If you like to eat out (in good places) there's a section in Tijuana called "zona gastronomica" where all the well known restaurants are situated from Argentinian food (cheripan) to Japanese (negai) to Italian (saberios) and Mexican (la querencia), by the way these restaurants offer great drinks too and they are very "chic."
Rosarito sucks! Everybody is after your money. Waiters don´t even say thank you when tip them. Police will hunt tourists, asking for bribes for no reason -- even the possession of rolling papers can get you in jail. This city is a nightmare -- the only city that is worse is Tijuana, don´t get me started!
Rosarito is an awesome place to visit. Things have really turned around in a very short time. The sales people are a bit pushy, but what can you expect from a town that relies chiefly on tourists to survive? The food at the restaurants are great. The police are trying hard to keep the drugs off the streets. It is a town like any other town -- it has its share of ups and downs, but all in all it is a great place to visit, and maybe even to live in. I would live there! I love it there.
Rosarito is a cool safe city with a crazy inexpensive nightlife. I hooked up with people at the hostel and had a blast! I ended up staying a coupleof months!
I have been to downtown Tijuana many times. It is oriented to the tourist from the U.S. and from Mexico. There's nightlife on Avenida Revolucion, hundreds of Mexican craft shops, restaurants, and hotels too, with reasonable prices. It's an easy walking place. Playas is outside downtown by some distance and much more restful -- it's accessible by public bus. Tijuana is a nice place to try out visiting the less than first world. There are nice people that often speak both Spanish and English. You will be able to visit the non-tourist places if you speak Spanish. It is a relaxing place, I like it -- I think you will, too. For more info ask at the tourist info booth at the border entrance or the info booth on Revolucion between Third and Fourth. You can get a free tourist map, too.
Rosarito is a real cool place to visit as well as stay, and has a great nightlife even in the slow periods. The people are real friendly too.
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