Last week-end we had friends visiting from the Northwest and it gave us the opportunity to drive the “Baja Loop” again as we showed off the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula to Todd and Michielle.

The “loop” is a 223-mile (359 km) drive that takes you from Los Cabos to La Paz and back (or vice-versa) up the Pacific coast on Highway 19 and down the Sea of Cortez side on Highway 1. Along the way you see a lot of the amazing Baja desert, of course, but you also pass through the quaint artists’ community of Todos Santos, on the Pacific, and the quiet fishing village of Los Barrilas, on the Sea of Cortez. Both of these small communities are very popular with American and Canadian retirees.

At the northern end of the loop is La Paz, a 400-year-old city first discovered by Cortez in the 1500s. Laid out along the shores of the beautiful Bay of La Paz, this city is the state capital and the hub of the 7,800 square-mile Municipality of La Paz – the fourth largest municipality in Mexico. (Click the photo to the left for an enlarged view.)

South of La Paz, Highway 1 winds up into the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains to the mining communities of San Antonio and El Triunfo. Today the combined population of these two neighboring towns is less than 1,000 but in the late 1800s more than 10,000 people lived in this remote area and it was the commercial and cultural center of southern Baja! The chimney to the left is all that remains of a large smelter in El Triunfo.

At the southern end of the loop are the twin cities of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas – better known as Los Cabos. San Jose is a very old city on the eastern side of the peninsula and it serves as the municipal headquarters. Cabo San Lucas (aka “Cabo”) is Located on the western side of the peninsula and is home to Land’s End (photo) and many famous night clubs such as Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo. Connecting San Jose and San Lucas is the 20-mile “corridor”, a four-lane divided highway that follows the southern coastline and boasts world-class golf courses on the inland side of the road and five-star resorts on the beach side.

If you ever find yourself in Cabo I highly recommend a drive around the Baja loop because there is so much more to see than just the “zona turistica” of the city.