Four Seasons first made its mark in Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula in 2019 on the remote East Cape. Five years later, the brand has made a striking return to the region with the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol, located on Cabo’s Golden Corridor.

Conceived as a hacienda-style village by Para Grande, California architect Robert C. Glazier, with interiors courtesy of New York firm Meyer Davis and Novato, California-based EDG, the property spans 96 guestrooms and suites, 61 residences, villas, and estates, and seven F&B venues.

Some guestrooms open up to private plunge pools framed by lush greenery

As vehicles wind up the cobblestone drive, “there’s a monumental sense of arrival, but it’s on a human scale so it’s also comfortable,” says Meyer Davis cofounder Will Meyer. “It feels wide open. The buildings are low and connect to the landscape.”

Inside La Casona, the social hub, “there’s a grand fireplace and beautiful arches that frame the view, so it’s like you’re in someone’s living room,” adds Tina Hu, senior FF&E designer at Meyer Davis.

As guests move through the lobby, those stunning Sea of Cortez vistas, most notably captured in the central bar, “reveal themselves, and when you see the linen sheers billowing in the wind, it’s a magical moment,” says Meyer Davis cofounder Gray Davis.

Along with embracing organic materials like leather and rope, incorporating works from Mexican artisans was central to Meyer Davis’ vision. In some of the warm-hued La Casona guestrooms, for example, light fixtures made from indigenous clay are buoyed by beads arranged in various configurations. Throughout the accommodations, “traditional objects and furniture are sharpened by their proximity to more modern, clean-lined pieces. That building of layers offers depth and sophistication,” Meyer explains.

The lobby bar in La Casona looks out over the Sea of Cortez

Davis is particularly drawn to the casitas that “blur the lines between indoors and outdoors,” as he describes it. “The ground-floor ones have private gardens with plunge pools, so when you throw open the doors open, you are in heaven.”

For Hu, it’s the armoire-style My Bar, a Four Seasons signature, which captivates come evening “when you walk in and the lights are on after turndown. It opens like a shiny jewel and showcases the craftsmanship,” she says.

Meyer Davis also brought the Tierra Mar Spa to life with reclaimed wood, Mexican Ojinaga limestone floors, and woven textiles. The 15,000-square-foot wellness space is home to 10 treatment rooms, which are situated around a garden courtyard. “Because it’s lush and overgrown, it feels discreet,” says Davis. “There’s something Zen about it, like you’re in another world.”

Arches and encaustic tiles help conjure the South of France in Palmerio

Equally transporting are the F&B spaces, spearheaded by EDG. Working closely with chef Richard Sandoval, president and CEO Jennifer Johanson and her team—who also tackled the El Taller art studio, the specialty grocery Mercado, and the rugged surf-style 360-degree Baja adventure center—dreamed up disparate concepts that are bold juxtapositions to the property’s abundance of calming, whitewashed walls.

Off the lobby is Palmerio, and to complement the Mediterranean flavors executed with local ingredients, EDG opted for a chic mood that conjures “Saint-Tropez meets the cliffs of Baja,” as Johanson puts it, “inspired by the retro vibes of photographer Slim Aarons and this hand-tinted reality where everything is sun-faded pastels.” A vaulted ceiling with wood beams, plaster walls, and handcut terracotta brick pavers make Palmerio seem as if it’s been welcoming diners for years.

There’s also Cayao by Richard Sandoval, which nods to Nikkei cuisine with its balance of Japanese minimalism and colorful textiles. Sora Rooftop Bar, meanwhile, marries a centerpiece table fashioned out of salvaged driftwood with bursts of pink and purple that “blend with the sunset,” points out Johanson.

For the poolside Coraluz, EDG melded turquoise with rammed earth walls, and at open-air Bar Brisal, located adjacent to the adults-only pool, drinks are sipped at a stone-topped bar underneath a latilla ceiling.

Loungers line Coraluz, the serene family pool

Mexican craft unites the spaces, whether it’s the encaustic tiles and Majolica glazed pottery from Michoacán that aptly evoke the South of France in Palmerio, or the raw, unglazed, Oaxacan varieties at Cayao reminiscent of Peruvian creations. Both mingle with vintage finds that Johanson sourced on her travels, while at Coraluz, the pizza oven’s custom tile matches the Talavera pottery on display.

This mélange of rich details, says Johanson, “underscores the idea of a village and a collection of experiences, rather than one synergistic vision of a resort.”

 

This article originally appeared in HD’s October 2024 issue.