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Favorite Baja Stops: Santa Rosalia’s Hotel Frances

A hidden treasure and one of Mexico’s national historic monuments, you might blow through Santa Rosalia on a trip through Baja and miss the Hotel Frances.  That would be a bad thing.  A stay in the Frances is one of Baja’s great pleasures, and Santa Rosalia is a fun town to explore.

Santa Rosalia is the first town you ride into after crossing from the Pacific side of Baja to the Sea of Cortez side.

Santa Rosalia is the first town on the Transpeninsular Highway along the Sea of Cortez after you cross the peninsula.  The highway drops sharply as you descend Baja’s eastern seaboard through a series of dramatic and delightful twisties.  The stretch is called La Cuesta del Infierno, and I could make the case that this road, all by itself, is worth a Baja visit.  After that, it’s a short ride along the Sea of Cortez, and then you enter Santa Rosalia.  There’s a main street that cuts due west (Alvaro Obregon) into Santa Rosalia, and the Hotel Frances sits high on a mesa to the right as you enter the downtown area.

The central part of Santa Rosalia runs roughly east and west, and the Hotel Frances is on the right as you enter town.

The Hotel Frances is constructed entirely of wood in a colonial style, as is most of Santa Rosalia.   It was built in 1886 when the French Boleo company mined copper in this region.   I started to say I could write a book about all this, but I guess I already did.  Two, in fact.  But I’ll give you the commercial at the end of this blog.

The gorgeous Hotel Frances wood lobby. It’s like stepping back a century, but in a good way.
Fabulous balconies run all around the hotel. I like to savor a cup of hot coffee and watch the sun rise from that balcony.  In the evening I do the same, but with a Tecate.
An early evening photo.  The Frances has a nice pool in the courtyard. After a couple of days riding through Baja (it’s at least a two-day ride from the border), it feels great.
The view from the balcony, watching northern Santa Rosalia wake up.  I can smell the coffee just looking at this photo.
Spacious, luxurious, and comfortable describe the Frances’ balconies, as seen in this early morning photo.

I’ve taken more than a few photos in and around the Frances, but as I looked through them to write this blog, I only found one inside any of the hotel rooms.  The rooms are wood, too, and they really are unique.

The floors, the walls, the ceiling…everything is wood and it’s more than a century old. It all creaks when you walk.

I shot that photo above as I was packing my Triumph Tiger’s panniers, and I guess I probably should have grabbed a shot with the bed made the night before.  But that’s okay.  It gives me a reason to return.  Not that I need a reason beyond simply wanting to tour Baja again.  In my book, that’s reason enough.

You might be wondering about security and safety.  You know, if you read the papers, Mexico is a dangerous place.  But not these small towns in Baja.  One time when I stayed at the Frances, I noticed an older Mexican fellow in the parking lot.  He was a security guard, the first I had ever seen in the area.

A well-armed graduate of the Barney Fife School of Hotel and Restaurant Security, and a charismatic Smith and Wesson Model 10.

The security guard didn’t speak English and I don’t speak much Spanish, but we had a nice conversation.  Being a gun nut, I asked him about his Smith and Wesson.  He took it out of his holster and handed it to me. I was shocked, but I quickly saw that his well worn revolver was unloaded.  I asked about that and he smiled a knowing smile.  My new friend reached in his shirt pocket, withdrew a single crusty old .38 cartridge, and held it up to show he was strapped and ready for action. What do you know…I was having a conversation with the real deal:  Baja’s very own Barney Fife!

The mesa the Frances sits on is an interesting part of town.  There’s a mining museum there, an old steam locomotive, and other mining things.  Santa Rosalia, you see, used to be a mining town until the copper played out.  But then the price of copper went up sharply, and now it’s being mined again.

Santa Rosalia grew up as a company mining town, and Boleo was the French company that owned it.
Tools on display in the Santa Rosalia mining museum. It’s across the street from the Frances.

I’ve always liked Santa Rosalia. There are good restaurants in town, the place has a nice feel to it, and there’s the Iglesia de Santa Bárbara, an old all-metal church unlike any I’ve ever seen in Mexico (or anywhere else, for that matter).  I first heard it was designed by Gustav Eiffel (the same guy who designed the Eiffel Tower); more recently, I’ve read that story wasn’t true.  Whatever version you subscribe to, it’s a beautiful church that was built in 1897 and it’s right at the bottom of the hill from the Frances.

Santa Rosalia’s Iglesia de Santa Bárbara. This church, all by itself, is another reason for a trip to Santa Rosalia.
Stained glass in the Iglesia de Santa Bárbara.
Ah, the wonders of shooting RAW photos. The camera catches details way beyond what I could see when I grabbed this Iglesia de Santa Bárbara interior shot.  You can get photos like this, too, with the entry-level Nikon digital single lens reflex camera.

The El Muelle restaurant is catty-cornered one block away from the church, and the seafood there is excellent (El Muelle means “the dock” in Spanish).  There’s an old bakery a block or two west on Alvaro Obregon, the Boleo Panaderia, that offers outstanding pastries.  There’s a Chinese restaurant, the Comida China, about a half mile south of town on the Transpeninsular Highway that is surprisingly good.  And there are taco stands and other interesting spots throughout Santa Rosalia.  At night, Santa Rosalia is a hopping place.

A pleasnt young tortilla lady on Santa Rosalia’s Alvaro Obregon. To me, this photo defines Santa Rosalia’s friendly feel.
After dinner at the El Muelle, it’s a short walk for pastries to the Boleo Panaderia.  When I asked if I could take a photo, these ladies laughed and responded with a quick “Si.”

A walk through the downtown area is a rewarding experience.  Like I said earlier, all the architecture is wood, as is fitting for an old mining town of French ancestry.  It’s just a fun place, and it’s one of my favorites in Baja. Trust me on this: You’ll enjoy a stay in Santa Rosalia.

The phone number for the Frances Hotel is (011-52-115)-2-20-52. Last I checked, there’s no email address.  The lack of an email address notwithstanding, the Frances Hotel has great wi fi coverage and I’ve posted more than a few blogs from there during my several visits. I love the place and I think you will, too.


On that book commercial I promised above:  I’ve written two books in which Santa Rosalia figures prominently.  One is Moto Baja; the other is 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM.   You will enjoy both.


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Joe Berk

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