For our last night in La Paz, Mexico, we kept it simple: a few cans of cold Pacifico, a bench on the Malecón, the city’s waterfront promenade, and the sunset glowing orange over the shimmering silver-blue Sea of Cortez. My husband, Alex, and I had spent almost a week taking beautiful desert drives and lazy city walks, visiting beautiful beaches and mountains, and enjoying a steady diet of fish tacos and mezcalitas. But now we were covered in salt and sinking into the blissful exhaustion that only comes after a day of diving.
La Paz is the capital of Baja California Sur, the Mexican state where about 42 percent of the land and water are protected natural areas, and the city is located on the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California, which is considered as one of the world’s most diverse marine environments. Travelers have long been drawn to the region’s beautiful outdoors, a distinctive mix of ocean and red-hued desert, to spend days not only diving but also sailing, kayaking, fishing, kitesurfing, mountain biking, camping and hiking.
In recent years, the city has maintained its strong commitment to environmental conservation, but has also welcomed new restaurants and accommodations, meeting a growing desire among many travelers to Mexico for authentic experiences found beyond the walls of a massive resort .
“This is an adventurous destination,” said Luz Maria Zepeda, director of the city’s tourism office. “We want people who want to explore, who want to keep the environment as it is, and who want to help us protect it.”
Growth, but kept under control
Home to some 300,000 residents, La Paz has a distinctly relaxed atmosphere – ‘The Peace’, that’s what it’s called – and is often overshadowed by Los Cabos, a municipality at the southernmost tip of the state that also includes San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. , but also by tiny Todos Santos, a stylish art and food destination on the Pacific coast.
While La Paz had a record 600,000 tourists in 2023, Los Cabos welcomes – via cruises and air alone – 3 million travelers annually.
La Paz’s relatively modest number of visitors is partly a matter of accessibility: La Paz airport serves almost exclusively domestic destinations, with direct flights mainly from Mexico City and Guadalajara. Most international visitors choose to fly into the larger Los Cabos International Airport and make the two- to three-hour drive to La Paz.
The drive from the airport is worth it in itself, with routes along the Pacific coast through Todos Santos and El Pescadero, home to Playa Los Cerritos, a popular surfing destination. A slightly longer, but epically beautiful drive winds through the Sierra La Laguna Mountains.
La Paz is a walkable city with good roads and ample amenities. It has no major resorts, and there are no current plans to build one: this is not a destination with ambitions to imitate the all-inclusive, tourist-heavy spring break atmosphere long associated with Cabo. Instead of a waterfront dominated by limited private access, La Paz has the Malecón, which was renovated in 2020 and 2021. Last April, a proposal to build a major cruise ship port was withdrawn after local opposition.
“We don’t want mass tourism,” said Ivan Félix, manager of the tourism department of La Paz’s tourism office. “The idea is not to grow in numbers, but in quality.”
That has translated into a bevy of smaller, pricier hotel openings: Hotel Indigo, formerly the Costabaja Resort & Spa, was renovated and reopened by IHG in December and Republica Pagana, an adults-only boutique hotel with a rooftop bar and restaurant, welcomed in January the first guests. Grupo Habita opened the Baja Club Hotel in 2021 in a former colonial villa on the Malecón. Hilton plans to complete renovations of the historic La Perla Hotel, which first opened in 1940, by the end of this year.
That sophisticated growth is also reflected in the city’s culinary scene, which remains dominated by the region’s fresh seafood, flour tortillas and ranch-raised dishes like meat-filled molcajetes and snack-sized burritos. Fried fish tacos remain loyal, from street stands to casual eateries like Taco Fish La Paz (featured in the Netflix series “Taco Chronicles”) and Toto Frito, where you can try sustainably farmed totoaba, a fish native to the Sea of Cortez. We enjoyed a variety of chilaquiles at Maria California, a popular brunch spot, and inhaled spicy aguachile shrimp at a beachside stand at Playa El Tecolote, just north of Balandra. At Los 32 Sabores, a memorable dinner of manta ray and tripe tacos on fresh tortillas and tableside Caesar salads hinted at the city’s ambition to become a bona fide food and drink destination.
Gratitude Coffee Makers, a coffee shop a few blocks from the Malecón, was opened in 2022 by husband and wife team Sergio Hernández and Gloria Olivera. The couple works closely with Mexican coffee farmers, ensuring both quality beans and fair labor practices. and organize art exhibitions and events in their café. They have noticed a distinct shift in the restaurant scene in recent years.
“It’s definitely evolving. There are a lot of people from the mainland coming here and opening restaurants. There are many more things you can do,” said Mr. Hernández, who is from Mexico City.
Some of that diversity can be found near Tiger Club, which serves Southeast Asian cuisine and natural wine. The restaurant is housed on the back patio of Casa Nopal, a showroom and store specializing in handmade products from Mexican artisans, both of which opened in 2022. Nearby, Sunrise/Sunset is a natural wine bar that opened in December. Nemi offers riffs on traditional dishes, including fresh fish served raw or topped with hoja santa butter, duck confit in flour tortillas or pork belly served with beans and nopales. The restaurant is the first solo project of Alejandro Villagomez, who moved in 2011 from Mexico City where he was chef de cuisine of Pujol.
“La Paz is a magical place,” Mr. Villagomez said. “We are surrounded by sea and desert and we strive to source the best ingredients both inside and outside the city.”
White sand, cobalt water
Yet for all the new hotels and destination-worthy restaurants, the natural world remains La Paz’s main draw. Chrissy Cappellano, a certified master diver trainer from Long Island, New York, has lived in the city since 2018.
“You have to plan multiple trips to see it all,” she said of the area’s rich marine life. “There is a time that is good for whale sharks, for whales, for sea lions.”
I met Ms. Cappellano when she led our day-long dive trip with Carey Dive Center, which included a surprise sighting of humpback whales and a dive with whale sharks, the wide-mouthed filter-feeding fish that can grow up to 30 feet. The rest of the day was spent around the islands of Espírito Santo and Partida – the archipelago is part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a national park and a 45-minute drive from the city – diving around a protected sea lion colony called Los Islotes. The marine mammals did not hesitate to approach our group, doing somersaults and in some cases biting on flippers and diving snakes. Perhaps just as spectacular were the schools of sardines, which glittered silver in the sun as they swirled around us like confetti.
Environmental concerns are a common topic of conversation during diving trips I have taken elsewhere in Mexico and around the world; here it was an actionable part of the agenda. Daily access to whale sharks, which migrate to feed in the waters near the city, is limited to a small number of tour boats at set times. As we boarded our boat after our first dive at Los Islotes, someone saw a sea lion cub that had been injured by a fishing hook. Ms. Cappellano quickly sent photos and videos to Rescate de Lobos Marinos, an organization that helps monitor and treat sea lions. Carey also made a point to provide reusable water bottles for the day. (The state as a whole has strictly limited the use of single-use plastics since 2018.)
It’s not hard to understand how and why visitors fall in love with this cobalt water, and why locals are so protective of it. Espiritu Santo is a geological layer cake with numerous small anchorages, loved by sailors and anglers. But there’s also plenty to discover on land: the island is a popular destination for hiking and glamping, while Playa Balandra, famous for its white sands and shallow turquoise waters, is consistently named as one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. Located just a 20-minute drive from the city center, it is also a protected area and limits the number of visitors allowed per day, with timed entry at 8am and 1pm. La Ventana, a 40-minute drive away, is a famous kite-surfing destination. There is also mountain biking, buggy riding, hiking and camping.
“You can choose a beach depending on the wind. There are waterfalls and hot springs. Every sunset here is usually amazing,” Ms. Cappellano said. “There is so much nature to enjoy.”
Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter for expert tips on smarter travel and inspiration for your next holiday. Are you dreaming of a future getaway or are you just traveling in an armchair? Check out our 52 places to go in 2024.