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Baja California makes for an awesome road trip. One minute you are exploring the historic wine route, the next you are riding through the sonoran desert. It blesses you with fascinating ocean views, turquoise crystal clear waters and an abundance of fresh seafood anywhere you go.
Mexico could not have welcomed us in a nicer, warmer way than Baja California did. The dry, rugged desert landscape has so many hidden gems and there is a lot of marine life to explore for divers and snorkelers as well.
For more travel inspiration, also check out: TOP 20 THINGS TO DO IN MEXICO or watch our travels through Mexico on YouTube!
1. Wine Tasting in Baja California
Our first stop when crossing the US/Mexico border was Ensenada. It was merely a stop-over on our way south. Or so we thought! We actually ended up staying here for an entire week, completely unexpectedly. A whole week of delicious food and wine tasting.
Get a friendly local to show you around
We got super lucky with our couchsurfing host José. He was a winemaker, surfer and knew the best places to eat in town. And this very much sums up our week together! In the mornings we went to work together. Fiona learnt how to clean the barrels whilst José and I tasted all the wines. Unfortunately Fiona doesn’t drink alcohol but she loved our wine tasting week nonetheless 😉
Our work included checking the sulfate levels in the wine, adjusting them accordingly and checking on the grapes in the actual vineyard. Work finished pretty early and we always headed for some delicious seafood afterwards. Often it would be a very unassuming little food stand that we would have easily overlooked. Sometimes it was a restaurant. But no matter where we ate, we always ate very well. And after that we’d always head for the beach to try and catch some waves!
What to expect
If you want you can stay in one of the many vineyards. Just a heads up, the vineyard stays can get pretty pricey. If you are on a budget simply stay in Ensenada and take day trips from here. Organised tours are also pretty expensive. But it’s ever so easy to just ride around the ‘Ruta del Vino’ by yourself and stop off at the many vineyards. Those that offer tastings usually have a sign with opening hours.
Valle de Guadalupe is the more commercial part where you’ll find the boutique wineries that have put Baja on the world’s culinary map. If you are looking for a luxury stay, pick a winery around here. The lesser known parts of the historic wine route are: Valley de Santo Tomas, Valle de Grula and Valle de San Vincente. They are less touristy, cheaper and don’t have a commercial feel about them at all!
2. Sonoran Desert of Baja California
When travelling across Baja California you are almost certain to experience the Sonoran Desert. It covers most of Baja California! So you don’t have to go out of your way to find it. However, our absolutely favourite part was riding right through it shortly after leaving Ensenada and heading south on Highway 1. It’s a paved highway that goes from Tijuana all the way south to Cabo San Lucas. Expect many potholes and many tyre repair shops scattered across. We saw mostly old, used car tyres on sale so I doubt you’ll find anything for your motorcycle 😉
We loved this part of our road trip. You’ll see cacti and desert all around you and very little traffic. In fact it’s also rare to find food places along the way that are actually open. There are many opportunities to take a dirt road running in parallel to the tarmac if you’re looking for some off-road riding. We had SO MUCH fun on those! After a couple of bike drops fully loaded and energy levels quite low in the scorching heat, we did rejoin the asphalt though. But experiencing the Sonoran Desert in this way was super fun!
3. Dunes of Soledad
The Dunas de Soledad lie about 6 miles north of Guerrero Negro. They are constantly moving and changing with the wind. There were very few people visiting when we were here and all the sand dunes around us looked completely untouched. The dunes are mostly white and seem to be melting into the pacific ocean. It is supposed to be particularly spectacular to visit at dusk or dawn but Fiona and I visited in the afternoon. We took a walk around the dunes, played around rolling off them and went for a dip in the sea before continuing our trip. We thought they made for a great visit to break up our journey south.
4. Bahía Concepción
Bahía Concepción is one of the largest bays in Baja California. We found it’s best to explore if you base yourself in the super cute oasis-like town of Mulegé. We used it as our base to do some beach hopping and explore the coast line.
Bahía Concepción is only about 20 miles south of Mulegé and features over 50 miles of beach. Some of the most popular beaches include: Playa Santispac, Playa Escondida, Playa Los Cocos, Playa El Coyote, Playa Buenaventura, Playa El Requeson, Playa Armenta.
Our absolute favourite beach day was hanging out at Playa El Requeson. The locals drive their car all the way onto the beach and set up camp for the day with a big picnic or BBQ. Local fishermen offer fresh seafood at small prices. We didn’t actually like that you could drive all the way onto the beach, but we appreciated that there were only locals here. We didn’t see any other tourists and it felt great experiencing a proper Mexican beach day!
Another reason I liked Playa El Requeson so much is that many of the beaches in Bahía Concepción are right next to the Highway. The colours of the sea are stunning and the desert like landscape with its cacti super pretty. But when you turn around and see the highway it does take away from it. You don’t see the highway from Playa El Requeson though. There is also another beach you can half walk, half swim to as the water is very shallow if you want an even quieter spot.
5. San Javier Mission in Baja California
We discovered the tiny town of San Javier by accident. We had just stopped in Loreto, a small but very cute town that breaks up the journey perfectly when heading to La Paz. Whilst enjoying a meal out, we got talking to locals who told us about it. It was a good hour ride uphill through the mountains to get there. The ride itself was truly stunning with winding roads through the dramatic Sierra de la Giganta range.
The highlight of San Javier is a visit of the Mission San Francisco Javier De Vigge-Biundo. It was founded in 1966 by Jesuits with the aim of converting Natives, the Cochimí, to Christianity. It is one of the oldest and best preserved missions in Mexico and still in use as a church today.
The population of San Javier is only around 130 people. It is a tiny but charming little village. When we arrived we were quite surprised at how small this place was. You’ll arrive to a cobbled street which has some very basic accommodation, shop and small restaurants. The mission is the centerpiece of the town and located at the end of the cobbled street. That’s pretty much the entire town centre.
The highlight for us wasn’t so much the church itself but it was a fantastic ride and we felt like we had stepped back in time. If you are looking for a fun ride or if you want to find out something about Baja’s history, then come and visit San Javier.
6. Todos Santo
Todos Santos is a small town on the pacific coast founded by missionaries in the 18th century. What attracted us to visit was that it sounded like the perfect escape for artists, surfers and anyone trying to get away from the busy party vibe of Cabo San Lucas. It was exactly that!
The town is super cute with many galleries, boutique shops and cute coffee shops. Some of the restaurants are definitely pricey but you can be sure to find a regular cheap taco stand around the corner too. We couchsurfed here for a couple of nights with our host Lauren who took us surfing and showed us the best places to eat. We had an absolute blast together and met many of her local friends! Although we had a lovely stay I have to say there is a huge community of Expats here and sometimes it can definitely feel like it has lost its local touch. BUT it really depends where you go. We had a lovely time!
7. El Arco de los Cabos
The town of Cabo San Lucas was SUCH A LET DOWN for us. It was super touristy and although it has a fair share of luxury accommodation it also attracts lots of young people looking to party. You’ll get hassled every two seconds about a place to eat or a bar to visit. We disliked the vibe of the town so much we decided to skip it. BUT we first wanted to take a boat trip to see ‘El Arco de los Cabos’. It was busy but we are glad we didn’t skip this also.
The boat tours are all pretty standard. They take you to ‘Playa del Amor’ where you can get off the boat and swim to the beach through the ‘Sea of Cortez’. From here you can walk onto the other side of the beach facing the Pacific Ocean. The water is much rougher here and we found the walk without flip flops very uncomfortable. The hot sand will literally burn your feet if you don’t walk fast enough. Maybe that’s why most people didn’t bother with it. It seemed everyone just wanted to stay around ‘Playa del Amor’ where the water is much calmer.
After the beach stop, our boat took us to ‘El Arco de los Cabos’ before heading back to the marina. The beaches were undeniably beautiful and what made the boat trip even more stunning where the dozens of rays jumping several feet up in the sky. We saw them throughout the entire trip (they are most commonly spotted in winter). We then stayed in San José del Cabo, a MUCH QUIETER option to Cabo San Lucas, where we even found a super nice jazz bar with live music in the main square.
8. Balandra Beach in Baja California Sur
We visited countless beaches during our road trip through Baja California. If I had to pick just one, my absolute favourite beach, I don’t have to think hard. It’s hands-down Balandra. It might have even been my favourite beach in Mexico altogether. It’s simply magical!
The crystal clear waters, white sand dunes and scenic view across the surrounding beaches and desert like landscape make this place so special! The water is super calm as the beach is sheltered and the colour of the water crystal clear turquoise. The water is also very shallow making it possible to walk to the surrounding beaches.
Fiona and I did just that. We packed our waterproof bag and walked 40 min. to the beach directly opposite of Balandra. We had it all to ourselves and enjoyed our little picnic. During our week stay in La Paz (waiting for our ferry across to the mainland) we returned many times. Most of the time we stayed on the main beach but we walked to the very end of it which was less busy.
9. Cabo Pulmo
Cabo Pulmo is super remote, tranquil and offers some of the best snorkelling spots around. Worlds apart from Cabo San Lucas, you won’t find much entertainment here. Cabo Pulmo is for those wanting to reconnect with mother nature! We found a basic, little AirBnB next to a diving resort and were told to expect the electricity to cut out any minute. And sure enough it did. We weren’t camping at that point but it’s a perfect spot for wild camping. There are no tarmac roads here – expect lots of washboard and loose sand!
The best thing about Cabo Pulmo is how undeveloped the beaches are. We found many beaches with mexican families and the perfect set up for a day on the beach with picnic and BBQ of course. Perhaps a little food stand near the parking lot at most. Then other beaches would be completely empty and untouched. You can easily find a beach all to yourself here!
10. Espiritu Santo Island
Espiritu Santo Island is a National Park and UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. You can easily arrange a tour from La Paz to go diving and snorkelling around the surrounding reefs. One of the best times to visit is without a doubt from October to February during Whale Shark season. The tours can be quite pricey from 100 USD upwards but it’s one of the best things to do in Baja California. Depending on when you visit you can see dolphins, sharks, rays, turtles, sea lion, herons and countless other fish and birds. Punta Baja is a reputable tour operator with top reviews!
Unfortunately Fiona and I visited Baja California off-season and therefore we didn’t take the tour as we already knew we had some top notch diving spots a bit later on in our trip, for example in Belize. Our friends visited some months later and got to swim with whale sharks. We heard from many other travellers that this was a highlight of their Baja California trip too. So although we didn’t take the tour, we had to make sure to include it so you don’t miss out if you are visiting in the right season!
Summary
If we had to pick the absolute highlight of our trip to Baja California we would seriously struggle. We look back at it as a super fun road trip that had a lot to offer. From delicious seafood, to wine tasting, surfing, snorkeling and scenic ocean views and crystal clear waters! What made it wasn’t a single destination, but the road trip itself!
Hopefully this blog-post will provide you with some insight as to what to expect from a trip to Baja California. Have you already been to Baja California? What is your favourite spot? If you have any questions, suggestions or tips then please share them below. We’d love to hear from you 🙂
