For our last night in La Paz, Mexico, we kept it simple: A couple of cans of cold Pacifico, a bench on the malecón, the city’s waterfront promenade, and the sunset glowing orange over the glittering silver-blue Sea of Cortez. My husband, Alex, and I spent about a week traveling through beautiful deserts and lazy city walks, visiting stunning beaches and mountains, and enjoying a steady diet of fish tacos and mezcalitas . But now we are covered in salt and sinking into a blissful exhaustion that only comes after a day spent scuba diving.
La Paz is the capital of Baja California Sur, the Mexican state where some 42 percent of land and water are natural protected areas, and the city is on the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, which is considered one of the most diverse marine environments in the world. Travelers have long been drawn to the region’s glorious outdoors, a unique mix of ocean and red 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, meeting the growing desire of many travelers to Mexico for authentic experiences found beyond walls of a huge resort.
“It’s an adventure destination,” said Luz Maria Zepeda, the director of the city’s tourism board. “We want people who want to explore, who want to preserve the environment in this way, and help us protect it.”
Growth, but kept in check
Home to about 300,000 people, La Paz has a distinct feel — “The Peace,” aptly named — 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 tiny Todos Santos, a trendy destination for art and food on the Pacific Coast.
In fact, while La Paz has a record-breaking 600,000 tourists in 2023, Los Cabos — through cruises and air alone — receives 3 million travelers annually.
La Paz’s relatively modest number of visitors is, in part, a question of access: La Paz’s airport almost exclusively serves domestic destinations, with direct flights mainly from Mexico City and Guadalajara . Most international visitors opt to fly into the larger Los Cabos International Airport and take the two to three hour drive to La Paz.
The drive from the airport is its own rewarding journey, with routes running along the Pacific Coast through Todos Santos and El Pescadero, home of Playa Los Cerritos, a popular surfing destination. A slightly longer, but epically beautiful, drive winds through Sierra La Laguna mountain range.
La Paz is a walkable city with good roads and many services. It has no big resorts, and no current plans to build any: It’s not a destination that aspires to replicate the all-inclusive, tourist-heavy spring break vibes long associated with Cabo. Instead of a waterfront dominated by restricted private access, La Paz has the malecón, which was renovated in 2020 and 2021. Last April, a proposal to build a large port for cruise ships was withdrawn after local pushback.
“We don’t want massive tourism,” said Ivan Félix, the manager of the tour and travel department of the La Paz tourism board. “The idea is not to grow in numbers, but in quality.”
That’s translated into a bevy of smaller, higher-end hotel openings: Hotel Indigoformerly Costabaja Resort & Spa, was renovated and reopened by IHG in December and Republic Pagana, an adults-only boutique hotel with a rooftop bar and restaurant, had its first guests in January. Grupo Habita opened the Baja Club Hotel in a former colonial villa in 2021 on the malecón. Hilton plans to complete a renovation of the historic La Perla Hotelwhich first opened in 1940, at the end of this year.
That sophisticated growth is also reflected in the city’s culinary scene, which continues to be dominated by fresh regional seafood, flour tortillas and ranch-driven fare like meat-filled molcajetes and snack-sized burritos. Fried fish tacos are going strong, from street stands to casual eateries like Taco Fish La Paz (featured in the Netflix series “Taco Chronicles,”) and True Fritowhere you can try sustainably farmed totoaba, a fish native to the Sea of Cortez. We feasted on different chilaquiles in Maria California, a popular brunch spot, and inhale spicy shrimp aguachile at a beach stand at Playa El Tecolote, just north of Balandra. In Los 32 Saboresan unforgettable dinner of manta ray and tripe tacos on fresh tortillas and a Caesar salad made tableside hint at the city’s ambition to be a bona fide food and drink destination.
Kudos to the coffee makers, a coffee bar a few blocks off the malecón, was opened by husband-and-wife team Sergio Hernández and Gloria Olivera in 2022. The couple works closely with Mexican coffee farmers, ensuring the same quality beans and fair labor practices, and host art exhibitions and events at their cafe. They’ve noticed a decisive change in the restaurant scene in recent years.
“Definitely developing. Many people from the mainland come here and open restaurants. You can still find a lot of things to do,” said Mr. Hernández, who is from Mexico City.
Some of that diversity can be found near Tiger Club, serving Southeast Asian fare and natural wines. The restaurant is located on the back patio of the Casa Nopala showroom and store specializing in handmade products from 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 may include fresh fish served raw or topped with hoja santa butter, duck confit on 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 of Pujol.
“La Paz is a magical place,” Mr. Villagomez said. “We’re surrounded by sea and desert, and we try to find the best ingredients in and out of the city.”
White sand, cobalt water
However, for all the new destination-worthy hotels and restaurants, the natural world remains La Paz’s main draw. Chrissy Cappellano, a certified master scuba diver trainer from Long Island, New York, has been living in the city since 2018.
“You have to plan multiple trips to see everything,” he says 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 he led our daylong dive trip with Carey Dive Center which included a surprise sighting of a humpback whale and a swim with whale sharks, the wide-mouthed, offending fish that can grow up to 30 feet. The rest of the day is spent around the islands of Espírito Santo and Partida — the archipelago is part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a national park and a 45-minute drive from the city — diving around a protected sea lion colony that called Los Islotes. The marine mammals did not hesitate to approach our group, performing flips and in some cases, biting the flippers and dive hose. Perhaps the schools of sardines were spectacular, glinting silver in the sun as they swirled around us like confetti.
Environmental protection is a common topic of discussion on dive trips I’ve been on elsewhere in Mexico and around the world; here, it is an actionable part of the agenda. Daily access to whale sharks, that migrate to feed in the water right from the city, is limited to a small number of tour boats at certain times. While we were on our boat after our first dive in Los Islotes, someone saw a sea lion pup injured by a hook. Ms. quickly sent Cappellano photos and videos on Rescue of Lobos Marinos, an organization that helps track and treat sea lions. Carey also made a point to provide reusable water bottles for the day. (The state as a whole has strictly limited single-use plastics since 2018.)
It’s not hard to see how and why visitors fall in love with these cobalt waters, and why local residents 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 also plenty to explore on land — the island is a popular destination for hiking and glamping, meanwhile Playa Balandra, famous for its white sand and shallow turquoise waters, is consistently named one of the best beaches in the country. An easy 20-minute drive from the city center, it’s also a protected area, and limits the number of visitors allowed each day, with timed entries at 8 am and 1 pm La Ventana, a 40-minute drive, is a popular kite-surfing destination. There is also mountain biking, dune buggying, hiking and camping.
“You can choose a beach depending on the wind. There are waterfalls and hot springs. Every sunset here is usually amazing,” said Ms. Capellano. “So much nature to enjoy.”
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