Best Border City to live in? (living, bus, airports, moving)

[lalo2378]

hi i am currently in the process of thinking of moving. I would like to live in a "pretty" city. Or at least the "nicest" on the texas border. My question is this.. im saving up money to move so i can live in mexico but work in the united states. My criteria for picking a city is single life(im 30), things to do for the mexican city as well as bridge traffic so i have narrowed it down to three choices. They are: Reynosa/Mcallen, El Paso/Juarez, and Laredo/Nuevo Laredo..out of the three i have only been to laredo and the bridge traffic was horrible! . I also want the city on the us side to be culturally mexican as well. I say that because i was living in piedras negras/eagle pass and EVERYONE just bout knows spanish and if you don't well good luck! haha.

Also if you put a city please tell me why that city! Thanks!

[OREGONGIRL81]

Hello lalo2378, you are asking about what city to live in..............well i currently live in reynosa and work in mcallen.....now if it were up to me i wouldnt be living in texas period but anywho from the three choices you gave yeah reynosa/mcallen is your best shot!!!! One thing i really enjoy about living on one side and working in the other is getting a taste of both worlds in the same day its great......and also the dollar rate change is awesome.......te rinde bastante tu $$$$$$bueno good luck!!!!

[Bixaorellana]

Lalo, you definitely want Reynosa/McAllen. If you live on the north end of McAllen, you can take the Pharr bridge to the Reynosa side, and will be close to the Reynosa airport. I don't know anything about residential areas on that side, though. Having access to an airport on either side of the border is very useful.

The Pharr bridge used to be pretty empty, but it's been "discovered". Still, it's usually not the gridlock that the older bridge directly into downtown Reynosa is.

If you wanted two cities, US & Mexican, that were physically closer together, you could consider Brownsville/Matamoros. I'd say that you'd want to walk across that bridge, though, if you had any hope of getting to the other side -- it's really crowded. I know you didn't mention these two cities, but they're so close to Reynosa/McAllen that you could consider them if you're offered a job in that region. (And Matamoros has a beach!) Both Matamoros and Brownsville have airports. Incidentally, Valley Transit runs buses all over the valley on the Texas side. You probably already know what a great bus system Mexico has.

There is emphatically a strong Mexican culture on the US side of the border in both McAllen and Brownsville. McAllen is a bigger, more vibrant city than Brownsville, and better placed to fly out of to Houston and other points north. I've only flown in & out of Reynosa, not Matamoros, so can't comment on which airport is more convenient.

I'd say the bottom line is that you really need to visit the region before making up your mind.