
I’m not the expert, but I have travelled extensively and consider this one of the world’s best scenic roads. Impressive ocean vistas are everywhere and it really helps get you into the relaxed Mexico mood soon after crossing the border at San Ysidro, CA. All those many Southern Californian residents and visitors who have never experienced this road are really missing out. I hope they feel «safe» at home even though America is much more dangerous than Mexico if one cares to be objective. About 100,000 Americans are shot every year and about 30,000 die. Sorry to say, but your own family or neighbors or the local cops are more likely to kill you than a taco trip to Rosarito. (You might want to bypass Tijuana, though. Sorry guys!!) Maybe this is the year they stop giving Mexico a bad rap, especially Baja California where I get more smiles than in Southern California.
Check out this link from MexicoMike (not me):
There are no traffic lights or stops and this wonderful highway is never crowded with traffic because most local Mexicans don’t want to pay the toll and instead take «the old road» which is Highway 1. I took the old road just one time and my car didn’t like it and neither did I. The resulting mysterious intermittent squeak in my dash was never diagnosed and took over a year to go away.
Unlike the old road, the scenic four-​lane highway is a joy to drive and is as smooth a road as you will find anywhere. It’s nice to see Mexico do things right, as they are fully capable, and I wish they would do that more often.
If you stay on the road all the way, you will pay a toll at three places:
1) At the northern toll plaza at Playas de Tijuana at Avenida Mar Báltico (Baltic Ave)
2) At the central toll plaza at Playas Rosarito at the south end of Rosarito Beach;
3) At the (southern) San Miguel toll plaza at Ensenada.
The toll was $ 2.15 at each toll plaza in April, 2015. I tested the limits and found you must pay in either dollars, or pesos, but not a combination. LOL My Mexican friend told me that the toll includes roadside assistance should you need it from the Angels of the Highway vehicles that patrol.
I always get off at Central Rosarito to do stops there and then take the old coast road south to Popotla or Puerto Nuevo or wherever, so I miss the central toll plaza. If you want to continue south to Ensenada, you can get back on the highway with no fee at many places. You will pay another toll where the highway ends at the north end of Ensenada.
In December, 2013 a local earthquake of 4.6 magnitude followed by heavy rains caused a landslide that made the highway collapse in a 300 foot section at Kilometer 93, just north of Ensenada. The road reopened after extensive repairs in the Fall of 2014 and all is well.
Supposedly there is a Baja California Ministry of Tourism 24-​hour Visitor Assistance phone number of 078. From the United States the number to call is 1 – 866 978 7273. But I just tried calling the US number and it said «the office is now closed».