Two Magical Towns

March 7 – 12 & March 19 – 21, 2022.

After we left Los Cabos it was time for some magic! By now, of course, we were already feeling Baja’s magic! The water, the culture, the wildlife, the big cities. But despite all this wonderfulness Mexico has decided to designate some places as more magic than others – these are called Pueblos Mágicos.

The Pueblo Mágico program was started in 2001 by Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism. Towns with historical importance, extraordinary beauty, fascinating culture, or natural wonders and with a population of at least 5000 can apply to become a magical destination. As of 2022, there are 132 Pueblo Mágicos, at least one in all of the 31 Mexican States (with the exception of Mexico City).

In our travels on the Mexican mainland, we’ve visited several of these magic towns. Baja California Sur has two Pueblos Mágicos and we enjoyed adding them to our list.

* All pics are click to enlarge. Once you have them enlarged you can view them in a slide show. Also, you can hover over the pics to see captions.

Todos Santos

Todos Santos lies on the Pacific side near the bottom of the Baja peninsula. Although not situated directly on the water it is close to beautiful beaches known for their surfing waves. The town is also known for its arts community and its turtle nesting areas. An organization called Tortugueros Las Playitas conducts a daily baby turtle release through the winter, which is one of the reasons we were drawn to this Pueblo Magico.

Learn more about Tortugueros Las Playitas here.

Shops line the sidewalks with handicrafts.

Colorful restaurants are everywhere.

Iglesia Mision Todos Santos.

The gang walks past murals in Todos Santos.

An “enclosed” mall for handicrafts.

Art in a food court.

Cute places to sit.

A display at the Casa de la Cultura Professor Néstor Agundez museum. The reproduction of the bedroom of “La Coronela”. She was a heroine of the 1913 revolution. Working as a seamstress and midwife, she fed and mended revolutionaries, while getting their enemies too drunk to fight.

Don Quixote at Casa de la Cultura Profr Néstor Agundez.

This cemetery, Panteón Antiguo de Todos Santos was built in 1859. It is famous for its Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) holiday celebrated on November 1 & 2.

Although Todos Santos isn’t adjacent to the ocean the spirits can see if from the hill in the Panteón.

Turtle Release

Newly hatched Olive Ridley turtles.

Not all hatchlings are supervised like this. The nestlings rely on the heat of the sand for incubation. When temperatures drop too low turtles can suffer malformations or death. So all nests laid after October 16 are relocated to an incubation greenhouse.

The crowd waits for the sun to set and for the turtles to be released.

Whales provide the pre-turtle release show.

Finally time to bring the turtles out.

Volunteers release the turtles.

They head to the water.

In recent years the program has been able to incubate more than 10,000 endangered eggs in the greenhouse giving these guys a better chance of survival.

Loreto

A lot of Loreto’s charm is in its water. This Sea of Cortez town is adjacent to Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto. Gray Whales come here to mate and have their young. On the islands of the park, you can find sea lions, beautiful beaches, and endemic reptiles. Coral reefs await snorkelers and divers.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to visit the park. But fortunately, the town of Loreto is lovely. We walked along the Malecon, through the historic downtown, and along the water’s edge. We ate out quite a bit. And because we stayed at a campground in town we were able to experience the beauty of this magic town at night.

And Loreto is also not far from Misión San Francisco Javier. This restored 1700s Spanish mission is just about an hour’s drive into the beautiful mountains overlooking the Pueblo Mágico. We enjoyed our day trip to this tourist site and found ourselves for the first time in our travels in Baja in the minority as gringo tourists.

Overlook of Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto on the way into the town.

Malecón in Loreto.

Historic Loreto.

Walking the streets in the historic area.

A view of Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto.

Mural.

Handicraft shop.

Ceramic Katrinas.

The mission at night.

The beach in Loreto.

Misión San Francisco Javier

A view of the mountains on the way to the mission. Although a bit windy this road is nicely paved.

Misión San Francisco Javier. The mission was free to visit. There were several places in the town, San Javier, to have lunch as well as a “popup” market.

Inside view of Misión San Francisco Javier.

Olivar Tricentenario. A three hundred year old olive tree behind the mission. It was 20 pesos ($1) to visit the tree.