Where is a good place to visit mexico near the border?

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Patrick

If you want to get a feel for Mexico you need to move past the boarder. The boarder cities, Cuidad Jaurez, Neuvo Laredo, Reynosa suffer from narco turf battles, drug crime, poverty, etc. You will be treated like a wallet, not a person. At the same time, the US citizen that go to those towns are usually not on their best behavior and don't leave the best impression.

You will probably be heading down I-35 and enter through Nuevo Laredo. I would suggest going to Monterrey. It is one of the larger cities in the country and it's only 2.5 hours drive. To go that far into Mexico you will need your passport stamped and pay a refundable fee to take your car in. You get the fee refunded back to your credit card when you check out on the way out. It is to insure you don't sell the car there. When you leave Neuvo Laredo going south you have the option of taking the free highway or the tollway. Take the toll way! The truckers on the free road are way to dangerous for you, I promise.

In Monterrey you have a good taste of real Mexican culture. The city has been heavily influenced by the US and it carries many similarities to San Antonio, but it has a historic center and an up scale area as well with standard hotels if your squeamish. There will be plenty to see. I recommend dropping by a book store and thumbing through the Lonely Planet guide to Mexico or downloading that chapter off the website for 3 bucks. It will give you hotels and attractions.

If you don't want to drive in Mexico you can take a bus from the boarder. Mexican buses are much nicer than US buses and they are cheap. Mexican traffic cops can be a pain. Bribes can get expensive without Spanish.

On the way back don't forget to stop in Austin Texas, it is a blast.

rhino72032

Puerto Penasco is an hour from the Arizona border. Click the links below to learn more.

chocolategummyworms

I am Mexican and I am afraid of the border.bwahaha..no kidding, I do not like those cities, they are dirty and ugly. I am from Monterrey, so most of the time we go there.It is not far from the border, it is two hours away from Laredo. You should definitively go to "Bario Antiguo" it is in downtown, and there are this old houses,and now some of them are bars or clubs,you will see lot of people thursday,friday, and saturday between 11pm and 5 am. Sundays they have this market,they have like hippie and antique stuff,I really like it.
That is all I can think about right now.

tangoblstr

to be honest all the towns near the border are corrupt and kinda ugly best to travl alittle in being a native texan and have traveld through many states i would recommend going to south texas to a border town called progesso they accept dollar only so you dont have to break your head for the conversion rate ,its about 6 blocks long many people from the northern states come here

Mark The Latin Travel Dude

Patrick's answer is definitely your best so far.

Most of the border cities are rather unattractive and some are downright dangerous these days.

Monterrey is a real city and has a good tourism infrastructure, a wide variety of good hotels, excellent nightlife (one of the best music scenes in Mexico), plus enough to keep a curious visitor busy for several days.

Depending on how much time you have, another fun trip could be to head to Chihuahua and take the Copper Canyon train...maybe spend a few days at one of the small towns, hiking and exploring the beautiful backcountry.

Just a couple thoughts...
Mark

Libertad V

I have noticed the most part of border cities, are really uglies. I have visited JuÃ¡rez, Nogales, and Tijuana, and I wouldn't recommend it. Maybe you can drive a bit more and get to Los Cabos or La Paz, in order not being disapointed.

marci knows best

Near the border, safe, and spectacular - drive down to the Copper Canyon. Stay in Creel, then take the tour bus down into the canyon. The train is nice, but the trip down into the canyon is IMHO much better.

http://www.coppercanyoninsider.com/

tommy22

There is a small border town called Juarez. It is super cheap. It is reasonably safe. I have been there. I have heard that there have been recent child abductions near there however.

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