For our last night in La Paz, Mexico, we kept it simple: a few cans of cold Pacifico, a bench on the malecón, the city’s boardwalk, and the sunset glowing orange over the sparkling silver-blue Sea of Cortez. My husband, Alex, and I had spent almost a week taking scenic desert drives and leisurely city walks, visiting stunning beaches and mountains, and enjoying a steady diet of fish tacos and mezcalitas. But now we were coated in salt and sinking into a blissful exhaustion that only comes after a day of diving.
La Paz is the capital of Baja California Sur, the state of Mexico where about 42 percent of the land and water are natural protected areas and the city is located on the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, considered one of the global ones. the most diverse marine environments. Travelers have long been drawn to the region’s glorious countryside, a signature combination of ocean and red-hued desert, to spend days not only diving, but also sailing, kayaking, fishing, kite surfing, mountain biking, camping and hiking.
In recent years, the city has maintained its strong commitment to environmental protection, but has also welcomed new restaurants and accommodations, satisfying the growing desire of many travelers to Mexico for authentic experiences found beyond the walls of a huge resort.
“This is an adventure destination,” said Luz Maria Zepeda, director of the city’s tourism board. “We want people who want to explore, who want to keep the environment the way it is and help us protect it.”
Growth, but kept under control
Home to about 300,000 people, La Paz has a distinctly laid-back feel — “The Peace,” it’s aptly called — and is often overshadowed by Los Cabos, a municipality at the southernmost tip of the state that includes San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas , as well as from tiny Todos Santos, a chic art and dining destination on the Pacific coast.
Indeed, while La Paz had a record 600,000 tourists in 2023, Los Campos – through cruises and air alone – welcomes 3 million travelers annually.
La Paz’s relatively small number of visitors is, in part, a matter of access: La Paz’s airport serves almost exclusively domestic destinations, with direct flights mainly from Mexico City and Guadalajara. Most international visitors choose to fly into the larger Los Cabos International Airport and make the two to three hour drive to La Paz.
The drive from the airport is its own worthwhile trip, with routes along the Pacific coast through Todos Santos and El Pescadero, home to Playa Los Cerritos, a popular surfing destination. A slightly longer, but epically beautiful, one winds through the Sierra La Laguna mountain range.
La Paz is a walkable city with good roads and plenty of services. It has no major resorts, and there are no current plans to build any: This is not a destination with aspirations of emulating the all-inclusive, tourist-heavy vibes associated with Cabo. Instead of a waterfront dominated by limited private access, La Paz has the malecón, which was renovated in 2020 and 2021. Last April, a proposal to build a large cruise port was withdrawn after local backlash.
“We don’t want mass tourism,” said Ivan Félix, director of tours and travel at La Paz’s tourist board. “The idea is not to increase in numbers, but in quality.”
This has translated into a number of smaller, higher-end hotel openings: Hotel Indigo, formerly the Costabaja 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 visitors in January. Grupo Habita opened the Baja Club Hotel in a former colonial villa in 2021 on the malecón. Hilton plans to complete the renovation of the historic La Perla hotel, which first opened in 1940, by the end of this year.
This sophisticated growth can also be found in the city’s food scene, which continues to be dominated by fresh local seafood, flour tortillas and ranch dishes such as meaty molcajetes and snack-sized burritos. Fried fish tacos remain a constant, from street stands to casual eateries like Taco Fish La Paz (featured in the Netflix series “Taco Chronicles”) and Toto Frito, where you can try sustainably farmed totoaba, a fish originating from the Sea of Cortez. We feasted on a variety of chilaquiles at Maria California, a popular brunch spot, and inhaled spicy shrimp aguachile at a beach stand at Playa El Tecolote, just north of Balandra. At Los 32 Sabores, an unforgettable dinner of manta ray and tripe tacos with fresh tortillas and Caesar salads prepared tableside hinted at the city’s ambition to become a fine dining and drinking destination.
Gratitude Coffee Makers, a coffee bar a few blocks from the malecón, was opened by husband and wife team Sergio Hernández and Gloria Olivera in 2022. The couple works closely with Mexican coffee growers, ensuring both quality beans and fair labor practices. and host art exhibitions and events in their cafe. They have noticed a decided change in the restaurant scene in recent years.
“It’s definitely growing. There are a lot of people from the mainland who come here and open restaurants. You can find a lot more things to do,” said Mr. Hernández, who is from Mexico City.
Some of that diversity can be found nearby at the Tiger Club, which serves Southeast Asian dishes and natural wine. The restaurant is housed on the back patio of Casa Nopal, a showroom and shop specializing in handmade goods by Mexican artisans, both opening in 2022. Nearby, Sunrise/Sunset is a natural wine bar that opened in December. Nemi offers riffs on traditional dishes, which might include fresh fish served raw or with hoja santa butter, duck confit in flour tortillas, or pork belly served with beans and nopales. The restaurant is the first solo project of Alejandro Villagomez, who in 2011 moved from Mexico City where he was chef de cuisine at Pujol.
“La Paz is a magical place,” Mr. Villagomez said. “We are surrounded by sea and desert and we try to find the best ingredients both inside and outside the city.”
White sand, cobalt waters
However, for all the new destination-worthy hotels and restaurants, the natural world remains La Paz’s main asset. Chrissy Cappellano, a certified scuba instructor from Long Island, New York, has been living in the city since 2018.
“You have to plan multiple trips to see everything,” he said of the area’s rich marine life. “There is a time that is good for whale sharks, for whales, for sea lions.”
I met Ms. Cappellano when she led our full-day dive trip with Carey Dive Center that included a whale watching surprise and a swim with whale sharks, the wide-mouthed, filter-feeding fish that can grow up to 30 feet. The rest of the day was spent on the islands of Espirito Santo and Partida – the archipelago is part of a UNESCO biosphere reserve, a national park and a 45-minute walk from the city – diving around a protected sea lion colony called Los Islotes. The marine mammals didn’t hesitate to approach our group, flipping and in some cases biting fins and snorkels. Perhaps just as spectacular were the shoals of sardines, glinting silver in the sun as they swirled around us like confetti.
Caring for the environment is a common talking point on dive trips I’ve taken elsewhere in Mexico and around the world. here, it was an active part of the agenda. Daily access to whale sharks, which migrate to feed in the waters just outside the city, is limited to a small number of tourist boats at set times. As we boarded our boat after our first dive at Los Islotes, someone spotted a sea lion that had been injured by a hook. Ms. Cappellano quickly sent photos and videos to Rescate de Lobos Marinos, an organization that helps track and treat sea lions. Carey also made a point of providing reusable water bottles for the day. (The state as a whole has been severely restricting single-use plastics since 2018.)
It is not difficult to understand how and why visitors fall in love with these cobalt waters and why the locals are so protective of them. Espiritu Santo is a geological layer cake carved with countless small anchorages, beloved by sailors and fishing enthusiasts. But there’s plenty to explore on land, too — the island is a popular hiking and glamping destination, while Playa Balandra, famous for its white sand and shallow turquoise waters, is consistently ranked as one of the country’s most beautiful beaches. A 20-minute drive from the city center, it’s also a conservation area and limits the number of visitors allowed per day, with timed entries at 8am. and 1 p.m. La Ventana, 40 minutes by car, is a famous kite-surfing destination. There is also mountain biking, sand dune, hiking and camping.
“You can choose a beach depending on the wind. There are waterfalls and hot springs. Every sunset here is usually amazing,” Ms Cappellano said. “There is so much nature to enjoy.”
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