jerezano
May 27, 2007, 7:55 PM
Post #2 of 3
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Re: [ivy] Border Crossing Coming from Northeast
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Hello ivy,
You asked:>> We are driving down to Guadalajara from in New Jersey. What is the best place to cross the border and pick up good roads down to Guadalajara? I have heard different things: Progresso, Brownsville, go south from McAllen.
Everything is personal but here are some answers:
Progresso--Absolutely not. While it is an easy place to cross, once there you will have to go either to Matamoros (Brownsville) or Reynosa (McAllen). And you have about 5 to 10 miles of very poor road to reach the cuota to either of those places.
Brownsville, no. Instead cross at Los Indios south of Harlingen. sContinue south to Valle Hermosa and then to Cd. Victoria. Good roads all the way to San Luis Potosí except for the final 50 or so kilometros to join the Matehuala to SLP highway. No cuotas.You can find my posting here somewhere on road conditions last March. The reason to cross at Los Indios is the easy crossing and paperwork tasks. Also the straight shot to Cd. Victoria.
I recommend heartily the crossing at McAllen, (Hidalgo,TX to Reynosa,MX.) Going south the crossing is easy, but you may have difficulty finding where to get your car papers. Be sure and ask where to get that document as you pick up your immigration papers. If this worries you, then by all means go to Los Indios where they issue the papers in adjacent buildings.
If you cross at Reynosa you will hit a cuota to Monterrey and then a cuota periférico around Monterrey. About $40 usd in total. At Ramos Arizpe you will need to make a choice. I personally like the Zacatecas-Aguascalientes route but most people take the San Luis Potosí route. It will be signed Mexico and Matahuala. Your choice. Good roads both directions but the Zacatecas highway is two lane while the San Luis Potosi highway is lane and a half most of the distance, but is crowded with tractor trailers.
Where to stay? If you leave Harlingen at 7 AM via Los Indios you will reach San Luis Potosi after about 10 to 11 hours. If that seems like too long a stretch then you better stop at Cd. Victoria. There aren't any good stops after that. It is 6 hours from Cd. Victoria to SLP. Be sure to gas up at Cd. Victoria.
If you you leave McAllen at 7:00 AM you will reach Ramos Arizpe in a little over 4 hours, and then if on to SLP a good stopping place is Matahuala. About another 3 hours. But if you wish to push a bit then on to SLP. another 3 hours. If on to Zacatecas instead, then Zacatecas itself is a good stop at 4-1/2 hours more. Or I myself would continue on to Aguas Calientes another hour +. After Pozo de Gamboa there is at Morelos, Zacatecas a new cuota which completely bypasses Zacatecas and its canyons and connects to the Zacatecas-Aguascalientes cuota. It's not yet on the maps. At Aguas I would stop at the Don Quijote? (hot sheet)motel just at the entrance to the city on the right. Vips is nearby. Also Sanborns. There are two good perifericos around Aguascalientes. I would take the West one. Aguascalientes to Guadalajara is about 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 hours. It is cuota all the way unless you take one of the shortcuts that the Lake Chapala people use. Search here on the forums.
Good luck. Perhaps the Lake Chapala people will respond and suggest other routes.
Adiós. jerezano.
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