Best Baja Travel Guides

These next few posts may be a bit different than my usual, but I wanted to put out a list of my current favorite books about Baja and the Sea of Cortez. I'm a compulsive collector of field guides, travel guides, and scientific works about the region. I hope I'll be able to narrow down my collection to a few of the best and help out your holiday list-making if you're as interested about Baja and the Sea of Cortez as I am.

So, here are a few of my favorites for general travel guides.

1) Lonely Planet Baja California & Los Cabos (Lonely Planet Baja and Los Cabos)
The Lonely Planet guides are hard to beat for ease of use, and are kept relatively up to date. The new edition of their Baja guide is no exception, but as they are updated, they seem to be shrinking with less information about the history and biogeography of the region. However, for a straightforward "where to go and how to get there" type of guide, these are ideal travel companions.

2) Moon Handbooks Baja The Moon Handbooks Baja is a very enjoyable book - a bit more like what the Lonely Planet guides used to be. It is large (640 pages!) and packed with information about the history and sites of Baja. Some of the travel information is more dated than the Lonely Planet guide, but this is a wonderful compliment to the smaller guide. Having this along will definitely increase your enjoyment and appreciation of the Baja Peninsula by providing a worthwhile narrative to the little known history and culture of Baja.

3) Diving and Snorkeling the Sea of Cortez: The Most Complete Guide to Baja California's Best Sites - Includes the Islas de Revillagigedo (Socorro Islands) This diving guide by Susan Speck and Bruce Williams is a good introduction to diving in the Sea of Cortez. It is far from comprehensive, but does cover some of the better known sites as well as a few "secret" sites. Although there is much more to scuba diving in the Sea of Cortez than can be contained in 92 pages, this guide will give a very good general idea of what to expect in the various regions of the Sea of Cortez and Islas de Revillagigedo.

4) The Rough Guide to Baja California (Rough Guide Travel Guides) The Rough Guide to Baja California is another worthwhile guide. I don't find it to be quite as useful in "getting there" as the Lonely Planet guide, but stylistically it's a lot more fun to read and is still packed with good info, especially with regard to hotels, restaurants, and clubs.

5) The Baja Adventure Book The Baja Adventure Book by Walt Peterson is a true Baja classic. Much of the travel info for developed areas is FAR out of date, but the general info about the destinations and "off the beaten path" sites are still valuable and interesting. A good blend of destinations, history and factoids.