For every few whirlwind trips you need one relaxing vacation, right?
This was our logic when my husband and I booked a trip to Cabo over a 3-day weekend!
We spent about 48 hours in Mexico and did not do much—which is a bit of an anomaly for us. We had such a beautiful and relaxing trip, and especially for those based out of California, I highly recommend making Cabo San Lucas a weekend getaway!
It was a 2.5 direct hour flight from LAX to SJD. It was a quick and uneventful hop. Although the aircraft we were on was completely out of English immigration forms, so we ended up using our minimal Spanish and asking other passengers for help to fill them out!
Once we got to the Los Cabos International Airport, we found a representative from Dollar Rent A Car and got bused over to their main office to pick up our rental car. We had reserved a car online ahead of time and also paid extra to get insurance.
I’ve read a lot of mixed things about renting a car in Mexico, but this was honestly completely worthwhile for us. It was easy, the drive was beautiful, we never felt like we were in danger and parking was generally very cheap, valet or free. Obviously, we tried to be as careful as possible (e.g. drove the speed limit, went out during normal daytime hours, didn’t drive at night, etc.).
We stayed at The Cape, a Thompson Hotel, and fell completely in love with the property—so much so that I wrote a hotel review about it here that you can read. I highly recommend staying here!! It’s a fantastic place with gorgeous views, beautiful pools, delicious food and wonderful service.
DAY 1
Our first day, we relaxed at the property.
We grabbed a late lunch at The Ledge (we got to the hotel around 4:30pm), and ate delicious gluten-free duck tacos and ceviche tostadas. Everything on the menu was marked as to whether it was gluten-free!
We then enjoyed an ocean view from the room on our balcony couch swing, and got drinks at the infinity pool (that even included lounge chairs INSIDE the pool).
After, we experienced a delicious and romantic dinner at Manta, The Cape’s fusion Japanese/Peruvian/Mexican restaurant.
The experience was delightful, the food quite tasty and the sunset views to die for!
And that was our first relaxing evening at The Cape. There was an event on the rooftop at 11pm that we initially had some interest in checking out. But honestly, we ended up crashing in our room and didn’t make it upstairs.
DAY 2
We woke up early the next morning to grab breakfast in Cabo San Lucas town at The Office on the beach—a 15-20 minute drive from our hotel. We found a public parking garage (attached to the Puerto Paraiso mall) and left our car there, which was completely worthwhile—we only had to pay about $2 (35 pesos) for 5+ hours.
The Office on the beach is one of the most popular tourist spots in Cabo Town, but doesn’t get too crowded or loud until afternoon/evening. We had a delicious ocean-view breakfast there (Mexican Eggs for him and Chilaquiles with Eggs for me), complete with refreshing smoothies!
After breakfast, we walked along the beach to get to the docks for a sailing tour we had booked via Viator (Luxury Sailing and Snorkeling Cruise).
This is definitely one of the things you should do in Cabo to see El Arco de Cabo San Lucas (aka Land’s End, the extreme southern end of Baja California), Lovers Beach and do some snorkeling.
Make sure you bring LOTS of sunscreen—even though we had applied sunscreen in the morning, we didn’t reapply and my poor husband burned to a crisp!
After the sailing tour, we explored the town a little bit more and grabbed an iced cold brew and refresher from a Starbucks we found.
We then decided to head on back to our hotel for some more pool time and freshening up before dinner.
We ate dinner our second night at El Farallon at the Pedegral. This is a pricey restaurant, but is definitely worthwhile for the experience.
Getting to the Pedegral itself is an experience worth remembering—we drove through a tunnel in the mountain to arrive at a beautiful resort, and were showed around by Daniel before our reservation.
Daniel was so sweet and gave us a brief rundown of the resort’s history, and also was more than willing to take pictures for us whenever we wanted (which was maybe every 2 minutes…don’t judge!! It was too beautiful!).
Once at El Farallon, we were blown away by the gorgeous restaurant carved into the cliffside. Waves crashed against the rocks peacefully.
We were first brought over to the Champagne Terrace to select our beverages. This is not included with the dinner, so we opted for half glasses of the most affordable champagnes they had.
After this, they had us select the fish and sides we wanted for our set meal (no à la carte option). They then brought us over to our table, which was in a private section in the far back of the restaurant. Our dinner reservation was fairly early (5:15pm), so it felt like we had the whole back section to ourselves and was very romantic!
We also took a lot of pictures while waiting for the food.
Then, the food came. Would it be strange to say that the highlight of the meal was the soup? We were served an absolutely delicious Mexican take on Japanese miso soup that incorporated a variety of seafood and rice noodles. I’m still dreaming about this soup as I type!!
They were incredibly accommodating of my gluten allergy, and even brought over some appetizers just for me when I couldn’t eat some of the items on the set menu. The fish we selected was also incredibly delicious and fresh. And don’t forget the salsas!
After dinner, we headed back to our hotel just in time to take a romantic stroll on the beach at sunset.
We then retired to our room, where we enjoyed the hotel’s comfy robes and slippers (best described as squishy flip-flops) and watched some Netflix while hearing the waves crash on the shore in the distance.
DAY 3
Once again, we woke up early the next morning to enjoy the most of the hotel amenities. We took a morning dip in the pool and explored the resort.
We were the only ones wandering around—even at 8:30am—which was magical in itself. Also, I found a crane, and was very excited about it.
We then grabbed coffee in The Glass Box (a café/bar) and played a game of pool in the beautiful open-air lobby of the hotel.
And with that, we checked out of our lovely hotel and headed to Flora’s Field Kitchen for brunch!
You may have heard of this organic farm-to-table gem in Los Cabos a myriad of ways. Maroon 5’s Adam Levine got married here, and the property even has luxury cottages for rent.
Getting here, you’ll feel a little like you’re lost. There’s some driving down dirt roads and being completely surrounded by nothing but desert. But when you pull into Flora’s, you find an adorable green oasis. We wandered around the charming property a bit while waiting for our food.
Flora’s Field Kitchen was also very accommodating of my gluten allergy. We opted to share a gluten-free Potato & Rosemary Pizza and Huevos Rancheros. The pizza was fine, but we loved the huevos rancheros and downed them very quickly!
After brunch, we headed back for the airport to drop off our rental car and board our 3:00pm flight back to Los Angeles. We were grateful for our beautiful and relaxing stay in Cabo, and will certainly return!
CANBO SAN LUCAS TRAVEL TIPS
Currency: MXN – Mexican Peso (many places accept USD—I don’t recommend this, but we didn’t get a chance to exchange for Pesos before we left, and when we arrived at SJD airport none of the ATMs had cash in them for us to withdraw Pesos. Thankfully, it didn’t end up being an issue as everywhere—even the parking structure in the town—accepted our USD!)
Languages: Spanish (many speak English)
Transportation: Rental Cars, Taxis, Hotel Shuttles
Food: Obviously MEXICAN FOOD is what you must eat here, and seafood is deliciously fresh!
Safety: We were cautioned by many people about crime and hustling in Cabo. I don’t speak for everyone, but we personally had no issues and never felt threatened or unsafe. The area immediately when you exit the airport is a little overwhelming with people offering taxi services, but beyond that, we didn’t have any problems. Even if we were walking around, people were quick to offer help and assistance with directions. Occasionally people in the town would approach us asking if we wanted their tour/restaurant/tequila/etc., but we would just smile and respond, “No gracias.” All that said, every person’s experience is a little different, so of course just take steps to be vigilant and careful.
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