Jason and I recently went to Cabo for an "us" trip and this was the perfect get away, because we literally just relaxed. We have only done this one other time in our relationship and it was so wonderful and much needed.
We had Southwest miles so found someplace we could use our miles to fly to. We booked our flight first and shortly after booking received an email from Southwest that offered us additional miles to stay at one of their recommended resorts. So, we researched those options and decided on Secrets Puerto Los Cabos Golf & Spa Resort. It wasn’t cheap but was all inclusive and we received 40,000 points to stay there (which will pay for our flights for our next trip like this). We loved the resort so were really happy with our choice.
The hotel offered a shuttle service that was about double the cost of the one that we found, Cabo Shuttle Services, and they were great so would highly recommend them for your shuttle needs when traveling around this area. They provide an email upon booking that instructs you not to be pressured by all the cab options upon arrival, which was the best advice as they told us exactly where to find them and everything worked great. Make sure and book your shuttle a few days before arrival and departure. The ride from the airport to the resort is about 20 minutes.
Here are my recommendations regarding this Secrets resort, some will apply to any all-inclusive:
1. Pack light! I found that we wore HALF of what I packed. I’ve included a recommended packing list below.
2. Put your towels out early to save your chairs and make sure to leave books or something else otherwise it may not be clear to others that you’ve saved the chairs.
a. Reservations are not needed for the cabanas by the beach so once again, if that’s where you’d like to hang for the day just go down and put your towels out early to secure your spot.
b. Cabanas by the pool need to be reserved and cost $50 (I think you get a bottle of sparkling wine with your reservation). We decided against this and decided to just hang out in the chairs by the pool instead.
3. The hotel provides sunscreen (15 SPF) in the rooms, which is great. We brought 2 large bottles of spray SPF and that lasted us for the 5.5 days we were there, with many reapplications.
4. Ask for bottled water everywhere, they are happy to provide so why not.
5. Chilly mornings and evenings so pack a sweatshirt for the mornings and bring a wrap for evening dinners.
6. Uber vs. taxis. The hotel pushes taxis but the cost is way more expensive than Uber. The challenge is they won’t let Uber into their hotel but Uber can bring you back. So, to get around that you can order an Uber from within the resort and then walk out the doors, if they let them through the gates. If they don’t then you would need to walk down the road to meet them. So, it’s really up to you on how to tackle.
7. Premiere Club: the resort offers Premiere Club and if you’d like a quiet pool to relax at I would highly recommend. This was so nice. Premiere Club access allows you access to a private pool as well as Premiere Club Bar, that had snacks and drinks throughout the day. It was one of my favorite spots to stop for a before dinner drink and after dinner for a nightcap. We didn’t book this ahead of time. We were upgraded when we checked in so this was an added bonus but now that we’ve experienced it we will definitely do it again.
8. The resort can be loud in the evenings because they offer activities in the evenings such as concerts, fire dancers, etc. So, when booking you may want to ask the location of your room and may want to ask if it’s close to the evening festivities to determine if it’ll work for what you’re looking for.
9. Bring small bills to tip throughout trip. I think I brought $170 in 5’s and 1’s and it lasted me the whole trip (including cab tips and a $20 tip for the hosts of the boat trip that we took).
10. Morning yoga. While we were there, they offered yoga by the ocean every morning. It was amazing. I loved doing the class to stretch out for the day and having the ocean crashing in the background was just so nice. If yoga’s not your thing they have a gym, but it’s small so would recommend getting there early as it gets really busy.
11. Yeti mugs. We hadn’t done an all-inclusive like this before so wasn’t aware of this practice, to bring your own mug for your cocktails throughout the day. I’m assuming because they keep your drinks colder for longer. I think it’s a great idea because some of the resort glasses looked a little dirty when we got our drinks. This wasn’t a problem for us but will definitely bring our own mugs for the next trip.
12. Resort Restaurants:
a. Portofino: the Italian option at the resort and absolutely wonderful! Our favorite options when we were there included: artichoke appetizer, arugula salad, carbonara pasta, linguine pasta, and the salmon dish. They are strict about the dress code for this restaurant, men need to have pants on and no flip flops.
b. Market Café: great option for lunch if you want a lighter lunch. It’s a nice buffet with lots of options from salad, to meats and rice, etc.
c. Oceana: Our favorite location for breakfast. They have a full breakfast menu so you can order omelets, French toast, fruit, etc. For a healthy option they have an egg white omelet that was delicious. Their French toast was great as well! We went there for dinner and were disappointed. The service was really slow and the food just mediocre.
d. El Patio: the Mexican option. We really enjoyed this restaurant as well. The fish tacos were amazing.
e. Himitsu: a sushi restaurant option. We thought the food was just okay, not great. Others really enjoyed the restaurant so definitely give it a try to form your own opinion.
f. Room service: if you don’t feel like going out their room service menu is great and typically takes about 40 minutes to an hour to get.
13. Sunset Boat trip to the Arches. We had heard about this so booked this trip and it was great. There were boat trips that offered a dinner option but we chose a sailboat trip that had a limited amount of passengers for a more personalized experience. This was more expensive and we enjoyed it but if I were to do it again, I would say that we would pick a cheaper option, but with good reviews. If you do a boat trip, especially in the evening, bring layers as it gets really chilly on the water. Bring a sweatshirt, light pants, maybe even socks, etc. The boat had blankets which was nice but wish I would have planned better because I was really cold, which impacted my enjoyment of the experience.
14. When you check into the resort they offer for you to listen to a "non time share" presentation. It's up to you if you want to attend but we opted to not to attend. That discussion takes maybe 10 minutes of your time.
San Jose Town:
We loved San Jose so would highly recommend getting off the resort to explore the town. It’s about a 10 minute ride from the resort.
Here are a few restaurant recommendations in town:
· La Lupitas: tacos were amazing and service was really good. If you’re going for lunch they don’t open until 2:00PM.
· Baja Brewery: we didn’t visit but heard their craft beer was good
· Shooters: this was a great place to stop for a drink. We heard their nachos are really good but didn't try them ourselves. And, they have TV’s with U.S. sports on if you’re looking for that.
· Acre: we didn’t visit but heard this place is amazing.
· Flora Farms: we didn’t visit but heard this is a must visit as well so would highly recommend checking it out.
· The resort offers a cab to town for $25. If you can take an Uber the cost is around $5, see notes above regarding cab vs. Uber. It can be challenging to get the Uber to the property to pick you up but there are no issues with the Uber bringing you back.
Cabo is about a 40-minute cab/Uber ride from the resort but it’s an easy drive – all highway.
Recommended packing list for 6 days:
· Shoes: flip flops, dress sandals for dinners out, tennis shoes for work outs / long walks
· mix of approx 3 swimsuits to alternate (for women), 2 swim trunks for men
· 1 or 2 coverups
· Evening outfits: (2 dresses, 2 pants with blouses, wrap or something to throw over your shoulders when it cools down)
· Day outfits: 2 sundresses, jean shorts and 2 tops
· Sunscreen: 2 large spray bottles
· Kindle with books loaded
· Towel / chair clips – we didn’t come with chair clips but saw others with them. If you look up towel clips on Amazon you should find easily. The clips will hold your towel in place on your chair, which is a nice convenience.
· Yeti mugs / water bottle (I always travel with a water bottle but wouldn't say it was a requirement here because they had water bottles everywhere)
· Tipping cash (mostly $1 bills)
· Jewelry – minimal (found that most of the ladies wore their wedding rings – I would definitely bring mine on our next trip, or get some silicon ones to wear in lieu of my wedding ring)
· Small beach hat(s). I brought this large obnoxious hat, it looks good but it doesn’t really work when trying to lay back on the beach chairs so would recommend just bringing a ball cap / trucker hat. I did find that my scalp got burnt one day so make sure and spray your head even with a ball cap to be on the safe side.
· Work out clothes. I didn’t sweat too horribly with my work outs so I was good with one work out outfit. My husband needed 2 outfits.
We brought 2 suitcases so that we could check the one with the sunscreen.
Our carry on included the following, just in case the checked bag got lost in transit:
· Swimsuit / trunks for each of us
· Baseball caps
· A sundress for me and shorts and a t-shirt for him
· Underwear for each
· Toiletries / contacts / medicines
· Flip flops for both
Anything valuable: my camera, kindles, selfie stick, music speaker (I always travel with one for the hotel room), jewelry, snacks, computer/iPad, chargers for all electronics.
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