Bike tranquil desert and rugged coasts of the length of Baja, from Tijuana to Los Cabos. Cycle the Guadalupe wine valley, remote mission towns, along the blue waters on the Sea of Cortez, and desert national parks on the road less traveled. All of our Baja cycling tours have filled, reserve your spot early.
TRIP DATES 2024:
March 4-12, 2024 (
* full)
April 1-8, 2024 (full)
Custom Trips – plan yours
Three things make for a great bicycle tour: scenic rides, friendly locals, and good grub. Baja delivers on all of these, in spades – with a bonus of warm sunny weather and clear skies. Join us for fabulous and kind people, legendary cuisine and wine, and incredible rides. Over the last 25 years, we’ve experienced how fleeting these off-the-radar places are, often disappearing within a few short years and now Baja too is poised to change quickly with new hotels popping up, road improvements, and ever-expanding towns, but for now come ride easy peaceful miles on the road less traveled, enjoying the peninsula’s desolate and sublime rugged beauty. Ride Baja now before you miss out on another place when it was special! All of our trips have sold out, register early to secure your spot for the ultimate Baja bicycle tour.
• Seamless travel: ticketing, transfers from San Diego and airport departure and visa assistance.
• Travel the length of Baja’s remote canyons, small towns, rugged coastline, fire-red mesas, nature preserves, and cactus plains.
• Explore the ever-popular Guadalupe Wine Valley with wine tasting.
• Culinary highlights of Baja cycling from delicious street eats, fresh seafood, to legendary venues, such as Mision 19 in Tijuana.
• Comfortable top boutique hotels in each destination
• Ride newly-paved roads with little traffic.
• Ride as much or as little as you’d like.
• Trace Baja’s historic missions and towns.
• Stay in Loreto and La Paz, two of Mexico’s most picturesque and up-and-coming small towns.
• Feast on delicious Baja-style cuisine and seafood.
• Enjoy warm sunny weather throughout.
• Stay on to enjoy whale watching, deep-sea fishing, sailing, and other activities along the Baja coast.
• Professional guides and drivers with years of experience.
• 2-3 fully-stocked sag wagons.
Why us? After crisscrossing the peninsula and other places in Mexico over the last few years, no one knows these roads better. Our journey travels the length of Baja, riding from Mexico’s up-and-coming culinary destination, Tijuana, into the bourgeoning Guadalupe wine region, through nature preserves of towering-cactus, palm-fringed oases, small rustic towns, historic missions, high-desert mesas, jagged coastal cliffs, marine national parks and rugged islands on the azure Sea of Cortez. Our Baja cycling tours are the perfect, warm-weather, and easy escape close to home.
Note: Baja the ideal safe-distancing destination, close to home with easy and frequent connections, populated with few people, Mexico’s safest state, with a familiar culture.
A national champion of Mexico, Victor lived and raced at the top level in Los Angeles for over twenty years, much of that for the legendary cycling club La Grange. Victor competed in stage races throughout the U.S.A., Mexico and Latin America. Recently, Victor returned to his native Ensenada, where he continues to ride and compete as a top-level masters-category racer while pursuing his entrepreneurial interests, including founding of one of the city’s most popular breakfast spots, the Casa Antigua Café.
Former pro racer who competed at the top level throughout the world, including the world championships, Christiam is based in La Paz where he serves as President of the Cycling State Association of Baja California Sur and is chief of Mexico’s Olympic Cycling Team. The association promotes training and racing for local children from 5 to 13 years old, organizes cycling events in the Baja Sur, and provides for youth racing and competition teams, which Christiam coaches. We may get to meet with some young racers during our visit in La Paz.
Willard raced as junior in Los Angeles and later co-founded VeloAsia, organizing the first cycling trips to Vietnam in 1994. Willard has coached Olympic and national champion riders and organizing several competitive cycling teams. Over the last three decades he has also managed gyms focused on strength, conditioning, and martial arts. Most recently, Willard launched a vintage bike renovation and bike-build service The Super Fred.
In our 5th season of organizing cycling tours Baja, including trips non-stop over the pandemic. We constantly refine our routes, places to stay, dining, manned by a world-class support crew each with years experience leading and crewing our Baja trips. This journey is fully-supported with stocked sag wagons. Riders can expect seamless travel to and from Baja, beautiful and safe rides, professional mechanical and ride support, coaching, plenty of delicious local Mexican cuisine, hot showers, a good night’s sleep, and cultural activities on the side. Our Baja bicycle tours are limited to only 12 riders. However, this Baja bicycle tour Mexico may be also organized as a private, custom Baja bicycle tour Mexico for you and your friends or family of any size. We have accommodated groups up to 25 people, including non-cycling partners. Contact us for full details.
Pre-Departure
In addition to a comprehensive pre-tour preparation packet sent to all riders for our Baja trips, please contact us for any questions and information they may need.
Arrival & Departure
Please contact us before arranging your flights for recommendations, or even for booking a ticket. If you are flying in, you’ll want to arrive into San Diego or Tijuana Airports, with departure from La Paz or Cabo San Lucas. We will meet and transport you from the airport in San Diego for you to join us in Tijuana or Ensenada, including a stop to obtain our required visas at the border.
Hotels
In places with options, such as Ensenada, Loreto and La Paz, we stay at the finest boutique properties available, while in other far more remote places, we stay in the only hotel available, simple and rustic yet comfortable.
Day-to-Day
Our Baja cycling trips are designed for moderate to advanced riders comfortable riding 2-5 hours at a steady pace, though all riding is optional—our sag wagons are always nearby, even for catching a quick lift up climbs. We don’t always ride as a group, but by preference, faster riders may ride ahead if desired or add additional mileage. We typically depart mid-morning around 9 AM each day, with a break for a pleasant lunch. Afternoons after arrival with include some time free, or we will have scheduled sightseeing, such as visiting the historic Jesuit missions along our route. Mornings before we depart also provides some time to see local sights.
Health, Medical, and Covid-19 Safety Procedures
While we are optimistic vaccines will bring safety to travel again, until then Baja remains a safe destination, close to home, low population density, outdoors travel and dining, , warm sunny weather, miles and miles of remote rural travel, quiet small towns, outdoor dining, two well-ventilated vans for distancing, staff Covid-19 testing, small group size, and safety procedures including masks off the bike. All make Baja a safe trip and one of the safest destinations for cycling in the world during the pandemic. Baja features robust emergency response (including air evacuation) thanks to the popularity of the Baja 1000 motor race and Baja bicycle tour. Medical facilities in larger towns such as Cabos and Tijuana are world-class.
Dining
Our past travelers will tell you our trips are as much about the food and culture as the riding. In fact, after 20 years our Iron Chef Vietnam culinary cycling trip remains our most popular. Meals feature a variety of the best of Baja, from the most delicious tacos in the world, fresh seafood, including yellowtail, grilled and rotisserie meats, sinful chilaquiles, heaping bowls of fresh guacamole with handmade chips always served with piping hot flour tortillas with fresh salsas.
Our first stop, Tijuana, is famous for its street food, especially mariscos, birria and of course, tacos of all type, with dinner and wines planned by famed chef owner Javier Plascencia (right) at his elegant cocina de Baja, Mision 19 (Read more about his efforts in the New York Time’s Master of a New Tijuana). Pleasant weather means we dine outdoors whenever possible. Guadalupe-produced vinos are available throughout our route. Our van is stocked with typical rider’s fuel, including carbo mix, bars, bananas, and other fruit, but also a variety of cold beverages and local snacks popular in each location.
Hotels
We stay in top boutique and other hotels in each destination, or in a couple of remotes places, the only accommodations available. If you are seeking a private trip, we can modify any aspect of the trip, including hotels, staying at the newer resorts in the Guadalupe Valley, for example.
Money Matters
ATMs are ubiquitous along our route and credit cards widely accepted. Aside from alcoholic drinks and souvenirs, you will need only small amounts of pesos mostly for hotel staff and tips. We recommend allowing for about $10-20 per day for such expenses.
Weather & Climate
The weather in Baja during our touring season is always sunny and warm, with very little or no rainfall, and typically reaching into the 70s to 80s midday, dry but not humid–perfect for cycling. Evenings are pleasantly cool, but not cold.
CUSTOM TRIPS
Have a small group of friends, family? Want a more leisurely trip or company retreat? We can plan cycling trips based in the wine valley of Guadalupe, or along the warm coast and canyons north of Cabo San Lucas, including some of the finest beaches and oceans settings in Mexico. Private cantina events and spaces can be arranged. Of course, Baja’s incredible cuisine is a part of all of our tours. Inquire about a private trip.
* PRO TRIP
Our pro trips feature former world-class professional cyclists as guides, with longer rides, pro mechanics, coaching, and paceline riding for moderate to advanced cyclists. Please contact us for more details on specific dates. Past guides have included former 7-11 rider and campion of Ireland, John Brady, U.S. Pro Antonio Cruz, Mexico Master’s Champion Victor Alaya, and World-Tour racer Christiam Valenzuela.
Community
A portion of your tour fees are donated to the Escuela Técnica de Ciclismo Christiam Valenzuela (below), a non-profit dedicated to teaching La Paz youth to bicycle and race. Parts, supplies, and even bikes are hard to get in Baja, please also consider bringing any that you may no longer need.
Velopura also supports the Tadej Pogačar Cancer Research Foundation, which was founded by the Tour de France champion and leading cancer researcher Dr. Iñigo San-Millán to drive, promote, and fund promising research in cancer metabolism. The foundation also promotes exercise oncology which prescribes exercise as part of a cancer treatment regimen and has been proven to significantly inhibit cancer growth an reduce remission.
What’s Included
Before Departure to San Diego
During your Baja Cycling Trip
Not included with Baja trip:
Rental Bicycle Option (+$380):
– Fuji Carbon or Aluminum
– Carbon T700 Asymmetric Frame
– Shimano Ultegra 11-speed mechanical or electronic gruppo & hydraulic disc brakes
– Available sizes: Sizes 46.5cm, 51.5cm, 54cm, 56cm, & 59cm
– SPD pedals, or bring our own and we will mount (along with your saddle if preferred)
NEW FOR 2023 TRIPS – E-Bikes. PLEASE INQUIRE.
*Covid-19 Travel Safety Procedures
While we are optimistic a vaccines will free us for safe and healthy travel again, but until then Baja is a safe destination, close to home, featuring one of the lowest population densities in the world (about nine persons per square kilometer), warm sunny weather, miles and miles of remote rural travel, quiet small towns, outdoor dining, two well-ventilated vans for distancing, staff Covid-19 testing, small group size, and safety procedures including masks off the bike. All make Baja a safe trip and one of the safest destinations for travel in the world during the pandemic.
Request our Baja Cycling Trip PDF
Contact us for more details about our Baja Cycling Tours at (628) 256-0093 or by email: i[email protected]
Travel with your club, friends, or family. Customize this trip to your specific preferences—we’ll work with you to make it the trip of a lifetime.
