Baja Peninsula - Mexico

My hubby and I did not spend the christmas holidays together this year. I was in France whilst he stayed in the US to spend some time with his family. So we decided to book ourselves a nice trip in February as our christmas gift.
I found this great deal on ZOZI for an amazing 5 nights stay in the Hacienda Cerritos, in Baja Peninsula, Mexico. For those of you who don't know Baja Peninsula, it is in the northwestern part of Mexico, separating the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula starts from Mexicali all the way down to Cabo San Lucas (775 mi or 1.247 kms).

Marbella Suites en La Playa

So my trip organization started there. We decided to go to Mexico for 10 days and I looked for another place to stay for our first 5 days in Mexico. As hubby and I never been to los Cabos (meaning the Capes), we decided it would be a good place to start our trip.

Beach on el Corridor

 I managed to find a small hotel Marbella Suites en La Playa (only 40 rooms) on the Corridor (a stretch of road which connects San Jose Del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas)
The place was quiet and the beach beautiful for nice walks. Unfortunately most beaches in Los Cabos are not swimmable due to strong currents. So if swimming in the ocean is important to you, you may want to stay in Cabo San Lucas, as you can swim in Medano Beach. But be prepared for loud beach bars and restaurants, relentless vendors cruising the beach up and down trying to sell you things you do not want and the cruise ships clientele on a day stop over.

In San Jose del Cabo

During our first 5 days, we cruise between San Jose Del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. San Jose del Cabo is the quieter and more traditional town with its 18th century colonial architecture, artsy vibe & quality restaurants. There are a lot of small galleries where you can buy quality Mexican folk art. Every Thursday nights between November through April are designated Art nights, when galleries stay open until 9pm serving drinks and snacks with various performances and dancing.

View of El Arco from Mona Lisa restaurant

Cabo San Lucas is the party town. Sportfishing fleet is anchored here and cruise ships anchored off the marina. Trendy restaurants and bars line the streets. This is where you will find the towering Land's end Rocks and the famed arched landmark El Arco.

Los Cabos offer many amazing restaurants (mainly expensive) but there is always a little taqueria nearby.

Agua Restaurant

We had an amazing experience at a restaurant called Agua, which is part of the One & Only Palmilla resort. We were actually looking for another restaurant but we came across this one whilst walking on the beach. The views, food, service was fantastic. I would love to be able to stay there one day.
For best sunset views, go & have a drink at the Mona Lisa Sunset bar. The Office restaurant on Playa Medano was fun and busy. You eat with your toes in the sand. Be sure to choose a table towards the back if you do not want to be hassle by vendors. They had an amazing selection of Tequila and great fish tacos. Talking about tequila, you will want to sample a nice margarita when you head to Baja. However in most places I found that the margaritas were huge, overly sweet, with more sugar than fruits and a distant flavor of tequila. The best margarita we sampled was in San Jose del Cabo at the bar of the Casa Natalia. Make sure to check it, the restaurant menu also looked good but we did not get a chance to eat there.

The Hacienda Cerritos

View from the inside

After our first few days in Los Cabos, we travelled to the Cerritos area along the Pacific coast, about an hour north of Cabo San Lucas supposedly.
Oh well they are working on this as we speak.


They are currently resurfacing and redoing the motorway between Cabo San Lucas and Todos Santos. At this point, you will need an extra hour to reach Todos Santos. I was very excited as we were staying at Hacienda Cerritos, a luxury boutique hotel on Cerritos Beach. the Hacienda did not disappoint. The Hacienda, we found out, is owned by a builder from Oregon who built the house for himself but transformed it as a hotel as he was not spending enough time down Cerritos.

Our north terrace room

Cerritos Beach

The hotel is 11 rooms only, there are no restaurants there but a massive kitchen where you can cook.
The Hacienda is on Cerritos Beach, which is the only swimmable beach for miles on that coast line. It is also famous for surfing.


The whole place is decorated like a beautiful house, the rooms are massive with views of the ocean. There is a beautiful pool and hot tubs from where you can watch the sunset and whales playing in the ocean. Even tough the hacienda has no restaurant, there is a beautiful little asian fusion restaurant only 5 mns drive away called Carlitos, in nearby village el Pescadero. Todos Santos, a small town about 15 minutes away, is a must see. There are a few cute coffee places and lovely restaurants we tried for lunch Cafe Santa Fe and Caffe Todos Santos. For an amazing local food dinner check "Los Adobes" and don't forget to order the cilantro studded local cheese. It just melts in your mouth. For a lovely sunset, head to La Posada La Poza and head to the bar upstairs for some lovely lagoon views. Beware of the mosquitoes!

For more beautiful pictures of our Baja trip and the Hacienda, check this link