Things to do
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Centro Cultural Profesor Néstor Agúndez Martínez
In a former school building a block from the plaza, painted murals cover the walls of the courtyard and the old classrooms. Rooms hold local history, mission-era objects, regional crafts and work by artists from the peninsula. Labels are in Spanish, though the murals need no translation.
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Hotel California
On the main street, this two-storey hotel with an arcaded front and a courtyard pool is the best-known building in town. Its name invites a link to the Eagles song, which the band has always denied. Rooms are decorated in deep colours and Mexican crafts, with a bar and shop at street level.
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Misión de Nuestra Señora del Pilar
Facing the main plaza, a white church with a single bell tower marks the site of the Jesuit mission founded here in the eighteenth century. The interior is simple, with a statue of the Virgin of the Pillar at the centre of the town's main festival. The church stays open through the day between Masses. The plaza beside it holds the theatre and the town hall.
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Playa Los Cerritos
The point at the north end shelters this long beach near El Pescadero, giving the gentlest surf on this side of the peninsula and the one Pacific beach nearby where beginners learn. Surf schools and board rental stalls line the sand, with palapa restaurants behind. Winter brings the biggest swells, and the open water is rough for swimming.
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Playa Punta Lobos
South of town, the fishermen of Todos Santos launch their pangas straight through the surf from this beach and drive them back up the sand in the afternoon. A path climbs the headland to the north for a view down the coast, and humpbacks pass offshore in winter. The shore break is heavy and swimming here is unsafe.
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Playa San Pedrito
A fan palm grove runs behind the sand of this wide cove between Todos Santos and El Pescadero, reached by a dirt track off the highway. Surfers work the break off the point when the swell is in. Currents run strong along this stretch, and there are no lifeguards or services. Sunset from the dunes is the reason most stay late.
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Sierra de la Laguna
Inland, the granite range of the cape rises above the desert to oak and pine forest, a biosphere reserve with plants found nowhere else. The classic route climbs from La Burrera ranch to a high meadow called La Laguna, a long day up and usually an overnight camp. The cooler months of the dry season are the time to go.
