This travel guide is a very personal account of our travels. What we saw, where we ate and stayed, and what we liked and didn’t like.
Along with our lists, we’ve included a few tidbits of wisdom that we wish we’d had before we left. We hope you find this information useful on your next trip as well.
The Baja California peninsula is an ocean lover’s dream, offering up nearly every water-based activity you can imagine. From sailing and surfing, to scuba diving and sportfishing, to sunbathing and swimming, there’s something here for nearly everyone.
During the winter months, the waters surrounding Baja are filled with thousands of migrating whales. Everything from the giant Blues and Fins on down can be spotted throughout the area.
But it is the Grey Whales and their newborn calves on the Pacific side that provide a truly unique whale-watching experience that is unmatched anywhere else in the world.
There are 3 places to see grey whales, all of them on the Pacific Ocean side of Baja. Ojo de Liebre (near Guerrero Negro), San Ignacio Lagoon, and Magdalena Bay. Within Magdalena Bay, there are two towns, San Carlos and Adolfo López Mateos.
The nearest towns with commercial air service are Loreto, La Paz and Los Cabos. All are several hours’ driving distance from these places. While it is possible to make a day trip of it from these towns, it makes for a VERY long day.
Whales are most active the hour before sunrise and the hour after sunset. Whale behavior changes from morning to afternoon, so you should try to do at least one session in the morning and one in the afternoon. Two-hour sessions in the boat work best.
Try to be on the water before 8AM. After that, people start arriving from Loreto and Cabo and the waters become much more crowded.
There are a limited number of direct flights to La Paz and Loreto from the US. There are many more flights to Los Cabos, but it is also the farthest from the whale watching areas.
A better option for slightly more adventurous travelers is to travel from Tijuana Airport. You can fly into San Diego, get a transfer to the CBX Cross-Border Xpress and walk into Tijuana airport from the US side. More info here: Cross Border Xpress
These cities are serviced by low cost carriers, so they don’t operate every day and there is a chance your flight could get cancelled. Our flight home with Calafia was cancelled. They reimbursed us for the cost of the ticket, but not the cost of a new ticket on a different airline.
There are many companies offering transportation from Loreto, La Paz and Los Cabos to the whale watching areas. The cost would have been $150 per person round trip from Loreto to Adolfo Lopez Mateos. We believe it’s cheaper and more convenient to rent a car and drive yourself.
There are many car rental companies operating in Baja. We used MEX and booked it through Booking.com. Everything was great, except…
Third party liability insurance is required in Mexico AND it has to be purchased directly from the car rental company. Third party car insurance offered through Booking.com didn’t qualify. This insurance is cheaper if purchased from the car rental company at the time of the booking, so we had to pay more.
If your credit card covers rental car damage, then you don’t need to purchase this additional insurance. Be mindful, though, that if you have car damage, you’ll have to pay for it at the time you return the car and then seek reimbursement from the credit card later.
Baja California is a huge area with a wide variety of things to see and do. For the ocean lover, there’s swimming, surfing, sportfishing, sailing, and scuba diving just for starters. On land, you can go golfing, horseback riding, and ATVing. You can visit historical missions, or go wine tasting as well.
Our most recent visit was primarily to go whale watching, so that’s what the bulk of this travel guide is about.
There are 3 places to see grey whales, all of them on the Pacific Ocean side of Baja. Ojo de Liebre is near Guerrero Negro, but is the farthest from any commercial air service. San Ignacio Lagoon is very remote and has limited lodging options. Magdalena Bay is the closest to larger cities. Within Magdalena Bay, there are two towns, San Carlos and Adolfo López Mateos. We chose Adolfo López Mateos because it is closer to the whales than San Carlos.
There are several Whale Watch operators, each with their own group of independent panga operators. Pangas are locally designed and built boats that can carry up to 16 people. Each group will have their own boat. From Adolfo López Mateos’ pier, it is just a 15-minute boat ride to the mouth of the lagoon, where most of the whale watching happens.
We used Tunatours for all of our excursions and had a super experience. The cost was 2,000 pesos (cash) per hour plus tip (10%) for our own boat. Alushe Camacho, one of the principals, recommended 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, as the whales act differently throughout the day. We preferred our morning experiences to the afternoon, but since there isn’t anything else to do in town, you might as well maximize your time on the water.
Loreto is a mid-sized town about 3/4 of the way down the Baja peninsula on the Sea of Cortez side. It has a cute downtown area that, because it is on the cruise ship circuit, has more shops, bars and restaurants than you might expect. It’s on a particularly windy spot, so for good beaches you need to head farther south, to Nopolo.
We hired a boat for a day in the hopes of seeing Blue and Fin whales. We booked a boat with Pancho Barracuda because he and his crew are known for their ability to find fish (and whales). This was a 5 hour trip, going up and down the coast in search of whales. They provided water on the boat, but nothing else. We brought our own sandwiches. There also was no toilet on the boat, only a pee bucket for the girls. This trip was rather expensive, about $400 US, because of the high cost of gas.
Because of cruise ship visitors and a large expat community, Loreto has a surprising number of good restaurants for its size. Note that many of these restaurants have outdoor dining without heaters or blankets. If you’re visiting in the wintertime whale watching season, be sure to pack sweaters and jackets.
Mezzaluna la Tabernita de Loreto Cocina Rustica. A Uruguayan restaurant with very good salads and pizzas.
Xamaica had delicious ceviche in a courtyard setting
Café Renata. Delicious café lattes and pastries.
Santo Cielo Cocina Gourmet. An upscale restaurant with delicious cuisine in a lovely garden.
Palapa San Telmo. An unassuming building on the main highway, but I had an amazing fish filet.
Being a tiny, remote town, the dining options here are limited. If you can, bring fresh fruit with you from outside the area, as you won’t find any here. The cuisine is quite basic, but the seafood is always very fresh. A couple that we did like:
Palapa Mariscos el Pechocho. It has a pocket view of the lagoon and was a delightful place for lunch and a late afternoon beer. Ann really enjoyed the seafood soup.
Cabañas Brisa. The locals said this was the best restaurant in town. Sami enjoyed the shrimp in garlic sauce.
Bugambilias Suites. Nice and modern, around the corner from a grocery store and near downtown.
Collection O Posada De Las Flores. The most upscale hotel in town, it is situated in a newly renovated historic building. Even if you don’t stay there, walk into the lobby and look up. Above you is the glass bottom of the hotel pool.
Nopolo. An expat enclave a few miles south of Loreto. It’s a cute, walkable development with a golf course, marina, restaurants, and a small grocery store. You can probably find rentals via AirBnB and VRBO there.
Most of the hotels have are very basic. The most upscale hotel appeared to be the Whales Nest Cabanas. We didn’t go inside, but it was the classiest one we walked by.
We stayed in an Air BnB – Sayra’s Place. It was basic but clean.
As Adolfo López Mateos becomes more popular with tourists, more new homes are being built as AirBnB rentals. Jimmy Camacho, one of the partners in Tunatours, the groups we used for Whale Watching, has such a house. He charges $120/night for 1-3 people and $150/night for 4-8 people. He can be reached on WhatsApp at +52 613 114 0761
January 13, 2024
gail
I like the new format – ggelles