RVing in Loreto, BCS, Mexico
About Loreto
Loreto is a resort town on the Baja Peninsula, in Baja California Sur. Canadian and Americans flock here in winter to enjoy the mild temperatures and laid back atmosphere. There are lots of restaurants and shops to visit, and it was a welcome change as we had been in pretty small towns until that point.
About 20,000 people live in Loreto. It has a nice malecón, but even with all the restaurants it never felt busy at all. There are some awesome walkable areas with shops and bright colors.
Where We Stayed
There is a really small RV park in the center of the historic district called Romanita RV Park that was in a prime location, but because of our large size we wouldn’t fit. We opted to stay at Loreto Shores, which is a great park for larger RVs. It is easy to get to and easy to navigate once you are in the park. You can read about our weeklong stay at Loreto Shores here.
After we left Loreto Shores, we boondocked near the Loreto airport for a week. The location isn’t online anywhere and the directions to a dropped pin Google Maps takes you down a sketch road for RV’s, so you’ll have to explore the shoreline and find this one for yourself!
What We Did
Walk Downtown
Like I mentioned, walking around the malecón and the historic walkable area is an experience in itself! There is so much to see and do just by walking around. This is a great way to get a feel for the city and discover some restaurants you visit to and things you want to do.
We actually took a walking tour with a local tour guide that was really informative! We loved learning more about Loreto and the local plants, animals and buildings. If you’re interested, you can use WhatsApp to contact Rodolfo at 613-114-5607.
Comfortable clothing and shoes when exploring new places is a must. My all time favorite womens shoes for long walks through new cities are adidas Retrophy E5 sneakers. You can find those as well as other womens active clothing and shoes here.
Restaurants
One restaurant that caught our eye as soon as we rolled into town was Mezzaluna. Mezzaluna is a mix of Italian and Uruguayan cuisine, including homemade pastas and oven fired pizza. We liked it so much we ate there twice! Our friends found a favorite place as well but we never got a chance to try, Pan Que Pan. We also really enjoyed Mexican cuisine at Mi Loreto one evening.
Hiking
Hiking is one of our favorite activities, and we were really glad that our friend invited us on a nearby hike that proved to be extremely beautiful, fun and challenging! Cañón Tabor involved rock climbing, scrambling, hiking and rope climbing! The ropes are already installed and seemed to be pretty secure. At certain times of the year there are waterfalls along the way, but it was completely dry when we were there in February. I can’t emphasize enough how amazing this experience was, and highly recommend it if you’re the area!
Two local missions
We’ve enjoyed touring misíons around Baja, and there are 2 beautiful ones in the Loreto area. One is right in the middle of town, and the other is in a mountain village that is a stunning hour long drive into the mountains but shouldn’t be missed. Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó is the full name and it’s located in beautiful San Javier, which has less than 200 inhabitants.
Nopolo
We love the authentic feel that Loreto has, but if you want to visit the fanciest development we’ve seen in Baja, visit Nopolo. It definitely feels like you’re in Palm Springs, CA! They have put a lot of money into making a really nice area for Canadians and Americans to come build or buy a second home or retirement home. There are restaurants, shops, a hotels, a golf course, and they are still building! The area is right on Loreto Bay so many of the homes are beachfront. It’s a very charming and colorful community and worth a visit, even if you just drive through it.
Pickleball
Boat Tour of the National Park Islands
Our favorite excursion in Loreto was taking a boat out to explore one of the islands in Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto, or Loreto Bay National Park. There are a series of islands that are protected as part of a national park that are absolutely stunning. We found a guy who set us up with a captain and boat for 5 hours and the cost was $150 USD. He took us all around one of the islands, called Isla Coronados, where we saw tons of sea lions, crabs, pelicans and other birds. He dropped us off at a stunning beach and we snorkeled, paddleborded and relaxed in the sun! It was such a perfect day and fun excursion! We were hoping to see dolphins but didn’t that day.
Paddle boarding
We enjoyed paddleboarding around other Loreto beaches and absolutely loved the wide variety of birds we saw each day. Loreto is an amazing place and offers a lot for anyone who visits. It has been one of our top stops on our winter Baja tour!
**Some products discussed in this blog were gifted to me by adidas however, all opinions are entirely my own.