Earlier this week, we arrived in sunny Mexico. While Mexico is a great destination in its own right, we had actually meticulously planned a full two-week adventure throughout Japan, including finally getting a free upgrade to first class on the flight (should have known it was too good to be true!). Sadly, Japan is currently under its first ever “mega-quake” warning. Stuck in a catch-22, we opted to play it safe and save our Japan trip for when seismic risk is “normal” again. With less than 24 hours to replan a two week trip, Mexico seemed like a safe bet: beaches, culture, history and amazing food within an easy flight itinerary. So, we pivoted and have spent the past several days sunning ourselves just outside of Cabo San Lucas.

By way of quick orientation, you’ve almost certainly heard people talk about “Los Cabos” – instead of a specific town, that phrase describes the two major cities of “Los Cabos” – San Jose del Cabo (where the airport is, surrounded by a fair amount of tourist infrastructure) and Cabo San Lucas (where you’ll find most tourist industry and some of the luxury resorts even further afield). All of the above is situated at the very far end of the Baja California peninsula as part of Mexico’s Baja California Sur. The entire peninsula is surrounded by gorgeous desert and water views across the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. Unsurprisingly, it’s incredibly hot here.

While most of our time has been spent by the pool (while you can swim in the Sea of Cortez, our resort borders the Pacific Ocean which is dangerous here due to a precipitous 90m drop just offshore, rip tides and sharks), we’ve also tried to experience a little local culture (the remainder of the trip will be spent in Oaxaca and Mexico City, so lots of culture to come!). We decided to rent a car and take a short day trip up to Todos Santos, about an hour north of Cabo San Lucas.

Todos Santos is one of Mexico’s “Pueblos Mágicos” which is their designation for towns with beautiful cultural or historical preservation. The highway between Cabo San Lucas and Todos Santos is essentially empty until you reach the seaside town of Cerritos, which is basically a series of roadside restaurants and beachfront properties in the distance.

Shortly thereafter, you hit the highway turnoff and head inland towards Todos Santos, which springs out of the sandy desert as the highway merges with sandy local roads. The entire town is quite small, walkable in about 45 minutes. The “tourist” section of the town is approximately 6×6 blocks, which incidentally have the paved roads and greatest signs of infrastructure.

The town is best known for hotel that the eponymous Eagles song was named after: Hotel California.

In addition, it has several buildings from the mid-1850s-1890s, including an old theater, plaza and church. Against a backdrop of bohemian and artisan workshops, stores and the classic bars catering to the tourist crowd, it’s a lovely walk.

The town lives up to its quirky artisan reputation with interesting sculptures and art displays throughout. Especially beautiful are the murals in front of the church, the Aztec sunstone (created in 2012) and beautiful sculptures placed around the church grounds.

One of the most enterprising sites in the town is the ~1850s sugar mill, which has been converted to a luxe shopping center and an open-air Michelin-rated restaurant, Oystera, which features fresh seafood from La Paz, the region in which Todos Santos is located.

In addition to the gorgeous surrounds, Oystera was truly a fantastic meal at a great value. We decided to try the fresh oysters (2 from each of the featured local regions, served with an incredible habanero paste, strawberry mignonette, and two refreshing ‘salsas’), fried oysters (served with a rich aioli and habanero dust), the chilaquiles, and huevos ahogados (‘drowned eggs’). Everything was incredible.

Since we weren’t interested in purchasing tchotchkes and most of the galleries hadn’t yet opened for the afternoon, we decided to head into Cabo San Lucas to run a couple errands (sadly, there are so many Americans here that Cabo has basically every store you’d see in the US). While the highway is direct, it does take about 75 minutes without traffic between Todos Santos and Cabo, plus a 45 minute backtrack to our resort afterwards. Cabo itself was… not unexpected, but still disappointing. The waterfront is effectively a giant tourist trap and it appears most of the culture is just nightclubs. You can do water-based activities such as visiting the famous arch (for a hefty fee!) and/or do desert-based activities (ATV, camel rides, dirt biking, etc.). If you’re similarly uninterested in those activities, I’d recommend staying at a resort outside of Cabo and visiting Todos Santos, for sure.

With our errands done, we headed back to the resort. While it’s unfortunate that this area caters so heavily to tourists, it’s still incredibly beautiful. I’m very glad that we were able to get off the beaten path to see a bit of the desert and Todos Santos.

We have an early flight onwards to Oaxaca tomorrow and I’m excited to transition from relaxing in the sun to soaking up amazing history, culture, and about as much mole and mezcal as I can handle!