Attractions

Ensenada is technically a "border town," but part of its appeal is its multilayered vitality born out of being concerned with much more than tourism. The bustling port consumes the entire waterfront -- beach access is north or south of town -- and the Pacific fishing trade and agriculture in the fertile valleys surrounding the city dominate the economy. Try not to leave Ensenada without getting a taste of its true personality; for example, stop by the indoor-outdoor fish market at the northernmost corner of the harbor where each day, from early morning to midday, merchants and housewives gather to assess the day's catch -- tuna, marlin, snapper, plus many other varieties of fish and piles of shrimp from the morning's haul.

Ensenada is the perfect place to sample the culinary craze of Baja California, the Baja fish taco. Several stands prepare this local treat; strips of freshly caught fish are battered and deep fried, then wrapped in corn tortillas and topped with shredded cabbage, cilantro, salsa, and various other condiments. Although every local has a different opinion on the best fish taco in town, play it safe by going to the stands swarmed by locals. Fish tacos are delicious, cheap, and filling, and it's easy to see why surf bums and collegiate vacationers consider them a Baja staple.

Avenida Lopez Mateos is the hub of tourist activity in the city, and for a nice espresso, a "rocky road" mocha, or a quick e-mail check, head to one of Ensenada's first Internet cafes, Uncle Sam's Espresso Bar, where $1.50 gets you a shot of espresso and $2 gets you an hour of Internet access. The understated owner, Ricardo, and his regulars will tell you Ensenada's real stories if you ask, and they'll also hook you up with affordable Internet phone lines to the U.S.

Elsewhere in town, visit the Bodegas de Santo Tomás Winery, Av. Miramar 666 at Calle 7 (tel. 646/178-2509; www.santo-tomas.com). While most visitors to Mexico are quite content quaffing endless quantities of cheap cerveza, even part-time oenophiles should pay a visit to this historic winery -- the second oldest in Mexico (after Casa Madero in Coahuila). It uses old-fashioned methods of processing grapes, first cultivated from Spanish varietals in 1888, in the lush Santo Tomás Valley, where a Dominican mission of the same name was founded almost a century earlier. A 45-minute tour introduces you to low-tech processing machinery; hand-hammered wood casks; and cool, damp stone aging rooms. It culminates in an invitation to sample several Santo Tomás vintages, including an international-medal-winning cabernet and delightfully crisp sparkling blanc de blanc. The wood-paneled, churchlike tasting room is adorned with paintings of mischievous altar boys being scolded by stern friars for pilfering wine or ruining precious grapes. Anyone used to the pretentious, assembly-line ambience of trendier wine regions will relish the friendly welcome and informative tour presented here. Tours in English run every hour from 9am to 5pm Monday through Saturday and from 10am to 4pm Sunday. The tour is free, and if you wish to follow it up with a tasting, $5 gets you a sampling of six young or low-priced wines, and the $10 option includes six older or high-priced wines and two reserves.

Wines for sale cost $6.50 to $26 a bottle. Note: Most of the winery's product is exported for the European market.

Be sure to poke around Santo Tomás a bit after your tour concludes. The little modern machinery installed here freed up a cavernous space now used for monthly jazz concerts, and a former aging room has been transformed into La Embotelladora Vieja (The Old Aging Room) restaurant. Across the street stands La Esquina de Bodegas (The Corner Wine Cellar), former aging rooms for Santo Tomás: The industrial-style building now functions as a gallery showcasing local art, with a skylit bookstore on the second level and a small cafe (punctuated by giant copper distillation vats) in the rear.

Ensenada's primary cultural center is the Centro Cívico, Social, y Cultura, Bulevar Lázaro Cárdenas at Avenida Club Rotario. The impressive Mediterranean building was formerly Riviera del Pacífico, a glamorous 1930s bayfront casino and resort frequented by Hollywood's elite. Tiles in the lobby commemorate "Visitantes Distinguidos 1930-1940," including Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst, Lana Turner, Myrna Loy, and Jack Dempsey. Now used by the Rotary Club as offices and for cultural and social events, the main building is open to the public. Elegant hallways and ballrooms evoke bygone elegance, and every wall and alcove glows with original murals depicting Mexico's colorful history. Lush formal gardens span the front of the building, and there's a small art gallery on one side. Through the lobby, facing an inner courtyard, is Bar Andaluz, which is open to the public sporadically. It's an intimate, dark-wood place where you can just imagine someone like Papa Hemingway holding cocktail-hour court beneath that colorful toreador mural.

A Nearby Attraction

South of the city, a 45-minute drive along the rural Punta Banda peninsula, is one of Ensenada's major attractions: La Bufadora, a natural sea spout in the rocks. With each incoming wave, water is forced upward through the rock, creating a geyser whose loud grunt gave the phenomenon its name (la bufadora means "buffalo snort"). Local fishermen who ply these waters have a much more lyrical explanation for this roaring blowhole. According to local legend, a mother gray whale and her calf were just beginning their migration from the safety of Baja's San Ignacio lagoon to Alaska. As they rounded Punta Banda, the curious calf squeezed into a sea cave, only to be trapped. The groan that this 21m-high (70-ft.) blowhole makes every time it erupts is the sound of the stranded calf still crying for his mother, and the tremendous spray is his spout.

From downtown Ensenada, take Avenida Reforma south (Carretera Transpeninsular) to Highway 23 west. It's a long, meandering drive through a semi-swamplike area untouched by development; look for grazing animals, bait shops, and fishermen's shacks along the way. La Bufadora is at the end of the road, and once parked ($2 per car in crude dirt lots), you must walk downhill to the viewing platform, at the end of a 540m (1,771-ft.) pathway lined with souvenir stands. In addition to running a gauntlet of determined vendors featuring the usual wares, visitors can avail themselves of inexpensive snacks at the sole restaurant there, including tasty fish tacos. Visitation is enormous, but longstanding plans to pave the dirt parking lots and build permanent restaurants and shops have yet to become a reality.

For a guided walking tour of downtown Ensenada, shopping tours, or tours to the wine country, you can also contact Jatay Tours (tel. 619/934-2589).