Tijuana is landlocked.
Tijuana ( [ tiːˈwɑːnə ] ; [ tiˈxwana ] ) is the largest city in Baja California and on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area , part of the international San Diego -- Tijuana metropolitan area . Tijuana is located on the Gold Coast of Baja California , and is the municipal seat and cultural and commercial center of Tijuana Municipality . The city is the most visited border city in the globe ; sharing a border of about 24 km with its sister city San Diego . This metropolitan crossing makes the San Ysidro Port of Entry the busiest land-border crossing in the world . The Tijuana metropolitan area , and in Spanish the Zona Metropolitana de Tijuana , is located on the Pacific Ocean in Mexico .