Cooing birds, lowing cows, baaing sheep, trickling water from the surrounding orchard: Every morning, just before dawn, I would walk clear of our host’s hacienda-style house, my two-year-old and his bottle in the jog stroller, to listen to these sounds tell the story of the miracle of Todos Santos. Here in the dusty desert of Baja, an underground aquifer fed by seasonal runoff from the Sierra de la Laguna fills the ancient canals that water this picturesque oasis. From the road leading down through the huerta, an orchard of papaya, mango, and avocado trees, into the town, we would make our way to the Caffé Todos Santos and wait for the waitress to signal that coffee and cinnamon buns the size of softballs would be served in the tree-shaded courtyard. We would later stroll the cobblestoned streets lined with sturdy nineteenth-century brick houses built by sugarcane planters, structures which have adjusted their demeanor to suit present-day art galleries, shops, and cafés, one surprisingly good bookstore, and the occasional elegantly restored residence. Todos Santos’s current prosperity is the result of a quiet invasion of artistically inclined gringos, among whom could be counted my host, a movie producer who shall remain nameless lest he ban me from enjoying the fruits of his magnificent huerta forever. When here, he busily contents himself with restoring the orchard, while his wife and guests read and relax at the beach. In our case this meant Playa Las Palmas, the one strand hereabouts where the undertow isn’t so strong as to render immersion out of the question. One afternoon we went over to Playa Punta Lobos, a few coves north of Las Palmas, and watched fishermen launch their graceful panga boats onto the sand by gunning their engines and timing the waves much as surfers do. In the evening, we’d visit the Café Santa Fé for drinks and sometimes dinner. A casually elegant old adobe structure facing the town square, the café was established ten years ago by Paula and Ezio Colombo, and by all accounts it has been the seed of Todos Santos’s cultural revival. Easily a rival of the trendiest trattorias in New York, Los Angeles, and Milan, the restaurant tends to be jam-packed at lunch with day-trippers from Cabo, but by dinner, typically the only people in town are the regulars, homeowners and their guests—the usual assortment of artists, writers, and musicians who frequent small beach towns. Here is a place enough off the beaten path that even the odd celebrity can relax: Pierce Brosnan has played on the beach, and Paula Colombo has fed the likes of Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Van Halen, and Jon Bon Jovi as well as Bernardo Bertolucci and Diane Keaton. Lingering over a dinner of marlin sashimi and seared, garlic-infused dorado, I could understand why they might like it here, too.

Particulars

The closest airports are in Cabo San Lucas, about an hour down the coast, and La Paz, about the same distance to the north. You can rent a car in either. The beach, in this undertow-ravaged part of the world, permits Boogie boarding or surfing rather than swimming.

Lodging

Robert Whiting, a refugee from Boston and Fidelity Investments, has lovingly transformed a colonial building into the tiny Todos Santos Inn, with two beautifully appointed suites and two rooms (phone and fax, 52-114-5-0040; doubles, $85–$125; w). With one of the few pools in town, Santa Rosa Apartments has eight large, clean studios (52-114-5-0394; $35). Las Bougainvilleas has two nice guesthouses with pool and private patios (phone and fax, 52-114-5-0106; doubles, $95–$135).

Dining

The Café Santa Fé has the top of the market pretty well sewn up (52-114-5-0340; entrées, $10–$25). For more casual and hearty fare, the garden at Caffé Todos Santos (right across from the Todos Santos Inn) is great for Southwestern food; the bowl-size café lattes and cinnamon buns offered at 7 a.m. make a superb breakfast (52-114-5-0300; entrées, $6–$8). For Mexican food, Las Fuentes has a pretty palapa-covered patio and fine pescado empapelado—fish baked in paper with chilies (52-114-5-0257; entrées, $3.50–$7). For an out-of-sight fish taco, guaranteed fresh from the surf at Playa Punta Lobos, try Pilar’s, a stand at the northeast corner of Colegio Militar and Zaragoza ($2.50 for four).