San Ignacio

Driving central Baja means hours of cardon, lava and creosote - and then the road drops into San Ignacio, where a spring feeds a lagoon and a date-palm forest thick enough to hide the town inside it. The plaza is the peninsula's prettiest: laurel trees, a kiosk, low white buildings, and on one side the mission church of San Ignacio Kadakaaman, completed by Dominicans in 1786 in blocks of volcanic stone more than a metre thick, with a carved facade and a dim, cool interior. The town is a base for two great excursions. Southwest, an hour of dirt road reaches Laguna San Ignacio, one of the gray whales' breeding lagoons and the one where the friendly-whale encounters are most reliable, with camps operating from January to April. North and east, the Sierra de San Francisco holds the UNESCO-listed Great Murals - enormous prehistoric rock paintings reached on mule with licensed guides and permits arranged in town. Between them, San Ignacio is a place to sit under palms and do nothing.

What you actually see

• The mission - thick volcanic stone and carved facade of 1786.
• The plaza - laurels and kiosk in a palm oasis.
• The lagoon road - the route to the gray whale camps.
• The palm forest - dates and springs in the middle of desert.

When to go

December to April for whale season, which is also when the town is busiest and most alive; other months are hot, quiet and cheap.

Honest expectations

Whale camps book out in peak weeks - reserve ahead. Cave-painting trips need permits, guides and a full day or more on mule. Services in town are limited; fuel up when you can in central Baja.

Nearby

Laguna San Ignacio's whales lie southwest; Santa Rosalia's port and the Sierra de San Francisco rock art are within reach.