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Planning a getaway to the beautiful Mexican wine country? This local-approved Valle de Guadalupe itinerary has all the essential spots you need to visit for the perfect weekend escape!
From locally-loved award-winning casual eateries to the best wineries in Valle de Guadalupe, where to stay, plus some of my favorite coffee shops in the area, this itinerary has it all!
Even among us locals, Valle de Guadalupe is a favorite weekend escape, perfect for enjoying local wines during the day and relaxing in cozy boutique hotels at night.
It’s the ideal spot to wind down and recharge!
So after many trips to the stunning Mexican wine country—a destination just a short drive from where I grew up—I have compiled this effective itinerary for you to enjoy the best that Valle de Guadalupe has to offer!
Complete with extra recommendations from friends who visit even more often than I do.
So without further ado, here is your perfect Valle de Guadalupe itinerary to spend a relaxing weekend as a local.
Valle de Guadalupe Itinerary: Best Breakfast In Town, Wine Tastings And More
Where to stay in Valle de Guadalupe
Besides the never-ending list of wineries and incredible restaurants to visit, Valle de Guadalupe is also known for its unique and chic accommodations nestled among the hills of the valley.
So here are some of the best places to stay in Valle de Guadalupe for the ultimate weekend getaway:
- Casa Mayoral Bed and Breakfast: A cozy cabin perfect for a romantic getaway in Valle de Guadalupe, with a little porch overlooking the golden hills, featuring a delicious breakfast served every morning on a charming patio.
- Casa 7 by 7 Valles: A two-bedroom modern cabin with A-frame style bedrooms with a beautiful view of the hills and the desert landscape. The perfect stay for a friend or family weekend. Includes a projector, a private fire area, and a jacuzzi.
- Mira Earth Studios: Earthy, elegant, and minimalist rooms up on the hills overlooking the valley and its mountains, featuring a sauna for the ultimate relaxing weekend.
Day 1 in Valle de Guadalupe:
Best breakfast in Valle de Guadalupe at La Cocina de Doña Esthela
If there’s one restaurant you can’t leave without trying, it’s the legendary La Cocina de Doña Esthela, the best breakfast in Valle de Guadalupe, and Mexico(!), according to the Michelin Guide.
This no-frills eatery is known for its authentic and delicious Mexican breakfast dishes, served in a spacious dining room in the heart of Valle de Guadalupe.
There are plenty of mouth-watering options to choose from, but the stars of the show are their award-winning machaca, dried spiced meat, and the flavorful borrego tatemado, fire-roasted lamb.
Both are incredible hangover meals… just saying.
Their incredibly soft handmade corn tortillas are a good enough reason to take a trip down to Valle de Guadalupe, honestly, I still dream of them!
And I’m not the only one, so make sure to arrive early, especially if visiting during a weekend, as the rumor has spread and people line up to savor Doña Esthela’s incredible breakfasts.
Coffee stop at Electric Coffee Roasters
Even if you had a coffee with breakfast, there’s always room for a second coffee, in my humble opinion, especially when traveling.
So for our designated coffee stop of the day head over to Electric Coffee Roasters, a beloved coffee company born in the neighboring Tijuana.
This local coffee brand has a few locations around Tijuana and has smartly opened a branch in the heart of Valle de Guadalupe.
Perfect for a coffee lover in the middle of nowhere!
This Electric Coffee Roasters location is the perfect spot to stop for a good cup of coffee before heading out to explore some of the best wineries in Valle de Guadalupe for the day.
As someone who is constantly looking for the best coffee shops wherever I go, I highly appreciate that some local specialty coffee shops caught up on the need to have good coffee around the remote but popular Valle de Guadalupe.
Wine tasting at Monte Xanic Bodega Vinicola
First things first, wine tasting at Monte Xanic. This is one of the best wineries in Valle de Guadalupe, and they generally don’t stay open too late so it’s better to tick it off your list early on in your itinerary.
To begin, you will definitely need to book your wine tasting at Monte Xanic in advance, as they don’t accept walk-ins, and the tastings can be booked out for weeks.
So make sure to plan your itinerary accordingly and reserve a spot at Monte Xanic for one of the best wine tastings in Valle.
With a beautiful location with an outdoor bar and wooden tables around a lake, Monte Xanic is the perfect spot to enjoy the sunny weather of Valle with a glass of their Calixa Chardonnay in hand.
Monte Xanic wines are some of the most awarded and well-known in the region, so make sure to not skip this spot in your Valle de Guadalupe itinerary!
Walk-in at Las Nubes Bodegas y Viñedos
After spending some time exploring the grounds of Monte Xanic after your tasting, it’s time to hit the next winery on your Valle de Guadalupe itinerary, Las Nubes Bodegas y Viñedos.
Las Nubes is a winery that was recommended to me on my most recent trip to Valle, and I immediately loved it!
This winery is a bit smaller than others in the area, tucked away up on a hill, which is probably what gives it its name Las Nubes, “in the clouds”.
The winery has a beautiful terrace overlooking the vineyards, with resident dogs that keep you company as you sip your favorite wine—we tried and loved their Kuiiy white wine.
Here you can order one of their charcuterie boards if you are feeling snacky. We had a small mixed one and it was delicious!
At Las Nubes you don’t have to worry about booking in advance as they accept walk-ins, making it easy to fit into any itinerary.
A cozy evening in Valle de Guadalupe
The wineries around Valle de Guadalupe tend to close relatively early, some of them closing as early as 3 pm, which is okay if the purpose of your trip is to relax and take it easy.
This means you can take advantage of the early closing times to head back to your accommodation and enjoy your stay for the evening—which is sometimes impossible when you are on a go-go kind of trip.
But there’s no need for that here, we are here to relax!
For late lunch/early dinner, you could opt to visit one of the restaurants in the area, like the seafood spot La Cevicheria Oyster Bar Valle, or the trendy La Justina Valle.
Or if you want to make the most of your unique accommodation in the valley, you can pick up some food to go and take it back to your cozy stay.
We opted to pick up a pizza from Salvia Blanca Cocina and watched a movie on the projector in our cozy cabin. The perfect end to a first day in Valle!
Option B: If you have more energy than I do, and would rather go out, then King and Queen Cantina is the place to go, as recommended by many of my local friends. Make sure to try their margarita flights!
Day 2 in Valle de Guadalupe:
Breakfast round 2 at La Cocina de Doña Esthela
While it may seem like an unpopular opinion, I LOVE repeating places when traveling.
Plus, if the food is amazing, I don’t mind visiting a spot twice, and this is absolutely the case with La Cocina de Doña Esthela.
You already made it all the way to Valle de Guadalupe, might as well get a second round of the awarded “best breakfast in the world”.
Cocina de Doña Esthela’s menu is extensive, with plenty of delicious dishes to try. So I highly recommend visiting this iconic Valle de Guadalupe restaurant for your second day in the Mexican wine country.
My favorite thing to order is their Jose combination, which has the best of all worlds, two eggs, their famous machaca, beans and chilaquiles, and my family is a big fan of their sweet corn pancakes.
Don’t skip their perfectly sweetened café de olla—my favorite!
Coffee stop at Das Cortez
If you are a coffee lover like us and don’t mind stopping by for a second coffee, you must check out Das Cortez.
Das Cortez is a popular specialty coffee shop from Tijuana that has expanded and opened a unique location in Valle de Guadalupe.
The coffee shop is located inside Finca Altozano, a food court type of place in the most Valle de Guadalupe way possible, all barn style, spread out, with lined pathways through gardens of local shrubs.
This unique location of Das Cortez is housed inside a massive barrel, a cute nod to its location in the heart of the Mexican wine country.
If you like to try unique coffee drinks make sure to order their lavender latte, it’s delicious, and one of my favorite drinks from them!
Wine under the oak trees at Bodegas Magoni
Just a stone’s throw away from Das Cortez is our first winery stop of the day, the locally loved Casa Magoni’s Winery, Bodegas Magoni.
Casa Magoni is one of the most popular and reasonably priced wine brands from Valle de Guadalupe, which you will easily find at most supermarkets in the region.
This is why I consider a stop at Bodegas Magoni a must to get a taste of some of the most popular wines in the area.
This Valle de Guadalupe winery offers a beautifully rustic outdoor seating space perfect for enjoying a glass of wine under their majestic oak trees.
Bodegas Magoni has a variety of wine-tasting options on offer, from just red wines, whites, or a mix of both, if you can’t commit to one kind. I particularly enjoy their white wines!
If you are a plan-ahead kind of person you can always book a tasting in advance, however, they also accept walk-ins, if you just want to show up and try some of their wines.
Lunch and wine at Bruma Wine Garden
After a leisurely wine tasting at Casa Magoni, it’s time for our next stop of the day, the iconic Bruma Winery, one of the best wineries in Valle de Guadalupe, and an unmissable spot in your itinerary.
The thing with Bruma is that there are different sections to the brand, which seems confusing when you don’t know which location you actually want to go to.
You have the Bruma Winery, where you can book a wine tasting with a tour of the cellars, and on top of that you will find the iconic water feature with the big dried tree coming out of it that you see all over social media.
There is also Fauna, Bruma’s upscale restaurant, recognized as one of the 50 best in Latin America, complete with a cocktail bar on site.
And my personal favorite, is the Bruma Wine Garden, a more “casual” option where you can walk in and order a glass or a bottle of wine to share with your group on their lovely patio.
If you are starting to feel snacky, Bruma Wine Garden’s restaurant has been recently added to the Michelin guide, so you know you are in the right place to get some delicious bites!
Here you will find a variety of incredible dishes, such as their delicious fish ceviche and the flavorful wagyu dumplings.
Make sure to explore the gardens and the unique photo ops of Bruma Wine Garden after lunch.
A beautiful pit stop at Aires de Lavanda
If you are visiting during the weekend you can add a scenic pit stop to your itinerary by visiting the beautiful Aires de Lavanda, Valle’s only lavender field.
Here you can take pictures with the beautiful rows of lavender, buy lavender products, enjoy lavender-infused drinks, and even take a lavender workshop to add a fun activity to your Valle de Guadalupe itinerary.
This is on the way out of Valle de Guadalupe as you take La Ruta del Vino road back to Highway 1, so it’s a great unique spot to add at the end of your trip.
Dinner at Wendlandt Brewery
If you are on your way out of Valle de Guadalupe, whether you are en route to the next destination or on your way back to California, a great stop for dinner on the way is Wendlandt Brewery.
Wendlandt is a local brewery located at the end of La Ruta del Vino road, where the road meets the Pacific Ocean, offering a stunning view from its terrace.
The star of the show here is its delicious pulled pork burger, the perfect hearty meal to absorb all those wine tastings and lavender cocktails—for the non-drivers of the group.
Their tostadas de ceviche is also something to have on your radar if you want to indulge in the region’s seafood scene.
Valle de Guadalupe is a loved destination year-round among international and local visitors with its unique combination of delicious wine, awarded food, rustic design, and breathtaking landscapes.
While there is so much to explore in this unique region, I hope this local Valle de Guadalupe itinerary helps you discover the best that the beautiful Mexican wine country has to offer.
What are you most looking forward to on your next trip to the scenic Valle de Guadalupe? Let us know in the comments!
I particularly love the region’s unique accommodations!