Our last night in La Paz, Mexico, we kept it simple. A few cans of chilled Pacifico, a bench on the Malecon, the city's waterfront promenade, and an orange sunset over the silvery-blue Sea of Cortez. Her husband, Alex, and I spend most of our time together, taking scenic desert drives and leisurely city walks, visiting beautiful beaches and mountains, and enjoying a steady diet of fish tacos and mescalitas. I spent a week there. But now we were salted and sinking into that blissful exhaustion that only comes after a day of scuba diving.
La Paz is the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, where approximately 42 percent of its land and water are protected natural areas, and the city is located on the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, making it one of the world's largest cities. It is considered one of the. The most diverse marine environment. Travelers have long been drawn to the region's natural splendor, with its unique mix of sea and red desert, offering opportunities for diving as well as sailing, kayaking, fishing, kitesurfing, mountain biking, camping, and hiking. I will spend a few days there.
In recent years, the city has not only maintained a strong commitment to environmental protection, but also opened new restaurants and Accommodations are also welcome.
“This is an adventure destination,” says Luz María Zepeda, director of the city's tourism board. “We're looking for people who want to explore, people who want to preserve the environment as it is, and people who want to help us protect it.”
Growth is present but restrained
Home to around 300,000 people, La Paz has a distinctly laid-back vibe, aptly named “Peaceful.” And it's often overshadowed by Los Cabos, the state's southernmost municipality, which includes San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. , as well as tiny Todos Santos, a stylish destination for art and food on the Pacific Coast.
In fact, La Paz saw a record number of 600,000 tourists in 2023, while Los Cabos receives 3 million visitors a year on cruises and planes alone.
The relatively low number of visitors to La Paz is also due to access issues. La Paz's airport serves almost exclusively domestic destinations, with direct flights primarily from Mexico City and Guadalajara. Most international travelers fly into the larger Los Cabos International Airport and drive 2 to 3 hours to La Paz.
The drive from the airport is a worthwhile trip in itself, with routes along the Pacific coast past Todos Santos and El Pescadero, home to the popular surfing spot Playa Los Cerritos. Although it's a bit of a distance, it's a very beautiful drive through the Sierra La Laguna Mountains.
La Paz is an easy-to-walk city with good roads and good services. There are no large-scale resorts here, and there are no plans to build one at this time. This is not a destination with aspirations to emulate the all-inclusive, tourist-heavy spring break atmosphere long associated with Cabo. Instead of a waterfront with limited private access, La Paz now has the Malecon, which was renovated in 2020 and 2021. In April last year, plans to build a large port for cruise ships were scrapped following local opposition.
“We don't want large-scale tourism,” said Ivan Félix, manager of tours and travel at the La Paz Tourism Board. “The important thing is not to increase quantity, but to increase quality.”
This led to the opening of small, high-end hotels one after another. Hotel Indigo, the former Costa Baja Resort & Spa, was renovated and reopened by IHG in December, and Republica Pagana, an adults-only boutique hotel with a rooftop bar and restaurant, welcomed its first guests in January. I welcomed you. Grupo Habita opened Baja Club Hotel in 2021 in a former colonial villa on the Malecon. Hilton plans to complete renovations to the historic La Perla Hotel, which opened in 1940, by the end of this year.
That growth in sophistication is also visible in the city's culinary scene, where regional fresh seafood, flour tortillas, and ranch-driven dishes like meat-filled molcajetes and snack-sized burritos still dominate. Masu. Fish-fried tacos are still available from street food stalls to casual eateries like Taco Fish La Paz (featured on the Netflix series Taco Chronicles) and Toto His Frito, where you can sample sustainably farmed totoaba native to the Sea of Cortez. It boasts deep-rooted popularity. We tasted a variety of chilaquiles at popular brunch spot Maria California, and smoked spicy shrimp aguachiles at Tecolote's Beach Stand in Playa El He, just north of Balandra. At Los 32 Sabores, a memorable dinner featuring manta and tripe tacos on freshly baked tortillas and Caesar salad made tableside hints at the city's ambitions to become an authentic dining destination. I did.
Gratitude Coffee Makers, a coffee bar a few blocks from the Malecon, was opened in 2022 by husband-and-wife team Sergio Hernandez and Gloria Olivera. The couple works closely with Mexican coffee farmers to ensure both high quality beans and fair labor practices. The cafe hosts art exhibitions and events. They noticed a decisive change in the restaurant scene in recent years.
“It's definitely developing. There are a lot of people coming here from the mainland and opening restaurants. You'll find a lot more to do,” said Hernández, a Mexico City native.
Some of that diversity can be found at nearby Tiger Club, which serves Southeast Asian cuisine and natural wines. The restaurant is located on the backyard patio of Casa Nopal, a showroom and shop specializing in handmade goods from Mexican artisans that opened in 2022. Nearby Sunrise/Sunset is a natural wine bar that opened in December. Nemi puts his spin on traditional dishes, including fresh fish served raw or with hoja santa butter, duck confit wrapped in flour tortillas, and pork belly with beans and nopales. The restaurant is the first solo project of Alejandro Villagomez, who immigrated in 2011 from Mexico City, where he was head chef at Puyol.
“La Paz is a magical place,” Villagomez said. “We are surrounded by ocean and desert, and we strive to find the best ingredients in and around the city.”
White sandy beaches, cobalt waters
Still, for all the new hotels and destination-worthy restaurants, the natural world remains La Paz's biggest draw. A certified master scuba diver from Long Island, New York, his trainer, Chrissy Capellano, has lived in the city since 2018.
“You'll have to plan multiple trips to see it all,” she said of the area's rich marine life. “There are good times for whale sharks, good times for whales, and good times for sea lions.”
I met Ms. Capellano when she led me on a one-day dive trip at Carey Dive Center. That trip included a surprising sighting of a humpback whale and a swim with whale sharks, a wide-mouthed filter-feeding fish that can grow up to 30 feet. The rest of the day, Espirito spent her time around the islands of Santo and Partida. The islands are part of a UNESCO biosphere reserve and national park, and are a 45-minute drive from the city. We did some diving around a protected sea lion colony called Los Ilotes. Marine mammals approached our group without hesitation, doing flips and in some cases biting our flippers and diving hoses. Perhaps just as spectacular were the schools of sardines, glittering silver in the sun as they swirled around us like confetti.
Environmental concerns are a common theme on the diving trips I've taken in Mexico and around the world. Here, it was a viable part of the agenda. Whale sharks migrate to feed in the waters just off the coast of the city, so daily access is limited to a small number of pleasure boats at set times. When we got on the boat after our first dive at Los Isolotes, someone found a sea lion pup injured with a fishing hook. Capellano immediately sent the photos and videos to Rescate de Lobos Marinos, an organization that helps monitor and treat sea lions. Carey also made a point of providing reusable water bottles for the day. (Since 2018, the state has been severely restricting single-use plastics.)
It's not hard to see why and how visitors fall in love with this cobalt-colored sea, and why locals are so protective of it. Espiritu Santo is a geological cake carved with countless small anchorages, beloved by sailors and fishing enthusiasts. But there's a lot to explore on land as well. The island is a popular destination for hiking and glamping. Also famous for its white sand and turquoise shallow waters, Playa Balandra is consistently listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. It is a 20-minute drive from the city center and is also a protected area, with a limited number of visitors allowed per day and restricted entry times at 8am and 1pm. La Ventana, a 40-minute drive away, is famous for its kites. -Surfing destinations. Mountain biking, dune buggy riding, hiking and camping are also available.
“You can choose the beach depending on the wind. There are waterfalls and there are hot springs. The sunsets here are always amazing,” Capellano said. “There's a lot of nature to enjoy.”
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