Todos Santos

Todos Santos sits where an underground stream surfaces on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula, and the palm oasis it feeds made the town: sugarcane grew here through the nineteenth century, mills prospered and then failed, and the brick and adobe buildings they left stood empty long enough to be cheap when artists began arriving in the 1980s. Today the centre is a compact grid of restored facades holding galleries, design shops, cafes and some of the peninsula's best restaurants, with the Teatro Cine General Manuel Marquez de Leon and the Hotel California - a genuine 1940s hotel whose name attracts constant, firmly denied speculation about the song - as landmarks. The beaches are a short drive: Punta Lobos where the fishing pangas launch through surf, Los Cerritos with a beginner-friendly break and beach bars, La Cachora for sunsets and turtle releases in season. The water on this coast is powerful and mostly not for swimming. Winter brings gray whales offshore and a steady stream of visitors down from Cabo.

What you actually see

• The brick centre - restored mill-era buildings full of galleries.
• The palm oasis - the spring-fed grove behind town.
• Punta Lobos - pangas landing through the surf.
• Los Cerritos - the surf beach and its bars.

When to go

November to May for dry, mild weather and whale season; summer is hot and humid with hurricane risk. Weekends bring day-trippers from Cabo.

Honest expectations

Most beaches here have strong rips and shore break - swim only where locals do, which is few places. The town is priced for its visitors and increasingly built up. Rental cars make the beaches practical.

Nearby

La Paz and Balandra lie north; Cabo San Lucas and the East Cape are an hour south.