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I see a parking lot next to the Otay crossing (one of three ports of entry (POE) in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region) on https://www.google.com/maps/@32.5515469,-116.9389443,18.25z?hl=en:

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https://www.google.com/maps/@32.5515469,-116.9389443,491m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en:

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There no business marked there, and Google street is not available (blue indicates Google street availability):

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Since this is the nearest parking from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Otay Mesa Port of Entry and that Mexican authorities seem to sometimes give some headaches to non-Mexican citizens when driving in a car with a non-Mexican license plate, this draws my interest: what is this parking lot?

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    That does seem pretty plausible. If you go to the intersection of Roll St & Via de la Amistad on Google Street View (the nearest accessible point on Street View), you'll see signs proclaiming that road to be the "US Customs and Border Protection, Otay/Mesa Land Port of Entry, [address]", and allowing "Authorized Vehicles Only" on that road.
    – Michael Seifert
    Commented Oct 3, 2020 at 13:21
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    Your statement "Mexican authorities seem to sometimes give some headaches to non-Mexican citizens when driving in a car with a non-Mexican license plate" seems out of place here. What is the relevance of this to your question?
    – Midavalo
    Commented Oct 3, 2020 at 15:27
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    @Midavalo I think he's wondering if he can park and leave his car there and walk through the border.
    – mkennedy
    Commented Oct 3, 2020 at 16:44
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    @mkennedy oh that makes sense - I was thinking way different so was a little confused
    – Midavalo
    Commented Oct 3, 2020 at 18:50
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    @FranckDernoncourt Have you been into Tijuana before? Do you have somewhere specific you're wanting to go? Otay is some distance from downtown Tijuana and the tourist zone, it may be easier/better to walk in at San Ysidro if you're just wanting to play tourist on foot. The San Diego trolley stops right at the border in San Ysidro, you can catch the trolley from downtown San Diego, or even better, park for free at Old Town and get the trolley from there, walk across the border and you're very close to the tourist zone in TJ.
    – Midavalo
    Commented Oct 3, 2020 at 19:34

2 Answers 2

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That parking is the US CBP parking. It is not open to the public. Next to that is parking for visitors to CBP (by appointment only).

There are some large privately owned parking lots available to the public for a fee ($10-$15 per day, including overnights, from memory). These can be VERY cramped and somewhat difficult to park in, but a lot of people use them and I've not heard of any issues. These are marked on your map as "Tello's Parking" and "Plaza Parking". From memory these are dirt lots. Sometimes they give you a specific place to park (although they don't really seem to care if you can't park there), sometimes they just expect you to cruise around the lots until you can find one you fit into.

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Following on from @mkennedy's comment, this is roughly the path you'd take if you chose to park your car at Otay Mesa and walk across the border. (Some of my locations/paths may be slightly incorrect as it's hard to tell from an aerial shot quite where you may have walked in the past 😁 but you get the general idea)

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Midavalo's answer is correct, I'll add the sign posted at the entrance of the parking lot:

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Also to get Uber on the Mexican side, one has to walk father than what Midavalo's map indicates: one has to walk till the red rectangle shown on the following map (about 300 meters further):

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(Because Ubers can't enter Acceso Aduana)

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    I knew I should have marked a bit further! You can actually cross the road (the lanes to/from the border) approx where my red marking ended, and down to the small lane shown on your map between "see nearby hotels" and "Otay Sentri" and vehicles can come up there. Mostly for dropoff but I've seen some pickups there too. If course I'm not sure if Uber will actually come up there but I don't see why not
    – Midavalo
    Commented Oct 6, 2020 at 14:49
  • @Midavalo crossing the road sounds like a good idea: I saw my Uber driving by Otay sentri as I was waiting for it. Your map is enough to catch some taxis but they are quite more expensive that Uber (twice more when I was there) and will tell some BS on how far one has to walk to catch Uber.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Oct 6, 2020 at 16:08

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