by Travel Editor Tracey Minkin
The hand-woven, palapa roofs are back, and so is Esperanza, An Auberge Resort, on its glorious stretch of Baja sand at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. With its official reopening this month, Esperanza returns from the devastation of Hurricane Odile last September that shuttered it for nearly nine long months. For those guests who already loved Esperanza’s understated luxury, superb spa, and killer views of El Arco, Cabo’s iconic sea arch, all of those gifts remain intact. What’s new (and it’s terrific), is a sophisticated updating by Mary Alice Palmer of HKS Hospitality Group of Esperanza’s interiors, the restaurant and bar, and its gorgeous pool.
Below that infinity lip to the left? A watery terrace of loungers, and this view.
Those new cerulean tiles are as glistening as the sea beyond them. A perfect touch.
An intimate resort, Esperanza clusters its 57 rooms and suites in three-story buildings that form a horseshoe shape around a broad, bright-green lawn (a configuration that allows every room a view of the sea). My garden-level room had a vast terrace with wrap-around banco, plus a dreamy hammock. Inside, the new look was sunlit, subtle, and truly serene.
The design, which pairs the neutrals of Cabo’s rocky shoreline with the subtle blues of its sea, features handmade furniture in soothing driftwood tones, hand-blown glass and ceramic lighting, hand-embroidered pillows, and bathroom accessories created by local artisans from Guadalajara and Oaxaca. The effect is sophisticated, modern, and somehow timeless. A trio of fresh guacamole, salsa, and house margarita remind that there’s excellent dining (and drinking) right here on the property.
And speaking of food:
This is one of five incredible plates I enjoyed as part of Esperanza’s Mexican Wine Journey culinary adventure at Cocina del Mar, the restaurant on the property. I spent the evening being tutored in Mexican wines (which are ready for prime time) and enjoying nuanced pairings of fresh seafood and local produce, in confident preparations. Esperanza has added a new ceviche bar called Pesca to its dining options, and it’s a perfect way to showcase all things fresh, local, and Mexican. Plus, with tequila tastings and cooking classes, there’s little reason to leave the open-air Cocina or its neighboring, cocktail-rich Lounge Bar…
Except for that spa.
Photo courtesy of Esperanza, An Auberge Resort
With beautiful Baja skies above these soothing private enclaves of rock and water, Esperanza’s exquisite spa setting is flawless. I’d heard that brides, wound up with tension upon arrival at Esperenza for their destination weddings, are hurried directly to the spa. A few hours later, they emerge as calm as Buddhist monks. After an afternoon with the staff at the Spa at Esperanza, I believe it. From my fresh agua fresco made from local fruits…
Photo courtesy Esperanza, An Auberge Resort
… to a ritual foot bath before my massage, to the waterfall shower (literally–you push a button shaped like a salamander and water cascades down off a rock onto you), this is experience designed to work out your kinks, both physical and mental.
This is the water approach to the spa. Tell me you’re not already relaxed, just thinking of walking over those stones:
Photo courtesy Esperanza, An Auberge Resort
But for me, what makes Esperanza the truly remarkable resort it is, is that incredible stretch of beach that nature has granted it, and how easy Esperanza makes it for you to see it and get your toes into it. What better luxury than this view, every day?
This fellow, my cocktail companion one afternoon on the breezy terraces of the Lounge Bar, agrees wholeheartedly:
That’s Cabo, and that’s the magic. And Esperanza, returned beautifully from what nature took away last September, is back for all our pleasures.
Follow Tracey Minkin as she travels for Coastal Living on Twitter @traceyminkin and on Instagram @tminkin.
