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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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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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