Centro Bar is an outdoor bar in the redesigned Rancho Pescadero.
Outside of Todos Santos, a well-known artist’s enclave, the redesigned Rancho Pescadero will prompt guests to rethink traditional hotel lobbies and the entire vacation check-in process.
A mile-long dirt road brings guests to the hotel, and at the moment of arrival, all they will see in front of them is an unmarked, creamy concrete building, surrounded by desert vegetation. Made from local sand sourced from the Valle de Guadalupe, this water feature mimics the sounds of the ocean – a nice indication of what’s to come.
From here, push the slatted wooden pivot door and get ready for your own colorful techno moment “The Wizard of Oz” as you walk into a sea-desert-meets-sea resort that’s home to one of Mexico’s largest spas, nine interconnected gardens that provide both an on-site pharmacy and restaurants, as well. It has beautiful pools with day beds that extend into the water like their own little peninsula.
Rancho Pescadero guests are invited to specify an intention upon check-in.
The winter debut of Rancho Pescadero, part of the Hyatt Unbound Collection, marks one of the most anticipated hotel openings in the Baja Penisula. Once a poblano chili plantation, then a small 12-room hotel, the 30-acre resort now features 103 suites and villas planned in a U-shape to allow for unobstructed views of the Sierra de la Laguna mountains and the Pacific Ocean where it lies. Whales migrate from October to April.
Plus, the design hotel has Mexican landscape-inspired surprises throughout, like the spa’s circular outdoor water fountain that’s reminiscent of cenotes and the decor at Kahal, an oceanfront restaurant opening this spring meant to look like… inside a seashell.
Mexican edifices were the inspiration for this spa water feature on Rancho Pescadero near Todos Santos.
In the hotel’s open-air lobby (which looks more like an artistic botanical garden) before there’s an exchange of credit cards or room wrist issuance, you’re invited to set an intention to spend your vacation at a sky-blue altar. Then, if you choose to, take off your shoes and walk barefoot along the path. This funky check-in experience is like a relaxing transition that puts you on a mental vacation or, as owner Lisa Harper puts it, to evoke a childlike sense of wonder when you see vibrant artwork and pops of bright color against muted neutrals and greenery.
Villa bathtub wrapped in talavera tiles.
The hotel also has unique in-store traditions, such as placing breakfast pastries, fruit, and a small jug of fresh juice in a neatly packed bag and hanging on a hook outside your room each morning. Guests can also pick their own herbs and botanicals to create custom blends of essential oils and exfoliants, learn the hotel’s secret ceviche recipes, and watch dramatic sunsets each evening from Centro Bar’s outdoor deck, margarita in hand.
A pivot door opens into a lobby resembling the botanical garden at Rancho Pescadero.
As for where you will sleep? Rancho Pescadero has dozens of oceanfront villas built into the dunes and 91 additional rooms and suites, many with ocean views. Rooms are outfitted with pieces made by Mexican artists, like steel headboards with leather tassels made in Chihuahua, fabrics from Tijuana, and Talavera bathroom tiles cut and handcrafted in Tlaquepaque.
The designers were sourced from Mexican artists when creating the Rancho Pescadero Bedrooms.
The food is also very local, with Chef Sandro Valbo sourcing from the property’s garden and the wider Baja region. In fact, more than 80 percent of the restaurants’ food and beverages—which include Centro Café and Botanica Garden Restaurant—come from within 50 miles of the hotel. For the fresh catch, Falbo heads to nearby Punta Lobo, where anglers strategically time their catch to drive them ashore with their fleet of Spanish mackerel and mahi-mahi.
From yoga shalas to relaxing gardens and beach beds on the sand, guests should have no problem following through on any relaxation intentions they set upon check-in.