Traveling from Ensenada to Cabo

3 suggestions:
BN, BN and BN. Nomads will know.

And - no, those cities are not really nice.
GN is a dull, faceless, dusty town with nothing to do and see, unless you detour for wale-watching.
Loreto is a "OK" for a few days stay, better yet for a week-long stay (because you can go exploring-fishing-kayaking then).

I will second the Baja Nomads Site http://forums.bajanomad.com, a wealth of information, but some of the posters are a little cranky at times. JH

Almot wrote:
3 suggestions:
BN, BN and BN. Nomads will know.

And - no, those cities are not really nice.
GN is a dull, faceless, dusty town with nothing to do and see, unless you detour for wale-watching.
Loreto is a "OK" for a few days stay, better yet for a week-long stay (because you can go exploring-fishing-kayaking then).

I agree, the country is a dump. Might as well stay home :(

A USA Wal-Mart parking lot is about as bleak as it gets. The gentleman is looking for a place to hole up for the night and not invest in a time share.

General advice...
Crossing the border amd getting tourist cards consumes most od an hour at best. Navigating through Tijuana, Ensenada, and the San Quintín valley takes an enormous chunk of time. I cannot do it in a toad driving like a wild man in less than 4-5 hours these days. In a rig a person would have to be nuts to leave San Diego at dawn and expect to be in Guerrero Negro at sunset. It's coming on to wimter solstice. I plan on holing up in Colonia Guerrero the first night thete is an RV park there on the ocean side of the highway. The next night perhaps San Ignacio RV park signs all over. From there to Cd Constitucion is a long haul and Bahía Concepción is a tempting place to overnight.

The people who swear they do this run in 3 days are the ones who run me off the road down here. They drive like idiots. Mex 1 is still horrid in places. I am going north next week to cardiogy then returning two days later. Half the leninsula to me is a commute. I know the highway and after more than a hundred passages I still don't push it. People who damage their rigs and get into accidents will argue this point. Determine seven or eight alternative overnighting spots and bail out off the highway at sunset. Last trip in August meant a 52 minute delay at the army checkpoint Puesto de Control on the mesa above El Rosario. Experts will tell you such delays do not exist. The CHURCH & CHURCH Baja RV book can be found online.

Qtla - have you ever been to GN or any place in Baja Central o Norte? There is NOTHING in the town of GN. And, - nobody called it a dump, don't twist the words.

Agreed with Mex - 3 days is going to be tough. If the goal is getting there fast, - leaving RV and taking Volaris flight from TIJ will be faster, cheaper and more relaxing.

Almot wrote:
Qtla - have you ever been to GN or any place in Baja Central o Norte? There is NOTHING in the town of GN. And, - nobody called it a dump, don't twist the words.

Sure have on many occasions. First time was in 1976 when the towns people were three days on and three days off working with salt. I found the place fascinating.

Every place in the world has its natural beauty, history, food, and people. Baja is North America's hidden jewel and it has never received the attention it is due.

BTW, I've been to Tijuana, Rosarito Beach, Tecate, Mexicali, San Quintin, Ensenada and then through Baja Sur.

You are so right. We traveled that route from 1980 to 1990 when we gave up Baja for the mainland.

There is beauty everywhere, you just may have to look a bit.

We used to hit the border at Tijuana at sunrise, drive to Catavina for sunset, get up at sunrise and arrive in San Jose del Cabo for sunset, absolutely trashed....

Every place in the world has its beauty, sure. Even a Walmart parking lot - I like this one one, Mex :)

Though... if by "nice" the OP meant to say "safe", GN is alright. Not much visually appealing, hardly interesting when you only have a few hours, still a popular location to hole-up for the night when going South.

When I was in San Antonio we would make it to Washington DC in 72 hours of continuous driving, one of us drove 2 hours and the others slept and then we changed, on roads that the taxpayers maintain 4 lane highways.

Driving in Baja at night is worst than playing Russian roulette, apart from the roads being narrow 2 lanes with no shoulders and drop-offs you have the ever present pot holes, topes, cargo trucks and semis that may or may not dim their lights and will not pull to the right to much and then you have the donkeys, cows etc.

Rounding a curve doing a conservative 55mph and encountering a black bull resting on the pavement, if you hit him a 500kilo bull is the same as hitting a barrier, RV is totaled if on the other hand you manage to veer and you get of the pavement and you over steer trying to get back up on the asphalt the rig will roll down the embankment and roll over, totaled RV, no Mexican insurance only US, not covered in country you will be held until they determine whether you where drunk, and if you happen to have wounded the bull you are liable for the animal, in any case you are guilty until YOU can prove that you are innocent, that is where the Mexican insurance covers you, Allstate only covers for 75 miles South of the border and for two weeks only, after the 2 weeks if you are still in Mexico that part of the insurance is void and null, and they have access to the photographs taken as you exit at all borders, that's the flash that you see when going through the barriers, license plate and driver, time and date, this I learnt from my insurance broker.

DO NOT drive at night in Mexico not only do you encounter live stock four legged that is, you may also encounter the herd of two legged ones they really will make your stay a bad one, if you are left with you underwear you are lucky
or you might get to you expiration date a lot sooner.

Oh! well I am viviendo la vida loca in Mexico!

navegator

Absolutely don't drive at night on Hwy 1. On Ensenada main street you could - with lamp posts every 50ft and decent road surface, but not on Hwy 1 in the middle of nowhere.

Cows, yes. Topez - including those unmarked. Vados - rarely any warning sign. Potholes, missed chunks of pavement, road repairs in the middle of disrepair - with traffic signs uninformative or missing altogether. Big eight-wheelers doing 60 on the curve where you don't see it until it's too late, his wheels about a foot in your lane, when there is only one lane each direction, each lane 9ft wide, and there is no shoulder.

Daylight and reasonable speed is the only thing that will keep you safe.