Baja Peninsula: Places to Explore

San Ignacio

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. This town is primarily a point to sign on for one of the organized tours that take visitors to see the paintings in the caves in the nearby Sierra de San Francisco. The caves were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993.

San Ignacio is also known as home to some of the world's friendliest gray whales and a statue of a whale skeleton stands at the town's entrance. Between December and April, the gray whales that come here to breed often swim close enough to allow visitors to touch them.

Locals insist that the calm waters in the lagoon here make whale-watching more pleasant than in nearby towns where they report choppier, unprotected sea water. Some tourism promoters go as far as to insist that this makes the whales more comfortable and more likely to approach visitors. You'll have to decide for yourself.

San Ignacio at a Glance

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