San Ysidro

San Ysidro is a community of San Diego, California. Although administratively part of the City of San Diego, San Ysidro is geographically separated from the rest of the city by the entities of Chula Vista and National City just to the north. San Ysidro is often cited as the world's busiest land border crossing, where U.S. Interstate 5 crosses into Tijuana, Mexico.

In addition to San Ysidro, the neighborhood close to the border crossing, this article includes adjacent neighborhoods in South San Diego: Otay Mesa area, Palm City, and the Tijuana River Valley.

Get in

By car

On the U.S. side, Interstate 5 (I-5) and I-805 connect San Ysidro to the communities to the north. You can drive to the border crossing and then continue driving through, or park at one of the lots and walk through. Parking at one of the lots costs about $4-9 a day. Traffic is pretty heavy coming up from Mexico.

By train

San Ysidro Trolley Station at USA / Mexico Border

The San Diego Trolley Blue Line service connects San Ysidro to Chula Vista, National City, and Downtown San Diego to the north. Standard one-way fares are $2.50, with day passes running at $6, as of July 2022. One-way tickets are not valid for transfers so day passes are required if you need to transfer to another bus or train to complete the journey.

By plane

• 1 Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM  ^IATA) (in the Otay Mesa neighborhood). General aviation.  

By bus

The 2 Long Distance Bus Station is located behind the McDonalds Building next to the SDMTS San Ysidro Transit Center. The ticket desks for some of the bus companies are at the end of the trolley tracks in the plaza while others are next to the bus bays behind the McDonald's building. From here buses go up to Sacramento, Los Angeles/Huntington Park and San Joaquin Valley in different routing combinations. Some diverge on a different route towards Las Vegas and the Inland Empire:

• Autobus Coordinados de Nayrit (ACN), ☏ +52 664 229-0487, toll-free: 01800 026-73-73. Connects from their own bus station in Tijuana & from the Tijuana airport to Sacramento through San Ysidro, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Delano, Goshen, Fresno, Madera, Stockton, Lodi. Passengers transfer in Tijuana to continue further south into Mexico. (updated Jun 2017)
• CBX Shuttle (Operated by Mexicoach), 731 E San Ysidro Blvd, toll-free: +1-888 CBX-INFO (229-4636). Mexicoach operates the CBX shuttles from San Diego Airport, San Ysidro Transit Center and the downtown Santa Fe Station into the CBX terminal where passengers walk across a 120 m bridge into the Tijuana Airport from the American side of the border. 
• El Corre Caminos, ☏ +1 619 662-1013. Goes up to Fontana through Perris in the Inland Empire. (updated Aug 2020)
• Flixbus, ☏ +1 855 626-8585. Travels from San Ysidro to Los Angeles and Las Vegas (updated Jun 2018)
• 3 Greyhound, 731 E San Ysidro Blvd (Bus will pick-up passengers at the outdoor bus loop at the San Ysidro Transit Center. The bus will board along the curb in any available bus slip.), ☏ +1-619 428-1194, toll-free: +1-800-231-2222. Daily 4AM-8PM. Connects Tijuana to Los Angeles via San Diego/San Ysidro. Some of their schedules make additional stops in Oceanside, Santa Ana and Anaheim. (updated Apr 2016)
• International Bus Lines (formerly Intercalifornias), ☏ +1-213-629-4885, toll-free: +1-888-834-9336. Prices vary depending on your destination. 
• Las Vegas Shuttle, 5950 Rail Ct, ☏ +1 702 642-0007. Goes up to Las Vegas via the Inland Empire. (updated Aug 2020)
• Rapid Connections LLC, ☏ +1 559 442-3000. Buses goes up to Sacramento via Los Angeles, San Fernando, Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Stockton and several other places along SR-99; and down to Tijuana via Santa Ana and San Ysidro. (updated Oct 2016)
• 4 SDTJ Passport (operated by Ticketon, formerly Mexicoach), depot at 3020 E Beyer Blvd, San Ysidro, ☏ +1 619-253-8291, +1 619 428-0111. Daily 7AM-6PM, check schedules. Picks up at the border station parking lot west of I-5 and then travels down to their station on Av Revolucion #1020b between 6a & 7a in Zona Centro and a separate run to Rosarito from San Ysidro. US$5 ow to TJ and US$20 ow ($35 RT) to Rosarito. 
• Tres Estrellas de Oro (TEO), ☏ +1-323-588-9188. 
• Tufesa, ☏ +1 213 489-8079. Connects Los Angeles to Sacramento (via multiple cities in San Joaquin Valley), Oakland, Salt Lake City (via Ontario, Fontana, Las Vegas, St George) (updated Jan 2019)

See By bus under Get in in the Tijuana and San Diego articles for a list of additional bus companies serving the area.

See

• 1 Tijuana River Valley Regional Park. An 1800-acre San Diego County park along the Mexican border that includes a bird and butterfly garden and a sports complex. (updated Aug 2019)
• 2 Smuggler's Gulch. A valley that used to be known for smuggling and unauthorized travel between the United States and Mexico. A large embankment had been built to block the valley at the border. (updated Aug 2019)
• 3 Border Field State Park, ☏ +1 619-575-3613. Mainly within Imperial Beach, but only accessible from San Ysidro. It includes the International Friendship Park, which is just inland from the place where the border meets the ocean. The road in the park is only open to vehicles on weekends when there is no flooding, but the park is still open when the gates are closed. (updated Aug 2019)

Buy

• 1 Las Americas Premium Outlets, 4211 Camino De La Plaza, ☏ +1 619-934-8400. An outlet center with around 125 stores and restaurants.  

Eat

• Ying Li Restaurant, 342 W San Ysidro Blvd, ☏ +1 619-428-2288. 11AM-9PM daily. Chinese food. (updated Feb 2023)

Sleep

• 1 Motel 6 San Ysidro - San Diego Border, 160 East Calle Primera, ☏ +1 619 690-6663, fax: +1 619-690-1949. 
• 2 Motel 6 San Diego Southbay, 1101 Hollister St (Hollister St & Coronado Ave, off of Exit #4 of I-5), ☏ +1 619 429-7600, fax: +1 619-. 
• 3NOT EXISTING LISTING IMAGE Tijuana River Valley Regional Park Campground, 1942 Monument Road, ☏ +1 619-428-2946. Check-in: 10PM, check-out: noon. County campground (newest of 9 county campgrounds). Has hiking trails, popular with people who ride horses, connects to state park. Airplanes and helicopters fly overhead during the day. Dogs and horses allowed. Dogs aren't allowed on the state park trails, but horses are. As of 2022, campground is in full sun, but young trees have been planted. Reservations: +1 858-565-3600, +1-877-565-3600. $24. (updated Apr 2022)

Go next

• Tijuana
• San Diego
• South Bay

Routes through San Ysidro

San Diego ← Chula Vista ←

N  S

→ → Becomes → Tijuana