I first came to Baja many years ago on a trip to Todos Santos, a laid-back beach town popular with surfers. Since then, I’ve visited this corner of Mexico countless times, reviewing some of our top-rated hotels in the country. Most of my forays focused on Los Cabos; previous attempts to discover recommendable hotels in Todos Santos and La Paz have failed. But there’s far more to this sun-drenched peninsula than cocktails by the infinity pool, and I was determined to find a hotel on the East Cape with easy access to the oasislike Sierra La Laguna Biosphere Reserve and the island of Espíritu Santo.

A sailing with Uncruise offered the perfect excuse to check in on the 1,500-acre Costa Palmas development — currently home to a Four Seasons Resort and soon to welcome Mexico’s first Aman — before heading north to La Paz, the low-key state capital where colonial history meets modern cool. Our hotel experiences were a study in contrasts.

Four Seasons at Costa Palmas

As my plane descended into Los Cabos airport, I spotted multiple new construction projects transforming the coastline of the East Cape from a sprinkling of remote desert outposts into a series of resorts. Most notable is Costa Palmas, an ambitious beachfront community complete with a private marina, a Robert Trent Jones II golf course and the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Los Cabos at Costa Palmas.