Baja Peninsula: Places to Explore

North of Los Cabos, the first coastal settlement of note in the East Cape is Cabo Pulmo, the site of the only hard coral reef in the Sea of Cortez—one of only three in North America. You'll have to... Read more

In 1542 Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo first discovered the seaport that Sebastián Vizcaíno named Ensenada-Bahía de Todos Santos (All Saints' Bay) in 1602. Since then the town has... Read more

At the end of the dirt road, you look across Scammon's Lagoon—past the rusting remains of an old salt compound, where pelicans land and take off ad infinitum—to the geometrically perfect sand... Read more

Tidy, prosperous La Paz may be the capital of Baja Sur and home to about 250,000 residents, but it still feels like a small town in a time warp. This east-coast development could easily be the most traditional... Read more

There's not too much going on between La Paz and Loreto. Once you've passed through Ciudad Constitución and Ciudad Insurgentes, north of La Paz, the highway becomes much quieter. It is well marked... Read more

Los Barriles has the most amenities of the smaller cities on the East Cape, with Internet cafés, restaurants, gift shops, and plenty of eager realtors. Devoted windsurfers roost in here when the... Read more

In some ways Tijuana's richer, more successful older brother, Mexicali is a border town founded on an economy that's less whimsical (agriculture, rather than tourism) and a seat of power that's real (the... Read more

Mulegé (pronounced moo-lay-HAY) is a popular base for exploring the Sierra de Guadalupe mountains, the site of several prehistoric rock paintings of human and animal figures. Kayaking in Bahía... Read more

Southern Californians regularly cross the border to indulge in the classic Puerto Nuevo meal: lobster fried in hot oil and served with refried beans, rice, homemade tortillas, salsa, and lime. At least... Read more

Southern Californians use Rosarito (population 100,000) as a weekend getaway, and during school vacations, especially spring break, the crowd becomes one big raucous party. Off-season, the place becomes... Read more

The gently swaying date palms of San Ignacio, in the Desierto de Vizcaíno, first planted here by Jesuit missionaries in the late 1700s, seem to keep time with the small town's laid-back rhythms... Read more

The architecture in this dusty mining town, the last desert town north of Baja's subtropical region, is a fascinating mix of French, Mexican, and American Old West styles. It is so different from other... Read more

It's said that Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra were once regulars in the tiny town of Santiago, where children play in the small zócalo, and large stretches of palms have been left largely undeveloped... Read more

For most Baja-bound Americans, Tecate serves as a convenient alternative to the northbound Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing, and not much else. Although the town itself is sunny and pleasant—especially... Read more

Over the course of the 20th century, Tijuana grew from a ranch populated by a few hundred Mexicans into a Prohibition retreat for boozing and gambling—then it morphed yet again into an industrial... Read more

The Valle de Guadalupe, northeast of Ensenada on Carretera 3, is filled with vineyards, wineries, and rambling hacienda-style estates. Although Mexican wines are still relatively unknown in the United... Read more