Casa Bentley, Todos Santos

Casa Bentley is unique, lovely and magical! We were lucky enough to stay a week at Casa Bentley and each moment spent there was delightful. If you are looking for the perfect quiet, intimate, and beautiful spot from which to base your Mexican explorations, look no further, because this is the place for you! Todos Santos has a great location in Baja California Sur: it’s between Los Cabos and La Paz and close to numerous incredible beaches. It’s a thriving community with many high quality art studios and galleries. And Casa Bentley is the ideal place to stay in Todos Santos. It’s conveniently located on the very edge of the historic district, so no need for a long walk or drive at the end of your explorations in town! As you finish a day of wandering the shops and galleries, walking the beaches, and sampling various delicious local foods, you proceed down a sunny, dusty little side street and enter through Casa Bentley’s large painted wooden doors. Behind thick stone walls, the sounds of the town recede and you are suddenly in a cool, quiet, shady, private tropical paradise. A large hule (rubber) tree spreads its leafy branches across the courtyard. A stone fountain splashes water down into a pretty turquoise swimming pool. Birds sing in the mango and avocado trees and the friendly resident dogs greet you. You have arrived at Casa Bentley, your home in Todos Santos! Casa Bentley is hosted by Bob Bentley, a retired American geology professor from Washington State. Casa Bentley exists thanks to Bob’s incredibly unique vision. Bob and his manager, Beatrice, make sure that everything is running smoothly and that guests feel welcome while their privacy is respected. They were both very helpful in offering suggestions for our explorations and we enjoyed our conversations with both of them very much. Beatrice is willing to help you to arrange any excursions and will provide you with any necessary supplies such as beach towels and umbrellas. Casa Bentley’s design and furnishings are artistic, comfortable and gracious. The buildings were constructed with thick stone walls, imbedded with many beautiful gem stones. We stayed in the Dolphin Suite, which is a large space with great light. We enjoyed a big private patio complete with a gurgling stone wall fountain, which provided a restful background to our stay. We were fortunate to see hummingbirds taking daily baths in our fountain! The Dolphin Suite bathroom is spacious, with a very large stone shower. We were able to see several of the other rooms (between guests!) and found them to be delightful as well. You simply cannot go wrong with any of the rooms here. The common areas at Casa Bentley are lovely. The pool area and its several patios offer a variety of places to sit in either solitude or social groups. We sat on the patio many times, in the sunshine and in the moonlight, and found that any time of day was comfortable and lovely. Casa Bentley would be a great one-night stopover for a traveler on the way through town, although you will hate to leave and will be kicking yourself for not booking a longer stay! We didn’t want to leave after a whole week. So our advice is to stay as long as you possibly can! There are numerous great places to eat in town- Tre Galline, Landi’s, Il Giardino’s, Miguel’s- but if your travel budget would benefit from some at-home meals, you can easily make that happen at Casa Bentley. There is a large (outdoor) kitchen, fully stocked with equipment and large refrigerator, in which you can cook a meal. Each guest room also has its own small refrigerator. So it’s a simple matter to pick up some fresh ingredients a few blocks away in town (the fruit and vegetables are amazingly inexpensive and luscious!) and create your own home-cooked Mexican meal at Casa Bentley. As you can probably tell, we had a wonderful stay in Todos Santos at Casa Bentley and are hoping to return very soon!