Baja California Sur is one of the youngest states of Mexico, and yet it has remains that date back about 10,000 years and magical towns with colonial architecture.

Visiting our state and exploring it feels like traveling through time.

Enjoy the trip!

And if you think that’s amazing, learning more about cave art directly at the Sierra de San Francisco is an even more fascinating experience. Four-meter tall paintings in red and black reflect the magical-religious thinking of our ancestors and their relationship with their environment.

Proghorns, bighorn sheep, hares, serpents, pumas, reptiles, hands and human figures are some of the great representations painted over 10,000 years ago at an astonishing cave framed by the mountain range overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

To visit this site, a tour guide is mandatory. We suggest to visit from October through May.

Imagine yourself driving on a small road by the desert and suddenly finding a waterfall that indicates the proximity of an oasis. As you carry on, you’ll see a temple of great proportions built with volcanic rock; a church that would easily belong to a city square, placed right in the middle of the desert next to an oasis full of fruit trees. What you have imagined cannot be compared to the surprises that this mission route has in store for you.

    FOUNDER
Nuestra Señora de Loreto 1697 (Juan Ma. De Salvatierra)
San Javier 1699 (Francisco Ma. Piccolo)
Santa Rosalía de Mulegé 1705 (Juan Ma. Basaldua)
San Ingnacio Kadakaamán 1728 (Juan Bautista de Luyando)
San José de Comondú 1708 (Julián Mayorga)
San Luis Gonzaga 1720 (Jaime Bravo)

Magical Towns

Taking the Transpeninsular Highway from the South to the North is bumping into towns that seem trapped in time; magical places where you may find remains of a glorious past. Gold mines that left behind large chimneys which still stand proud; sugar mills that left behind beautiful town houses, a museum and a theater; a French town with a particular charm, where the smell of freshly baked bread is a given. Oases, stories and secrets. A thousand legends of magical towns waiting to be discovered by you.

Santiago

A colorful town full of fruit trees, a small mission site, and a canyon through which fresh water runs all year long in the middle of an oasis, are some of the things you’ll fall in love with.

El Triunfo

Some people say that the town of El Triunfo, during its golden years, used to be the most important city of the territory with a population of over 4,000 people. The mining company El Progreso, established in 1878, brought modernity to the desert by building a 45-meter tall chimney, which remains intact as a symbol of its past.  

Todos Santos

Up on a hill, surrounded by palm groves along the Pacific Ocean, is a mission that welcomes the sea breeze. Todos Santos is a magical place with charming local people. Its theater on the main square was built in the time of sugar mills, and it was a significant cultural center for many, many years.

Today, its cosmopolitan ambiance, art galleries, quaint buildings and top restaurants have made Todos Santos a must-stop among travelers.

La Purísima

At the foothills of the enigmatic Cerro del Pilón you may find two towns that share the same river and an oasis. Lands where mission wine is produced from the very same vines brought by the missionaries. Ideal places for mountain biking, hiking, and learning more about the traditional lifestyle of the South Baja ranches.

Santa Rosalía

A mining town, Santa Rosalía is a unique place in all of Mexico. Founded by the French Company El Boleo in 1884, this lively little town has kept its original architecture of wooden houses with gable roofs. 

Being in Santa Rosalía feels like a journey to the past: an old locomotive, a small church designed by Gustav Eiffel and the smell of its famous sweet bread will make your trip truly unforgettable.