ENSENADA · BAJA CALIFORNIA · NOVEMBER
November in Ensenada is a jacket-at-dawn, T-shirt-by-lunch month. Afternoons average 70.3°F, nights drop to 47.3°F, and the whole month gets only 0.56 inches of rain. That leaves the coast road, the wine valley and the mountain gateway all open.
The sea is the cold part of the month. Road days suit it: the La Bufadora blowhole on the Punta Banda peninsula, the Valle de Guadalupe vineyards, the highway toward Sierra San Pedro Mártir. October and December, both compared with figures below, are the two dates worth weighing against it.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · ENSENADA
November gives dry, mild road-trip weather on the Baja coast (70.3°F afternoons, 0.56 inches of rain) and a sea too cool for easy swimming, so pick it for drives and think twice for beach days.
HIGH 70.3°F · LOW 47.3°F · SEA 61.8°F · 1.8 RAIN DAYS · SUNSET 4:47 PM
Go for: road days to La Bufadora, Valle de Guadalupe and the Sierra San Pedro Mártir gateway, in dry 70.3°F afternoons.
Think twice before: planning a swim-focused trip. The sea averages 61.8°F and the bay’s nights fall to 47.3°F.
Air: SMN normals 1991-2020, station 02108 · Sea: Open-Meteo Marine · Sun: sunrise-sunset.org · full sources below
On this page
- Ensenada weather in NovemberHighs of 70.3°F, lows of 47.3°F and 0.56 inches of rain
- Can you swim in Ensenada in November?Sea at 61.8°F, and what that means in the water
- How busy is Ensenada in November?Cruise calls, the 5% lodging tax and booking
- Things to do in Ensenada in NovemberLa Bufadora, Valle de Guadalupe and Sierra San Pedro Mártir
- A two-day Ensenada itinerary for NovemberSunrise 6:14 a.m., sunset 4:47 p.m., and a rain swap
- Ensenada in November vs October and DecemberHighs, lows, rain and sea temperature for three months
- Is November a good time to visit Ensenada?Who should go, who should shift to October, and the State Department level
Ensenada has no commercial airport of its own, so a November trip lands at Tijuana International (TIJ) and drives south. If your dates are still open, our when-to-go guides lay out the other months, and the destinations index lists the other places.
Ensenada weather in November: average highs, lows and rain days
| Measure | November normal | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average high | 70.3°F | SMN station 02108, 1991-2020 |
| Average low | 47.3°F | SMN station 02108, 1991-2020 |
| Precipitation | 0.56 in | SMN station 02108, 1991-2020 |
| Days with measurable rain | 1.8 | SMN’s own count |
| Daylight on Nov 15 | 10 h 34 min | sunrise-sunset.org |
| Sunrise / sunset, Nov 15 | 6:14 a.m. / 4:47 p.m. | sunrise-sunset.org, converted to Tijuana time |
Every figure here comes from Mexico’s national weather service, the Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN, part of CONAGUA), and its 1991-2020 normals. The thermometer is station 02108 at Punta Banda, about 11 miles south of downtown on the same bay. Ensenada’s own town-center station publishes no normals, so this is the nearest official reading. In November it records an average high of 70.3°F, an average low of 47.3°F and 0.56 inches of precipitation.
The SMN counts 1.8 days of measurable rain in an average November, roughly one day in seventeen. An average can hide a dry month and a soggy one alike, so read it as odds. The service does not publish the threshold behind its rain-day count, so do not set it beside US counts of days over a tenth of an inch.
The gap between the afternoon high and the pre-dawn low is 23.0°F. That sets the packing list: a jacket and closed shoes for early mornings and evenings, a T-shirt for the middle of the day, and one layer you can peel off by noon.
On November 15 the sun rises around 6:14 a.m. and sets around 4:47 p.m. Pacific time, 10 hours 34 minutes of daylight (sunrise-sunset.org, converted from UTC to Tijuana time). Light fades early, so schedule the longest drive, La Bufadora at about 20 miles southwest, for the morning and start any return trip by mid-afternoon.
Can you swim in Ensenada in November? Sea temperature
Open-Meteo’s marine data puts the sea surface off Ensenada at 61.8°F in November, averaged over 2015-2024. That number is a mean of daily maxima, so it reads a shade warmer than a 24-hour average would, and sea tables built on 24-hour means will run lower.
At 61.8°F the water sits 8.5°F below the 70.3°F afternoon air, so a warm-looking day can still feel cold at the water’s edge. Wading and splashing are comfortable. A short dip works in swimwear, and a longer swim calls for a wetsuit.
Our sources carry no wind or swell figures for Ensenada in November, so we give none. For the same reason we could not verify how high La Bufadora’s plume runs that month. Check a surf and wind report the day before any kayak or boat outing.
How busy is Ensenada in November? Crowds and prices
We found no occupancy series and no monthly hotel-rate data for Ensenada, so we place November in no price ranking. The crowd we can count is the cruise crowd: the port received 360 calls in 2025, 24% more than in 2024, and more than 1.3 million cruise passengers reached the municipality, according to the city government. That averages close to one ship a day across the year, but we found no month-by-month schedule, so how many fall in November is unknown to us.
We also found no booking-lead data, so we give no weeks-ahead rule. Fix the bed first, since everything else in the region is a drive from it, and keep the reservation refundable until your flights are set. Our travel basics cover the general rules for booking.
Baja California charges a lodging tax, the Impuesto sobre Servicios de Hospedaje, of 5% on hotels and 7% on moteles in 2026, under the state’s Ley de Hacienda. A 5% rate also applies to bookings made through digital platforms. We did not verify how each booking site displays it, so compare final totals at checkout.
Heating is the one line where paying more changes November. Nights average 47.3°F now and 43.3°F in December, so ask about it before you book the cheapest room.
Things to do in Ensenada in November
November suits the outdoor list. An average high of 70.3°F and 0.56 inches of rain over the month make a blowhole visit, a vineyard afternoon or a mountain drive workable on nearly any date, while December already brings 1.39 inches.
La Bufadora is a marine geyser on the Punta Banda peninsula, about 20 miles southwest of Ensenada, where seawater surges through a coastal blowhole in a plume that can reach 30 meters (about 100 feet). Valle de Guadalupe, the wine valley inland from town, is the state’s promoted Ruta del Vino. Ensenada is the usual overland gateway to Sierra San Pedro Mártir National Park, a CONANP-protected mountain range. We could not verify current entry fees or opening hours for any of the three, so confirm them before driving out.
What November changes at these stops is the air: coastal afternoons around 70.3°F and dawns near 47.3°F. The Sierra San Pedro Mártir is a separate climate that the coastal normals do not describe, so check a mountain forecast before that drive.
We could not verify which of these stops offer free entry in November, so we name none. Ask each one when you confirm hours.
Ensenada itinerary for November
Day one, the coast. Sunrise is at 6:14 a.m. and the low is 47.3°F, so the first hour calls for a jacket and a hot drink. Drive out to La Bufadora in the morning, about 20 miles southwest of town, and be back on the bay by mid-afternoon, while the air sits near its 70.3°F average high. Sunset is at 4:47 p.m. on the 15th, so dinner happens after dark.
Day two, inland. Spend it in Valle de Guadalupe on the Ruta del Vino, or, with a full day and a checked mountain forecast, drive toward Sierra San Pedro Mártir. If one of November’s 1.8 average rain days lands on day two, keep the valley and postpone the mountains.
Ensenada in November vs October and December
| Measure | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 72.7°F | 70.3°F | 66.0°F |
| Average low | 53.6°F | 47.3°F | 43.3°F |
| Precipitation | 0.41 in | 0.56 in | 1.39 in |
| Days with measurable rain (SMN) | 0.7 | 1.8 | 3.1 |
| Sea surface (Open-Meteo marine) | 65.3°F | 61.8°F | 60.2°F |
From October to November the afternoon high slips 2.4°F, but the night low falls 6.3°F, from 53.6°F to 47.3°F. December takes another 4.3°F off the high and 4.0°F off the low. Rain climbs from 0.41 to 0.56 to 1.39 inches and rain days from 0.7 to 1.8 to 3.1, all SMN normals and counts for 1991-2020. Sea temperatures come from Open-Meteo’s marine data for 2015-2024: 65.3°F, 61.8°F, then 60.2°F.
Going four weeks earlier gets you a 2.4°F warmer afternoon, a 6.3°F warmer night, a sea 3.5°F warmer and 0.7 rain days instead of 1.8. Going four weeks later gets you 3.1 rain days, 1.39 inches of rain and lows of 43.3°F. What either move does to the bill we could not say, because we found no monthly price data.
Is November a good time to visit Ensenada?
Yes for road days: a blowhole, a wine valley or a mountain range, done in layers under dry skies (0.56 inches of rain, 1.8 rain days). No for a beach holiday built on swimming, since the sea averages 61.8°F. Before booking, read the U.S. State Department’s Mexico advisory (reissued May 29, 2026). It rates Baja California at Level 3, reconsider travel, citing terrorism, crime and kidnapping, and it notes high homicide numbers in non-tourist areas of Tijuana. Its only travel restrictions in the state are in Mexicali Valley, with none elsewhere.
For swimmers, October is the better pick: a 65.3°F sea, 3.5°F warmer than November’s, afternoons at 72.7°F and 0.7 rain days. It is still cool water, only less so.
November’s own offer is the middle ground: afternoons still at 70.3°F, fewer than two rain days, and rainfall well short of December’s 1.39 inches.
The last word
Decide by the water. If you plan to swim, go in October, when the sea still reads 65.3°F. If you plan to drive, November’s dry afternoons fit the La Bufadora road, the Valle de Guadalupe vineyards and the mountain route up to Sierra San Pedro Mártir, the range that hosts Mexico’s National Astronomical Observatory. Pack the jacket for the 6:14 a.m. sunrise.
Sources & data for Ensenada in November
- Climate normals, station 02108 (Punta Banda) · Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (CONAGUA), 1991-2020 · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Rain-day count · SMN’s own count; the threshold is not published, so it is not comparable with US counts · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Sea surface, mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Daylight, sunrise and sunset on Nov 15 · sunrise-sunset.org, converted to America/Tijuana · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Cruise calls and passengers, 2025 · XXV Ayuntamiento de Ensenada, press release of Apr 4, 2026 (ensenada.gob.mx) · checked Sep 29, 2026
- La Bufadora · Visit Mexico (federal tourism portal) and CICESE · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Lodging tax, 2026 · Ley de Hacienda del Estado de Baja California, chapter V, rates cross-checked against El Contribuyente and J.A. Del Rio · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Travel advisory · U.S. Department of State, Mexico Travel Advisory reissued May 29, 2026 (travel.state.gov) · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Editorial admission: the airport, Valle de Guadalupe and Sierra San Pedro Mártir descriptions are general knowledge, not sourced. We found no occupancy series, hotel-rate data, booking-lead data, November event dates, free-entry lists or wind and swell figures, and we have not verified entry fees or opening hours.