Vanlife Mexico: everything you need to know about the ferry from Baja to mainland Mexico (La Paz to Mazatlán)

Baja is one of the best destinations in the world for vanlife— whether it’s road-tripping down the peninsula in a converted van or just posting up for months at a beautiful beach in an RV, thousands of yearly travellers make Baja their home away from home.

And yet, so few of these travellers ever make the jaunt across to mainland Mexico! Although it may lack some of Baja’s ease and unspoilt ruggedness, the rest of Mexico more than makes up for it with a kaleidoscope of rich cultures, vibrant natural wonders, and some of the best food known to man. We’ve loved every minute of our time on the mainland and are eager to share how you can extend your road trip across the entire country!

This post describes all of the logistics & general considerations for taking the ferry from Baja to mainland Mexico, including a comparison of the 2 companies and 2 routes offered, associated costs, instructions for obtaining a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) and other required documents, and detailed step-by-step instructions based on our experience in January 2022!

Overview: taking the ferry from Baja to mainland Mexico

• There are 2 ferry companies operating between Baja and mainland Mexico: TMC and Baja Ferries. Both are totally reputable, but they operate on alternate days and there are some important pros/cons to either— discussed below!

• All ferries depart from the Pichilingue port in La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur. 

• Both TMC and Baja Ferries offer routes from La Paz to Mazatlán OR Topolobampo, Sinaloa on the mainland— these are also compared in this post (and shown on the map below).

• Regardless of which company you choose, ferries to Mazatlán travel overnight (12-16hrs) and arrive in the morning on the following day. Ferries to Topolobampo are shorter (6-8hrs), but keep in mind that you’ll spend just as much time driving south to Mazatlán as you save on the crossing.

Baja ferry options

TMC or Baja Ferries

There are 2 ferry companies operating between Baja and mainland Mexico:

• TMC is primarily a cargo ferry, which means you’ll be joined by heaps of semi-trucks transporting cargo, but it’s the cheaper options AND the only company that will permit you to stay in your vehicle for the duration of the 16hr journey (a major plus when you’re in a van!)

• Baja Ferries is primarily a passenger ferry, but you’re not permitted to stay in your vehicle— instead, you’ll be assigned a private room (standard room included in ticket price). These are reportedly very comfortable, but ultimately not worth the expense over TMC, in my opinion!

Mazatlán or Topolobampo

There are also 2 route options, both available with either ferry company: La Paz, BCS to Mazatlán, Sinaloa OR La Paz, BCS to Topolobampo, Sinaloa.

• The trip to Mazatlán is more expensive and slightly longer (12-16hrs), but it gets you straight to the good stuff— Sinaloa is known to be a difficult area for travellers and we were keen to bypass what we’d heard to be a fairly uneventful stretch of the state to make it down to Nayarit sooner.

• The trip to Topolobampo is cheaper and more direct (6-8hrs), but the general consensus among overlanders is that the 6.5hrs of additional driving you’ll need to do just to get down to Mazatlán (and the fuel required as a result) pretty much negates the savings of a slightly cheaper ticket OR a shorter journey. Unless you have specific plans north of Mazatlán, the only real reason to choose this route is if the other route is booked out!

Our recommendation: La Paz to Mazatlán with TMC

How to book the ferry

Although it’s absolutely possible to arrive at the port and secure same-day ferry tickets, we’d heard too many horror stories to chance our dates (since we were meeting family on the mainland).

There’s no online booking system for TMC, so the easiest way to reserve your tickets is simply to call +52 612 123 9226 or visit the office directly in La Paz (click for exact location).

To secure your reservation, you’ll need to provide:

• driver’s name
• passenger(s)’ names
• licence plate number
• vehicle type (pricing is partially based on length)
• contact phone number

Note that you can only book for a date within the next 2 weeks and that you won’t actually pay for your reservation until you arrive at the ferry port on your travel date.

Required documents for the ferry

In order to take the ferry from Baja to mainland Mexico, you’ll need to present your:

• Passport (no one actually asked to see the originals, we just showed colour copies)
• Temporary Import Permit (more details below)
• Licence (matching the TIP)

Cost of the ferry

For our 2019 Dodge RAM Promaster 159″ (just barely under 6m) and 2 people sailing from La Paz to Mazatlán with TMC in January 2022, we paid 6400p ($307USD) + the requisite 189p ($9USD) ferry tax at Pichilingue for a total of 6586 pesos ($316USD). *current price as of 2024 = 7200p ($416USD)

Our exact breakdown from the fare sheet above:

• Item 21: pick up y vannete comerciales, hasta 6 (van up to 6m, never mind that it’s not commercial, PLUS the driver)- 5,100p (as of 2024: increased to 5,900p)
• Item 17: ayudante de operador (cost for each additional person, not counting the driver)- 1,300p

Read on for a step-by-step guide to the ferry crossing that details everything you need to organise for a successful journey to mainland Mexico!

*How to take the ferry from Baja to mainland Mexico

0 | FMM at the US-Mexico border

In order to get the Temporary Import Permit (TIP) required to legally bring your vehicle into mainland Mexico, you’ll need to have a valid FMM (tourist card), which is only issued at the US-Mexico border. Even if you completed the FMM paperwork online, you MUST have it stamped at the border for it to be valid!

As I’m writing this, we just met a couple who’d driven all the way down the peninsula to La Paz only to realise they needed an FMM for their vehicle import permit, so had to drive 20hrs back to Tijuana to obtain that small piece of paper and then drive ALL the way back 2 days later for the ferry. No joke… whatever you do, don’t miss this step!

Read more: A GUIDE TO CROSSING THE MEXICAN BORDER + ALL REQUIRED PERMITS (FMM & TIP)

1 | Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for mainland Mexico

Foreign-licenced vehicles require a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) to legally enter Mexico, but since the Baja Peninsula (and Sonora) are exempted from this regulation, it’s not something you’ll actually need until you get to the ferry port and prepare to cross to the mainland.

• 6-month validity for vehicles
• As of Dec 2021, costs 1200 pesos ($56USD)
• PLUS a deposit ($400 for vans newer than 2007) that will be refunded when you return your permit & depart Mexico
• If your vehicle is a “motorhome”: 10-year validity and NO deposit (read below to see how we got this for our van)

Required documents for the TIP

• Validated FMM (Step 0 above)
• Passport (original & colour copy)
• Vehicle registration (original & colour copy)
• Mexican auto insurance policy (read this post for my detailed recommendations)

You are legally required to have Mexican auto insurance before crossing the border and, after extensive research, I choose an affordable policy with Baja Bound (which worked in Baja & mainland Mexico). Spoiler: we had an ACCIDENT in Mexico a few months later and the agents at Baja Bound handled the entire process for us, from speaking to the police, getting insurance information from the other driver, and we didn’t pay a single PESO out of pocket— I truly can’t recommend this company highly enough!

Where to get your TIP

Typically, travellers organise their TIP in La Paz prior to purchasing a ferry ticket— the Banjercito office is right next to the customs line and should be the FIRST thing you do upon arrival to the port.

The better option, in my opinion, is to organise your TIP when you first cross the US-Mexico border— especially if you have a van, it will save you time and potential hassle on the day of your ferry crossing!

Several of Baja’s 6 land border crossings have the ability to issue TIPs and we got ours in Mexicali East/Calexico II.

⚠️ How to get a TIP when your van exceeds the GVWR restriction

A very important regulation to be aware of: TIPs are technically not issued to any non-motorhome vehicle whose gross vehicle weight rating exceeds 3.5 tons or 7,716lbs. This is obviously problematic for almost all converted vans (you can find your van’s GVWR on a sticker affixed to the driver’s door, as above)— but, of course, there’s a work-around!

If you, like us, have a van above the GVWR restriction & therefore can’t get a TIP as a normal vehicle, the BEST course of action is to argue that your van is, for all intents and purposes, a motorhome. 

The fact that our van is registered as a commercial cargo vehicle in the US was no help, but after showing our interior to several officers multiple times and INSISTING that it is como una casa rodante (like a motorhome) con una cama grande, baño, cocina, agua, refrigador… we finally got permission to be listed as a motorhome, which not only meant that we were able to get our TIP and legally enter Mexico, but also that our TIP was issued for 10 years and required no deposit— yay!

2 | Drive to the Customs area at Pichilingue 

Both companies and both routes described previously operate through the Pichilingue ferry port just north of La Paz— you absolutely can’t miss it driving out of the city on Highway 11. 

When you enter the port at Pichilingue, there’s a large Customs area where all the trucks and passenger vehicles queue for inspection. We joined the “Nothing to Declare” line and were soon waved forward by government personnel, who checked our TIP against the van’s VIN number and the name on my licence and then took a very cursory look at our van contents before sending us along.

3 | Have your vehicle weighed & measured

Following directions from the staff, drive just past the TMC and Baja Ferries offices to a weigh station. You’ll be asked to pay a port tax (required just for being at the port that day, even if you don’t manage to get on the ferry); as of January 2022, this was 186 pesos ($9USD).

At the same time, your vehicle is being weighed and measured. In addition to the receipt for your port tax, you’ll be handed a slip of paper with relevant vehicle details (e.g. weight, length)— this should be presented to the staff at either ferry company to book a ticket.

For reference, our 2019 Dodge RAM Promaster 159″ is 5.994m (236in) long and 3,700kg (8,200lbs) fully loaded!

4 | Purchase your ferry ticket

Whether you called in advance to make a reservation or are hoping to score a same-day ticket, you’ll still need to take the aforementioned slip of paper with your vehicle weight and length to the ticket office (either TMC or Baja Ferries) located just to the right of the weigh-station.

• For our 2019 Dodge RAM Promaster 159″ (just barely under 6m) and 2 people sailing from La Paz to Mazatlán in January 2022, we paid 6400p ($313USD) for our ferry ticket with TMC
• Despite the schedule on their website and all their flyers listing 5pm as the departure, we were told that the boat wouldn’t depart until 6pm (and in reality, it was almost 7pm by the time we did leave— such is Mexico!)

5 | Drive to the loading area

When purchasing your ferry ticket, you should have been told the name of your specific ferry (Barco San Jorge, in our case)— drive towards your boat and staff will be there to direct you to an appropriate parking spot. 

Our van was parked here from about 2-4.30pm awaiting further instructions, but not long after we arrived, we were told that only the driver could stay with the vehicle during the loading process and I’d need to wait in the terminal with the other passengers until we were permitted to board on-foot at 4pm.

Make sure to bring a book or some other form of entertainment for this very boring and seemingly unnecessary experience…

6 | Load your vehicle onto the ferry

Around 4.30pm, Dan finally received the eagerly awaited signal to pull forward for loading (and we doubt it would have been this early if he hadn’t said something to the staff!). What followed was a very stressful 10min of reversing onto the boat, with no fewer than 5 ferry staff simultaneously trying to direct the wheels around a strange curb at the rear of the ferry.

Previous travellers have suggested that the upper middle is the best spot to avoid sea sickness and the worst of the truck fumes, but in our haste to just get ON the boat, we decided we weren’t going to make any special requests.

By luck, we ended up pretty close to the middle on the upper deck anyway, which was still fairly nauseating, but thankfully not smelly (and who knows how much worse the motion might have been elsewhere)!

7 | Settle in for 16hrs of fun

Depending on whether you’re one of the first or last vehicles on the ferry (and whether you’re the partner who had to walk on at 4pm), you may find yourself with time to poke around the boat before you’ve even departed. You can get beautiful views from the upper decks and I even saw a sea turtle right alongside the ferry!

Included with your ferry ticket are vouchers for dinner and breakfast at the comedor. We expected very little from what is essentially a maritime cafeteria, but leave it to the Mexican people to whip up delicious food even at sea— our barbacoa, rice, beans, corn tacos, and jalepeños were good enough that we saved the leftovers for the following dinner!

There are also several passenger lounges with airplane seats and a flat screen TV, but I do not envy anyone who has to spend 16hrs in that room. We definitely preferred the option to hang out in our van, sleep in our own bed, and wake up to our usual routine, all while sailing onwards to the next adventure!

Bon voyage!

Read more about Baja, Mexico

start here -> The ultimate road-tripper’s guide to Baja, Mexico

How to get the best Mexican auto insurance for a converted van or camper

Vanlife Baja & Mexico: A guide to crossing the border + all required permits (FMM & TIP)

The ultimate Baja camping guide (+ 35 of the best vanlife & RV campsites!)

Baja vanlife road trip itinerary for 1-3 months (+ driving directions & camping in 2023)

Ferry from Baja to mainland Mexico (La Paz to Mazatlán)