Guerrero Negro is a city of 14,000 people (2015) in Baja California Sur, on the edge of the Vizcaino Desert just south of the state border about halfway down the peninsula. It is best known for the whale watching, although its primary industry is salt. The entire Vizcaino region is a protected biosphere called the El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve. The protected area includes the entire Vizcaino desert, the entire Sierra San Francisco mountain range, the Pacific coast lagoons where the grey whales reproduce, and the beaches and islands on the Sea of Cortes. Guerrero Negro is the best "home base" for visiting those sensitive environmental areas.

Get in

The easiest and more comfortable way is by plane: there is a company that flies from Ensenada to Guerrero Negro on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 11:30, it makes a stop at Isla de Cedros. The company is Aeroservicios Guerrero, and the phone number is +52 615 157 01 37.

To get to Ensenada you may fly to San Diego and take the bus at the station that is just across the border in Tijuana. There is also a bus that leaves from the airport in Tijuana each hour since 08:30 and it arrives to Ensenada two hours later.

Other way is to rent a car in Tijuana and make the 12-hour drive, it is a long drive but it is worth the trip, and it is cheaper if you are two or more people.

The last way is to take a bus from Tijuana Central Station to Guerrero Negro it leaves at 12:15, 16:00 and 18:00 and it takes about 12 hours to get to Guerrero.

You can also fly to Los Cabos and to rent a car there or to take a bus to La Paz and from La Paz to Guerrero Negro (12 hours from La Paz) and it leaves at 10:00, 16:00 and 23:00.

Get around

Walking or taxi is the easiest way to get around in town. You'll want to hire a boat to explore the lagoons of Ojo de Liebre.

The lagoon complex of Ojo de Liebre has been recognized as a wetland of international importance by the Ramsar Convention and as a Hemispheric Importance Site for shore birds conservation so bird watching is a must. It is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.

You can also visit the sand dunes around Guerrero Negro. There are guided visits to the largest open salt company, to the rock paintings at San Francisco and Santa Marta Sierras, and to the less well-known paintings of Mesa del Carmen, north from Guerrero Negro.

See

Guerrero Negro is the place with the highest concentration of grey whales in the world. Scammon Lagoon is one of three areas in Mexico where grey whales migrate to in winter to give birth and to mate. The whale watching tours in this area are almost mandatory,

Salt production in Guerrero Negro

Also, visit the largest salt works in the world, bird watching in winter, giant sand dunes and one of the largest concentrations of Osprey's in the world (they hatch by the end of February), Malarrimo Restaurant have a little museum on the bar side with a nice collection of flotsam recovered from Malarrimo Beach. There were sand blasted bottles, fishing floats from Japan, pieces of ships, wooden oars, round army containers about 92 cm (3 feet) long and 20 cm (8 inches) in diameter, lots of construction helmets and a wooden ships wheel, etc.

Do

Grey whale spy hopping in Scammon Lagoon

• Eco-Tours Malarrimo was the first private operator permitted by the Mexican government to conduct tours in the area; even nowadays, Malarrimo Ecotours is the most popular whale watching tour in town. Besides, was the first one to offer cave painting tours, bird watching, salt tours, peninsula pronghorn and worked with film crews like CNN, Animal Planet, TBS Japan, Globo Brasil, Televisa, TV Azteca,ABC, three movies and TV commercials.

Tours leave at 08:00 and 11:00 and cost US$50 or M$650 (as of Feb 2012)

• Mario's Tours offers a wide variety of tours including whale watching tours, bird watching and rock paintings.
• Whale watching in nearby Scammon's Lagoon (Laguna Ojo de Liebre).
• The town has a celebration each year to hail the annual arrival of the gray whales that calve in the lagoons of Baja California Sur . This festival occurs during the first half of February.

Dunas de Soledad

Just north of Guerrero Negro is a vast area of deep blown sand called the Dunes of Solitude, as English speakers will say, though the official name is Dunas de Soledad. It's 40 square kilometers in area and not a stick of vegetation grows in the desert landscape of undulating hills of ever-shifting sand.

The easiest way to get to the dunes is to hire a taxi driver in Guerrero Negro to drive you out and pick you up at the same spot at a pre-arranged time (a couple hours is likely enough time). You could drive yourself, if you had a car, but finding the right dirt back roads past the military base and regional airport will be difficult.

The dunes are aptly named. You are unlikely to see another soul while out there.

Buy

• Casa El Viejo Cactus. Gift shop. Baja books and maps, great collection of local and national crafts, souvenirs like t-shirts, caps, key chains, cups, mugs, and Tequila shot glasses. Many of these crafts and souvenirs are made of marine and whales motifs, since whales and other marine life is the main attraction of this region. 

Eat

There are several restaurants scattered along Emiliano Zapata, and a few others to the north of that road. These include 1 Restaurant-bar Don Gus. Below is a listing for a taco truck:

• 2 Tacos El Muelle. They do fish tacos on a food truck. (updated Dec 2017)

Drink

• Malarrimo restaurant, Blvd. Emiliano Zapata s/n (On Blvd. Emiliano Zapata at entrance into town), ☏ +52 615 157 0100. Daily from 07:30. A favorite with visiting tourists since 1973, with seafood, Mexican & international specialties. Full bar service, banquet facilities. Tourist information & assistance. 

Sleep

All accommodations are very basic.

• 1 Malarrimo hotel, tours and RV parking, Blvd, Emiliano Zapata S/N,, ☏ +52 615 157 0100. Check-in: 15:00, check-out: 12:00. Also has a restaurant. Over 30 years experience with whale tourism. M$1200. (updated Jan 2024)
• 2 Hotel Los Caracoles, Calzada, De La República, ☏ +52 615 157 1088. Restaurant and a little bit of wifi available. 
• 3 Hotel TerraSal, Emiliano Zapata s/n (just off of Hwy 1 on main approach into town), ☏ +52 615 157 0133. A modern-looking hotel for weary travelers and such. The stucco finish is appealing and the restaurant food is satisfying too. (updated Feb 2021)

Go next

• Ensenada — third-largest city in Baja California
• Guadalupe Island — large desert island in the Pacific Ocean
• El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve — Mexico's largest protected natural area, breeding waters for gray whales

Routes through Guerrero Negro

Ensenada ← El Rosario ← Jct E ←

N  S

→ Santa Rosalia → La Paz