Year three of Baja Beach Fest just went down and while I partied with over 17,000 other reggaeton lovers, my crew and I learned a few lessons the hard way, so you don’t have to. Here’s a list of things you should know before you head out to party, whether it be for a festival or just the usual fun in the sun in Rosarito, Mexico.

Heading Out

Passport & Vaccination Card – Don’t forget your passport! You are supposed to upload a copy of your vaccination card to the Baja Beach Fest site to register your bracelet and then bring an ID to verify it’s you. No one ever checked our ID or our vaccination card. However, they may crackdown, so I advise you pack it just in case.

Register your bracelets – If you lose your festival bracelet, you can deactivate it and get another for a $40 fee. However, if you email festival organizers ahead of time, they waive the fee and all you have to do is pick up a new one at Will Call which is not the same location as the festival.

Check traffic and border crossing plans – We left super late Thursday night, parked our car in Chula Vista, and walked across the border with no lines. We did have to pay a $30 fee; the border agents told us it was for Covid reasons. We asked for a receipt because we were suspicious and didn’t see any signs or notices online but heard others were charged the same.

Negotiate Taxi Prices – Once we crossed, we negotiated a taxi to our hotel before hopping in. Apparently, they are only supposed to take three people per car due to Covid, but we offered an extra tip and every taxi driver went with it.

Check Your Lodging – My friend booked our apartment via AirBnB but checked reviews the days before and noticed people were complaining about water issues that the host didn’t contact her about. She had to call AirBnB to cancel our stay and get a refund. Luckily we were able to find a hotel days before.

Know How To Get To Your Lodging – The hotel we stayed at opened only two weeks prior and Ubers had trouble finding the place, so we would have to give them directions over the phone to find us. This also meant heading back from the festival, one of us had to be awake to give directions back.

Festival Day

Bring an empty Camelbak – Some may be tempted to try to sneak in alcohol this way, don’t. They check the bag but also this is a marathon, not a race, so hydrate with water to make it through all the sets. They have filtered water stations inside to refill bottles and bags.

Suncare – You can’t bring aerosol sprays so we brought sealed mini bottles and sunscreen sticks. Bring a snapback hat you can loop onto your bag when the sun goes down. My group also brought giant paper fans which helped make friends when we were all trying to cool down between sets.

Clothing/Accessories – Bring backup sunglasses. I lost one pair on day two. I was sad but they were only $10 so I survived. I also had three other pairs just in case that exact thing happened. The women in my group all wore matching neon green outfits which turned out to be super helpful when one of us got separated. We never really were lost; all we had to look for was the massive group of neon bodies.

Footwear – All my friends wore sandals and flip flops while I wore comfortable New Balance gym shoes with socks. Two of my friends lost a chancla, another had a strap break and I know for sure their feet hurt from lack of arch support for 12 hours on the sand. My feet on the other hand were happy and protected from being stepped on. No regrets.

Bathrooms – Always check the bathroom for toilet paper because in certain spots in Rosarito you need to bring your own paper or pay for it. At the festival, porta-potties have rolls hanging outside and you need to stock up before you enter. Also, identify the best bathrooms in regards to your location at the festival. I found the Papas & Beer bathrooms were the best and cleanest in the festival. There are also hidden porta-potties if you walk past the Glam station and to the left of the mirrored cube art installation. There was never a line and usually pretty clean.

No Limit on Festival Entrances – We heard a rumor that you can only exit and re-enter once but turns out you can come in as many times as you want. We took full advantage so we would walk out to buy food; drinks were outside the main street where it was cheaper. Then come back to dance at Club Boom Boom until we were ready to head back in. Fair warning, that the drinks at that club are crazy expensive and they tried to charge us $36 for four shots. Inside, you can get four shots of Don Julio 70 for $32 and that’s festival prices.

Masks – You have to wear your mask everywhere you go in the festival. If you lose it, they’ll gladly hand you a new one but festival workers will keep telling you to mask up or you’ll get kicked out. The weekend I went, they actually kicked out over a thousand people. They start enforcing it the second you walk under the first Baja Beach Fest archway. They are just checking for masks here, so feel free to walk through with your plate of tacos and michelada. Enjoy the pre-party antics on the streets before you head into the second entrance where they make you dump all outside food and drinks.

VIP Entrance – You can also enter through Papas & Beer and they have a cute wall for Instagram photos. You can also pre-party here but since you are technically still in festival grounds you won’t be able to bring outside drinks in and festival employees actually check you before letting you in.

Surviving The Night

Where to stand – The first night was rough because we spent the entire time in the front standing and being squished while trying not to lose our spots. By the third night, we learned to grab a bean bag from the front lounge area and take it to the VIP area towards the very back to sit in between sets. We alternated while dancing all night, having a place to eat and some friends even napped. Bean bags made everything exponentially better.

After Festival Snacks – Make sure to save cash for after the festival. One of the nights they made everyone exit along the beach so we had to trek in the sand all the way around the gated festival grounds to the main streets. There were food vendors everywhere and it definitely made the walk back to a taxi stand at two a.m. much better with a taco in one hand and an esquite in the other.

Uber Versus Taxis – In case you didn’t know, the Mayor of Rosarito owns several taxi companies so it is actually illegal for Ubers to pick up passengers in the city. This meant we had to rely on taxis on the way home as there were none available on the app. I know my one friend couldn’t find a taxi heading north to TJ so she hopped in a random cab with a group heading south and then when she got out of Rosarito city limits she ordered an Uber for the way back.

Traveling from TJ to Rosarito – The first day we didn’t head to the festival until 3 p.m. and we ran into a bunch of traffic and construction heading down from TJ. Our driver told us there was a toll road and we agreed to cover the toll road cost for a faster trip. The toll cost about $2 and saved us a solid 20 minutes. We used the toll road on the way there and used regular roads on the way back.

Crossing Back in The U.S. – We thought heading back on Monday afternoon would be just as easy and efficient as when we came over but, when we made it to the pedestrian crossing there was a massive line. It took us an hour and a half to cross. This was remarkably better than sitting in a car for six hours which is what other friends got stuck doing but still wasn’t fun. Luckily we had hats, sunscreen and there were little shops nearby with bathrooms. If we would have known we would have tried to head to the line earlier than one pm but, honestly we were so exhausted I highly doubt we would have made it much earlier.

Food

Usually, I rave all about food on my trips but almost everything in Rosarito was amazing and cheap. I ate massive platters of ceviche, a spectrum of tacos, and of course some menudo at the end of the weekend. I will caution that my friend ate french fries at the festival and while delicious, the fries were so oily that my friend got sick. We thought he was exaggerating until I had some tacos the next day and I also got sick. Remember you can always go outside and find cheaper and better options.

That’s all the knowledge I learned over four days of Baja Beach Fest that I can impart to you. There is already a waiting list for tickets to next year’s festival so if you missed out this year, you have another chance. Remember to party safely, hydrate, and wear a mask!