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Reynosa or Nuevo Laredo/Columbia Crossing?


gypsyken

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Is crossing into Mexico at Nuevo Laredo in a car significantly safer or easier than crossing at Reynosa?  I ask because Reynosa is much closer than Nuevo Laredo for me.  I have crossed at the Columbia Crossing in recent years, and I understand that, while farther away than Nuevo Laredo, it is considered to be easier.

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Last time I was in Reynosa I was chatting with the migra outside the office.  I was saying, where's all your clients today?  They said, you're the first one.  It was about 5 PM.

There's always a town or city to drive through.  I think Reynosa has a slightly friendlier staff.

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Actually, no.  The Pharr crossing and I believe the Mission crossings both bypass Reynosa completely.  Just as you come out of the border area on the Mexican side, you cross the main road that runs along the river on the Mexican side and you pass the Maquiladora area on your left.  Immediately you enter the bypass quota that takes you south well away from Reynosa and drive through farmland.

People are using Pharr and Mission to bypass Reynosa proper.  As I noted, it has big crime problems and predatory cops.  Both the alternate bridges avoid those.

You don't pass through another town of any size until you get to Lagos de Moreno and you skirt that on, unfortunately, a very inadequate and badly maintained bypass.  My route, which is the same as the Laredo route from just north of SLP, bypasses every town including Ciudad Victoria and saves a lot on tolls as well.  With the new SLP bypass and the Macrolibremiento I make the run in under 10 hours.  And no cities.

 

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In my experience the worst drive through is Tiajuana at San Yisidro.  The best is but a few miles East of there, Otay, clear sailing.

I hope y'all know those boarder agents have a lot of freedom to act as they wish.  The fees won't change but their behaviour will.  They're cranky nearing the end of their shifts.  I've had bad experiences at the counter with the graveyard guys as well.  There's nothing in "The Book" that states they have to give you a visa.  

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The Reynosa area of Mexico is definitely not safer.  Much of that corner of Mexico is lawless.  Many years ago it was my favorite way to travel to McAllen, Texas for shopping.  Not any more.

Again, some years ago, I always crossed at Columbia and never Laredo.  Much easier and never a wait.

 

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On 12/21/2017 at 2:32 PM, gypsyken said:

Is crossing into Mexico at Nuevo Laredo in a car significantly safer or easier than crossing at Reynosa?  I ask because Reynosa is much closer than Nuevo Laredo for me.  I have crossed at the Columbia Crossing in recent years, and I understand that, while farther away than Nuevo Laredo, it is considered to be easier.

Maybe to summarize, and to add some personal insight, otherwise known as 'opinion':

- The 'potential' for a negative crossing appears to be higher if/when one crosses at Reynosa proper and continues on over to Monterrey. Conversely crossing at N. Laredo and/or Colombia has far, far fewer 'negative stories' associated over the years and currently.

-  Many people have taken to crossing at the Pharr Tx crossing..... BUT they are not then driving on over to Monterrey but rather travel from there due south to the vicinity of and bypassing C. Victoria and on over to cuota 57 close to San Luis Potosi. This route, down through Tamaulipas State, has had it's share of really bad stories over the years. Generally speaking Tamaulipas State in the past has been blacklisted by many people. To my knowledge there have not been any/many incidences in recent years and many people take this route nowadays. Caveat Emptor. Crossing at Pharr is probably as 'easy' as crossing at Colombia  to put that in perspective.

 

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Thanks to all.  To Mainecoons: I appreciate the advantages of the route you recommend, but I simply cannot drive straight through and must at least stop overnight in Matehuala.  (In my motorhome, I had to make two overnight stops, either in San Luis Potosi and Matehuala on that route, or in Zacatecas and Saltillo when going via Aguascalientes.  In my car, I've been able to make only a single overnight stop, in Matehuala.)

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If you need to stop then obviously Laredo is the best crossing.  There's really no equivalent to Matehuala on it.  If you get as far as SLP it makes no sense to wade into town to find a hotel when you are just a few hours out at that point

As for incidences, on other sites I've seen reports of incidences on Laredo as well.  Most of the reports in more recent times seem to be from between Monterrey and Reynosa on Ruta 2.  It probably helps that we travel in a nondescript Honda CRV with Mexican plates and nothing visible above the windows. 

We'll continue to use that route until/unless we see evidence of statistically significant increases in problems on it.  It saves time and tolls and IMO the McAllen area is a better place to overnight.  We hit the bridge at 7PM almost always on Sunday morning and are home before 5PM well in daylight.

 

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