Southern Baja California – Suv guided tour

First Day – San José del Cabo
Landing in San José, meeting with Italian guide and transfer by private cars to Hotel Tropicana, historical and quaint hotel in the town center. Cocktails for guests and welcome briefing with attendants, delivery of personal travel kit. Rest of the day is free to relax in the hotel’s swimming pool, or for a guided walking tour of 19th century old town. Just before sunset we reach San Jose estuary that empties into the large Bay, rich in a wide variety of birds, some of which are endemic. Dinner at your leisure, not included, and overnight stay.

Second Day – San José del Cabo / La Paz
In the morning, after breakfast, we will reach the beautiful bay of Cabo San Lucas where, with a private boat, we will visit the famous granite pink stacks, behind which the pirates were hiding in the 18th century, waiting for the Spanish galleons to return from the Philippines. We will see the beautiful golden beach that faces both the Pacific on the one hand and the Cortez Sea on the other and the colony of marine lions inhabiting the last rocks of California. These places have often been used as spectacular sets for different films. We then continue along the south coast of the Peninsula to visit other beautiful bays and a narrow rocky pink granite canyon of particular interest. In the early afternoon, after the free lunch, we will arrive, by driving on dirt road, a site of millenary rock paintings made by the ancient indigenous peoples of Baja and of the inviting bathing pools of rainwater hidden at the foot of 6.500 feet mountains.One of these is characterized by a constant temperature of 38 °, ideal for a relaxing bath in the heart of an unusual and uncontaminated nature.
Before continuing on to La Paz, we will visit, along the way, the ghost mining town of El Triunfo, with the remains of the old rusty nineteenth-century machinery and the unusual brick chimney designed by Eiffel. El Triunfo has an incredible collection of nineteenth-century pianos that were dismantled here and transported with the mules, to cheer the European settlers’ evenings during the era of gold rush. Overnight stay at the Conca Hotel in La Paz, overlooking the calm and crystal-clear sea of the bay. Free dinner.

Third Day – La Paz
In the morning after breakfast, optionally, you will be able to embark on the thrill meeting in the water –
with mask and fins – with the innocuous whale shark, which in the winter frequents the waters of La Paz. In the afternoon we will visit two beautiful bays with turquoise waters in the surroundings, characterized by mangroves inhabited by a multitude of seabirds, where we stand for seaside activities and to make a short and easy trekking walk that will allow you to familiarize with the geology of the region and with the typical vegetation of the places we visit during the following days. One of these bays, the “Balandra”, was proclaimed by Condé Nast’s Traveler magazine as one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. Right here, at sunset, we will serve a frozen “Margarita”, the historic cocktail invented at Ensenada, in Baja California. Una di queste baie, la “Balandra”, è stata proclamata dalla rivista Traveler di Condé Nast come una delle 10 spiagge più belle al mondo. Return to hotel, free dinner and overnight stay.

Optional excursion to the whale shark approaching water: 60 €, equipment included.
The whale shark is not fixed in these waters. As a result, the excursion can only take place at certain times of the year. Contact us for information. In times when the excursion can not be completed, day 3 will be removed
from the tour

Fourth Day – La Paz
After breakfast, departure by private boat to the beautiful island of Espiritu Santo, picking our guests directly on the beach of the hotel.The depths of this island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was first explored by Jacques Cousteau in 1974, which defined these waters as “The Aquarium of the World”. SIn slow navigation we will make an unforgettable periplo of the island – uninhabited – to reach a large colony of playful and innocuous oysters that surprise enthusiasts intrigued by bathers to entertain themselves, even in water, with them. Snorkeling on colorful coral reefs of multicolored fish, seafood lunch included in a beautiful turquoise bay and return to La Paz in the early afternoon. Free dinner and overnight stay.

Fifth Day – La Paz / Loreto
In the morning after breakfast, heading north towards Loreto, the ancient capital of Southern Baja California and renowned for the foundation of the first mission. The atmosphere of the village is intimate, with its picturesque colonial alleys and the wide, beautiful bay. Several stops will take place during the trail, in particularly suggestive places characterized by huge cacti, prehistoric landscapes and exciting canyons where we will go to discover the incredible secrets of life in the desert. Along the way with a lot of attention and luck you will be able to see wild cats, coyotes, antelopes, foxes, wild boars, hares, skunks, bears and reptiles. Arrival in Loreto, lunch included in a typical restaurant and hotel accommodation.In the early afternoon we will reach an impressive rocky Canyon of 500 m. of altitude where, in a unique natural setting at the end of 1600, the Jesuit missionaries edified, in volcanic stone, the enchanting Mission titled Francesco Saverio, founder of the Order. In the back of the Church we will visit the ancient irrigated garden still today with the ingenious original water system “to gravity”, where there is a huge 300-year-old olive tree that was planted at the origin of the religious community.
On the way back we will visit a small ranch to learn about the typical rural lifestyle of these places, assisting in the preparation of goat cheese, corn tortillas and other cattle care activities. Return to Loreto for sunset. Free dinner and overnight stay.

Sixth Day – Loreto
After breakfast we will sail by boat to explore the beautiful Isla Coronado with its whitewashed beach and its wild and uncontaminated nature that attracts documentary filmmakers from around the world. Sea lions, birds, multicolored fish are the attractions of this tiny paradise covered with small cacti, wild camomille bushes and Torotes, the “elephant tree” of Baja. A light lunch will be served on the beach. On return you will visit the first mission of the peninsula dating back to 1697 and the interesting Museum of Missions. Dinner on the beach including seafood that will be cooked buried in the sand under a bed of aromatic shrimp, according to an ancient Loritana tradition. Overnight stay.

Seventh Day – Loreto / Santa Rosalia
After breakfast we will leave again north, along the Cortez Sea, coasting the beautiful Bahia Concepcion
with its small bays of turquoise water placed in succession and crossing the coastal desert of the Giganta Sierra, characterized in this section by the presence of enormous Cardon cactus. After a visit to the eighteenth-century mission and to the Mulegé’s date palm oasis, where we will stay for lunch in a typical restaurant, then you will come to Santa Rosalia, founded on the end of the eighteenth century by the French around a great copper deposit. The overnight stay is planned at the fascinating hotel “Frances”, with its romantic and decadent charm, entirely made of oak wood in the second half of the 1800s to serve as a quarters for French miners. Free dinner and overnight stay.

Eighth Day – Santa Rosalia / San Ignacio
After breakfast we will visit the church, in riveted metal, designed by Gustave Eiffel, then the city museum with the important historical and photographic documentation of the life of this thriving mining center until its sudden sunset and the French still-functioning baguetterie, which witness the atmosphere of other times. We will continue then to San Ignacio through a sandstone hillside, a tiny, quaint little village on the Pacific where we will visit the beautiful eighteenth-century Jesuit mission that stands out among the “western” style facades of the central square, the oasis of palm trees lapping the country with the rich birdlife and the museum of the rock paintings, with mysterious testimonies of the Cochim Indians who lived in this rocky desert in perfect adaptation for over 10,000 years. We will then leave the paved path and drive through an adventurous dirt road to the homonymous lagoon on the Pacific, with spectacular views of the three extinct volcanoes,
called “The Three Virgins”. Arrival at the camp and accommodation in spacious and comfortable igloo curtains, with two beds. The camp is frequented annually by marine biologists from all over the world who come here to study the gray whales thanks to unmatchable possibility of approach. After arriving at the camp there will be a first boat trip to approach these meek giant sea creatures who meet annually in the lagoon to reproduce or give birth to their little ones and often seek physical contact with boat occupants. After the return and lunch included, the afternoon will be dedicated to exploring the natural surroundings on foot, with a visit to a natural saltwater and an interesting small oyster farm. Supper included at the base camp restaurant and overnight stay.

Ninth Day – il golfo di San Ignacio
After breakfast you will sail in a private lance for a second, thrilling whale watching tour
of fin whales with the desire to be caressed. Return to the field, lunch and afternoon hike for exploration of the mangroves of the lagoon and the nesting area of the ospreys. After dinner we will walk away from the base camp to illustrate and admire the night sky with a telescope, here particularly clear and full of stars due to the great distance from the inhabited towns and the very low humidity of the environment. Return to the camp and overnight.

Tenth Day – San Ignacio / Puerto San Carlos
In the morning departure for Puerto San Carlos through an exciting dirt road of about 125 miles through natural salines, cactus woods, sand dunes, fords of torrents and rocky canyons. After this off-road stop and after lunch in a typical restaurant, we will arrive at Puerto San Carlos, a small fishing village of crabs and mussels on the Pacific. Beach hotel accommodation, free dinner and overnight stay.

Giorno 11 – Puerto San Carlos / Todos Santos
After breakfast, visit in private boat of the vast Bahia Magdalena with its mangrove labyrinth, the rich
birdlife, the whales that abound until April and the endless desert beach on the Pacific, about 50 miles long, consisting of a multitude of sand dunes. After a fish snack that will be served between these dunes, the road will return to Todos Santos, a characteristic bohèmien village on the Pacific, shelter of so many artists and painters. Arrival and accommodation at the historic and comfortable Hotel Guaycura, in a nineteenth-century mansion of a landowner. Free dinner and overnight stay.

Twelfth Day – San José del Cabo / Italia
In the morning, transfer to San José airport, about 1 hour and 30 minutes driving, assisted check-in for embarkation on return flight and farewell.