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New York Times names Loreto #8 place to visit in 2011

By Michelle Higgins | NY Times
Published: January 7, 2011

A beach hideaway with sport fishing gets a luxury resort.

Long known for sport fishing, Loreto, on Baja California Sur’s eastern coast, is poised to become one of Mexico’s next luxury destinations.

On Wednesday, Villa Group Resorts, one of Mexico’s largest privately owned hotel groups, will open a $60 million Villa del Palmar resort with three restaurants, a 20,000-square-foot turtle-shaped pool and 150 suites from $250 to $1,500 a night. The resort is the first phase of an 1,800-acre development, Danzante Ba. It will add seven resort hotels, restaurants and a Rees Jones golf course.

Loreto also has longstanding attractions to tout. It recently started a public relations campaign, with help from the Mexico Tourism Board, to highlight its colonial architecture, deserted beaches and marine life. Founded in 1697 by Jesuit missionaries, Loreto is home to the historic Mission of Our Lady Loreto, one of the first “California” missions. The baroque Mission of San Javier can be found nearby in the Sierra de la Giganta Mountains.

Visitors can take day trips to see prehistoric rock art in the Sierra de San Francisco region of Baja California between Loreto and Bahia de Los Angeles. Five islands that make up the Loreto Bay National Marine Park, which covers 797 square miles in the Sea of Cortez, offer extensive snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, whale-watching and scuba-diving opportunities. The area is home to more than 800 species of marine life, including six-foot-long Humboldt squid.


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Had I not clicked on the link and read the entire article, I would have just thought this to be more of a paid promo for the Villa Group.

I'm sure that the opeining of the resort will have a beneficial effect on the the local economy, in that they will need to hire staff to run the resort. However, since the resort location is so far from town proper, and is basically self-contained with on-site restuarants and activities, I imagine that a substantial number of visitors may never leave the property during their stay. Those who opt to do just that will be missing a really beautiful town.

And, is that not a picture of the Loreto Bay development that accompanies the article?