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Is there such a thing as a “budget” Napa Valley? Well we’re going to find out!
I took a 5-day, 4-night vacation to Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico. This region is known for its vineyards and gastronomy; located only a 2 hour drive away from San Diego!
In this post I will be breaking down everything I spent in my 5 days visiting, how these prices compare to Napa Valley and my tips for how you can make your Valle de Guadalupe trip cheaper! This is your Valle de Guadalupe wineries pricing guide!
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Table of Contents
Transportation – how to get to Valle de Guadalupe
$31.82 for one, $63.63 for two.
How to get to Valle de Guadalupe. If you live in San Diego or Los Angeles, making the drive down is going to be fairly easy and comfortable. I recommend skipping the “scenic” route down the coast to Ensenada and going towards Tecate instead. I prefer avoiding driving through a city, in this case Tijuana. Additionally you will be hitting some toll roads so make sure to have some cash on hand!
However, if you’re flying in, I would recommend flying to San Diego or Tijuana (whichever one is cheaper) walking across the border and hiring a driver. These drivers not only take you from the border to your Valle de Guadalupe hotel, but also drive you around the wineries.
During a previous trip to the Valle we hired a driver and paid about $300 dollars for a 10-person van. This was for an entire day of service which included transportation from our accommodations which were one hour away (in Tecate), 3 wineries and a restaurant for dinner and then back to Tecate; it was about $30 per person so the more people in your party the cheaper it will be! Here is a link to some private drivers.
My trip:
Because we were already driving down from San Diego, we didn’t feel the need to hire a driver. Gas was our only expense in the transportation category.
Accommodations
$265.27 for one, $530.54 for two.
4 nights: $66.32 per night for one. $132.64 per night for two.
There are both Airbnb’s and hotels in the area.
Airbnb’s can range in price from $100 dollars a night to as pricey as you want, However, most options that sleep 2 comfortably and are on the cuter side (in my opinion) are about $120-$150 a night.
Hotels also have a large range of prices, starting from $70 dollars a night to $1,000+. I found most hotels with about the same caliber of cuteness and comfortableness as the previously mentioned Airbnb’s were also between $120-$170 a night.
Lastly, I noticed prices decreasing as the dates came closer, so booking short notice would result in cheaper nightly rates; however hotels did sell out of rooms and Airbnb’s got booked up; so you might not get the pick you want if you wait until the last minute.
My trip:
I personally decided to go with a hotel. At the price point I wanted, the hotels in the area seemed to offer more than the Airbnb’s (again all my opinion). I figured if I was going to pay $130-$140 a night I might as well feel all fancy with a nice view and breakfast included!
We went with the Chateaux del Valle. Which came out to $530.54 total after taxes or about $132.64 a night. My potion being a total of $265.27.
I originally found this hotel on Booking.com for $578; when I went to book however, because of all the additional taxes and fees the booking total was 652.69! I thought this was way too much so I looked up the hotel website specifically.
The price on the website was 469.50 before taxes (530.54 after-tax) for THE SAME HOTEL ROOM. My biggest tip here is just making sure you’re looking in more than one place before booking anything. Prices can vary widely from website to website, typically with hotels the cheapest option is going to be booking through the hotel website directly.
Valle de Guadalupe Wineries and Food
Wine Tastings: $69.50 for one, $139.00 for two.
Food: $130.79 for one, $261.58 for two.
There are soooo many options when it comes to food and wine! There are 170 different wineries in Valle de Guadalupe so you’re guaranteed not to get bored. Additionally, Valle is known for its gastronomy and high class chefs so the food options are amazing as well.
The price of wine tastings can range however it seems like the majority will be between $20-$30 dollars each. Some wineries allow you to share one tasting for two people; however others require every individual to have a tasting themselves.
Depending on what your interests are you’ll be able to find wine tastings of all forms!
As far as food, I personally found the food prices to be a bit pricey. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious however if you want a lowkey lunch or breakfast, this was harder to find. Most restaurants follow the same bougie vibe as the wineries so finding a “cheaper” meal would be difficult.
If you want to try and keep costs low, I’d recommend finding a hotel which includes breakfast and either going to the grocery store to make yourself a quick lunch or getting enough food from dinner to have leftovers the next day! This worked out perfectly for us!
My trip:
We went to 4 different wineries and had 6 different tastings. We went to Casa Frida, Villa Montefiori, Bodega F. Rubio and Bodega Magoni. We split tastings at Casa Frida and Villa Montefiori and had two individual tastings at Bodega F. Rubio and Bodega Magoni.
Overall, my personal favorite was Bodega F. Rubio! The wine and the location were both great, I highly recommend this vineyard!
The cheapest wine tasting we did, by far was Bodega Magoni. We did two separate wine tastings here and somehow the price of both was cheaper than most individual tastings we did! Additionally, we got to keep the wine glasses as a souvenir which was a fun touch.
Miscellaneous / General Additional Tips
$21.00 for one, $42.00 for two.
Tipping Culture
As far as tipping goes, it got slightly tricky at times. In the US, I’m very accustomed to paying with a credit card then writing in my designed tip or entering the tip on whatever machine they use while purchasing. However, it happened several times that this was not the case.
Tips needed to be added before completing the transaction to go through. I’d pay special attention to avoid not being able to tip! Or you can carry some additional cash on hand for these types of situations.
In general, the tipping culture is a bit different than the US. At the time of writing this the standard “ok” general service, you would tip about 10% while excellent service is 15%.
Cash – US Dollar vs Mexican Peso
You do NOT need pesos! Every winery and tollway accepted US dollars. But be sure to bring some cash! As mentioned in the transportation section, there are several tolls you will run into driving from the US. You will need cash for these!
Trip Duration
My trip was 5 days, 4 nights with the primary purpose being to relax, slow down and try some wine. If you are a casual wine drinker and want a change of scenery, I think 2 to 3 nights is more than enough! This will allow you to do 1-3 wine tastings a day and still try several out.
If you love wine, you are guaranteed not to get bored just because of how many wineries there are!
Comparing Prices: Valle vs Napa
I visited Napa Valley in February 2020 before the world shut down. Not only have prices increased significantly since my trip but even back before this crazy inflation; I found this to be an expensive weekend getaway.
I visited Napa for two nights and for two of us, it was about $1,000 dollars (my portion alone being $500ish). Hotel was about $300 dollars a night and our most expensive wine tasting was $50 per person. Comparing this to my current trip this year (April 2022) which cost $1,036.75 total (my potion being $518.38) for double the amount of time.
I looked up the priciest wine tasting we did in Napa (which was $50 in Feb 2020) and now it is $75 for a tasting. So it seems prices have increased 50% which is just lovely isn’t it?
In the table below I compare my personal Napa trip expenses with my Valle trip expenses and adjust the Napa trip for the 2020 and 2021 current inflation rates to see how they compare.
| For one | Napa Trip 2020 | Napa Inflation Adjusted | Valle Trip 2022 |
| Total Cost: | $500 | $530 | $518 |
| # of Nights: | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Cost per night | $250 | $265 | $130 |
It’s safe to say Valle is cheaper.
However, is the Napa quality and experience worth the additional prices? Forgetting about the money for a second, let’s talk about what you can expect from Valle de Guadalupe in terms of wine.
What stood out to me most about Valle de Guadalupe is their grape selection. You’ll find lots of fun, well-executed wines outside your typical French grape varietals. Plenty of Italian and Spanish grapes that are harder to find in California. I appreciated the uniqueness of Valle de Guadalupe’s wine scene – likely a by-product of the industry’s youthfulness and freedom from historical restrictions and precedent.
What it lacks in history and name recognition, it surely makes up for in spunkiness and sheer innovation. You’ll be hearing a lot more about Valle de Guadalupe in the years to come so make sure to check out this budding wine town now.
Final Thoughts
Although Valle de Guadalupe is in Mexico, the prices are not typical for Mexico whatsoever. The prices are more geared for all the visiting American tourists. However, given the point of this vacation was to go to wine tasting and feel bougie, which is already inherently expensive, I don’t think it can get much better than this! (I’ll follow up when I get to know the European wine scene a bit better).
Have you gone to Valle de Guadalupe? How does it compare to other wine regions around the world?
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Itís difficult to find experienced people for this topic, however, you sound like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!