We had a three-generation Christmas vacation this year to Loreto Bay, Baja, in our quest for high-season affordable housing, mountains, ocean-life, golf, tennis, culture, and a bit of adventure. While the weather was the coolest in 20 years, Loreto didn’t disappoint.
Loreto Bay is a quaint, safe community outside of Loreto, a sweet Mexican town of 14, 000, founded by missionaries in 1697 and the oldest permanent settlement in Baja. We rented three gorgeous homes through Loreto Paradise Properties.
You can book activities through Maria at Vive Loreto (www.viveloreto.mx): she will bend over backwards to ensure that your hiking, ATV-ing, and other excursions are well-guided and outfitted.
Hiking Tabor Canyon
5 km, 6 hours, challenging
Liv and Ryan, our two teens, and I took a guided hike into Tabor Canyon. It’s about 10 km south of Loreto and is a big watershed for the Sierra de la Giganta. It is strewn with monstrous boulders and loose, crumbling volcanic rock and requires free climbing, ropes work, steady feet, a few leaps of faith and crossing water pools. The payoffs are stunning views of the mountainous desert canyon and ocean, from 1000 ft in elevation.
Hiking near Puerto Escondido
5 km, moderate terrain
Our big family hike took us up the Hart Trail on a small mountain beside Puerto Escondido that showcased not only Sierra de la Giganta but the stunning volcanic islands of del Carmen and Danzante.
Coronado Island Day Trip
Loreto is part of the larger Loreto Bay National Park, a nearly 800-square-mile stretch of islands, wetlands and lagoons that house more than 80 percent of all aquatic animals found in the Pacific Ocean. We took a drizzly but fun day trip with our 3-year-old niece and nephew to Coronado Island via a small panga to see the sea-lions and dolphins, and play on the beach. We were too early for whale season!
Overall, the trip was great. If you’re coming from eastern North America, it’s a long way to travel and tough to access. You can fly directly on West Jet from Calgary, or take one of two weekly flights on Alaskan Airlines from Los Angeles, as we did. I’d recommend visiting in late January to March, so you can whale watch, possibly swim with the whale sharks, and catch some warmer weather!
TREDSUP 