Our five and a half months RV adventure through Baja California was fabulous! We’ve been back in the USA for almost a month now. We’ve had lots of time to reflect on and share with one another about our trip. Now we’d like to share with you.
We both agree that we liked Baja California Sur far more than Baja California (norte). Our favorite place was Loreto followed closely by Mulegé and Guerrero Negro. For us, towns relatively close to the U.S. border were not our favorites nor was the big city of Ensenada. What we decided would be most helpful in this blog would be to retrace our route and share about our stops. We hope this will be a useful guide for anyone visiting Baja, particularly in an RV.
We entered Mexico through Mexicali, where we had an uneventful, easy border crossing. Our first stop was San Felipe with its lovely malecon (ocean walkway). We found the RV parks ($25 per night) there to be crowded and pricy for our budget ($15 per night). The great thing about RV life is that there is always the option to “boondock” and that’s what we did. We spent 2 nights in San Felipe, parked for free, on a quiet street, no trouble. We spent our days exploring the town which is full of “Gringo” tourists, restaurants and curio shops. We got to experience our first Mexican supermarket where we were pleasantly surprised by the great prices. We had a really bad restaurant meal but enjoyed seeing the Sea of Cortez for the first time. We were ready to move on on our third day in Baja.
Our next stop was Puertecitos, a tiny fishing village. This was the Baja I dreamed of. We found a small, family owned RV park right on the beach. $10 a night was perfect for our budget and we enjoyed waking up to the sounds of our fisherman neighbors launching their boats. Aside from walking on beach and enjoying the ocean view there was nothing for us to do there. We were ready to move on in 3 days.
The worst road ever (4 hours to travel 15 miles of rocks, ruts and dirt) brought us to the paradise of Bahia de los Angeles. We were right on the beach again, for $10 a night, with priceless views of ocean, a delightful school of dolphins and varied, wonderful birds. We settled in here for a few days, enjoying our home cooked meals and lots of time for reading and relaxing (no wifi).
Next stop on our travels was Guerrero Negro. This small city is the first one in the state of Baja California Sur. It was the first place where we enjoyed a fairly long stay. There was a great walking path along a bird sanctuary which we really enjoyed. We alternated our time in this area between “boondocking” on the city streets and staying right on the beach at beautiful Ojo de Liebre. The city has the advantage of good internet (through Tel Cel), a good grocery market, laundromat and restaurants. There was none of these on the beach…but Oh! The views!
Ojo de Liebre is one of the most amazing places. It is one of only three places in the world where grey whales come to give birth. For $5 a night you can park your RV right on the beach and spend your days watching hundreds of whales go by. For a very reasonable price you can take a boat out and get close enough to touch them!
Our next stop was the dessert city of Vizcaino. This is a great place to get repairs done. We stayed here both heading south and on our return north. There are many great mechanics in Vizcaino and the Kadekaman RV park has great wifi and lovely restrooms but there’s not much else in town.
About an hour from Vizcaino is the tiny town of San Ignacio. It is a lovely town with a centuries old mission and RV parks right on the lagoon. Don’t make the mistake we did: there are no banks here. P We had to go all the way back to Guerrero Negro for a working ATM. The one in Vizcaino only seems to work for Mexican bank cards.
Santa Rosalia is a small city with some interesting architecture. We enjoyed walking around and seeing the sights but there was no RV anywhere close to town so our stay was brief.
Heading further south we found the beautiful town of Mulegé. A good measure of how much we like a place is how long we stay. We were in Mulegé for over a month. It’s a perfect spot for RVers. The Huerta Don Chano RV Park is less than $10 a night with good wifi and full hook ups ( electricity and water). There is a real feeling of community here with lots of full time residents from the U.S. From there we could walk to town where we enjoyed the tranquility. There were several food markets, a drug store and a few restaurants but no bank. Mulegé is also home to lots of U.S. retirees so there are frequent activities like chili cook-offs and pig racing.
I could not imagine loving a place more than Mulegé until we landed in Loreto. This is a great town, one we are seriously considering retiring in. It’s just the right size with well stocked supermarkets, banks, drug stores, restaurants and curio shops. There is always something happiness in the town square. Our RV park (El Morro) was a block from the beach. It was a great bargain at $10 a night, including wifi and full hook up. From El Morro we were able to walk everywhere. We stayed in Loreto for almost 3 months.
From Loreto you can make a day trip up the mountain to see the town and mission of San Francisco Javier. There is an ancient olive grove there and lovely kind people selling freshly made goat cheese.
In big contrast to the tiny San Javier is the bright lights, big city feel of La Paz. I’m sure you can find and do anything here, just like any big city. The RV park we stayed in, Maranatha, was several miles outside of town. While we enjoyed the pool and our site there and the malecon of La Paz, overall this was one of our least favorite stays.
We did enjoy a few days visit to Todos Santos, about an hour south of La Paz. This is definitely a more “touristy” town, reflected in higher prices and lots of restaurants, bars and shops.
There was no RV park in the area although we found a surf camp willing to accommodate us.
Our map showed an area called the 7 wonders of Comundu. On the map it looked like a collection of medium sized towns and good roads. NOT! While we don’t regret going, as we got our dog in one of the towns, there is not much to recommend RV travel in this area. The roads are really bad and the towns, while charming, are almost empty. We ended up back tracking to Loreto.
With the new addition to our family, Kahlo, we decided to stay another month in Loreto before heading home. We really love this town!
Not wanting to overstay our six months visa we left Loreto, heading slowly north. We stayed several days in Vizcaino for some repairs and then traveled rather quickly. Several small dessert towns are kind of a blur before we got to Ensenada and the Rosarito. These 2 cities reminded us very much of southern California and were not our favorites. The closer we got to the U.S. border, prices were higher, things were more crowded and the less natural beauty was seen. We crossed uneventfully across the Tijuana border at 4 a.m. and said our farewells to Baja. We will definitely return!
I know this is a longer post than usual and yet I feel I left lots out. I hope it’s helpful, especially for RVers traveling Baja. Please feel free to share any comments or ask any questions you may have.
climate filled with tropical diseases , like those in the old movies. And although Marci has not really gotten sick, I have suffered through unknown rashes and infections. The good news is I am fine. The great news is it cost me less than fifteen dollars to handle the most expensive health scare. That is for less than $15 I was completely cured of a skin infection I thought would send me home to the United States and my Mama’s loving house since we no longer have a house of our own.
don’t speak Spanish, to my great regret. The pharmacist who didn’t speak English took one look inside my barely opened mouth figured out what I needed. He handed me a bottle while miming for me to rinse my mouth and gargle with it 6 times a day. I nodded and paid him. The next day I could talk and more importantly, smile without pain. A few days later I was back to my old chatting laughing self.
BOLT: Black Old Lesbians Traveling 