Caravan Questions
Why a Mexico Caravan?
1) Unless you are a Golf or Pickleball addict you may have noticed Arizona can become rather boring. Consider expanding your horizons with a Mexico RV Caravan. Warm weather, beaches, ancient ruins, Colonial Cities - Mexico has it all.
2) Safety in numbers. I am betting when I say that, you are thinking cartels. Actually, they are not a concern. Physical hazards, etc. are the main concerns.
3) You will learn to handle the "sometimes-daunting" paperwork involved.
4) You do not have to worry about reservations and dealing in another language
5) Mexico does not have large RV parking lots at attractions. An RV Caravan will deal with all of that.
6) You will see the “Real Mexico”, not the tourist version.
7) You may find that perfect spot to return to on your own, in future
8) Our Wagon Masters know the roads, routes and parks that can accommodate your RV, especially larger rigs.
9) You will learn about how to prepare your rig for Mexico.
10) You will no doubt make some new lifelong friends
11) Sign up for our Newsletter
12) Download our latest Brochure
13) Considering retirement in Mexico? A caravan is an excellent way to discover where, especially our 3 month, all Mexico trip. Our Customer co-ordinator is an expert on how to arrange resident status and more than willing to provide info.
14) We have a customer information manual (over 70 pages). It is password protected and available to customers who have made a deposit. It is at this Link.
Taxes and our Prices
We are a reputable company and we pay our taxes in Mexico. You do not have to pay any sales tax or GST in the US or Canada when you pay us. Unfortunately, there is a persistent culture in Mexico of avoiding taxes. If we ask for a receipt for expenses for RV Parks or restaurant etc., we are often hit with a 15% surcharge to offset any taxes those businesses have to pay as a result. This is most often done with a blindside when we go to settle up. This increases our costs considerably, but we still try to hold our prices down as low as we can without compromising our quality. Our prices are very competitive when you compare other companies with what you get from us. They may be slightly higher, but you get the biggest bang for your buck. Our customer Information Manual is only available to deposit making customers.
Why choose us?
There are 2 competitors to our company in Mexico at present for English Language Caravans. Baja Amigos and Fantasy. Both are reliable and have good reputations, and I am sure you will happy with either. Which is best? Well I am sure, like us, they will both claim to be. I have yet to see a company who admits they suck, LOL. Who is best, is often predicated by what you want. People who have been on both our caravans and our competitors have told us they felt we gave more value for money. Pricewise, we fall between the 2, with Fantasy being the most expensive. One of them may suit you better. So let's compare. It is not easy to determine what you get, and what is optional. In many cases you are comparing apples to oranges. We do lay out exactly what you get, specifically. Anyway, the websites of our 2 main competitors may be found at Fantasy and Baja Amigos. We encourage you to dig deep to compare what you get with them, compared to what we offer. We are 100% sure we offer more for your money, when everything laid out below is taken into account.
1) Both Fantasy & Baja Amigos are American registered. We are Mexican Registered, with Mexican and Canadian owners. (For more info on this click Legal Info) That means that technically speaking we believe we may be only company actually legally authorized to run Caravans in Mexico by the Mexican Government. It has not been an issue so far for anyone. We are fully licensed in Mexico under 2 corporate names, Caravanas de Mexico and Caramex.
2) Both Fantasy and Baja Amigos only accept US dollars, so if you are Canadian, you have to do an exchange at the Buy/Sell rate. We operate in USD, Canadian dollars and Pesos. We do any exchange at the book rate, which saves you about 3%
3) Baja Amigos asks for a non refundable $500 US deposit, as also do we for Baja (or $700 Canadian). We have larger deposit amounts for the longer mainland trips, peaking at $1100 USD ($1500 Canadian) for the 3 month trip. Fantasy charges 15%, across the board.
4) Both Baja Amigos and Fantasy have some tours & meals that appear to be optional. All of ours are included. We frequently add more freebies.
5) Fantasy only runs 1/2 way down Baja. Baja Amigos and ourselves do the whole Penninsula. Fantasy does not do the mainland at the current time. Baja Amigos sometimes does a Fall tour. We only do Spring tours, both Baja and Mainland. In our humble opinion, Fall is too much of a hurricane risk. RV'd and hurricanes do not mix. Baja Amigos also does a "no frills" escort tour to the PV area in Fall.
6) We only use certified bilingual Mexican tour guides. I am not sure about the others, but they have both contracted out to us in the past. We do not utilize our Wagon Master to do tours, unless they are add on unscheduled freebie extras. That is also illegal, unless the Wagon Master is a Mexican citizen or has permanent resident status. It is also of debateable value. We only use registered, qualified tour guides for scheduled tours.
7) We use the Green Angels (Like AAA) for mechanics and escorts most of the time. We have also provided that service on a contract basis to our competitors in the past. They do cost, and add to our overhead and price, but they provide safety assurance as they are government officials and they are mechanics. They are a great comfort to our customers, and worth it.
8) Both Fantasy and Baja use American or Canadian Wagon Masters. We do as well, but we also have several Mexican-American ones. We usually have an interpretor along if the Wagon Masters are not fluent in Spanish.
9) We pay taxes in Mexico and we support the Mexican economy, not the US or Canadian.
10) We provide hot, quality sit down meals with our local tours, except in cases where it is in a very remote location and not practical. (Calakmul on Yucatan, fro example) Add up meals provided by our competitors and compare, if you can figure it out from their websites. As for local tours, are our competitors counting all tours in a single excursion as a single tour or several? When they list events, that is a tip off they may be cheating. Each of our tours often include more than one stop or attraction, but that is still only counted as one tour. The tip off for that, is if the number of tours is close to, or exceeds, the days of the trip. How often does the word "optional" appear in their schedule?
11) We will take you to places on some trips you will never get to on your own, or even know about. Especially on our 3 month all Mexico trip. That is the big advantage of dealing with a Mexican Company. We are also able to secure support from the police and Mexican government. Our huge advantage over our competitors is we have the means to deal with problems in Spanish.
12) We have the highest repeat customer ratio in the industry. In the 2021/2022 season we had 8 repeat customers for example. Some of our customers end up becoming Wagon Masters for us.
13) We are the first choice by RV clubs to run Mexican RV Caravans for them. So far, Airstream, LTV and Roadtrek.
14) Your safety is our primary concern. We are one of the few companies that put customer safety first, and suspended caravans during Covid for example. (Baja Amigos did as well)
15) As a Mexican registered company, we have built up a good relationship with the National Guard, State Police, State Officials, State Tourism Bureaus, and even the Governors of some states. This provides a tremendous pool of resources we can draw upon, if there are problems. No other company has the sort of access to officials that we have.
16) We operate Caravans in both English and French. (separate divisions) We have also run caravans for various clubs, and also specialty Caravans. For French Caravans click the button link on the Nav Bar.
17) We will take you to places on some trips you will never get to on your own, or even know about. The impressive remote Mayan city of Calakmul, 40 miles up a jungle road near the Guatamalan border, for example. You won't see that one on your all inclusive trip Cancun. Most of our competitors don't know about many of the places we will take you, either. This is the huge advantage of having an owner who is also a registered tour guide for all of Mexico.
18) Although we price in Canadian dollars (starting 2027 season), we accept both US and Canadian dollars at the book rate, saving exchange rate hits. Our competitiors only accept US dollars. We discount on payments that are NOT made with a credit card.
19) Since some of our Wagon Masters and Assistants are Mexican or Mexican/American, we offer free Spanish lessons on many of our tours.
20) Follow Angie and Ronda on our Spring 2022 Yucatan Adventure. Warts and mishaps, included. Videos
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21) We don't put a lot of stock in testimonials. All companies only show the good ones, and like every company we run the full range of opinions from customers. When did you last see a testimonial on a customer web site saying their company sucked? I rest my case. However: Testimonials
Travel Insurance
This up to you. We have had at least 2 customers claim on it for medical reasons, and we did have one customer have an accident 1 day into a trip, and his vehicle had be returned to the US. We refinded the money for his trip, BTW, even thoguh we were not obliged to. Although we do what we can, on some trips we have put out a lot of money in advance. In that instance, they did not have insurance to cover this, so were out the portion we could not rebate. Some options are on our Insurance Page
Club Tours
We currently operate specialty tours for Airstream and Leisure Travel Vans. If you wish to participate, E-mail Paul, he will put you in touch with the respective organizers. beddows1@telus.net They do not run every year and the routes can vary and sometimes depend on Wagon Master availabilty. (BTW, the photo above is the mummy museum in Guanajuato. We not offer it as a tour, but will facilitate a visit for those interested. Personally I find it fascinating and a bucket list item, but many find it disturbing.)
Is Mexico Cheap?
In a word, no. It is amazing how many people still think you can do Mexico on $10 a day. Mexico has a strong economy and the Peso has been rising rapidly against both the US and Canadian dollar, making it more expensive. 2 years ago you could get 22 pesos per US dollar, today it is more like 18. A decent restaurant meal with one drink will cost $15 to $20 per person and RV park fees now average about $40 US a night for full hookups. Fuel is about the same as in Canada, more than the US (about $5 US per gallon or $1.80 Canadian a liter) and road tolls are the highest on the planet. If our trips seem expensive, this is why. They are still cheaper than RV tours in the US or to Alaska, but they are not that cheap anymore. We cannot run at a loss, obviously, and we want to maintain quality.
How we operate
We attempt to keep travel days as short as possible, but you do have to expect some longer days. We do not want to boondock in gas stations, unless it becomes necessary. We want to make sure you are in a campground or RV Park at each stop. We will use the best one available at each location, but keep in mind that they will not all be up to US or Canadian standards. We do local tours at most of our stops, some are just beach stops, others include activities and local attractions. Remember this is Mexico, think of it as an adventure, and you will have a great unique RV Caravan experience.
What about Pets?
You are welcome to bring your Dog or Cat. Technically you are only allowed 2 pets, but that is not enforced. Only Cats & Dogs are allowed, no snakes, tigers, gazelles, etc. Their shots should be up to date, especially Rabies. There may also be an opportunity to adopt a Mexican dog. I have done this twice and they are smarter (natural selection at work). More info below.
A few more Comments
1) Is Mexico Safe? Answer: Yes. Most people's fears are a result of being in a country with a different language and laws. Using our caravans will aleviate that problem, as things are taken care of for you. Mexico is a country full of cultural riches, and it is an easy drive from the United States. What are you waiting for? Let us take care of it for you. Remember that most violence in Mexico is targeted, not random. Avoid drugs and bar hoppign at 3 AM, and you will have no issue. Random shootings at public events, etc are almost unheard of.
2) Is it safe to take my RV to Mexico? Answer: Yes. We have been taking RV's all over Mexico for a decade with no safety issues. The biggest risks are not Bandido's or Cartels, the biggest risk is knowing where you can physically take your rig with no issues. As a Mexican compnay with connections, we know where it may be unsafe and we take precautions.
3) Are there RV Parks in Mexico? Answer: Yes, plenty of them. Not all up to American standards, but quite usable.
4) Are roads in Mexico good for RV's? Answer: Yes & No. Mexico has modern freeways and not so modern backroads. One big advantage of a Mexican RV Caravan tour is that we know where it is OK & where it is not. Especially for larger RV's. On your own with a larger rig, you are vulnerable to narrow one way streets, low arches, low trees and roads designed for the 1800's, nto the 21st century.
5) Are there restrictions on what vehicle I can bring in? Yes, you cannot bring in a vehicle that shows it is salvaged. That has no work around. You can have issues with Pickups over an F150 (We can solve that) and if your vehicle has a lien that is indicated on the registration, you will have to provide permission from the lender. If the vehicle is in a company name you need a letter of permission even it it is your own company.
We have a far more detailed section on this site where we try and answer all your questions concerning RVing in Mexico. See Details
Fuel prices are similar to Western Canada. See Fuel Converter Tool
