CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDSLOS ANGELES TIMES

TODOS SANTOS, MEXICO

Once upon a time, say about 1972, Cabo San Lucas was a sleepy little fishing town at the south-

ern tip of Baja California. Then came the paved highway, the international airport, the marina, the golf courses, the raucous bars and well-heeled re-treats. At the newest and perhaps fanci-est, Capella Pedregal, suites this spring start at $675 a night.

In Cabo, you just might score the spring break you’ll never forget — or the one you won’t remember.

And then there’s Todos Santos, still small, still drowsy at most hours, wedged between the mountains and sea about 80 kilometres north of Cabo.

Its sugar mills, born amid a 19th cen-tury boom, died about 60 years ago. The paved highway didn’t arrive until the mid-1980s, about the time the first American expat artist, Charles Stewart, moved in. With no airport, no ma-rina, no golf and virtually no nightlife, downtown amounts to a few blocks of newish galleries, inns and shops in oldish buildings. Outside town, cardon cactuses stipple the hills, and miles of lonely beaches roar under assault by waves so wicked that surfers and swim-mers must pick their spots carefully.

Todos Santos, whose population

might be as high as 15,000, depending on how many surrounding hamlets you include, is not where you come for ac-tion. But if you’re after Mexican flavour, Pacific solitude, desert vistas, fresh food and a seriously slow spring break, this might be your place.

“We close down at Baja midnight, which is 9 o’clock,” said Lisa Harper, former chief executive of Gymboree and now proprietor of the Rancho Pes-cadero hotel, about 10 kilometres south of town. “We’re not up partying until all hours. It’s a very calm, relaxed area. Lots of surfers, lots of expats. Lots of fantastic Mexican food, great galleries and artists.”

Photos, Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

Rancho Pescadero is a 12-room hotel near Todos Santos in Baja California Sur.

Colourful plates fill the walls of a curio shop in downtown Todos Santos. Below: Pelicans and other birds enjoy uncrowded sand at nearby La Cachora Beach.

JODY ROBBINSFOR THE CALGARY HERALD

Take one jet-lagged pre-schooler; add a foreign language and a dash of muesli with yogurt and it’s usually a recipe for disaster. Imagine a restaurant that greets spaghetti thrown on the head with a smile. Now imagine entire hotels that embrace you, your kids and their mess.

Kinderhotels are where kinder (German for chil-dren) and their messes are willkommen.

Our family’s journey be-gins with a disastrous stay with an Austrian friend. While we get on like two bratwursts in a bun, the children do not. Though proud of my daughter Eve’s swift command of Ger-man, her constant shouts of, “Nein! Mein toy!” to our host’s Teutonic toddler wear us all out. It’s then I’m introduced to the concept of the Kinderhotel.

Dotted throughout the Alps in Austria, Italy and Germany, Kinderhotels are designed for active families on a budget. Catering to everyone’s needs, these all-inclusives boast free child-care, tricycle grand prix and bouncy castles galore. Par-ents can skip o! to the spa or ski lessons while the chil-dren frolic in the hills with English-speaking nannies.

We arrive at Hotel Gina 45 minutes away from quaint Klagenfurt, in Austria’s southern most province of Carinthia. Though it’s a balmy April with Mediter-ranean-like temperatures, the hotel is virtually empty, with the majority of guests flocking here during winter. As it’s o!-season, I negoti-ate a two-bedroom suite for the two of us at $140 a night all-inclusive, except for al-cohol. All rooms come with kitchenettes, a balcony and lounge area.

Independently owner-managed, each Kinderhotel o!ers a unique experience, ranging from a rustic moun-tain chalet to those with wellness spas and fitness facilities.

A smiley face rating sys-tem assists guests in deter-mining which hotel is best suited for their family.

Hills are alive with the sound of happy families

TRAVELNOTES

TRAVELL AT E S T N E W S AT C A L G A R Y H E R A L D . C O M / T R AV E L

SECTION F

INSIDE TODAY:

Springtime in Madrid 48 hours of eating,

drinking and strolling See Page F4

Is the future friendly?How will we work

in 2040 Working begins on F6

EDITOR: LISA MONFORTON 403-235-7428 LMONFORTON@THEHERALD.CANWEST.COM SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2010

TODOSSAN

TOS

ALL YOU WANT, AND LESS, IN A BAJA GET-

AWAYSEE TODO SANTOS, PAGE F2 SEE FAMILIES, PAGE F2

The word “terroir” refers to the way local influences — geogra-phy, culture, history, tradi-tion — are expressed in a region’s food and wine. The Terroir Guides: Food Wine Burgundy (Little Bookroom, $29.95) is a marvellous book full of substance and lovely photographs.

Author David Downie encourages readers to appreciate a slower, more meditative lifestyle based on a culture with deep roots that respects the soil and the seasons’ turnings. Indeed, Downie insists that “depth” is the key to understanding Burgundy itself; each of its subregions has a distinctive history and character that, in turn, are reflected in its food and wine.

The guide is divided into five parts that reflect the region’s geographical, cultural, historic and/or administrative divisions.

But Downie points out that Burgundy is not immune to the globalization of the past few decades.

Downie includes restau-rants where chefs continue to work from scratch and use fresh, locally produced ingredients to serve tradi-tional (or gently updated) regional fare.

Here you will find such Burgundian staples as snails (escargots), ham and pork, poultry, honey, truffles and, of course, cheese (the region is home to about 30 varieties). Includes a food and wine glossary.

— McClatchy News Service

Fairmont Jasper to get

new spa There’s

alway lots of fun things to do in the town of Jasper — hiking, trail riding, wildlife spotting.

But later this summer you can add to all that outdoor activity a rejuvenating day at the spa.

This week, the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge began construction of a new spa at the luxury hotel set on 700 acres. The $6.7-million, 10,000-square-foot spa will take its design cues from the natural beauty of the mountains, valleys, lakes and rivers in Jasper National Park.

The spa will be located on the promenade level of the Main Lodge. Plans include an entrance with a water feature that flows over tiered natural rock, echoing the beauty of Athabasca Falls. Natural woods and the colours used in the spa’s decor will all be inspired by the mountain ranges that surround the lodge. There will be 10 treatment rooms (including a couples room), steam rooms, fitness facility and an outdoor pool area.

The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Spa is expected to open in August. For other details on the lodge go to www.fairmont.com/jasper.

A palatable book on

Burgundy

Courtesy, Hotel GinaKids jump off a dock at the Hotel Gina in Austria.

SEE TODOS SANTOS, PAGE F2

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To achieve the coveted five smiley rating, hotels must have an indoor pool, bouncy castle, baby monitors, on demand soft drinks, a no-smoking area of the restau-rant and 60 hours a week of free child care.

Everything at Hotel Gina (rated five smiley) has been designed with the child in mind. Stocked with potties, wet wipes and an endless supply of milk, I regret packing half my suitcase.

Enchanted with the child-high sinks, toilets and stairway ban-isters, Eve becomes a delightful fraulein, munching on the Swiss chocolate provided with her turn-down service.

An acceptable practice in Eu-rope, each room is equipped with a baby monitoring system so par-ents can get a break once the kids are kaput.

Feeling rather like 16 going on 17 with my now cheery child, I con-template if I would actually be so irresponsible as to nip o! to the spa when Eve was down for the count? As it turned out, yes, yes I would.

Hotel Gina also o!ers delectable spa services at extra charge. While tempted to try the hay bath us-ing unfertilized hay from nearby fields, fear of my ranching relatives ridicule make me think twice.

Instead, I opt for a facial one night and aromatherapy balsam massage the other.

As a refreshed mummy and con-tented child, our days fall into a predictable pattern of swimming

(classes with certified instructors start from three months old) and terrorizing the indoor adventure play area each morning.

Afternoons were reserved for

waltzing through alpine meadows studded with wildflowers, stop-ping only to make friends with the horses grazing in nearby fields or gaze at Mount Mitterkogel, tower-ing over the pure waters of Lake Faaker at 2,134 metres.

Uber-kinders embrace stilt walking, night bathing at the wa-terfall pool and the Hocus Pocus Wizard School.

During summertime’s two-week adventure club, children from three to 12 years can polish their survival skills in the woods, learn the accoutrements of knighthood or strut their stu! in musical theatre.

Extra programs for the seven to

12 year set (not inclusive) consist of scuba diving school, archery and river rafting.

Always, there is fishing in the pond, pony and tractor rides and the winterized outdoor pool.

All that play works up an appe-tite and the food isn’t all sausage and sauerkraut.

Focus is on organic, regional specialties such as freshly caught trout or kasnudeln (savoury cheese dumplings) otherwise known to Eve as the world’s larg-est perogy.

For gastronomically challenged tots, there are child-appropriate menus with homemade bread, pastas and fresh veggies.

Admittedly, the highlight for kids and adults alike was the self-service ice cream bar, open every afternoon until dinner.

Throughout our stay my once pokey child polkaed from one ac-tivity to the next. Tantrums were met with tolerance, her spills with smiles.

All too quickly it was time to say, “so long, farewell,” to Hotel Gina.

Since not all of us can solve our child care woes by marrying the nanny as Captain Von Trapp did, Kinderhotels o!er weary parents a welcome respite from the usual wear and tear of travelling with one’s kinder.

If You GoDo:

Visit in spring, or early summer. Summer holidays don’t start for the locals until the second week of July.

Head over the Alps to Italy or Slovenia, less than an hour drive away.Don’t:

Pack too much. Kinderhotels come with wipes, bibs, water wings and strollers in most cases.

Rent a car. Many Kinderhotels offer a free shuttle service to and from the airport.Getting There:

Air Canada flies to Vienna via Toronto and Frankfurt. Both Austrian Airlines and Tyrolean Air-ways are part of the Star Alliance and fly from Vienna to Klagenfurt.

Canadians can also fly direct to London Heathrow and then with discount airline Ryan Air, out of Stansted Airport direct to Klagen-furt or other destinations in Aus-tria. Frequent buses on National Express Coach to get you from Heathrow to Stansted in about 90 minutes.

London Liverpool Street Station has express trains to Stansted departing every 15 minutes.For more information:

www.kinderhotels.comwww.gina.at (Hotel Gina)www.austria.info

Pat Cope, who arrived from Los Angeles to open a gallery with her husband Michael and infant son Lane, remembers that “when we first moved here, all I heard was roosters.” Sixteen years later, Lane is contemplating colleges, and the roosters still greet each morning, Cope said, but “I don’t hear them.”

Todos Santos, said Paula Co-lombo, co-owner of the Cafe Santa-Fe, “is real. Good and bad, it’s real.” Now that the recession has slowed the pace of coastal vacation-home building outside town, Colombo added, “maybe we can settle down and do what we have to do to keep this place as magnificent as it could be . . . an oasis in the desert.”

My first stop was at Harper’s Rancho Pescadero hotel (no warning given, full price paid). Rancho Pescadero, billed as a di!erent kind of “dude” ranch, has been busy since it opened in November 2009 with 12 rooms, a restaurant, a bar and a pool.

To reach the six-hectare site, you turn o! two-lane Highway 19 at a Pemex station, drive 1.6 ki-lometres on a dirt-sand road and stop just past the green fields of basil. (The area sits on an aquifer that feeds many organic growing operations and keeps the place rich in chilies, mangoes, avocados and papayas.)

Once on the grounds, you can take refuge in your large room or on your mostly private patio. Be-fore long, you’ll be sipping your welcome drink, strolling past the fire pit, through the fledgling palm grove, to the dunes and the wide, lonely beach.

Don’t jump in. Sta!ers warn guests not to swim at the hotel-adjacent beach because the tide is treacherous. But you can flop onto one of the Rancho Pesca-dero daybeds on the dunes. Or walk at water’s edge, especially near dawn or dusk, where you’ll get the full e!ect of the near-empty beach coastline: pelicans gliding above the swells, o!shore breezes blowing feathered foam o! the whitecaps.

It’s a wonder I turned away long enough to spot the handwritten signs for the San Pedrito Surf Hotel, a few hundred yards north of Rancho Pescadero. Beginning four years ago, manager-co-owner Andy Keller and the other owners upgraded the beachfront site from a camping spot to a seven-unit hotel (rates are $55 to $200 US, a kitchen in every room), but it remains rustic: tile floors, a few shelves of well-thumbed paperbacks, all at the end of another dirt road.

“I’m into the classic look,” Keller said. “No red lights, no parking meters, no pavement . . . the proximity of the mountains just beyond us here, and the ocean just behind me. It’s the best of both worlds.”

Out on the water — that is, the San Pedrito surf break, known up and down the West Coast — I spotted half a dozen euphoric young men carving waves with their short boards

If you can’t surf like these guys but want to get into the ocean, you drive a couple of miles south to Cerritos Beach, which has

milder tides and beach gear for rent and the passable Cerritos Beach club restaurant.

This beach, long empty, has been busy with development in the last few years. Just south of the restaurant, workers have completed about 10 Cerritos Surf Colony bungalows, being sold as time-shares and rented at $125 nightly. About 60 more are planned.

Downtown Todos Santos is a!ordable and easy to navigate: the 18th-century mission on the plaza, the galleries, shops and eateries on narrow streets, mostly unpaved.

I looked at paintings in Galeria Logan and Galeria Indigo, chatted with sculptor Benito Ortega in his studio, checked out the 1930s mu-ral at the Cultural Center. I picked up a book at El Tecolote book-shop on the main drag, Juarez, and sipped some cool gazpacho on the patio of Los Adobes de To-dos Santos.

Toward the middle of the day, I drove out to Punta Lobos Beach, where you can buy fresh catch from the fishermen as they drag their boats ashore about 2:30 p.m. each day.

This is no longer a town I can hold in the palm of my hand, which is what it seemed when I first visited in 1995. Todos Santos has probably doubled in popula-tion since.

In 2006, local boosters man-aged to win a “Pueblo Magico” designation from national tour-ism o"cials, even though the la-bel is usually reserved for towns with older buildings and more of them, more elaborately restored. If the highway is improved as promised, the drive to Los Cabos airport could drop from one hour and 40 minutes to one hour.

But even so, there isn’t a lodg-ing here with more than 14 rooms. And though some have Wi-Fi and air-conditioning, most don’t bother with guest phones or TVs.

Though Stewart, the first expat, has closed his gallery, there are a dozen others, including Michael and Pat Cope’s enduring Galeria de Todos Santos.

Cafe Santa-Fe, the smart, tasty Italian restaurant that Ezio and Paula Colombo started on the plaza in 1990, coexists with sev-eral other well-loved eateries, including the top-notch Asian fusion cuisine of Michael’s at the

Gallery, now four years old. I also got a fix of down-home Mexican cuisine at Miguel’s, where since 2001 a family has been serving widely admired chili rellenos in a dining room with dirt floors, a palapa roof and walls of woven twigs.

On the main drag, the Hotel California traded for years on the false idea that it had inspired the Eagles’ 1976 song of the same name. It got new owners in 2001, and when they reopened the place a year later, 11 rooms, pool patio and restaurant were full of vibrant colours and festive atmosphere. In otherwise muted Todos San-tos, the Hotel California sounds a brassy note, but is a step up from the old days. And unlike other lodgings, it doesn’t ban children.

If you want grown-up gentil-ity in the heart of town, go to the Todos Santos Inn, which has been open since 1997. It has eight rooms, a restaurant and a tiny pool at the converted residence of a 19th-century sugar baron. Or you cast your gaze across the street to the brick walls of the 14-suite Guaycura Hotel, ex-pected to open in coming weeks.

“We came for the first time in ‘96, and it was much sleepier than it is now,” Juerg Wiesendanger, formerly a Swiss financier, told me one morning. “We went to look for a place to stay on the beach. Nothing. And we said, ‘This has to change.’ “

He and his wife, Libusche, moved here and went to work. In 2002, they opened the eight-

room Posada la Poza, which sits on the edge of a lagoon at the end of a long dirt road. It has a popular rooftop lounge, a restau-rant (El Gusto) and some of the town’s quietest guest rooms, with glimpses of La Poza Beach. The walls display Libusche’s paint-ings.

On yet another dirt road that leads to the sea, London-born designer Jenny Armit in 2007 opened the four-unit Hotelito. It sits about midway between town and La Cachora Beach, and its quartet of cottages ($90 to $135 nightly) is done in minimalist-modern style. It has a dining patio, bar and pool, palm fronds here, hammocks there, carefully raked pebbles in between. I liked the privacy, simplicity and quiet . . . for a while.

But my night at the Hotelito was the wrong night. In the wee hours of the morning, a chorus of crowing roosters piped up. They never quite settled down, and neither did I.

When I met Armit over co!ee later, she brought up the roost-ers and told me how the farmer across the street had brought in hundreds of the caged birds. She sighed and said she was confident that the problem would soon be solved, but she didn’t yet know exactly how. If you run a business in Todos Santos, it seems, crises like these come and go.

“And if you haven’t got a sense of humour,” Armit said with a winning grin, “you shouldn’t live in Mexico.”

F2 Saturday, April 3, 2010 Breaking news at calgaryherald.comTRAVEL

TODOS SANTOS: ‘It’s the best of both worlds’FROM F1

Photos, Christopher Reynolds, LA TimesRancho Pescadero is a stunningly designed 12-room hotel near Todos Santos in Baja California Sur, where guests can watch pelicans gliding above the swells and feel the offshore breezes from the comfort of their rooms.

Where to stay: Rancho Pescadero, 10 kilo-

metres south of Todos Santos; www.ranchopescadero.com. Twelve rooms, restaurant and pool on six hectares neighbour-ing dunes and beach. Getting there, expect 1.6 kilometres of dirt road after you leave the highway. Rates $185 to $300. No children younger than 12.

Posada la Poza, Colonia La Poza, A.P. 10, Todos Santos; www.lapoza.com. Eight rooms, res-taurant and pool on 1.6 hectares at the edge of a lagoon. Rates $210-$480, with some “reces-sion discounts” as much as 25 per cent. Breakfast included. No children younger than 13.

Hotel California, Benito Juarez e/Morelos y Marquez de Leon, Todos Santos, Colonia Centro; www.hotelcaliforniabaja.com. Eleven rooms festooned with bright colours and art, with restaurant, shop and pool on the liveliest block downtown. Rates $110-$215. Children OK.

Where to eat: Michael’s at the Gallery, at

Galeria de Todos Santos, Calle Legaspi and Topete, Todos San-tos. Asian fusion cuisine. Dinner only, Thursday through Saturday. Main dishes $15-$25.

Miguel’s, Avenida Santoa Degollado and 2 Rangel, Bar-rio San Vicente, Todos Santos. Renowned chili rellenos and other Mexican fare, made and served by a lifelong local resident and his family. Lunch and dinner. Cash only, dirt floor, impeccably clean. Main dishes up to $10.

Cafe Santa-Fe, 4 Calle Centena-rio, Todos Santos. Fine Italian din-ing on the town plaza. Founded 20 years ago by Ezio and Paula Colombo, who still run it. Lunch and dinner, closed Tuesdays. Main dishes about $19-$39.To learn more:See www.todossantos.com or www.todossantos.cc. For more on Los Cabos, try the Los Cabos Tourism Board website at www.visitloscabos.travel.

Guests enjoy the poolside bar at sunny Rancho Pescadero near the resort area of Todos Santos.

If You Go

FAMILIES: Hotels kid and budget friendly

FROM F1

Courtesy, Kinder HotelThe highly innovative Kinderhotels offer weary parents a welcome respite from the usual trials and tribulations of travelling with energized youngsters.