Down Mexico Way

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28 JULY 2004
Star getaway
Only a two-hour flight from Los Angeles, Los Cabos is where anyone who is anyone in Hollywood heads when they want to escape the pressures of fame. Don’t be surprised if you bump into Brad Pitt on the beach, for he holidays here with Jennifer Aniston and friends Courteney Cox and David Arquette. Luxury resorts pepper the coast in Los Cabos, but it’s Esperanza and Las Ventanas that are the real jewels.

With its Mexican-style thatched casitas and luxury suites, Esperanza is perched above two protected coves and a rocky beach. Each of the 50 casitas and six suites have sweeping views of the Sea of Cortez and enormous terraces where you can lie in your hammock and listen to the waves crashing on the shores below.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin spent their honeymoon in one of the luxury suites, which come with their own swimming pool, kitchen, dining room, whirlpool spa and personal butler service.

But you don’t have to be on the Hollywood A-list to get the star treatment. Pool and beach butlers ply guests with water, and serve sorbets should the sunbathing around the double infinity pool prove too much. There’s also a spa where you can indulge in revitalising treatments using natural ingredients indigenous to the area.

Dine either in La Palapa Bar & Grill or the fine restaurant, both of which are perched on the cliff’s edge with spectacular ocean views – and, if you dare, take a tequila lesson with Javier, the Master Tequilero, who has more than 100 kinds of tequila, made from the native agave plant, on offer.

Wednesday night is barbecue night, when fresh seafood is grilled to order for guests dining on the sand, while Thursday’s Mexicanismo night offers a traditional mariachi band, authentic Mexican cuisine and a spectacular firework display.