Puerto Nuevo Lobster Run

Two weeks ago, I made a lobster run from San Diego to Puerto Nuevo Mexico. It was a fantastic time!

The coffee shop phenomenon has reached Tijuana years ago, so there are plenty of places to get a good cup of Joe. My friend’s favorite place is Blue Luna.

From here we drove through Rosarito, past beautiful ceramic stores and an enormous Jesus statue to reach Puerto Nuevo an hour and a half from the border.

Puerto Nuevo is a very small town with numerous restaurants serving lobster and seafood. There are a number of Villa Ortega restaurants throughout. The nicest one is probably Restaurant Villa Ortegas overlooking the ocean in the southwest corner of town with parking.

There are mariachis, waiters are in uniforms, it is very clean, and views are amazing. Good Instagram photo opportunities. It probably also cost the most in town. We ate there because it was my wife’s first time to Puerto Nuevo. When I go with my best friend, we tend to hit one of the smaller establishments. Almost all will give you rice, beans, tortillas, and salsa to go with your lobster. At the Villa Ortega’s it was $36 for large lobster and all the fixings – which my wife and I shared.

In comparison, when my friend and I went a couple years ago to a smaller place, restroom in backyard, no air conditioning, view of buildings across the street, we got 3 small lobsters each (6 halves!) the usual fixings plus tortilla soup and a beer for $18. We literally could not finish our last halves. There is beach access, but it is a steep walk, and not a beach to layout on. There are lots of vendors and lots of people asking you to come in their shops or park in a certain spot. Very much like the Tijuana of old.

On the way back, we visited a couple ceramics shops, stopped in Tijuana for some churros, walked along Revolucion, and then crossed the border before dark.

Tips: CASH ONLY. I did not see any restaurants or vendors in Puerto Nuevo that take credit cards. Villa Ortega has a sign that says cash only. Bring sufficient cash that you are comfortable with bringing – dollars or pesos are fine. If you pay in dollars, expect a crappy rate from the vendors, but nothing too obscene. I used dollars the whole time, my friend went to Costco in San Diego and bought pesos. We both did fine.

Returning across the border, takes a long time. Otay Mesa may be a better choice depending on conditions. It’s not that long of a detour. But check your driving directions for updates.

If everyone in your car has a global entry pass and your car is registered in the Sentri program, then you can use the sentri lanes and save a ton of time on the way back. However, things change all the time, so please research the global entry pass and Sentri lane requirements on your own. This goes with passport requirements as well and any U.S. government advisories.

If you are driving, look into buying Mexican auto insurance in the U.S. before you cross the border. There are a number of places in San Diego to buy it for a day or however long you will be in Mexico.

Have fun!