LOS CABOS, MEXICO
One of the first things the locals ask when I arrive in Mexico is whether I have visited before. Each time, I have to coyly admit that, in my late teens, I braved the Cancun strip. Even worse, it was during ‘spring break’… I haven’t quite been able to shift the memory (or return) since. They nod knowingly and quickly reassure me that this will be quite a different experience.
And it is. It helps that this time I am staying at Nobu Hotel Los Cabos, an architect’s dream of smooth, concrete lines that seem to frame the Pacific beyond. It’s the brand’s first hotel in Mexico, set on the Diamante Estate, which is home to a golf course designed by Tiger Woods, and the signature Nobu laid-back luxury is in full effect.
My room is a mix of modern minimalism, wood and straw, with just a hint of colour. It’s open plan, with a walk-in wardrobe so expansive I worry I’ve under-packed (not possible). Next door, there’s a bathroom with a freestanding wooden bath and a rain shower set against a pebble wall, which was painstakingly built stone by stone.
This elegant-yet-relaxed feel is carried throughout the hotel. The use of natural materials and local vegetation (including a vegetable garden) creates a sense of simplicity, as if easing your troubles away on the breeze of the Pacific winds. And nowhere is more tranquil than the spa, where an Asian deep-tissue massage banishes my knots.
Of course, what Nobu is really known for is its food. Luckily, this Mexican outpost got the memo. The tiradito, chilled octopus with a mix of chilli and herbs, at the eponymous restaurant is unforgettable. But then so are the sushi platters at the beach bar, and the avocado pizza at Malibu Farm, a farm-to-fork concept restaurant, where I enjoy breakfast most mornings, too.
My trip seems to fall into a gentle rhythm of eat, read, sleep, repeat, with a private tequila and mezcal tasting session with resident mixologist Nestor Can Jones thrown into the middle. For a foodie like me, it’s the perfect harmony, but it also highlights to me how out of balance my everyday life is at home, when the things I love to do get pushed further down my priority list.
On my last night, I head to Los Tamarindos, a 19th-century farmhouse on a former sugar cane plantation and one of the most acclaimed restaurants in Mexico. You can opt just to dine but, for a unique experience, you can take part in a cooking course and create your own four-course meal. Baking fish in the wood oven alongside insightful and passionate chefs, I realise I am leaving with skills and memories to last a lifetime, but also a desire to create more space in my life for the things I love. My Mexican adventure has been an epiphany, in more ways than one. VICTORIA ARCHBOLD
TRIP NOTES Flights from £800 return with British Airways/aeromexico. Rates at Nobu Hotel Los Cabos start from $400 for a Deluxe Double on a Bed & Breakfast basis. Visit loscabos.nobuhotels.com
‘I REALISE I AM LEAVING WITH SKILLS AND MEMORIES TO LAST A LIFETIME’