2 Best Sights in Los Cabos and the Baja Peninsula, Mexico

The downtown church, Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Paz, is a simple, unassuming building near the site of La Paz's first mission, which no longer exists. Built in 1861, it's one of La Paz's oldest buildings, and so no changes can be made, even for restoration. It was built with volcanic stone, the primary available material at the time; inside you can find a modest gilded altar but beautiful stained-glass windows.

Todos Santos was the second-farthest south of Baja California's 30 mission churches, a system the Spanish instituted to convert (and subdue) the peninsula's indigenous peoples. Jesuit priests established an outpost here in 1723 as a visita (circuit branch) of the mission in La Paz, a day's journey away on horseback. The original church north of town was sacked and pillaged twice during its existence, before being relocated in 1825 to this site in the center of town. Additions in the past two centuries have resulted in a hodgepodge of architectural styles, but the overall effect is still pleasing, and the structure serves to this day as the community's bustling parish church.