10 days · Full Baja California Sur

10 daysBalanced pacedistance-checked ✓ · updated Jul 3, 2026

1
Los Cabos
2 nights · Arrival, San José old town, and one water day.
Days 1–2
🚗 1h — Cabo to Todos Santos on Mex 19.
2
Todos Santos
1 night · Arts town and Pacific surf stop.
Day 3
🚗 1.5h — Todos Santos to La Paz.
3
La Paz
3 nights · Balandra, Espíritu Santo, and whale sharks in season.
Days 4–6
🚗 5h — La Paz to Loreto up Mex 1; a long, scenic desert-and-sea drive.
4
Loreto
3 nights · Missions and the marine park to close things out, flying home from LTO.
Days 7–9
Reality check: The La Paz-to-Loreto leg is five hours of remote highway with sparse fuel; top off the tank, drive it in daylight, and don't count on cell service.
By Ana BeltránBased in La Paz, Baja California Sur · updated Jul 3, 2026

Baja California Sur is the calm end of the peninsula — the safety worry most people carry down from the border doesn’t really apply here. The state runs on tourism and fishing, the towns on this route are used to visitors, and the real risk on the trip is a driving one: a single long, empty highway leg you need to respect. Plan around that and the rest is easy.

Los Cabos: land and get in the water

Fly into SJD and give yourself two nights. Skip the assumption that Cabo is all resort strip — base near San José del Cabo’s old town for the gallery streets and a quieter dinner scene, and spend one day on the water: a panga trip to the Arch, snorkeling, or a whale-watching run in winter.

Todos Santos and up to La Paz

An hour up Mex 19 sits Todos Santos, an arts town with a Pacific surf break just outside it. One night is enough to eat well, walk the galleries, and catch a sunset. Then it’s a short, easy 90 minutes over to La Paz.

La Paz: the heart of the trip

Give La Paz three nights — it earns them. Balandra, the shallow turquoise bay just outside town, is worth an early start before the crowds. Book a day tour to Isla Espíritu Santo for sea lions and snorkeling, and if you’re here in season (roughly October to April), the whale shark swims off the malecón are the thing people remember. La Paz itself is a genuinely pleasant city to wander at night.

The long drive to Loreto

Here’s the leg that needs attention: La Paz to Loreto is about five hours up Mex 1 through empty desert-and-sea country. What a friend who lives here would tell you — top off the tank before you leave, drive it in daylight, carry water and snacks, and don’t count on cell signal for long stretches. Do that and it’s one of the best drives in Mexico. Loreto closes the trip with its old mission, a walkable town, and the marine park, before you fly home from LTO.

The trade-off: that Loreto drive is remote and fuel is sparse, so this itinerary asks you to time one day around the tank and the sun instead of winging it. That’s the whole catch.