R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Friends to Rock Baja's Todos Santos

The Hotel California to play host to high-profile rockers including Buck, Robyn Hitchcock and others during the first ever Todos Santos Music Festival this January.

As if there weren’t enough reasons – warm sun, pristine beaches, great art galleries, gourmet restaurants, whales breaching just offshore – to head to Southern Baja’s Pueblo Magico of Todos Santos this January, here’s another one. The first-ever Todos Santos Music Festival, featuring R.E.M’s Peter Buck and some of his famous musician friends, will run over the course of three weeks from January 5-21, hosted by The Hotel California. The best part: The shows are all free, with a suggested donation of $5 per person, and all proceeds go to the The Palapa Society of Todos Santos, A.C., which provides scholarship, education, medical and environmental programs to benefit local children and their families.

The first series of shows January 5-8 will feature Steve Wynn and The Baseball Project, with
 Peter Buck, Linda Pitmon and Scott McCaughey. The second series of shows January 11-14 will feature Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 with Peter Buck, Bill Rieflin, and Scott McCaughey.

The third series of shows January 18-21 will feature Scott McCaughey and The Minus 5 with Peter Buck, Bill Rieflin, and John Ramberg. Performances will start at 8 pm each evening, with two sets per night. A limited number of reserved tables will be available for every show through The Hotel California. Good luck getting rooms at THC, but a couple of noteworthy new hotels have opened up in and near Todos Santos.

Festival Accommodations

Hotel Casa Tota is downtown within walking distance of the venue and promises “proudly modest” low-lux rooms starting at under $100/night, as well as platform beds, free Wi-Fi, an in-house cantina and restaurant, pool, jacuzzi honor bar and rooftop decks.

Villa Santa Cruz is a full-lux four-room inn 5 miles north of town that includes breakfast and lunch with its room rates, in addition to coffee or tea in bed. As you sit up and reach for your first morning cup, you can scope the surf a stone’s throw from the hotel or watch for the spouts of whales migrating just offshore.

For a similar experience, but at the opposite side of town outside the village of Pescadero, the luxury boutique hotel Rancho Pescadero will be offering shuttle service to the shows since you definitely don’t want to be driving after several cervezas or shots of tequila – particularly in Baja after sundown.

For more info, check out the Todos Santos Music Festival’s Facebook page or the website for the local magazine Journal del Pacifico, one of the event’s sponsors.