Todos Santos
Pueblo MáGico · Todos Santos, Baja California Sur
Todos Santos is an old mission and sugar town on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, about an hour north of Cabo San Lucas and an hour south-west of La Paz, sitting almost exactly on the Tropic of Cancer. Founded around the Jesuit mission of Nuestra Senora del Pilar in the eighteenth century, it became an artists' colony in the 1980s and is now a Pueblo Magico of galleries, mango orchards, organic farms and surf beaches. Its Hotel California has nothing to do with the Eagles song, and the band's lawyers pursued it over the name in 2017. The beaches are beautiful and mostly unswimmable because of rips and shore break; Los Cerritos, 15 minutes south, is the main exception. Humpback whales pass close to shore from roughly December to March, and hatchlings are released at Las Playitas in season. Day trippers from Cabo leave by five, so stay overnight, eat at the taco stands and expect boutique-hotel prices.
Plaza Principal, Todos Santos, Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, 23300, Mexico
An open town - free, no gate. Galleries keep daytime hours. ⚠ MOST NEARBY BEACHES ARE DANGEROUS FOR SWIMMING - open Pacific with rip currents and shore break; Los Cerritos, 15 minutes south, is the reliably swimmable one. ⚠ HUMPBACK WHALES PASS CLOSE TO SHORE ROUGHLY DECEMBER TO MARCH. ⚠ TURTLE RELEASES in season are at dusk through the Las Playitas hatchery. ⚠ THE HOTEL CALIFORNIA HAS NO CONNECTION TO THE EAGLES SONG. ⚠ HURRICANE SEASON JUNE TO NOVEMBER. ⚠ HOURS AND PRICES NOT VERIFIED FOR THIS FILE.