Most people visit Todos Santos on a day trip from Cabo San Lucas, the fashionable resort city on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Sur. Busloads of visitors make the one-hour drive north to spend a few hours exploring the town’s picturesque squares and bunting-festooned backstreets, browsing its art galleries and boutiques, and just generally having a break from the manicured luxury of Cabo’s high-rise resorts. Then, at 5pm, they leave, and the town all but shuts down, allowing its 7000 or so residents to savour the tranquillity that probably lured them there in the first place.
Todos Santos, Baja California, Mexico. Credit: Getty Images I can attest to this firsthand because I’m one of the few visitors that has remained, choosing to spend two nights at the swish new Todos Santos Boutique Hotel. Housed in a handsome 19th-century brick building that was originally a hacienda for a Spanish countess, the 10-suite hotel is the town’s first centrally located luxury accommodation.
Gorgeously decorated with rich fabrics, antiques and hand-painted murals, it’s also home to La Copa, an elegant speakeasy-style bar serving innovative cocktails, and 1890, an intimate French restaurant overseen by English chef Gaz Herbert, who worked at Michelin-starred London eateries Ikoyi and River Cafe. Todos Santos Boutique Hotel is housed in a handsome 19th-century brick building that was originally a hacienda for a Spanish countess. From these agreeable surrounds, I’m ideal.