Mexicali is the capital of Baja California and one of Mexico's major border cities, sitting directly across from Calexico, California. It is a working city rather than a tourist destination, which gives it an authenticity that the resort towns further south lack.
The city is famous for its Chinese food — one of the best Chinese culinary scenes in all of Mexico, a legacy of the large Chinese community that settled here in the early twentieth century to work on irrigation projects in the Mexicali Valley. La Chinesca, the old Chinatown district downtown, is worth exploring for both the restaurants and the faded architecture.
Mexicali gets brutally hot in summer — temperatures regularly exceed 45°C — so the best time to visit is between November and March. The craft beer scene has grown considerably, and the city makes a practical base for day trips into the Sierra de Juárez or the wine country around the Valle de Guadalupe to the west.