Cosmo’s Christmas in Ensenada, MX
It has always been a dream of mine to road trip down from California to the Baja and spend the holidays in Mexico. Thanks to my dad, Cosmo and I were able to do just that this Christmas in the port town of Ensenada.
Ensenada is located just a couple hours south of Tijuana. This was my first time driving across the Tijauna border so I was not quite sure what to expect in regard to bringing my dog, however I have known a lot of people who travel the Baja with their pets so I figured it couldn’t be too hard.
Mexico has very minimal requirements when driving across the border with a dog. You will need only one document and that is proof of rabies. All of North American will require you to have a proof rabies vaccination print out provided by your vet when crossing the borders.
When we drove across the Tijuana border I had my passport and all of Cosmos paperwork- I tend to overplan so I had his vaccination records, health certificate, as well as rabies. To my surprise they did not ask to see any of it and we got across and into Mexico in less than 5 minutes.
The drive down to Ensenada was along the coast on highway 1. Beautiful ocean views and interesting developments of abandoned hotel projects mixed in with tourist attractions.
When we got to Ensenada we pulled into our pet friendly Hotel which was the Best Western El Cid located in the heart of the city on the main drag of downtown.
The El Cid has been a staple of this port town since 1969 and was designed to emulate a Spanish Mediterranean building, much like a lot of the other architecture in Mexico. Located at Av Adolfo López Mateos 993, Zona Centro, 22800 Ensenada, B.C., Mexico, this Hotel sits along a beautifully clean and paved street surrounded by Italian, Mexican, Asian, and French inspired restaurants, cafes, retail shops, and more.
El Cid Pet Policy Contract
I will say after exploring the city, this hotel seemed to be the nicest, cleanest, and best location out of anywhere else I saw.
Unlike some of the other hotels I have stayed in recently, this hotel was firm on their check in time so we ended up having a few hours to kill. Once we checked in we were given the pet policy form to sign which seemed pretty straight forward in regard to its requests but I will admit I was a bit surprised on the towel and bathing rule.
This hotel also did not have treats at the front desk which I found to be uncommon at most pet friendly hotels I have stayed at in more recent years. While we had a great experience here, I would say that none of the staff really engaged with Cosmo or had much interest in catering to dogs outside of letting them have somewhere to sleep for the night.
I would say Cosmo enjoyed staying here overall but would give this hotel 4 out of 5 biscuits for not having many additional dog friendly amenities.
Pro’s of this hotel:
Clean
Friendly staff to humans
Water and coffee provided in room
Mini fridge and sink
Very beautiful rooms
Coffee and snack bar with microwave in lobby open 24 hours
Spa with decent massages
Clean pool area
Free Parking
Great location
Pool
Restaurant and bar next door
Cons:
Cannot leave pet alone in room ever
No dog specific amenities like towels, poop bags, treats, or any kind of outdoor potty relief spots near or on property
Hot water was hit or miss in shower
Beds were not comfortable unless you prefer an extremely firm mattress
Elevator only goes to 2nd and 4th floor and they put us on 3rd floor which made it harder for luggage
No vegan friendly options at hotel restaurant
No silverware or dishes provided outside of cups
Ensenada proved itself over the week we were staying to be an extremely dog friendly city. Lots of places we could go inside and wander around, lots of restaurants and cafes we could eat inside of with Cosmo. I did not have to worry about what I was going to do with him for any of our excursions.
Just like many other cities and areas of Mexico there are a lot of loose dogs roaming and running around the streets. One of the misconceptions by a lot of travelers is that these dogs are homeless. While that is the case for some, not all of them are homeless and it is culturally normal for Mexican people to allow their dogs to roam around the neighborhood they live in off leash and unsupervised. This was an extremely common thing in Ensenada and proved to show just how resilient and smart dogs can be when they are left to their own devices. We met a lot of very friendly off leash dogs on the street. Most of them were very timid and shy with really polite greetings and also listened well when told to go away or keep walking.
Cosmo did very well with seeing, meeting, and avoiding these off leash dogs in the various neighborhoods we were in, but he also is well trained and used to meeting dogs on and off leash here in Los Angeles so that is not something I typically have to worry about.
I share this information because if you have a dog with severe leash reactivity, Ensenada will be an area you need to be extra cautious of because there are many off leash dogs. With that said they rarely come up to you and tend to avoid you as a lot of them are very timid and do not approach unless they feel safe to do so.
One of the main gems I came across over our stay was a dog boutique just on the corner of where we were staying called Cleopatro Dog Store. This boutique has been a local staple for the past 25 years and is known for selling its hand sewn dog panchos, dresses, and serape jackets for the tiny and medium sized breeds. They also had a nice selection of other sweaters, jackets, carriers, and toys. The prices were comparable to stores like Target, Marshalls, or TJ max here in the states and they accepted Pesos as well as US dollars.
I purchased a serape jacket, sombrero, christmas sweater, santa plushie, and handmade bowtie for Cosmo for about $45 US.
Cosmo’s haul st Cleopatro Dog Boutique in Ensenada, MX
Out of all the places we visited in the area my favorites to go with Cosmo were the following:
Seta Rosa plant based restaurant located on Hermosa beach with amazing food and gorgeous views. They had an amazing menu that I am sad I didn’t get to try more of. We ordered their tamales and cheesecake for Christmas eve dinner and it was amazing. Amazing service and very intentional cooking.
Woofs and Cup, a dog centered cafe located in town that does adoption events and donates to a local rescue. They had a cute dog themed Christmas tree and sold packages of dog treats.
Eme, a healthy restaurant with great indoor and outdoor seating. Even one of the staff members had her Chihuahua Matilda roaming around the place saying hello to all the guests.
Sunset Coffee, this was the best Oat Milk latte I had in the entire city and was my favorite combo of colors- black, white, and orange.
La Morocha is a beautiful restaurant that was located about 10 min from our hotel in the center of town nestled into the back of a winery that was absolutely gorgeous. A total hidden gem that we stumbled upon by chance. In this little area there are a ton of shops and other restaurants and cafes but most of them were closed for the holiday. Morocha had a great selection of wines, cocktails, and mocktails. Not a lot of vegan options outside of fries and salad but if you are a meat and seafood lover they have a great menu for you. Coamo enjoyed the ambiance and I would go back just for the mocktails and truffle fries.
La Sonrisa Bakery was a nice find we also stumbled upon that was only about a 10 min walk from our hotel. They had a lot of traditional Mexican baked goods. I came fo the vegan empanadas. I had soy beef with yams that was delicous! Cosmo was a fan as well.
I will say some of the things that surprised me about a lot of the dog friendly places of Ensenada was that no one offered Cosmo any treats, food, or water anywhere we went. While he was received fondly and people allowed for us to bring him everywhere, Cosmo did not get as much warmth or attention from people as we normally do when traveling to other places. With that said, everyone was polite and did seem to enjoy his presence even if it wasn’t as overt as what we have grown accustomed to in other cities. The dogs of Ensenada however were some of the most friendly and well behaved dogs I have ever met. Cosmo got to play with off leash and on leash pooches all over the beach and the city and we had a lot of fun meeting various dogs everywhere we went. I wonder if locals do not give treats or much attention to dogs coming and going as to avoid bringing in stray dogs, that would make a lot of sense to me.
We enjoyed our time in Ensenada but will most likely not be making any trips back anytime soon, we have the Yucatan next on our list for Mexico adventures!
Hope this was helpful if you are thinking of making your way here with your pup anytime soon!
