About an hour up north on the Pacific Coast from Cabo San Lucas, or about an hour directly west of La Paz, in Baja Sur is the the little town of Todos Santos. You know, the place it seems everyone is talking about. It’s been featured in shit like Vogue, Travel and Leisure, the freakin NYT, and more. It’s definitely a nice respite from the bustle of the larger Baja destinations, probably because there’s no airport and you need to drive a bit to get there. It takes effort, and we all know how most visitors to Baja hate exerting effort beyond aggressively staking out and securing lounge chairs at the all-inclusinve resort by carefully placing towels and unread magazines on them before 8am daily.
It’s a hip little town, filled with art galleries, taco joints, shops, bars, and some pretty serious housing development. It’s almost like the secret is out and people with money are starting to really flow in with some development while overlooking the poverty and random piles of trash and dog shit all around. I mean, it is still a developing country. The population is still mostly Baja-style, meaning beyond the regular Baja natives, many of whom still earn Mexican minimum wage of only $7 a day, there is a healthy mix of American and Canadian expats. But added to those is a much more generous portion of the eclectic; surf bums, yogis, hipsters, man-buns, digital nomads, artists, motorcycle tourists, musicians, students (there’s even a Colorado State University extension nearby), and a few older men who are clearly there escaping alimony payments or prosecution for corporate embezzlement.
Spend ten minutes at a cafe and you’ll see a solid representation of all of them, and if you’re eavesdropping skills are properly honed, you’ll hear them all talking about their plans for the next big thing. For lack of a better description, the place just has a different pulse.
As dedicated readers of this space (I think there are like 7 of you) know by now, I’m not really a quick-in-and-out kind of traveler. I think you need to hang out a bit and get the feel of a place. Accordingly, we spent over a month there recently and have decided you really need to visit. But, if you go, you should dedicate at least a two-day one night thing to do the place right and get your feel of it.
So, here it is. Something like 38 hours in Todos Santos: The latest in our ongoing series of entries further demonstrating just how much I hate travel blogging.
You’ll probably be staying in Cabo San Lucas (or La Paz) so we’ll start there. You’ll have to secure a car for the time. I recommend Alamo or Enterprise in the heart of Cabo San Lucas. Both are decent and honest and relatively cheap for cars that probably won’t break down. But enough of the details. Leave Cabo after having a small snack and coffee and head north up the incredibly beautiful Pacific coast to El Pescadero – the little-but-also-growing surf village about 20k south of Todos Santos.
Definitely stop for a late beakfast at Baja Bean in El Pescadero. The biscuit sandwiches are solid and even though I can’t find a proper cappuccino anywhere on this freaking continent, the coffee is tasty (although a little more towards Starbucks pricing here than I like) and the atmosphere on their expansive patio is quite chill.
Post bean and biscuits, go hang out at Cerritos Beach outside of El Pescadero. This beach is famed for having the best surf in South Baja, and you can tell by the talent on the breaks. Here you can surf, learn, take a lesson, rent boogie boards, umbrellas, chairs, and probably buy a hat, blanket, and a necklace from any of the number of beach vendors walking by. Or, like us, you can just sit on the beach and relax.
After that, it’s what, maybe noon?
Time to roll into Todos Santos and find Tacos y Mariscos on the northeast corner of the little town for the best fish tacos I have truly ever had. The place is totally unassuming but the fish is fresh, the beers are cold, they give you every garnish and sauce you can want, the staff is awesome, and the place is dirt cheap (see the gratuitous taco porn above). There’s a reason this little place ranks as the best restaurant in town even though it is not much more than a taco shack.
Fill up then find one of the little grocery stores for some light shopping to prepare for a picnic dinner on the beach (don’t forget the wine).
If you’re smart and read this before your journey, you would have booked a stay at Cabanas Las Tunas, just north of town, or at any number of really cute AirBnBs that are around. Drop your stuff and head out to get one of the best massages you’ve ever had before getting cleaned up. Coast for an hour with a couple beers you bought at the store, then grab the picnic stuff and hit Playa Los Mangos for the Pacific sunset while checking out the sea turtle rescue (they release baby turtles at sunset nightly in December). Find a nice place to have your picnic while listening to the crashing of the waves and absolutely nothing else. It’s sublime.
The next morning (you’re getting up early, so plan), after listening to more waves crashing, dogs barking in the distance, and more than a few roosters, have yourself the iced coffee you prepped the night before, and a cliff bar or peanut butter sandwich or something, and take the 15 minute drive back through town to the road just off the Hotel Cristobal and hike Punto Lobos.
The hike is pretty easy, only about an hour or so of some up and down in the desert, until you come to a completely secluded rocky cove. There you will probably be alone to hang for a while, listening to the barking of sea lions, the spouting of whales passing by, and the gentle crashing of waves against the rocks. This is the perfect place to truly just be for a bit. Just make it early. It does get scorching hot after about 11am.
Head back to your cabana for a shower then off to Coffee Shop Las Tunas for an elegantly prepared, if not really innovative, late breakfast while engaging in the aforementioned eavesdropping on the steady mix of digital nomads, artists, and yogis from the nearby yoga retreats that frequent the place. We recommend just about anything they serve. The quality, presentation, flavor, value…all of it is perfect. It’s nothing really new, it’s just really fucking good. A staple for us was an Açaí bowl with fruit and granola or avocado toast with a soft egg and mixed greens with a quite well generated macchiato. Still too much milk, but hey, it’s not Italy. The place has it’s own garden on site so the food you’re getting is fresh and delightful. It’s refreshing, in more ways than one, to order the lemongrass tea and watch the person run into the garden to cut the fresh lemongrass for that tea. You’ll probably even get your own well-behaved dog as they seem to just hang around all over.
In the early afternoon, after thoroughly getting your chill on at the Coffee Shop, check out of your place and head back up to Todos Santos for some walking, art galleries, shopping, and the ubiquitous selfie in front of the original Hotel California – yeah, that one, but that’s a really long story filled with good guitar riffs, ego, and lawsuits – then hit another restaurant or taco stand and head back to Cabo at your leisure. But not at night. Driving at night opens the possibility that you’ll bottom the car on unexpected and unmarked speed bumps the size of refrigerators or hit a random cluster of free range goats or something on the road. It’s just better to drive during the day when you can see what’s ahead of you.
That’s it. That’s the trip. Not too long but not too short. Todos Santos done right.
The Take Away
Todos Santos is really cool. It has a great vibe, incredible food, good beaches and it would be easy to get lost there for a couple days or a couple years. I’d definitely go back and stay. Stay longer and you can groove with yoga retreats, very cost effective massages, and some live music, but at least a couple days is a must. It’s so much better than the standard Baja resort-ville communities that are more popular. It’s definitely more relaxing.
