We arrived in Loreto on November 30, 2021. We booked a stay at Loreto Shores Villas RV Park. It’s a great RV park with full hook-up including 30 amp electrical, water, and sewer. They also have clean bathrooms with plenty of hot water for showers and an on-site laundry room with washer and dryers that takes US quarters.
Loreto is a tourist town with lots of restaurants, fun activities, and friendly local people. Twice during our stay, we saw Cruise ships in the harbor filled with American and Canadian tourist. The Loreto International Airport has direct flights to and from California.
Loreto International Airport
The weather is beautiful in Loreto, in the 70′-80′ during the winter months but can be windy. May through October is the hottest with temperatures in the 90′. Average rainfall of around 6.1 inches per year.
During our stay, we booked a boat tour to Coronado Island and a tour of Mision San Francisco Javier from a company called LoretoSea and Land Tours located in the downtown area. We highly recommend them for tours. They have friendly and knowledgeable staff.
We took a Panga boat to the Island of Coronado. On our way, we saw bottle-nose dolphins, sea lions, and a lot of fish and birds. A pod of dolphins swam right next to the boat. So cool!
With the soft golden sand and the clear water, it was fun to snorkel off the beach. There is a boardwalk/trail that we believe goes to the other side of the island. We didn’t walk the whole path, but our interpretation of the signage indicated so. There are markers with the names of the vegetation that grows along the path.
On the way up to the mision tour, our guide Carlos stopped to show us this fig tree that was said to be over 250 years old and still bears fruit every 4 years. It was amazing how this tree can survive on so little water and grow on the side of the rock.
The Mision de San Francisco Javier considered one of the most beautiful and well preserved of the Californians, was built with stone taken from quarry from the bed of the brook of Santo Domingo 20 km southeast of San Javier. Its original baroque appearance has been well preserved. Its interior has: a golden altarpiece with five oleos, brought from Mexico City in thirty-two boxes; two statues: one of San Francisco Javier and another one of Our Lady of Guadalupe; and a crucifix, all of these are from the 18th century. It has three bells, two of them are dated 1761 and the other, 1803. There is a monument to that time at the end of the street that leads to the church. It is known as “the Cross of Calvary”. From there hundreds of pilgrims visit
The present mission dates back to 1758 and has survived the years so well that it is still in use as a church. The village that surrounds the mision is small but beautiful. We walked by a banana tree with a small bunch of bananas on it.
After our tour of the mision and the surrounding grounds, we ate at the restaurant in the village and had a traditional lunch of fresh tortillas with dried goat meat, goat cheese, and beans.
We spent Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve’s dinners at Loreto Mision Hotel. The food was fabulous and the hotel is beautifully decorated for the holidays.
The Hotel have both indoor and outdoor dining on the 2nd floor with a view of the Sea of Cortez. They also have an outside sports bar with a pizza oven. On Thursday nights, they have all-you-can-eat gourmet pizza and live music. It’s also a great place to watch sports on their large TVs. In the wintertime, bring a jacket it gets chilly in the evenings.
The city square is unique with its cobblestone streets. There are so many great restaurants with tasty food and beverages. There are several souvenir shops for tourists. The Loreto Mision is also located there and is a fun place to visit.
The Malecon is a fun place to walk, eat and watch the boats come and go.
Just a short drive from the Shores RV Park is a wonderful farm that has organic vegetables for sale. They also raise chickens, goats, and lambs. There are open to the public on Saturdays and Wednesdays.
Loreto Bay is just 15 minutes south of the city square. It’s a whole community in itself. There are several small grocery stores, a post office where you can get USPS, UPS, and FedEx packages delivered, several Real Estate offices, art gallery, restaurants and a wine bar. One of the small grocery stores has an ATM machine. Working ATM machines are hard to find in Baja, they seem to run out of money or have poor communications with the States. Hotel Loreto Bay Golf Resort & Spa is the main attraction.
There is a lot of beautiful villas owned mostly by Americans and Canadians. This community was built for expats.
We took a hike at Tabor Canyon Trailhead across from the Puerto Escondido. This was a difficult hike especially for Gus. The first part of the trailhead has large boulders to climb over and around and is very rocky,
The trail leads to a waterfall which is dry now do to the lack of rain these last two years, according to a local couple that we met on our way to the parking area.
We really enjoyed our 2 month stay in Loreto and was sad to leave. But, we have lots of new adventures ahead of us. You can follow us on Instagram at: rickandfaithtravels
Time to hit the road! Next stop San Carlos.