Camping: Baja

Two week Baja Road Trip

We spent the Christmas holidays on a 13-day road trip in Baja. We went from San Diego to San Jose del Cabo and back. Overall, the trip was smooth. We did the journey in our 76 VW Westfalia van, and it fared well. We were a bit nervous about gas, as the van has a pretty short range. The tough stretch was between El Rosario and Villa Jesus Maria, but there was guys selling gas at Catavina and the junction to Bahia Los Angeles (the Pemex in Catavina was closed). We also carried 3 gallons on top. We exchanged dollars for pesos in San Ysidro before we crossed the border.

The trip was mostly camping. We used the LP Baja Book and also the Foghorn Outdoors Baja Camping book. The LP book was right on the mark, but the Baja Camping book was a little outdated in some respects. We got our tourist permits ahead of time through Discover Baja Club. Here is where we camped:

Ensenada: Estero Beach Resort $28, basic RV lot with grassy landscaping right on the estuary. Pool, laudry, hot showers and really clean bathrooms. This is part of the Estero Beach Resort, which has a variety of spa amenities, as well as a good restaurant. (I’ve never paid that much to camp in the US!) We thought we would make it to San Quintin, but we got a late start out of San Diego and had a bit of an adventure getting our tourist cards stamped.

Catavina: Santa Inez Ranch. $6. Essentially a big parking lot. Flush toilets.

Mulege: Hotel Serenidada RV area. $16. Just a portion of the gravel lot that doubles as the hotel parking lot. Rather disappointing. We definatley should have pushed on a little further to camp on one of the beach south of Mulege. Hot showers and flush toilets. Zero view. I was at the hotel Serenidad in 2001 for a friend’s wedding. In the past 5 years, the hotel has gotten pretty tired.

Playas Santispac: $7. Toilets. Lots of RVers here for the long haul, but still a nice spot. It was pretty crowded when we were there, but we grabbed a spot off the main stretch. Water was nice for swimming. Ana’s Cantina at Santispac makes a STRONG margarita. Ray’s Place, which is a pretty popular restaurant at Santispac, burned down between Christmas and New Year. Apparently Santispac is going to be developed with a hotel/resort in the next year or so (??).

La Paz. Aquamarina RV Park, $19. Hot showers and flush toilets. Lots of trees, location near the water. Good restaurant (Parilla No.3 on Mabasola) near the RV park.

San Jose Del Cabo: We spent three days at the in-laws time share. We did have thai food at a thai place in San Jose (Baan Thai) That was novel. Good food, but expensive … more that what we would pay in the US. Nice ambience and friendly service.

Ciudad Insurgentes: Manfreds RV Park, $12. This place was very empty and there were a lot of flies, as it’s close to an open field with horse. Hot showers, flush toilet, friendly proprieters. It was getting dark so we decided to stop.

Playa la Perla. $7. Loved it! Small beach with 10 palapas. Friendly crowd when we were there. Calm waters for swimming, snorkeling and floating. Pit toilets.

San Quintin: Rancho Celito Linda: $10. Hot showers and flush toilets. Basic palapa, not very private. A better option may have been Gypsys Beach camp. Short walk to dunes/water. The restaurant at Celito Linda has a yummy cracked crab dinner. One order is enough for two to share.

Next time we plan to do more informal camping (fewer RV parks) or more longer-term beach camping. Now that I know how great the locations are on the beaches south of Mulege, we’ll do it different next time! This was our first trip down, so we may have been a bit more “cautious” than necessary. Overall a great time with friendly and helpful people wherever we met. Can't wait to go back!!