San Ignacio

San Ignacio is a town of 670 people (2010) in Baja California. It has a beautiful old mission, and is the gateway to San Ignacio Lagoon, the winter time sanctuary of the Pacific gray whale.

Understand

The village grew at the site of the Cochimí settlement of Kadakaamán and the Jesuit Mission San Ignacio founded in 1728 by Juan Bautista Luyando.

At San Ignacio, Baja California's arid Central Desert terrain gives way to a large grove of lush green date palms. A large spring-fed pond and small river on the outskirts of town feeds into the central plaza and village next to the 18th-century Jesuit mission.

Get in

San Ignacio is 77 km west of Santa Rosalía toward Guerrero Negro on the Mexican Federal Highway 1.

It is 866 km (567 miles) from the San Diego, California/Tijuana border crossing. Highway 1 is a well-maintained, four-lane, toll highway from Tijuana to Ensenada. South of Ensenada, Highway 1 becomes a narrow (but relatively well-maintained) two-lane highway. Pemex gas stations are now located in every major town through which Highway 1 travels on the way to San Ignacio. Driving only during daylight hours is recommended, due to livestock that frequently cross the road at night, and decreased visibility of the narrow and winding roads through the mountain sides.

The nearest airports are to the north at Guerrero Negro Airport GUB ^IATA in Guerrero Negro, or to the south at Loreto International Airport LTO ^IATA in Loreto.

See

The front facade of Misión San Ignacio

• 1 Misión de San Ignacio Kadakaamán. Nice old mission founded by a Jesuit missionary in 1728 and served as the base for later Jesuit expansion in the central peninsula. The impressive church was constructed by the Dominican missionary Juan Gómez in 1786. The mission was abandoned in 1840.  
• 2 Museo INAH San Ignacio, Valdivia Peña, San Ignacio, ☏ +52 615 154 0222. 11:00 - 18:00 (closed Sun). Small historical museum that summarizes finds from some of the Vizcaino area's archaeological sites and features an excellent reproduction of prehistoric rock paintings found in the area. (updated May 2023)

Do

Perfect place to stay before heading out to see the whales.

Go next

• El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve