Things to do in Ensenada
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Birriería La Guadalajara
Birriería La Guadalajara Birria (stewed goat, beef or lamb) is the specialty here, and you can order it made de borrego (lamb), de res (beef) or de chivo (goat). Big steaming bowls (or tacos, if you wish) will land on your table and keep you energized for hours.
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Bazar Casa Ramirez
Several readers have recommended this labyrinthine, two-story handicrafts store with items from all over Mexico. Prices are a little steep, but quality is high, and you'll definitely find a colorful selection. It has a large selection of Day of the Dead paraphernalia.
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El Taco de Huitzilopochtli
It's worth planning your visit to Ensenada around this restaurant's opening hours. For 32 years it has been serving its mouthwatering mixiote, a unique Texcoco-style dish of lamb wrapped in maguey leaves and cooked for 16 hours in mesquite-fired ovens. Other dishes include tlacoyos (thick, stuffed tortillas in green chili sauce), romeritos (nopal cactus, potatoes and shrimp in a bowl of chocolaty, spicy mole) and huauzontles (a stuffed and battered broccoli-like vegetable in red sauce).
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Muso Histórico Regional
This modest museum features the 'People and Cultures of Meso-America' and is housed in an 1886 military barracks that served as the city's jail until 1986. Exhibits feature tools, ceramics and other archeological finds of the indigenous Cúcapa, Paipai, Kumiai (Kumeyaay) and Kiliwa. Also check out the cell block, where several of the tiny, windowless concrete cubicles sport murals by the former inmates. The former dormitory houses rotating art exhibits.
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El Mirador
For marvelous views of Ensenada and the Bahía de Todos Santos, climb or drive up to El Mirador in Colinas de Chapultepec, the hilly residential neighborhood west of downtown. The lookout is gated off, but no one seems to mind people slipping through the hole in the fence to the right of the gate. To get there from downtown, head up Av Alemán from the western end of Calle 2a. If you're driving, park in the dirt area across the street.
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Manzanilla
With a wonderful staff, outstanding regional and Italian-influenced cuisine and an atmosphere you'll melt into, Manzanilla is simply tops. The server will start you off with Baja-grown manzanilla olives and house-baked bread and explain each of the dishes, from fresh local oysters to lamb shank and exquisitely prepared fish. The rib-eye steaks, which come from a select ranch in Sonora (the state famous for its beef) are no less than orgasmic.
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Museo del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
Built in 1886 by the US-owned International Company of Mexico, Ensenada’s oldest public building, formerly the Aduana Marítima de Ensenada, houses the Museo del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, a historical and cultural museum. It has a relatively small but comprehensive collection of artifacts, and discusses (mainly in Spanish) the area’s history from prehistoric times up to now.
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Riviera del Pacífico
Opened in the early 1930s as Hotel Playa Ensenada, the extravagant Riviera del Pacífico, a Spanish-style former casino, is rumored to have been a regular haunt of Al Capone. It now houses the small Museo de Historia de Ensenada and Bar Andaluz, while the Casa de Cultura offers classes, retrospective film screenings and art exhibitions.
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Cenaduría El Parrian
If you want to eat well for cheap, blow off the gringo traps along López Mateos and join the locals at El Parrian. The small menu of enchiladas, tacos, tamales and tostadas is outstanding. Try the pozole (a hearty pork and hominy soup) and polish it off with a hot mug of champurrado (a chocolate corn drink).
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Mercado Los Globos
Bric-a-brac collectors will find heaven on earth at the Mercado Los Globos, a sprawling market area spanning eight square blocks on Calle 9a, several blocks east of Av Reforma. Vendors sell everything from old cutlery, dusty plates and broken 1970s radios to fruits, vegetables and a plethora of dried chilies. Weekends are the best time to visit.
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El Palmar
Banda may not seem the type of music you want to listen to over a plate of food, but it can put you in the party spirit if you give it a chance. Attracting more locals than tourists, this is a great place to hear good Mexican music (rather than Creedence and The Doors). Music starts at 22:00 Friday, Saturday and Monday, and at 16:00 on Sunday.
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Bodegas de Santo Tomás
For an informative introduction to Baja’s wine industry, Bodegas de Santo Tomás holds tours of its cellars and wine tastings hourly from 10am to 1pm and at 3pm. Sample its signature big red, the award-winning 2000 Cabernet. Alternatively, tipple your way along the Ruta del Vino and discover things for yourself.
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Baja Frut
At this locally loved diner, 'los hotcakes'come with real syrup, juices are fresh, tea means two teabags, the coffee is bottomless, and portions are huge. The chilaquiles (a breakfast dish made with fried tortillas and red or green sauce) are outstanding, and the service is tops.
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Sergio’s Sportfishing Center & Marina
Sergio’s Sportfishing Center & Marina is well regarded and can be found on the sportfishing pier off El Malecón. Expect to pay M$806 per person for day fishing trips, including gear and Mexican fishing license. Private charter boats start at M$3900 and go up to 10 times that.
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Fausto Polanco
A veritable museum of Mexican crafts, this two-story shop stocks some of the finest work in town. The furniture is beautiful, and the decorative arts and home accessories are stunning. There's a particularly good selection of pictures and frames, some great ceramics and some smaller pieces.
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Einstein
The owner didn't intend his restaurant to become downtown's most popular burger pit, but that's what people kept ordering. So the menu grew to include over a dozen types of burgers. Salads and pastas and a couple of seafood plates (his original idea was natural food) are still on the menu.
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El Parián
Great enchiladas, quesadillas, burritos, agua de jamaica (hibiscus water) and friendly service make this perfect for anyone watching their pesos. Flat-screen televisions at every corner mean you (or the wait staff) never have to miss a moment of that cheesy Mexican soap.
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Galería Pérez Meillon
In the Centro Artesanal de Ensenada, this gallery sells authenticated pottery from the Paipai (one of Baja California’s indigenous peoples known for fine craftwork, particularly pottery and baskets), Mata Ortiz (a major pottery center in central north Mexico) and Kumiai weaving.
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La Esquina de Bodegas
La Esquina de Bodegas is worth a look for its décor alone. It metamorphosed from a former brandy distillery, integrating the ancient drums, vats and pipes into a hip industrial environment. The menu is Mediterranean with Mexican inflections and there is a relaxed air to it.
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San Miguel Surf Shop
Drop in here for surf boards, gear and - depending on who's behind the counter - information on the local surf scene. The owner, Eduardo Echegaray, has been shaping surfboards (long and short) for some twenty years, and his prices are lower than equivalent boards in the USA.
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El Rey Sol
Supposedly Mexico's oldest French restaurant (opened 1947), the award-winning El Rey Sol is elegant but relaxed, despite a guest list that includes several Mexican presidents. Full dinners start around US$35, and the drinks are excellent (the Cadillac margarita is sublime).
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Maritime Museum
Built in 1887 by the US-owned International Company of Mexico, the former Marine Customs House is Ensenada's oldest public building. The Maritime Museum houses rotating exhibitions - from archeological exhibits to contemporary art - with a cultural or historical angle.
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Mercado de Mariscos
An Ensenada institution is the colorful (and odiferous) Mercado de Mariscos, where you can admire - and purchase - the daily catch. After browsing the piles of abalone steaks, tuna slabs, and mounds of purple octopi, hit the taquerías across the way.
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Mariscos Bahía
Since its opening in 1970 Mariscos Bahía has become a venerated classic. The halibut came out overcooked during our last visit, but the camarones al mojo de ajo (garlic shrimp), the sidewalk terrace and the delicious margaritas made up for it.
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El Patio
If tequila poppers, whistles and buckets of beer aren't your style, slip into this classy, dimly lit, low-ceiling bar where, for once, you can actually carry on a conversation with your mate (except on Friday and Saturday nights, when there's live music).
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