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gkuck
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Registered: 12-10-2019
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Latest on safety and road conditions San Diego to Cabo
My family and I are will be driving down to Cabo on 12/21 with a few overnight stops planned in Gerrero Negro, Loreto, and La Paz. Would sincerely
appreciate any update on safety and road conditions from folks that have experience in traveling that route.
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Paco Facullo
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Mood: Abiding ..........
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Hey now gkuck,
First off, Welcome to the Nomads....
I read most of whats going on here and I myself will be making a trip South soon.
Road conditions are good in regards to pot-holes. Hwy 1 is narrow as always so it's dangerous depending on what and how you drive.
As for Banditos (if that is what you are referring to as dangerous) not to worry.. Although the boarder town have some but you are simply passing
through so no worries....
Since I've given up all hope, I feel much better
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JZ
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Registered: 10-3-2003
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Have driven down with my three kids (now teenagers) about 30 times over the last 10 years.
Don't drive at night, be careful on your driving.
Over time, when you spend more time in places like Loreto and La Paz, and a dozen other small towns, you'll choose to avoid Cabo. Cabo is a big
tourist trap, not the real Baja.
Watch this video I made with the kids a couple years ago to see what is out there for you: https://youtu.be/4VNTIhRa6q0
[Edited on 12-11-2019 by JZ]
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BajaParrothead
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Location: Portola, CA / Los Barriles
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Quote: Originally posted by JZ  |
Over time, when you spend more time in places like Loreto and La Paz, and a dozen other small towns, you'll choose to avoid Cabo. Cabo is a big
tourist trap, not the real Baja.
[Edited on 12-11-2019 by JZ] |
To me, Cabo is a Mexican version of Vegas. Not my cup of tea!
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gkuck
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Thank you, Paco and JZ!
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gkuck
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We will actually be equally spacing our trip between Loreto, La Paz, and Cabo... Excited to get in some diving :-)
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4x4abc
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Location: La Paz, BCS
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Mood: happy - always
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still one of the Baja videos!
Harald Pietschmann
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billklaser
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Location: Loreto, Lopez Mateos
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guck, Alan posted a good guideline to follow. Other than these items, my best advice is to take this road serious. It is basically a dangerous road
and therefore it is necessary to be a very alert driver at all times. If you start to get tired, pull off and rest a while.
I am leaving for Loreto around the 21st to spend the Holidays. We like to cross the border around 5:30 am at San Ysidro. There is less traffic at
that hour and crossing is quick. In the past 30 years I have made well over 200 round trips from San Diego to Loreto. The road conditions are
better than they have been for a long time.
So have a good trip and enjoy Baja. Stay vigilant as a driver!
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Alan
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| Quote: Originally posted by David K | A VERY Nice letter Alan,
but it does need updating, so for fun here is what could get edited:
AAA maps have not been made since 2010,
Tourist cards are not visas and now required anywhere in Mexico, no longer just south of Maneadero,
it is the 28° parallel (not 38°). Maybe mention that the time zone changes there, too? They also stopped checking the tourist cards there. Vizcaino
and Tres Virgenes are the only needed spelling fixes I spotted, so good job! |
I am very well aware that a lot
of the info is very outdated. As I tried to explain these are just musings from driving the road for nearly 50 yrs. I offered it only as a very
general guideline for someone who has never driven down there. I knew that I could count on my Nomad brethren to be more than willing to provide all
necessary updates for gkuck, as demonstrated so eloquently by our newest newbie MattL.  38th parallel??? I must have had Korea on my mind when I first wrote this. I have no idea what they check nowadays at the GN Ag stop.
At one time they asked for my FMM and my Aduana declaration paperwork. Since then GN has always my first night's stop so the little office has
always been closed by the time I get there.
In Memory of E-57
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Howard
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Mood: I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.
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Don't forget about Stockton, California, sharing the 38th parallel with Korea! Maybe that's what you had on your mind! 
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
we grow old because we stop playing
George Bernard Shaw
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Alan
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| Quote: Originally posted by Howard | | Don't forget about Stockton, California, sharing the 38th parallel with Korea! Maybe that's what you had on your mind! |
That was obviously it due to it's
similarity to GN!
In Memory of E-57
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JZ
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Thanks. I've been working on another one. Will have to publish it soon.
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wilderone
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So Tijuana to Guerrero Negro for the first day? That's a long day given the first 200 miles goes through a lot of small towns that will slow you
down, and sunset is 5:15 pm. Not saying it can't be done (and there are plenty who will chime in and say they do it all the time), but kind of a
grueling long day in the car. I'd suggest an overnight before GN. If you take your time getting to El Rosario for the night - stop at Ensenada for
smoked fish, drive past La Bufadora, stop at the outdoor fruit market, buy olives at the stands, check out San Vicente mission - could be a more
enjoyable day. Then, refreshed, be better prepared for a long day on day 2 (much more relaxed, fewer small towns) - maybe to San Ignacio. Baja is
better outside the car.
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David K
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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| Quote: Originally posted by wilderone | | So Tijuana to Guerrero Negro for the first day? That's a long day given the first 200 miles goes through a lot of small towns that will slow you
down, and sunset is 5:15 pm. Not saying it can't be done (and there are plenty who will chime in and say they do it all the time), but kind of a
grueling long day in the car. I'd suggest an overnight before GN. If you take your time getting to El Rosario for the night - stop at Ensenada for
smoked fish, drive past La Bufadora, stop at the outdoor fruit market, buy olives at the stands, check out San Vicente mission - could be a more
enjoyable day. Then, refreshed, be better prepared for a long day on day 2 (much more relaxed, fewer small towns) - maybe to San Ignacio. Baja is
better outside the car. |
I couldn't agree more with wilderone on this!
If you would like to see photos of some of the sites you could visit that she mentioned, I would be happy to post them here. Baja is a magical place
so do let is seep into you veins!
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gkuck
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Thank you all, very much! Great, great information. Will let you know how it goes :-)
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gkuck
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Oh, but just to give you an overview of what we decided..
Day 1 - San Diego to Vicente Guerrero
Day 2 - Vicente Guerrero to Guerrero Negro
Day 3 - Guerrero Negro to Loreto
Day 4 - Loreto (Whale Watching)
Day 5 - Loreto (Scuba Diving)
Day 6 - Loreto to La Paz
Day 7 - La Paz (Whale Shard Snorkeling)
Day 8 - La Paz
Day 9 - La Paz to Cabo (Lunch at Hotel California)
Day 10 - Cabo (Dolphin Swim & Ride)
Day 11 - Cabo (Bucanner Queen for our youngest)
Day 12 - Cabo (Off-Road Adventure to Cabo Tours)
Day 13 - Cabo to Loreto
Day 14 - Loreto to Guerrero Negro
Day 15 - Guerrero Negro to Vicente Guerrero
Day 16 - Vicente Guerrero to Home
Will share reviews of the various outfitters we used upon our return.
Thanks again!
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Alm
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From the wording the OP used in post #1 it sounds very much like they haven't driven this road before. It's difficult to give a concise answer on
"road conditions" when the road is thousand miles long and conditions vary from poor to excellent, depending on the area. Some photos would help
understanding what kind of road it is. I'm not a good photographer unfortunately, and never gave this a second thought - just slowed down when
circumstances mandated it. Sometimes I didn't, and narrowly escaped a serious accident.
And it would be yet more difficult to talk about "safety" when traveling experience in Baja in particular, and in Mexico in general is unclear.
Except the advice to avoid night driving - which has more to do with road conditions - cows, potholes, speed bumps - than with human element. Just my
2 cents.
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Alm
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It it wasn't for their whale-watching plans in Loreto, I would take this one step further and avoided the road altogether. It's a long drive.
Commercial flight from SAN to SJD will take only 2 hours and will cost $140 per person.
IMO, whale-watching hub is Guerrero Negro, not Loreto.
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: Originally posted by gkuck | Oh, but just to give you an overview of what we decided..
Day 1 - San Diego to Vicente Guerrero
Day 2 - Vicente Guerrero to Guerrero Negro
Day 3 - Guerrero Negro to Loreto
Day 4 - Loreto (Whale Watching)
Day 5 - Loreto (Scuba Diving)
Day 6 - Loreto to La Paz
Day 7 - La Paz (Whale Shard Snorkeling)
Day 8 - La Paz
Day 9 - La Paz to Cabo (Lunch at Hotel California)
Day 10 - Cabo (Dolphin Swim & Ride)
Day 11 - Cabo (Bucanner Queen for our youngest)
Day 12 - Cabo (Off-Road Adventure to Cabo Tours)
Day 13 - Cabo to Loreto
Day 14 - Loreto to Guerrero Negro
Day 15 - Guerrero Negro to Vicente Guerrero
Day 16 - Vicente Guerrero to Home
Will share reviews of the various outfitters we used upon our return.
Thanks again! |
a few suggestions:
dont bother stopping overnight vicente guerrero (especially, do not stay here twice). do one overnight at catavina, and another at el rosario.
re 2 stays at guerrero negro,... staying at san ignacio (pretty old town) would be better than staying at guerrero negro (ugly town). going south,
you will be too early for whale watching at GN, coming back north you would have better whale watching chances at GN.
swimming with captive dolphins is participating in a barbaric activity that should be banned. it is morally wrong to use captive dolphins as water
park toys -- do not participate in this atrocity by participating or paying money to such places. instead, go whale watching at GN at tail end of
your trip (you may be too early for whale watching at SI or mag bay)
hotel california is a tourist trap. in that general area, better place to lunch is the cafe in el triunfo, best pizza and bread in BCS, then go see
the piano and mining museums. todo santos is a just tourist trap and collection of bloated mcmansions for orange county and los angeles gringos.
todo santos is OK to spend an hour walking around, if you like over priced kitsch and galleries for gringos
you should spend more time in places like la paz, san ignacio, el triunfo, santa rosalia, loreto. cabo is ok to see once (been there, done that), and
never return to it.
[Edited on 12-13-2019 by mtgoat666]
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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Bajaboy
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| Quote: Originally posted by David K | Curious why you picked Vicente Guerrero? What is there as an accommodation that had you choose it over San Quintín or El Rosario?
The Santo Domingo mission is near Vicente Guerrero, but that is the only tourist attraction I can think of... |
This place http://www.hotelmissioninn.com/
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