Travelers Guide to Mexican Camping: Explore Mexico and Belize with Your RV or Tent (Traveler's Guides (Rolling Homes)) [Paperback]

Mike Church (Author), Terri Church (Author)

Book Description

Series: Traveler's Guides (Rolling Homes) | Publication Date: September 2001

Mexico is the most attractive and exciting winter destination there is for American and Canadian RVers. With today's huge and costly RVs, drivers need to know what is around the next bend in the road. Updated to include new campgrounds and maps of the entire country, this invaluable guide provides addresses, telephone numbers, open dates, facilities for every safe campground in Mexico, and detailed directions on finding them. It also includes information on preparing an RV for an extended trip, what equipment to take, how to cross the border, and the communities surrounding the campsites. Information on Belize (on Mexico's south-eastern border) has also been included.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Listed on Wanderlust new guidebooks page, April 2002.

About the Author

Mike Church and Terri Church are the authors of the Traveler's Guide series and "RV Adventures in the Pacific Northwest". They spend most of the year travelling in their RV or car camping in Canada, Europe, Mexico, and the United States. They live in Kirkland, Washington.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Rolling Homes Press; 2nd edition (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965296865
• ISBN-13: 978-0965296861
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,598,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Mexico RV Book, November 28, 2003

By 

"bigwhitewhale" (Livingston, TX, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travelers Guide to Mexican Camping: Explore Mexico and Belize with Your RV or Tent (Traveler's Guides (Rolling Homes)) (Paperback)

Traveler's Guide To Mexican Camping is the best book ever written for RV travelers in Mexico. I've had other books intended as Mexico camping guides which contained sketchy information and confusing directions; those have now been disposed of and the Traveler's Guide To Mexican Camping is my bible for RVing in Mexico.

This book is the complete reference for RVers. I used the suggested itineraries for planning my vacation; these show daily driving distances, estimated driving times, and descriptions of the routes and sites along the way, which I found to be very accurate. Over 60 pages of detailed information cover everything from safety, insurance, fuel, food and money to health issues and pets. The information on crossing the border was very helpful in preparing me for this sometimes confusing process and the detailed descriptions of each crossing point, including hours of operation and suitability of RV access, enabled me to select good places to enter Mexico. This section also contains helpful suggestions for nearby campgrounds to use before entering Mexico. The information on how to deal with corrupt cops and to be avoid being cheated at gas stations was also especially useful.

The nine chapters which cover every region of Mexico are what set this book apart from all others. I found the key maps, indices and distance tables convenient and easy to use. The detailed description of each campground includes a listing of amenities, a detailed map showing not only the campground location but also many times nearby gas stations and stores, detailed directions to the campground including distances and reference points, a description of the facilities and the price range. I found this information to be objective and accurate, and I liked being able to know what the campground offers and the approximate cost before deciding to stop there.

While not the primary focus of this book, many interesting tourist attractions are also described, which I found very useful. The detailed information on driving in the Mexico City area helped me avoid many potential problems there. For those venturing beyond Mexico, an entire chapter covers Belize.

While traveling in Mexico I've met many people who spent the night parked in potentially unsafe locations because they did not know of a nearby campground, who did not know how to use the telephones, who had difficulty crossing the border, who spent hours searching for a campground, who got lost while trying to drive through cities, and who did not know where they would spend the next night. One thing all these people had in common was that they did not have a copy of this book.

Traveler's Guide To Mexican Camping is an easy to use reference covering all aspects of RV travel and camping, from trip planning and preparation to returning to the US. It is well indexed and cross referenced, packed full of advice and information, and the maps and campground listing are easy to read and understand. The book uses quality paper and binding, not newsprint and stapled covers, and my copy has survived many months of rough handling. There are no advertisements in this book, which would have affected the objectivity of the authors. Every RV traveler to Mexico should have this book.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for RVers, Okay for tent campers, January 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Travelers Guide to Mexican Camping: Explore Mexico and Belize with Your RV or Tent (Traveler's Guides (Rolling Homes)) (Paperback)

I bought this book for a backpacking trip I am planning along the Maya Riveria. I am a tent camper. Although the title implies that this book was written for those travelling with an RV or tent, it is primarily for the RVer. It does mention when tent camping is an option but gives little or no information beyond that fact. The writers do give RVers a good idea of what to expect, providing decent descriptions of campground setup, condition, and facilities. They go so far as to tell you what part of the campground you will likely find a spot and whether shady sites are available. They give very little detailed information regarding tenting conditions. If you are planning tenting trip to Mexico, this may be a very usual guide simpy to locate the campgrounds but for little else. If you are planning a RVing trip to Mexico, I would not go without this book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We used this guidebook constantly!, April 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Travelers Guide to Mexican Camping: Explore Mexico and Belize with Your RV or Tent (Traveler's Guides (Rolling Homes)) (Paperback)

We recently spent 6 weeks roaming in a small Toyota camper, off the beaten tourist paths, down the Gulf Coast to Veracruz, then inland to Teotihuacan and back via various cities. This book led us to a number of delightful (umm... and otherwise, but hey they worked) campgrounds we wouldn't have otherwise found, and I appreciated its directions for bypassing Mexico City and Tampico. We were somewhat more adventurous than the Churches recommend about finding places to boondock, but we do speak enough Spanish to ask the locals, which we always did.

I have a list of resources in an ebook I've written about Mexico, and this one literally tops the list -- for RVers.