Baja, Mexico with Lisa - May 2025

Baja road trippin’ 

We flew non-stop from Vancouver to San Jose del Cabo (SJD) on Westjet in their premium cabin.  Nice spacious seats with full service including hot meals.  It was morning so we had breakfast with the option of apple stuffed French toast or a smoked cheddar omelette with sausage.  We both had the French toast, and it was yummy.

On board they handed out the arrival forms which we both filled out, upon arrival in San Jose you get into the long line to clear arrival.  It is now mostly automated, so the line goes very fast. One new feature with the automated system is you get scanned and it prints out our arrival card.  This same card may be required upon departure so put it away safely.  Once you collect your bags you will proceed to the last point of entry where you will press a button and if you get green you will proceed through, if you are unlucky and get red you will have your bags checked.

Once through you will make your way outside, between you and the outside is the dreaded time-share area, do not stop, no matter what they say - nothing is for free and your vacation time is yours.

We rented a car and had a text from Budget on where to meet the rep who would get us on the shuttle to the off-site rental location.  We had pre-paid our car and had also pre-purchased insurance before arriving.  Just remember that the agents are on commission and trying to upsell you on more insurance.  If you know you are covered, you can decline.  They will do the hard sell, stay strong and get out as quickly as possible. Remember to inspect the car carefully, complete with photos and video, to show any damage prior to your rental.

Tip- make sure you have pesos for the tolls if you are taking the toll highways.

Tip- make sure you have a cell plan that includes data so you can use your maps for directions.  If do not have data, prior to leaving an area with wi-fi, you can download an offline map. 

Once we had our car we headed from the San Jose Airport to Todo Santos. We chose to take the scenic route that involved toll highways.  The 2 tolls we went through equaled out to about $10 dollars Canadian in total. 

The highways are marked with the speed limit signs, I would advise staying within the limit even if you get passed by a lot of locals to avoid getting pulled over by the police.  When you get close to a town the speed limit changes from 90 to 60 and sometimes 30km per hour.

Once we arrived in Todo Santos we found out our provider did not service this area, lucky we found a beautiful wine bar that had wifi.  https://violetavino.com/

I highly recommend this stunningly beautiful place, their wines thoughtfully chosen, and their light snacks are delicious.   Once we were able to connect to wi-fi, we contacted our sister-in-law, and she came to rescue us.  We stayed in her beautiful home for our 3 nights but there were many places I would stay in town and beyond.

Hotel Casa Toda - this is a beautiful boutique hotel in town, with a fantastic restaurant, and we had brunch here.  With their smart contemporary design and their thoughtful touches, I would totally feel at home here.  They have a cute pool in the centre of the hidden courtyard.  They have 15 rooms and the price starts around $175.00 Canadian per night depending on the season. 

Or if you want a more luxurious stay, I would suggest the Todo Santos Boutique Hotel.

This hotel is also nestled in the heart of Todo Santos and is stunning.  Room rates starting at around $760 Canadian per night depending on the time of the year, you will be amazed by its beauty and warmth. Built in a historic building they offer all the strivers any 5-star hotel would.  In the center of the center of the courtyard hidden from the view of others is a pool that is heated all year round.  They have a bar and restaurant on site along with a rooftop terrace that offers a beautiful view of the stunning sunsets.  They have a jeep that will take you to their semiprivate beach to enjoy the sun and sand.  From the outside you would not begin believing what is inside.

 A few restaurant selections that I was able to enjoy while in Todo Santos -

Taller 17 - for coffee and baked goods, do not let the line deter you - the coffee and baking are worth the wait.

Yao Asian Kitchen - I am still dreaming about their crispy garlic ginger chicken, their shrimp and pork dumplings, the fried rice and they had a perfect white wine to enjoy all of this with a Sauvignon Blanc from Chile Goutte d Argent!  This little gem is upstairs in an old brick building that has been remodeled. 

Jazamango - the food here is sublime, you would not go wrong with anything on the menu this farm to table restaurant has a great menu with so many options, they also have a happy hour from 3-5pm I had the crispy cauliflower with a peanut sauce and a fresh salad. Mark and Doris both had the burgers on brioche buns with side of fries. 

La Santeña - at the Casa Toda hotel, we went here for brunch, I had the Chile Rellenos stuffed with cheese, corn and potato!  It was perfect, others had the eggs benny, Tomato and queso fresco salad and the French toast!  We left super happy.

Violeta - a wine bar in the heart of Todo Santo’s that is Architect designed in a turn of the century building.  They have a great list of wines from all over the world and a selection of craft beers. A small menu that includes charcuterie boards and bruschetta.

From Todo Santos we drove to Los Barriles. Our route headed towards La Paz then to the southwest to the Sea of Cortez.  This is a windy road through cute little towns until you hit the coast.  We had cell reception in Los Barriles, so it was easy to navigate to our accommodations.  Los Barriles is a cute oceanfront town. The first thing you notice is most people are on ATVs - very popular in the area.  There are also a lot of pickleball resorts and courts.  Our reservation was for 3 nights at a new property called The Mantra.  It was in fenced-in yard with 2 beautiful units side by side. You have a studio accommodation, king size bed and a pullout sofa with a large palapa roofed bathroom, and a roof top deck with a view of the ocean and a BBQ.  The units also had cruiser bikes, paddle boards and Kayaks along with a beach umbrella, beach chairs and snorkeling equipment for our use.  They provided the essentials if your wanted to cook along with fresh coffee. In the fridge they had beer and Perrier on our arrival.  They also have a concierge service that can help with anything you need, the people next door were getting massages in their unit, $65 for 1 hour and $90 for 1.5 hours.

The sunsets are amazing in Los Barriles.  

In Los Barriles they have a variety of great restaurants to choose from. A few of my favorites are -

La Playa - This new beautiful restaurant is on the ocean under a large Palapa with a fantastic menu of both Mexican and American cuisine.  We were there for breakfast, and I had açaí bowls, and the others had eggs Benedict. The lattes were fantastic and everyone was happy.

La Casita - This is a Japanese fusion restaurant with amazingly fresh sushi.  They only take cash everyone was thrilled with their orders we had Miso soup, coconut prawns, fresh tuna sashimi, spicy tuna rolls and much more.  They had a variety of good wines, sake, cocktails and beers on the menu.

Back on the road again! This time headed down to Los Cabos, we took Highway 1 via San Jose to Cabo San Lucas. This drive took around 90 minutes.  Once we arrived at our hotel The Sandos Finisterra, we checked in. We were early, but they had our room available.  We were upgraded to a 1-bedroom ocean view suite with VIP wrist bands.  These wrist bands allowed us access to the VIP pool up in the original section of the hotel with views of the Marina and Ocean.  This property was originally built into the hillside between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez, opened in 1972 with its stunning view and mid-century architecture it attracted famous people such as The Rolling Stones - Keith Richards was married there - and they have a late night bar named after them, The Stones bar.  In 2013 Sandos built the new section of the property and renamed it Sandos Finisterra. 

The suite we were in is large and spacious, with old world Mexican decor.  The beds were comfortable.  I would have preferred staying in the original section of the hotel where the suites are more modern, this section is called the Finisterra suites.

For dining they had a few options for breakfast, lunch and dinner, including a pizzeria and sushi bar at the pool.   You could also order 24-hour room service.  they had a cute shop to get coffee and snacks called the CupCake Cafe in the original section of the hotel.  They offer a variety of baked goods including cupcakes, some deli sandwiches and a great selection of coffees from lattes to chai.

I loved the different restaurants Cabo has to offer. On of my list of go-to’s is Sur Beach Club.  They have amazing food, cocktails, wines and local craft beers.  I highly recommend going here.

Here are some pictures of the local Mexican sake, the tuna sashimi, the wonton wrapped prawns and the tuna tacos with a daikon taco shell. 

As all good things must come to an end, when our trip was over and we had to head back to the airport, Mark realized he had misplaced his Mexican departure card. I still had mine, and from that, we figured out you could go online and get an electronic copy using the original information you filled into the form.  We took a snapshot of it and were ready to go.

The car rental drop was easy, the shuttle back to the airport was quick.  We were traveling on Delta via Seattle in first class, so check-in went smoothly.  Once all was said and done, we were in the departure area with two hours to kill before our flight.  There is a new lounge at the Cabo airport, I took a tour, and I was impressed.  They are not affiliated with any airline or credit card, to get in you are either a member of Premier lounges or you pay $50.00 USD per person.  They want cash only so make sure you have it if you would like to relax in the lounge.

Delta in first class was great very nice seats, a hot meal, drinks, a large screen to watch movies.  The 4.5 hours flew by.  When we arrived in Seattle we had to collect our bags and clear customs.  Thank goodness we both have Nexus, as there was no line, and the regular lines were huge.  Once through Nexus we dropped our bags on the connecting belt, went through security and had an enough time to grab my favorite Shrimp Louis salad from The Lucky Louie Fish Shack! 

Our flight from Seattle was slightly delayed due to the long line of planes all leaving at the same time.  We arrived in Vancouver, cleared Nexus, no lines, collected our bags, called Park-n-Fly to have our car ready, got the shuttle right away then headed home.