Loreto Feels Like the Ultimate Baja Getaway
By Tom Kagy | 18 Feb, 2025

A quiet Baja town two-thirds way down the Gulf of California offers a delightful alternative to busier Mexican beach resorts.

My deep ambivalence in writing about Loreto stems from a shameful degree of selfishness. 

Having found what I consider my secret alternative to Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and Acapulco (all of which I enjoy for their respective charms), I have a dread about contributing the least bit to putting this little gem on the map for more Americans.  If you visit, you'll understand.

Loreto is a shorter hop than any other Mexican resort town, 20 minutes less flying time than even Cabo for us Californians.  Yet it offers a sense of remoteness and other-wordliness I've never encountered in any other vacation spot with comparable access to great beaches, sunny plazas, scenic beauty and luxe accommodations. 

Tiny Loreto International Airport (a name that's technically accurate but incongruously grandiose) harkens to an age before jetways spoiled the charm of a Kennedyesque deboarding via wheeled metal stairways.  At the end of the airport driveway you hit Highway 1, Baja's coastal highway.  We always start Loreto visits by turning left for the 25-minute cruise south down the two-lane highway for our check-in at Villa del Palmar at Danzante Bay.  

This luxe family resort is the south end of the 20-mile axis that is my Loreto.  Palmar's suites, restaurants, PGA-grade golf course (the only TPC course in Mexico), beach, pools, tennis courts, water sports and other amenities are on, or above, par with the world's other 5-star hotels.  There are a couple of other resorts in the area, but nothing approaching Palmar for sheer comfort, class and amenities.  Another alternative are a handful of small, charming local hotels in town, none of which would surpass 3-stars.

I'm not one for hanging out at resorts but like a base of operations that provides the essentials for a comfortable and healthy stay: quiet spacious rooms with quality beds, reliable showers, breakfast buffet loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables, variety of proteins, quality coffees, and a bewildering selection of pastries (for energy, of course).  Parmar provides all that and more, including evening entertainment, turndown service and complimentary bottles of checkin-wine and Margaritas.

What makes the resort memorable are its extensive grounds.  Its black-sand beach is on a nationally protected bay that slopes so gently out to sea that you can walk out a hundred yards and still be only waist-deep in the crystal water.  On an earlier trip I had checked out snorkeling gear and enjoyed a swim with assorted tropical fish and turtles over by the rocks on the east side of the bay where the pelicans dive.

During our recent Christmas trip snorkeling wasn't available.  Apparently a stingray resting on sand in shallow waters was accidentally stepped on by a hotel guest and stung a leg with its tail.  This probably spooked the resort, as well as guests who recalled the death of Steve Irwin (Crocodile Hunter) in 2006 off New Queensland, Australia, after being stung by a giant 8-foot stingray while filming a documentary.  Stingrays aren't aggressive and will avoid humans, only stinging if stepped on.  And few stingrays get bigger than 3 feet.

But I was able to check out a paddleboard and paddle leisurely around the bay.  Kayaks are also available. 

Entirely on hotel grounds is a network of hiking trails that offer multiple clifftop climax views of the bay or open sea and the fairways of Palmar's spectacular golf course.  The hotel sits on so much protected national park acreage that it takes several minutes to drive out past two security gates to reach Highway 1.