Taking long sunset strolls on the Malecon, admiring the vibrant artwork and cultural scene filling the streets, eating your heart out of delicious seafood dishes, and just chilling out in this superbly low-key city is a perfectly fine way to spend a vacation in La Paz – but you’d be missing out! There are so many active things to do right outside the city thanks to its gorgeous and diverse natural surroundings. Between relaxing on stunning beaches, off-roading in cactus-laden mountain landscapes, and meeting with the local sea life, this place is a mecca for explorers and ecotourists of any genre.
Water is undoubtedly La Paz’s most cherished and enchanting feature. Its location in a protected bay makes for some of the calmest and most beautiful beaches in Mexico. And with more than 85 percent of the marine mammals in the Pacific calling these waters home, anyone with a soft spot for big marine wildlife will be overjoyed here. The region is heaven for scuba diving, snorkeling, sea kayaking, and all manner of aquatic exploration.
With over 890 fish species, any month you decide to visit you’re almost guaranteed to see something special under that pristine turquoise surface. But if you’re after one of those life altering encounters, try to be here between December and February as it’s when massive whale sharks make their annual appearance and it’s a show you don’t want to miss!
La Paz is known to be one of the best places in the world to swim with whale sharks and to do so in the most sustainable way. I went with Baja Adventure Co. and had an amazing time with a marine biologist as our guide. Like every activity around here, the interactions with wildlife are highly regulated with number of boats and snorkelers strictly limited in the area. We had to wait an hour for permission to proceed to the zone (which is really near the shore – these creatures could almost be spotted from the Malecon in La Paz).
After receiving instructions on the distance to keep from the sharks, you then wait for your guide to spot one and give you the signal to jump in and start swimming fast to catch up with this massive and speedy beast. At nearly 25 feet long (some reaches 33 feet), coming face to face with this gentle giant is something you’ll never forget.
We repeated that routine a few times, encounters lasting less than 2 minutes each and photography skills being seriously impaired by the speed of the chase and a stunned stupor.
Perhaps not as entertaining as the humpback whales I had seen breaching in Cabo, but so much more astounding and profound.
If being underwater is not your cup of tea, there is plenty to do on dry land too. Simply step outside La Paz to find yourself within a few minutes drive in a land fit for explorers looking for unique terrain, and more cacti than palm trees.
Hike, mountain bike, picnic, or chase terrestrial wildlife – all really cool ways to explore this wild landscape of desert mountains and green oasis.
And of course you could also just hang out on one of the magical beaches the peninsula is famous for. If you haven’t heard of Playa Balandra before, let the below picture do the talking…
No word. And no filter. This is paradise in Mexico, period. Only 15 miles outside of La Paz, Balandra Beach is another example of successful conservation after local citizens and activists groups protested to save this otherworldly place from luxury resort development. It is now a natural protected area. Amen.
There’s a short hike to a lookout point that will give you the best perspective on all the beaches and bays that make up Balandra and plan where you’ll want to lay down.
There’s also a famous rock formation called ‘El Hongo‘ (the mushroom) at the end of one of the bays, usually surrounded by Instagrammers until sunset time.
Of course, coming here on the weekend means a bit of a crowd but Balandra is so huge that walking just a few minutes away from the parking lot will give you your own stretch of quiet sand, even a private cove if you venture further out! Just remember this is a natural area so there are no services or vendors besides a food truck at the entrance. You’ll have to bring all your supplies for the day with you and change for the eco toilets.
You won’t find big waves here due to its protected location in a shallow lagoon. You can instead walk for miles in crystalline, shallow waters that’ll practically never reach above your waist. It’s absolutely perfect for families, extra long beach walk, snorkeling, and basically just playing in the sand for hours.
That electric blue that seems almost fake, the extreme cleanliness, and the extraordinary beauty of the landscape is a testament to the incredible people of Baja California who work so hard to keep their world pristine for everyone to enjoy. I’m so grateful for them, for Balandra, and for mother nature for being so insanely gorgeous…
