Planning a trip thru Mexico in November
I originally planned to cross at Laredo and ride on to Monterey as we heard the North & West of Mexico is a bit dangerous.
But now have been told that the Pacific coast (North and west) is fine.

The only consistant advice we are getting is to NOT stop at the border once in Mexico.. but to keep going for 100-200 kms

So - which is the safest border crossing for a solo rider to take

Stop reading all those sensationalist stories about the border.
This year alone I have entered and left Mexico via the northeastern
border cities of. Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo and actually stayed the night in the heart of those Mexican cities. I have been doing this in other border towns too with no ill effects and without incident. It is not a shooting gallery as some describe it to be.
It is a question of care and common sense.Look at the very recent events in the city as to immediate security concerns and decide on that. Know that there are good hotels available and enter during daylight and get your paperwork done at ease .Then relax and stay in your hotel all night , no wandering around at night.
Any of the border crossings can be used this way.
If the border city is " dangerous" then the fact of a mere 200km
space will not really add much " safety"

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Where are you coming from. Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros are big, busy crossings. You might want to check out Nuevo Progresso, a little out of the way but you will probably save time and aggravation in the long run. It is a little place. If you want to catch a bite to eat stop a Arturo's about 2 blocks down on the left, guarded parking lot.

Most of the violence in Mexico is drug related. If you aren't involved in the drug trade you don't have much to worry about.

If you go to Sanborns in McAllen you can get your Mexico insurance plus lot of good travel information. There is also a Mexican Consolate in McAllen where you can do most of the paperwork before you cross.

There is not much good near the border. It is good advice to get clear of the border region as soon as you can.

Thanks for the replies peoples
our initial plan was head south from Dallas, stay overnight in Laredo and cross the border there. Or Eagle Pass.. a little more west

We did this because we had been told the North was pretty dangerous.

Now we are being told that Nogales is a better, safer & easier crossing and that the North is fine.

Most reports seem to indicate that NOT stopping just over the border is advised. and that we should absolutely avoid Juarez area.

Eagle Pass is a very good choice as it is a smaller city and all the
Mexican customs inspection and paperwork is done at the customs
checkpoint 53 km south at the town of Allende, Coahuila.
This means that right in the border town of Piedras Negras , COAH you do not need to do anything other than maybe push the button at the Aduana gate to get the green or red light.
This means you can get out of town and away from the border if you think that is so important.
Note that sometimes that business of covering large distances to get away from the border can itself create problems for you because for a first timer it will be stressfull and tiring . Without meaning to you may be driving with less attention due to fatigue and then wind up in the dark in a strange city or town
looking for a hotel.

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South of Neuvo Laredo there aren't any gas stations right off the highway after you are out of town. Fill up in the US if you want. The national gas station in Mexico, Pemex, only takes cash. If you find you self running low on gas before you reach Monterrey, peel off and head for one of the small towns a mile or so from the highway. I ran out of gas with the lights of Monterry in sight, because I was expecting to find gas station right next to the highway. A few days later I bought a larger fuel bottle...

Heading north I spent the night at a love hotel in Matamoros. Hotels are way cheaper on the Mexican side. The next morning I stocked up on souvenirs, then crossed the border.

Yeah, I would avoid Juarez. Anybody that says other wise not reading the news, US, Mexican or otherwise. Sure, the town is coming back, but there are places I would not put on my route, like Detroit, South Central LA, the South Bronx...you get the idea.

What Sjoerd said about worrying so much and riding too far it spot on. I ended up riding into the night to find a love hotel several towns south east of Monterrey on the second adventure into Latin America. Not advisable.

Make sure your bike is not left on the street overnight, anywhere. Three or four people can always lift a bike, toss it into a pick-up and be gone. There is always a garage, a locked compound, a night guard or sometimes you just roll your bike into the lobby or your room. My wife met me in Mexico City and I rolled the bike into the lobby of a very high end hotel each night. Only once did I leave my bike in an unattended parking lot overnight, in Tuxpan, MX, and there I used a thick cable with a serious lock, attached to a fire escape, plus a blinking alarm system. 9 months on the road and I only left my bike outside at night once, which could have been one time too many.

I crossed twice at Laredo/Neuvo Laredo. You can buy insurance for Mexico a few blocks north of the border. Not idea if the prices are better. I changed a few dollars for pesos the first time and used my Bank of America ATM card in Santander without fee the second trip.

Have fun. There are lots of great people in Mexico and point south.

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Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride

Hi John,

I've often thought I should write that Mexico is dangerous, that locals are sly, that everyone is a thief, and that you're sure to die if you cross the border.

Only to deter others from knowing a wonderful culture and country!

As the others have written, ignore sensationalist media and scare mongers.

I've ridden solo from the USA to Mexico/return on many occasions (most recently a few months ago), toured the country for months, and never once encountered a problem. Hospitality is genuine.

For context I'm a middle aged Aussie. No Spanglish skills.

Each border has its nuances. Going south is typically fast. Return trip is often slower.

Choose your border location based on where you want to go in Mexico, not on wait times or perceived danger.

My advice .... sort your paperwork (insurance, title, photocopies and TVIP at the border) and set-off. Don't be pre-occupied with safety. It's a fantastic country, but sssshhhhh .... we don't want people to know!

To expand a bit on the feul shortage Peter experienced between Nvo. Laredo and Monterrey.
It is clear that this is yet another outcome of trying to cover the maximum distance from the border in the fastest time which means that he stayed on the TOLL MEX 85D and so missed the various easy Pemex locations.
Mex 85 in the first part south of the border is a free and fast 4 laner but then becomes a toll road bypassing all the towns , even outliers of Monterrey with fuel available .
If you split off and follow the old LIBRE highway you will find Pemex in the towns of Vallecillo and Sabinas Hidalgo and several other spots which will give any bike plenty of fuel range without needing to carry your own bottle supply . Ever.
Note also that the bypass really does pass by at a considerable distance and at the exits there are no service clusters of food , fuel and lodging as you might find in the USA . So needing to get off the TOLL 85 means you will be heading back as far as the LIBRE 85 and wasting more time than if you had hied to the LIBRE from its beginning turn off and followed that road south.
This same scenario often applies to many toll roads to distant places in Mexico so always fill your tank before getting onto a toll road if that is your idea of saving time . As a routine always fill your tank at first opportunity in the morning and whenever you pass the half full point.
It is nice to have 500km tank( KLR😃) but never push the limits so that you need to switch to reserve

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Guilty as charged. It was my first day riding in Mexico and Latin America. I was nervous and eager to put distance between me and the border, and the all the stories I have heard of border towns. Indeed I expected the services on the tool road to be like the US, which is not the case. I have also allowed myself to be victim of the evil schedule. When I get to the end and look back I hope it was just a phase or a notion that I could get a taste of many places by traveling quickly. Hopefully the next time I will travel slower and take more of the back roads. Stay in little towns and villages longer...

In 2008 I pretty much screamed through Mexico, stopping in Oaxaca for an extended period, then screaming to Belize, per the schedule (meeting my wife...) Leaving Puebla I was looking for a Santander, which took me off the toll road. I got confused by the lettering that designates free verses toll roads and took the local road for a stretch. I passed fields with farmers harvesting flowers with carts drawn with donkeys, so beautiful. Traffic slowed, then came to a crawled for quite sometime, until I realized all the traffic was heading to a commercial wholesale depot. It was there that I saw several pick-up trucks overflowing with with flowers. Turns out the flowers were for the Day of the Dead festival that coming up (and the reason I was in a hurry to get to Oaxaca, perhaps the best place to be in Mexico during the Day f the Dead.) I would have never seen truck loads of flowers if I had stayed on the toll road.

After taking a few pictures security guards with shotguns came over and asked me why I was talking pictures. Holy crap, I thought, these guys are packing serious heat." Just taking pictures for myself" I said. "Oh, that's cool." They were just curious.

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Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride