Planning a drive into Mexico in 2026? The essentials have not changed – you still need a passport, a tourist permit, the right vehicle paperwork and valid Mexican insurance – but the fees and a few rules have been updated, and the pet requirements in particular caught a lot of travelers off guard. Here is…

The desert wakes up early on race week. Long before dawn, the wash fills with the throb of engines and the white beams of pre-runners scouting one more line, while chase trucks load spares and crews argue over fuel splits. From the trophy trucks of the Baja 1000 to the vintage iron of the NORRA…

Baja is one of the world’s great fishing destinations – yellowtail off the coast, dorado in summer, and whale sharks cruising the bays. Before you wet a line, though, you need a Mexican fishing license. The rules surprise a lot of first-timers, especially one: on a boat, everyone aboard needs a license, even people who…

Half the fun of a Baja road trip is bringing the dog along for the ride. The good news: taking your pet into Mexico is easier than it used to be. The catch is the trip home – U.S. rules for bringing dogs back tightened in 2024, and showing up at the border without the…

Getting into Mexico is easy – you usually just drive across. The slow part is coming back into the United States, where a single crossing can mean a 20-minute wait or a two-hour one depending on which lane you are in. Knowing the four lane types – and which one you actually qualify for –…

The first time the Sea of Cortez appears, it stops you. You have spent the better part of a day rolling south through cardon cactus and the boulder gardens of Cataviña, the radio long gone to static, when the road tips over a rise and the water opens up below – impossibly turquoise, ringed by…

If you are spending real time in Mexico – wintering as a snowbird, settling in an expat town, or crossing the border most weekends – a one-day tourist policy is not the right fit. Long-stay drivers need coverage built for months on the road, and the good news is that an annual Mexican auto insurance…

The Yucatán unrolls flat and green to every horizon, the road dead straight through low jungle until a colonial steeple breaks the canopy. In Mérida the streets glow pastel at dusk and marimba drifts off the plaza; an hour out, you park under a tree, climb down a stone stair, and drop into a cenote…

Arrive at Palenque just after the gates open, while mist still hangs in the trees and the jungle is loud with howler monkeys roaring somewhere overhead. The Temple of the Inscriptions rises out of the green, its stone dark with damp, and the heat settles on you like a wet blanket. Walk the plazas before…

You climb out of the Chiapas lowlands and the temperature drops with every switchback until the windows fog and the pines close in. Then San Cristóbal appears: low ochre walls, red-tiled roofs, a bell tossing sound across cobblestones. By the Santo Domingo church, Tzotzil women lay out woven cloth and trays of amber that catch…