Nearby Excursions

Los Cabos may be Baja California’s prime tourist zone, but the attractions along this finger of land extend farther north to the artist enclave Todos Santos and the historic sites of La Paz. Once you’ve been preened, polished and pampered in Cabo, you should take time to explore its immediate surroundings. These areas can be accessed by comfortable public buses, a rental car or four-wheel drive vehicle, or through organized tours.

• La Paz
• Todos Santos
• The History of Los Cabos

La Paz

Renowned for its vivid sunsets, La Paz’s attractions are its vibrant history and uncluttered landscape that merges the desert and the sea.

Located on the Sea of Cortés on the opposite side of the Sierra La Laguna Mountains and 133 miles north of Los Cabos, La Paz is surrounded by hills and mountainsides punctuated with stands of giant Cardon cacti. The town’s centerpiece promenade, or malecán, snakes its way along the shoreline, lined on one side with boutique shops, restaurants and a number of hotels.

The town’s history began with the arrival of conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1535, who came in search of the black pearls found in the nearby waters. But the pearl industry ended up being just a blip on La Paz’s historic radar, with relatively little productivity. The last oyster beds died off by the 1 940s.

Though La Paz began to slowly fade into the background once its oyster business disappeared, it was named capital of Baja California Sur in 1974 and today is home to some 180,000 people. It was the Jesuit missionaries who were the first Europeans to settle in La Paz in 1720, constructing the town’s original church, of which nothing remains. It is said to be the same spot of the current church, built in 1861.

That church, along with the town’s Anthropology and History Museum and a variety of souvenir shops, are some of the top attractions for visitors. There are also more than 25 dive sites around the Bay of La Paz, the nearby islands of EspIritu Santo and Isla Cerralvo. Swimming beaches are also a draw, with the best beaches located north of the city at Balandra, Tecolote and Coyote, all still pristine. More developed beaches lie along the Pichilingue Peninsula.

The best time to visit La Paz is during Carnival when the ma/ecón really comes to life.

Todos Santos

Lured by the tranquil setting and languid beauty of Todos Santos, artist Charles Stewart from Taos, New Mexico, set up shop in 1986 to produce his oil and watercolor paintings, carvings and wooden sculptures. Around the same time, passage to Todos Santos was facilitated with the completion of Highway 19 from Los Cabos. Other artists soon followed Stewart’s lead, and the Mexican government began to designate this area an arts center.

Many a travel brochure now refers to Todos Santos as the next Santa Fe or Carmel, and the town boasts no less than a dozen galleries. Many of these feature the arts and crafts of local artisans, as well as those of artists from throughout Mexico.

Todos Santos wasn’t always a hub for the art savvy. This small town, which was established in 1723 by Father Jaime Bravo as the site of the mission of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de La Paz, took its name Santa Rosa de Todos Santos in honor of its benefactor, Doña Rosa de Ia Pena. The area boomed with sugarcane production during the last half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, lasting nearly 100 years until drought caused the cane to dry up. As sugar prices began to drop after World War II, Todos Santos lost its primary industry. The last sugarcane mill closed its doors in 1965, and for more than a decade Todos Santos fell nearly as dormant as the industry it had relied on. Since the rains returned to this region in the early 1980s, agriculture has also made a comeback, this time in the form of fruits and vegetables, such as chilies, avocado, papaya and mango.

Todos Santos has once again rebounded and continues to charm with its colorful galleries, museums, boutique shops and day spas, mixed with remnants of chimneys and machinery from the old sugar mills. This is also the home of the Hotel California, built in 1928, which has been promoted as the inspiration for Don Henley and the Eagles in their renowned song of the same name. Though Henley adamantly denies any relation, visitors still come to stay in this hotel for that reason.

Located about an hour’s drive north of Cabo San Lucas along the Pacific Ocean, Todos Santos makes for an ideal day trip or even weekend escape, with a number of small hotels, seafood restaurants and shops to visit. One of the best times to come is in February for the annual Todos Santos Art Festival.

The History of Los Cabos

At the core of any truly unique resort destination there must be something special. Here, at the bottom of the Baja Peninsula, there is so much more than just something special. Mother Nature created an unmatched ecosystem, as if she invited all of nature to thrive here in a mix-matched sort of way. The meeting of the sea and ocean, the tropics and the desert, the salt water and the fresh water, the mountains and the beaches, together create an idyllic natural playground that today can be experienced by everyone.

It wasn’t always easy to enjoy Los Cabos. Up until about the past 30 years or so, the beauty of Baja was a secret shared by only the very adventurous or the lucky few who could pilot their own planes to this remote location. It wasn’t for everyone; most of the visitors to this area were fishermen. The road from Tijuana to Cabo San Lucas was not completed until 1973 and it wasn’t until 1974 that Baja California Sur became a state. In the mid-1980s, the secret of Los Cabos began spreading beyond the fishermen and surfers. Today, Los Cabos is truly a unique resort destination with unmatched natural beauty, an abundance of activities, great accommodations, charming people and accessibility to vacationers from all over the world.

Los Cabos’ real estate market offers today’s buyers opportunities that were previously unavailable. The market began in the mid-1980s, as the very first condominiums were just being built on the almost-completed golf course in San José del Cabo -Los Cabos’ first course.

Today, the available properties are as diverse as the ecosystem itself. In Cabo San Lucas, the options for properties are expanding beyond the impressive hills of the Redrega~ and marina to the dramatic beaches in Los Cabos’ Pacific Corridor. Wfth new upscale golf course communities planned, the Pacific Corridor offers buyers the chance to be part of an exciting chapter in the Los Cabos real estate market.

The ultra-posh Corridor between San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas has matured into the most sought-after real estate in Mexico, offering amazing beauty, golf, privacy and luxury. Keeping with the area’s deserved distinction are new properties being developed at the Chileno Bay Club site of the original Hotel Cabo San Lucas, and the newly privatized El Dorado Golf and Beach Club.

In tranquil San José del Cabo, the newest Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course is being built across from Las Mañanitas Condominiums by the same developers of Cabo Real and Puerto Los Cabos. This ideal golf course development includes a beach club and an outside shopping plaza with 145 top-name retailers. Lot sales are brisk in this ground-floor opportunity.

Puerto Los Cabos, the impressive marina and golf course development, is located less than a mile from San José and offers a sophisticated mix of state-of-the-art marina and both Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman-designed golf courses. Properties are selling out rapidly as the development progresses.

• More About Los Cabos
• Top Ten Things To Do
• Golf
• Sport Fishing
• Nearby Excursions
• Property Ownership in Mexico
• Useful Information