Punta Chivato Airstrip (PCV) is a small private landing strip on the Sea of Cortez side of Baja California Sur, Mexico, built to serve a fly-in resort and the handful of vacation homes scattered along this quiet stretch of coastline. It has no terminal, no fuel pumps for cars, and no car rental counters of any kind - visitors typically arrive by small plane already booked into the resort itself, or drive in overland along Mexico's Baja California peninsula. Anyone searching for car rental at Punta Chivato is really asking how to reach this remote coastline by road, and the honest starting points are the towns of Santa Rosalia and Loreto, both connected by the peninsula's main highway.
Santa Rosalia, an old copper-mining port with distinctive French-colonial architecture and a ferry link across the Sea of Cortez to the mainland, sits roughly forty-five minutes to an hour north of Punta Chivato along Mexico Federal Highway 1, the Transpeninsular Highway that runs the length of Baja California. Loreto, a larger town with its own airport and a wider choice of rental vehicles, lies a similar distance to the south, making it the more practical pickup point for most travelers heading to this part of the coast. Either direction, the drive follows the same two-lane highway that threads between desert mountains and the Sea of Cortez shoreline.
Driving is on the right throughout Mexico, and this stretch of Mex-1 is paved and generally in reasonable condition, though it narrows in places and can carry livestock or soft shoulders, so moderate speeds after dark are worth keeping in mind. There are no toll booths on this section of the Baja peninsula highway, unlike the toll roads found on mainland Mexico. Fuel stations are spaced fairly far apart between Santa Rosalia and Loreto, so it makes sense to top up before setting out in either direction toward this remote and beautiful stretch of Baja California coastline.