Baja California Sur

Baja California Sur is a state at the southern end of the Baja California Peninsula in northwestern Mexico, famed for its desert-meets-sea beauty and the resorts of Los Cabos. Its capital is La Paz. With the Pacific on one side and the Gulf of California on the other, it is a paradise for marine life and tourism.

The state is a long, narrow desert peninsula flanked by the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, which Jacques Cousteau called the aquarium of the world. It features arid mountains, cactus landscapes and spectacular coastlines. The climate is hot and dry.

Tourism shapes the culture, especially around Los Cabos and La Paz, with sport fishing, whale watching and water sports central. The state blends a relaxed coastal lifestyle with ranching traditions and rich marine cuisine.

Home to ancient cave-painting cultures and later Jesuit missions, the sparsely populated southern peninsula remained a remote territory until it became a Mexican state in 1974, the country's second newest.