Baja California

Baja California is a state in the far northwest of Mexico, occupying the northern part of the long Baja California Peninsula along the US border. Its capital is Mexicali, while Tijuana is the largest city. A dynamic border region, it blends desert landscapes, beaches and a booming cross-border economy.

The state stretches between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, with arid mountains, deserts and a long coastline. It borders the US state of California. The climate is largely Mediterranean on the coast and desert inland.

Baja California has a distinctive border culture, blending Mexican and American influences, a noted craft-beer and wine scene in the Valle de Guadalupe, and a fusion cuisine. Tijuana is a vibrant, fast-paced metropolis.

Long inhabited by Indigenous peoples and explored by the Spanish, the northern peninsula developed late, becoming a Mexican state in 1952. Proximity to the US drove rapid growth in manufacturing and trade.