Historic Loreto: first of a chain of missions

In the year 1684, a Jesuit missionary named Padre Eusebio Kino tried to establish a settlement at San Bruno, a few miles north of present day  Loreto,  but it failed due to lack of fresh water.  Then in 1697 his friend Padre Juan Maria Salvatierra was successful at Loreto, founding Nuestra Señora de Loreto, and it became the first of a chain of missions and mission towns created by the Jesuits followed by Benedictines and Franciscans, moving upward along the peninsula and into southern California.

The city served as Spain’s capital for all of the Californias (reaching nearly to present-day Oregon), and later was the capital of Baja California Sur until a hurricane wiped out the city in the early 1800’s and the capital was moved south to La Paz.

Modern day Loreto has blue sea, red mountains and white beaches combined with the history and culture of the Baja, retaining the feel of an authentic Mexican town.  The city is situated on an arc of beach that runs ten miles along the shore of environmentally protected Loreto Bay.  To the east are the desert islands called Coronado, Carmen and Danzante, and to the west is the cordillera of the Gigantas, a mountain range rising steeply to as high as 6000 feet.