Matt Bell

Hidden in the foothills about 30 minutes outside of La Paz, Baja California Sur, a boulder covered in 10,000-year-old pictographs sits largely unknown to the outside world. The only way to see it is to call Leftery Mirando and hope he puts you on the Sunday morning list.

Some places earn their reputation. El Perdido, tucked into the desert hills of El Pescadero 10 minutes from Todos Santos, earns everything...quietly, without trying. It is the kind of hotel that makes you question every assumption you had about what luxury is supposed to look like. I came for one night, canceled my plans, and stayed two. I would have stayed a third.

Merida is one of the safest cities in Mexico… and one of its most overlooked. The U.S. State Department currently rates Yucatán as Level 1, “Exercise Normal Precautions,” the same classification given to Japan, Switzerland, and Iceland. Only two Mexican states hold this distinction. CEOWorld Magazine, one of the world’s leading publications for business executives and high-net-worth individuals, ranked Merida the second safest city in the entire Americas in 2024, behind only Quebec City, Canada. You feel all of it within the first few hours of wandering around. The streets are clean, the police presence is visible without being heavy, and there’s a ease to daily life here that’s difficult to describe until you’ve experienced it. Mérida is the cultural and culinary epicenter of Mexico’s Mayan heritage, and you’ll experience it largely through its cuisine, which is a world apart from what most people picture when they think of Mexican food. Outside of Mexico City, no city in the country has more colonial architecture, and nowhere is it more elegantly displayed than along Paseo de Montejo, where 19th-century mansions line a boulevard the city’s founders deliberately modeled on the Champs-Élysées. The city moves between extremes with remarkable ease: chaotic and deeply local around the sprawling market, upscale and quietly refined along Montejo, and cobblestoned and unhurried in neighborhoods like La Ermita. It is also one of the most strategically placed cities in the country. An ideal base for the Yucatán’s ruins, cenotes, and coastline alike. Flamingo-filled mangroves at Celestún are 90 minutes west. Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc are 90 minutes south. Dozens of cenotes are within an hour in every direction. The only question is why it took you this long to hear about it.

How much time do you need in Todos Santos? Honestly, as much as you can spare. If you surf, you could lose weeks rotating between Cerritos, San Pedrito, and La Pastora and never once feel like you were wasting time. If you don't, there's a village worth half a day of wandering, one marquee hike, whale watching, and, if the timing is right, the quiet joy of releasing sea turtles back into the Pacific. But the biggest draw here isn't what’s on the itinerary. It's the pace. The light. The feeling that the rest of the world is operating on a frequency you no longer need to tune into. The hotels match that energy. Michelin-Keyed properties sit down dirt roads. Few have more than seven rooms. This is small-scale luxury, done with intention and authenticity, and it is as perfect for a couple with no agenda as it is for a group ready to take over an entire property. An hour north of Cabo, Todos Santos is where you come to remember what not feeling stressed feels like.

My new favorite place to both relax and explore is Isla Holbox, Mexico (pronounced HOLE-bosh)—a tiny, rustic island tucked inside a protected nature preserve just two and a half hours from Cancun. Once a fishing village, it’s now a laid-back destination that still feels off the beaten path, drawing nature lovers, beach bums, and barefoot wanderers alike. We snorkeled alongside whale sharks, kayaked to a glowing sandbar at midnight where bioluminescent plankton lit up the water, and spent lazy afternoons on soft white sand, floating in warm, crystal-clear shallows. After sunset, Holbox’s small centro comes alive. ATV taxis zip by, families and couples fill the square, and music drifts through the streets. But by eleven, the energy fades. You won’t find Señor Frog’s here, and that’s exactly why you’ll love it.