Ensenada, Mexico

Ensenada (full name: Ensenada De Todos Santos, ), is the third-largest city in the Mexican state of Baja California. It is located 113 km south of Tijuana and 144 km south of San Diego. The city had a 2005 census population of 260,075, while the municipality had a population of 413,481. Ensenada is the municipal seat of Ensenada Municipality; one of the five municipalities into which the state is divided. The city is locally referred to as La Cenicienta del Pacífico or The Cinderella of the Pacific. It is important to note that the municipality of Ensenada is the largest in the world and has two national parks located in the southeast of the city. The National Park Constitution of 1857 formed Sierra de Juarez and San Pedro Martir National Parks. In these parks one of the best astronomical observatories in the country is found.Located in the Bahía de Todos Santos — an inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the Baja Gold Coast — the Port of Ensenada is an important commercial, fishing, and cruise ship port. The city is home to a navy base, army base and military airfield; functioning as an airport of entry into Mexico.The city is backed by small mountain ranges. Due to its location on the Pacific Ocean and Mediterranean latitude, the weather tends to be mild year-round. Although the winter rain season is short and the area is prone to prolonged droughts, Ensenada sits in the heart of a wine country that is widely regarded as the best in Mexico, and the Americas, alongside Napa Valley in California. It is said that the first Vitis vinifera made it to the peninsula (specifically to the San Ignacio Mission) in 1703, when Jesuit Padre Juan de Ugarte planted the first vineyards there.