“At dusk, the surrounding mountains catch the light of the dipping sun, turning a burnished hue of wildflower honey while casting a spell on diners.“

Travelers love Mexico’s Baja Peninsula for good reason: it’s beautiful, offers good weather year-round, and caters to all budgets. However, many visitors fail to venture beyond their hotel’s gates, especially when staying at an all-inclusive property. For years, Cabo San Lucas was better known for its party atmosphere than its cuisine. Over the last decade, however, the farm-to-table movement has exploded. Multiple dining experiences, from country rustic to Sonoma-chic, have proliferated around the peninsula, especially near the fertile valley just east of San José del Cabo. Due to an underground aquifer and winter rain from the mountains, this little oasis in the foothills of the Sierra de la Lagunas can drip-irrigate fields, giving rise to several exceptional farms there and beyond.

While every vacation deserves a few days of pure do-nothing leisure, one would be remiss to skip the dining experiences helping redefine the region’s culinary image.

Located inside a 19th century farmhouse, Tamarindos started as a sugar cane farm, a major export crop for Baja Sur California at the time. The concept has morphed into an organic farm-to-table dining experience. And yes, experience and not just restaurant appropriately defines a visit. Pulling up on a dirt road after driving down an arid river bed, one feels transported out of overdeveloped Cabo and its strip of hotels into a secret world that’s slower and prettier and nicer. Just one mile away from the sea of Cortez and San Jose del Cabo’s estuary, the farm’s fertile soil yields seasonal crops served in the rustic open-air restaurant adjacent to the fields. Stop in just before dinner to catch the sun cast a parting glow across the herb garden. Or book a cooking class to harvest ingredients just before a culinary lesson in regional cuisines. For a fully immersive experience, stay the night in a palapa-thatched cottage. 

Founded by California transplants, Flora Farms stands out for its low-key chic Sonoma-meets-Mexico vibe. From its roots as a ranch and farm, to its current iteration as a little village, Flora Farms stands out as a little entertainment, dining, and shopping enclave woven throughout flowering gardens and vegetable patches. Boutiques include a coffee shop, wine store, HIVE fragrance studio, jewelry store, and James Perse outpost, among others. Dining experiences encompass an excellent bakery, and farm-to-table bar and restaurant with cocktails, Mexican wine, and craft beers, plus a grocery stocked with produce from the fields. Movie nights coupled with cooking and art classes, build a local community and loyal clientele. So loyal, some book a vacation rental and go on to invest in the fractional ownership of a boutique suite.

Countering its San Jose peers with a touch of glamor, Acre sits in a lush tropical landscape you might mistake for a hip spot in Tulum. It features simple but effective decor of poured concrete, rattan accents, and macramé chandeliers, all interspersed with hundreds of banana trees and palms. To get there, you cross a dry river bed (unless it has rained – then only with a 4×4), while heading into the foothills of the Sierra de la Laguna mountains. With 25 acres of greenery, Acre feels like a hidden oasis, with its jungle walkways connecting a cocktail bar, open-air restaurant, guest houses, an organic farm, and private event spaces. From its humble farm-to-table origin, Acre has evolved into an experiential destination with global cuisine. Guests who want to soak up the ambiance can stay in a rustic-luxe treehouse, villa, or hacienda rental and opt in for yoga, healthy juices, and acai bowls in the morning.

Because of its proximity to Cabo San Lucas, El Huerto, located 15 minutes northeast of the marina, books up early. The restaurant, evocative of an old hacienda on a hilltop, serves breakfast and dinner, so if you can’t snag an evening table, you’ve got options. Breakfasts offer healthy fuel for the day, whether in the simple form of berry bowls with yogurt and homemade granola or huevos rancheros beefed up with chorizo and thick bacon. At night, the venue comes alive with an impressive menu served under twinkling lights. At dusk, the surrounding mountains catch the light of the dipping sun, turning a burnished hue of wildflower honey while casting a spell on diners. Huerto, like its counterparts, also serves pizzas and salads, plus pastas, steak, chicken, and several Mexican dishes. All of their ingredients are sustainable, fair trade, and organic, with much of it coming from their farm in Miraflores.

A breezy outdoor spot down a sandy road amidst tomato fields, Hierbabuena provides the perfect post-travel respite. Fruit-based mezcalitas like watermelon and mint, paired with a snack of smoked fish dip, and gorgeous salads await only an hour north of Cabo airport and 15 minutes south of Todos Santos. Located off highway México 19, the restaurant grows much of its produce on-site, an effort embodied in their tag line “spend it on good food and not on medicine.” The menu features local, organic poultry, fresh seafood, and wood-oven pizzas and an array of creative, garden-inspired cocktails as well as non alcoholic beverages and craft beers.

Don’t let the garden vibes mislead you: the food here is sophisticated and exceptional. Considered the best fine dining restaurant in Todos Santos, Jazamango Chef Javier Plascencia incorporates ingredients and produce from the on-site garden to create Mexican dishes, housemade bread, creative garden salads (go for the burrata), and the best wood-fired pizzas south of California. On Sunday, don’t miss the lamb barbacoa served in different formats including tacos and as a platter with rolled and cooked-to-order blue corn tortillas. There’s also a bakery selling artisanal breads and pastries if you need a few more snacks to take home. Don’t skip strolling in the garden at sunset for a magical moment.