BajaNomad

Mexicali (East) hours

ranpar01 - 6-15-2021 at 11:37 AM

Hi All. I'm trying to find current hours of operation for the Mexicali (East) crossing, the Mexico side for southbound entry. I'm seeing various times on various sites (2 AM, 3AM, 6AM...) Anyone cross recently or know for sure the earliest they open? Gracias!

Lee - 6-15-2021 at 04:16 PM

Quote: Originally posted by ranpar01  
Hi All. I'm trying to find current hours of operation for the Mexicali (East) crossing, the Mexico side for southbound entry. I'm seeing various times on various sites (2 AM, 3AM, 6AM...) Anyone cross recently or know for sure the earliest they open? Gracias!


This is what I use. https://bwt.cbp.gov. Sometimes times are accurate, sometimes not. I don't rely on posted times but do check the website.

For Calexico East, couple months ago, I determined that early Sunday was a good time. Leave San Felipe and arrive about 8am. When I crossed last at 8:30am, I waited about 5-10 minutes.

The website for East showed them closed on Sunday, though. It wasn't until 6am when the gate opened, that the website corrected and showed them open, and started posting the wait times.

So, weekdays will have most traffic crossing and not sure about Saturday.

I used Apple Maps from SF and the route was super easy. All the way to the crossing. Can't believe I've missed this crossing before but I'm a convert now. Last crossing, I headed East to Yuma, with layovers in Flagstaff and Santa Fe.

Even if I were headed to SoCal, I'd cross at the East gate and then cut back West. It's about 1/2 hour extra going this way. Safe trip.

David K - 6-15-2021 at 05:32 PM

Lee check that link...

ranpar01 was also specifically asking about Mexico's border, southbound.

Lee - 6-15-2021 at 07:46 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Lee check that link...

ranpar01 was also specifically asking about Mexico's border, southbound.


East opens 6am closes 2pm. Cross early Sunday. Am I missing something?

Link works from here.

https://bwt.cbp.gov

[Edited on 6-16-2021 by Lee]

David K - 6-15-2021 at 08:15 PM

Yes, that link works well, thanks.
The link is for going north. Ranpar01 is asking about the Mexican border, going south.
I don't know of a Mexican link for their border hours. It has been reported (at Tecate) that their border is open the normal hours even though our border isn't.

PaulW - 6-16-2021 at 10:44 AM

Border hours are for both directions.
The Mexican cops block their northbound entrance at 2PM+/- and 6PM.
Going south The CBP close the gate promptly at 2PM and open the gate at 6AM. Expect long lines at 6am either direction.
When closed after 2PM there is nobody around - just blocked roads.
Yup, I found out the hard way both AM and PM.

JZ - 6-16-2021 at 11:03 AM

Unless you are coming from Arizona I would just use the West crossing when going South.

David K - 6-16-2021 at 03:30 PM

Quote: Originally posted by PaulW  
Border hours are for both directions.


That's what I thought, as well... Then someone said that was not the case... Tecate was open southbound until 11 pm... That was a month or two ago. I had no personal reason to question this, so I said nothing more.

PaulW - 6-16-2021 at 03:54 PM

Answering the question about Mexicali east only where I go all the time.

ranpar01 - 6-28-2021 at 04:28 PM

Thanks all, I took West at about 8 AM, much later than I had planned so the hours didn't end up mattering. got through 'nothing to declare' in about 8 min so was very pleasantly surprised.

Durwin - 7-26-2021 at 04:24 PM

I went through the East crossing while heading south into Mexico in the morning of the 12th of June which was a Saturday. They were open.

I know that this is slightly off-topic, but I would like to add since I'm a newbie, I did not know precisely where the Banjercito or Immigration was and I drove past them and had to make a U-turn and go back into the states and come back over. It turns out that the entrance to both offices had traffic cones in front of them, so I did not think that they were open, so I bypassed them.

The lesson I learned that even though the entrance might be blocked, that doesn't mean the office isn't open for business.

[Edited on 7-26-2021 by Durwin]

Durwin - 7-26-2021 at 04:44 PM

East.
Thank you!

Bajazly - 7-26-2021 at 07:59 PM

Much easier to go thru West, stop right before you go thru the gates in your own covered parking lot, on the far left, can't miss it.