6 Best Sights in Los Cabos, Mexico

Avenida López Mateos, commonly known as Calle Primera, is the center of Ensenada's traditional tourist zone and shopping district. Hotels, shops, restaurants, and bars line the avenue for eight blocks, from its beginning at the foot of the Chapultepec Hills to the dry channel of the Arroyo de Ensenada. The avenue also has sidewalk cafés, art galleries, and most of the town's souvenir stores, where you can find pottery, glassware, silver, and other Mexican crafts.

La Bufadora. Legend has it that La Bufadora, an impressive tidal blowhole (la bufadora means the buffalo snort) in the coastal cliffs at Punta Banda, was created by a whale or sea serpent trapped in an undersea cave; both these stories, and the less romantic scientific facts, are posted on a roadside plaque.

The road to La Bufadora along Punta Banda—an isolated, mountainous point that juts into the sea—is lined with olive, craft, and tamale stands; the drive gives you a sampling of Baja's wilderness. If you're in need of some cooling off, turn off the highway at the sign for La Jolla Beach Camp. The camp charges a small admission fee for day use of the beachside facilities, but it's a great place to do a few "laps" of lazy freestyle or breaststroke at La Jolla Beach. At La Bufadora, expect a small fee to park, and then a half-mile walk past T-shirt hawkers and souvenir stands to the water hole itself. A public bus runs from the downtown Ensenada station to Maneadero, from which you can catch a minibus labeled Punta Banda that goes to La Bufadora. Carretera 23, 31 km [19 mi] south of Ensenada, Punta Banda, Ensenada, Baja California Norte, 22794.

For many, a visit to Baja Norte must include an afternoon drive to the cheese caves of Marcelo in Ojos Negros, just 45 minutes outside Ensenada. With Swiss-Italian roots, owner Marcelo Castro Chacon is now the fourth generation to carry on the queso tradition since it first began in 1911. A visit to the farm includes a tour of the milking facilities and a tasting of seven cheeses and their signature Ramonetti red wine. Milder selections seasoned with basil, black pepper, and rosemary are more popular with locals than their sharper cheeses, aged up to two-and-a-half years, loved by out-of-towners. As Mexico’s only cheese cave (and the first in Latin America), this beloved factory produces 450 pounds of cheese per day. Milking takes place at 5 pm daily and the small on-site shop sells the remarkable marmalade and wine that accompany your cheese tasting. Those with time and an appetite can dine under the shade of a peppertree for a lunch menu integrating Marcelo’s cheeses and organic fruits and vegetables from his farm (expect flies in summer). The cactus salad and portobello mushrooms with melted cheese make the ideal starters to the regional trout served with roasted garlic. The fig mousse alone is worth a visit. Be aware that cell service is limited and the road here is winding.

One of Baja's oldest wine producers gives tours and tastings at its downtown Ensenada winery and bottling plant. Santo Tomás's best wines are the Alisio Chardonnay, the Cabernet, and the Tempranillo; avoid the overpriced Único. The winery also operates the enormous wineshop, a brick building across the avenue. The Santo Tomás Vineyards can be found on the eastern side of Highway 1 about 50 km (31 miles) south of Ensenada in Santo Tomás Valley, fairly near the ruins of the Misión Santo Tomás de Aquino, which was founded by Dominican priests in 1791. They have a third facility, Cava San Antonio de las Minas, at the entrance to Valle de Guadalupe at Km 94.7.

At the northernmost point of Boulevard Costero, the main street along the waterfront, is an indoor-outdoor fish market where row after row of counters display piles of shrimp, tuna, dorado, and other fish caught off Baja's coasts. Outside, stands sell grilled or smoked fish, seafood cocktails, and fish tacos. You can pick up a few souvenirs, eat well for very little money, and take some great photographs. If your stomach is delicate, try the fish tacos at the cleaner, quieter Plaza de Mariscos in the shadow of the giant beige Plaza de Marina that blocks the view of the traditional fish market from the street.

Officially called the Centro Cívico Social y Cultural Riviera de Ensenada, the Riviera is a rambling, white, hacienda-style mansion built in the 1920s. The former casino and hotel was frequented by wealthy U.S. citizens and Mexicans, particularly during Prohibition. You can visit the café and history museum, and tour the gardens and some of the elegant ballrooms and halls, which occasionally host art shows and civic events.