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Trip Report
Road trip through Baja California
Driving through the desert of Baja California Sur and avoiding a cyclone!
North AmericaMexico7 days / September 2021
Highs & Lows
The desert is georgeous
Heavy rain was brought by the cyclone
Itinerary Overview
Starting off my trip to Mexico, I decided to go directly to Baja California Sur, a small peninsula located off the coast to Mexico mainland and below the state of California. I was heading for the sun and blue water escaping the September usual rainy season. I was caught off guard when a I arrived there and figured out a cyclone was about to make its way right where I wanted to go. Fortunately, this experience turned out to be one of my best road trips of all my life. A few days before arriving there, in Mexico City I met a French girl that was heading to La Paz in Baja California Sur. We planned together to gather other people for a road trip and ended up starting the trip with a German guy and a Mexican touristic guide who was off work. We started in the south of the peninsula before quickly driving to the north to avoid the cyclone and then returning back to the south!
We wanted to come to La Ventana because we heard that it was a very popular town for windsurfing. After a few hours of driving from La Paz at night, we arrived into a small hotel. The evening was amazing, we had a big party, played foosball, had a few drinks and started breaking the ice! Then the night came. A very scary storm woke us up followed by heavy rain that flooded even the inside of the room. That was a reminder that a cyclone was coming. We visited La Ventana in the morning but it was clearly not a good time to start windsurfing. The wind became stronger and stronger to a point where we decided to change our plans. Instead of going further south, we decided to head as far as we could to the north to get the sun back. We had lunch in the town and then drove all day toward the north.
The road from La Ventana up to Loreto was very long but worth the drive. It has everything that you could expect from a road trip. A straight forward road with no other cars, gorgeous cacti and a redish sunset. We managed to escape the storm and the blue sky was back. The town of Loreto is very cute and worth visiting but the beach is not the nicest I've ever seen. The next day we drove further north to the town of Mulegé, an oasis in the middle of the desert. On the way, we stopped in a few beaches. It was really fun doing some snorkeling. The town of Mulegé is definitely worth visiting but besides a view point, there is not much to do there! The last day, we went for a church called Mision San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundo. It is located very far up in the mountains and fortunately we had a car, they used to go there walking up in the burning sun!
In one day, we drove all the way from the north to Cabo San Lucas, stopping in the town of Todos Santos. Todos Santos is a popular town for relaxing whereas Cabo San Lucas is popular for partying, sometimes seen as a second Cancun. However, we were not interested in partying there. We had a coffee in Todos Santos and I must admit it is the perfect spot to see the sunset and chill! The interesting part of Cabo San Lucas for us was the touristic Lovers Beach at the very south of the town. We had a special tour of the area by boat as our Mexican friend had some friends of his in the town. The water was magnificent and we could even spot sea lions from up close, a dream! A last sunset at Cerritos Beach close to Todos Santos and our road trip ended!
Q & A
What would you have changed?
Look up the forecast ahead of our tripAnything go wrong during the trip?
Our room was flooded. Fortunately, we saw it coming.Tips you would give a friend?
Renting a car is the best way to visit this state, go for it!Transportation Tips?
Don't drive at night as there are a lot of cows and other animals on the road.Any surprises?
It is very different from the rest of Mexico and ever seem a bit more American.