Down Mexico Way

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28 JULY 2004
Hollywood stars have long known about Baja California, but now other holidaymakers are moving in on Mexico’s best-kept secret

Think of Mexico and you’ll more than likely think of overdeveloped Cancún or the Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá. Tell people you’re off to Baja California and you’ll probably get quite a few puzzled looks. That’s because Baja is one of Mexico’s best-kept secrets.

Hollywood stars and big game fishermen have been in on the secret for years, but it’s only now that the British are getting in on the act. Early Spanish colonists thought Baja was an island. In fact, it’s a peninsula that stretches out into the Pacific Ocean from the tourist town of Tijuana, where Mexico borders the US in the far northwest, right down to the majestic El Arco rock formation at its tip.

Largely ignored by the Spanish, it has little historical interest – but it more than makes up for that with its sheer force of nature. The Pacific and Sea of Cortez that surround the peninsula are home to one of the world’s most diverse marine environments, while on land the beaches stretch for miles and the skyline is punctuated only by rugged terracotta mountains and towering cacti.

Baja’s Highway 1 will take you from Tijuana in the north to the southern tip of Mexico and is one of the country’s most beautiful drives. Once in the south you can indulge in a little five-star luxury. Los Cabos, or Land’s End, is a magical area of capes and beaches that boasts 360 days of sunshine a year and some of the world’s finest hotels.