Spring Break 2005 & 2006

Cabo San Lucas is an awesome place to go for Spring Break. If you are looking to party make sure that you stay in a hotel that is located on Medano Beach...these include the Pueblo Bonito Rose, Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos, Melia, Villa Estancia and Hacienda (which may or may not have closed/remodeled). Many of the nice hotels are located in the "tourist corridor" along the 25 miles or so of highway between the airport and town. While these are great hotels if you are going to Cabo for spring break you will want to be where the action and staying at these hotels will be boring, out of the way, and frustrating to get around (you would have to take cabs day and night a long distance)The crowd you will find here is primarily students from USC, U of A, Boulder, and other schools in LA, San Diego, Arizona etc. Expect an invasion of SMU kids if Cancun gets hit by a hurricane anytime in the previous year. Beautiful people. If you like the SoCal mentality you will probably very comfortable in Cabo. If you are looking for true Mexican culture this isn't the place for you. It's like being in California in Mexico and everyone is American.

Quick Tips:

If you are coming in March or April and have a family or are a couple stay in the tourist corridor NOT on Medano Beach or you will be swarmed with thousands of drunk kids. I have seen multiple occiasions where a couple has been trying to take a romantic walk down Medano Beach through the mayhem only to be hit by a football or run into. They always get all upset but I can never understand what they were thinking. What do you expect...? Conversely, if you are looking to party staying on Medano Beach is a must. The only downside to staying on Medano Beach is that there will be an endless precession of locals trying to sell you the same dozen or so different items (Jewelry, pots, sarongs, little parachute toys, fruit cups, sombreros, whistle neckalces and other useless crap) The good news is that each hotel has a cordoned off area of beach where all the chairs are that these people are not allowed to cross but they will just stand beyond the rope and try and get your attention. They are not obnoxious though and with a polite "no" nod they will be on their way.

Best Way To Get Around:

Getting to Cabo is by air only. All major airports in the southwest have direct flights. The flight from LA is only slightly over two hours so you are there in no time. When you book your hotel/package many of the hotels will offer roundtrip airport shuttle service for an additional fee. Do it. It is the cheapest it will be and that way on your return you just let your concierge know when you will be leaving and they will arrange for your pickup. Just make sure to let them know 24 hours in advance when you will be leaving. Driving to Cabo still is not a viable option as a large stretch of road on the Baja Peninsula still has never been paved. It will take you multiple days to get there from the Mexico border and be a hassle (and questionable on the safety front). Once in Cabo getting around by cab is really easy. The hotels will always have a number of them lined up waiting. Just negotiate the rate into town before you start or they will end up trying to charge you per person once you get there if you have a full cab.

This is truly a luxury hotel by all standards. I actually ended up staying at this hotel by mistake the first time I went to Cabo. Be careful if you are planning a trip to Cabo and someone tells you to stay at Pueblo Bonito because there are three properties in the Cabo area which I didn't realize until after I got there and found out I had made a reservation at a different hotel then my friends. The other two are Pueblo Bonito Rose and Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos both of which are located on Medano Beach on the Gulf side of the peninsula. The only problem for me with Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach was its location. It is located on the Pacific side of the peninsula which is considerably far removed from town and can be a hassle to get to. The hotel compensates for this by offering a free shuttle that runs two and from the other Pueblo Bonito properties from the AM until 10PM or midnight (can't remember which)The only problem with the shuttle is that it only runs hourly so if you spend the whole day in town and the beach and come home to change really quick it will already have left by the time you get back to the lobby and you'll be stranded for an hour. The shuttle ride itself also takes like 25 minutes each way which gives you a sense of just how far removed this place is. You literally have to go over and around a small mountain to get there.
The other issue with PB Sunset Beach is that because it is on the Pacific side you can NOT swim in the ocean. The waves are huge and the continental shelf drops off just a few feet offshore. There is a beautiful and very wide beach though. Just stay out of the water... The swimming pools provide a great alternative though. They are very large and have multiple bars.
Check in/out at this hotel is very easy and the staff is very courteous and friendly. They take you too and from your room on golf carts because everything on the property is built into a very very steep slope. Plan accordingly if you have reservations somewhere because you will need to call the front desk and have someone sent to pick you up which could take 5 or 10 minutes.
The rooms are spacious and very clean and well appointed. The bathrooms are large with huge stone showers. Each room has an amazing view. This hotel is truly top notch and is on par with any luxury hotel you would find in the states.
This place is great for families and couples....stay away from here if you are going on spring break and want to party and be where the action is. By no means a bad hotel just the wrong choice from a young group looking to have fun.

A bottom line great hotel. It is centrally located right in the heart of the action on the main beach and a few minute cab ride from all the main bars and restaurants. Perfect for young travelers on spring break looking for a luxury place to stay. The hotel is located right on Medano Beach and a short walk down the beach from The Office and all water activities available for hire. There were lots of older couples and families staying here as well both years when I was here. I would not particularly want to be in this hotel during March or April with young children or trying to enjoy a romantic getaway but plenty of people were doing it. Any other time of the year this hotel would be a great option for everyone!
Rates during spring break ran about $400-500 a night which is not a bad deal at all when you are splitting it with roommates. Check in is a breeze and each guest gets a towel card to be used at the pool, a charge card, and a room key. The staff is very friendly and accomodating. The safe in our room was broken and they gave us a complimentary safety deposit box in a little private room off the lobby. The SDBoxes require two keys to open and we kept one and the other remained in the box so we felt very safe leaving things there. The staff was always helpful despite us constantly bugging them to get in and out of it. They were always more then happy to help.
Be aware that as is common with hotels in Mexico you cannot sneak extra people into rooms. When you arrive at the hotel after going out at night each person has to show identification at the entry gate in order for you taxi to gain entrance. This can be an issue if you made a "new friend" out at the bars that you were planning on bringing back for the evening.
The pool and poolside service are great. There are two for one drink specials every afternoon. There are two bars at the pool and a bar on the beach. There are servers to bring you drinks and food as well as an ample supply of lounge chairs and complimentary covered cabanas. One interesting thing about the pool here is the "bottomless" jacuzzi. A couple of us spent like 20 minutes trying to measure it on one of the trips and figured that it is about 14 feet deep or so which is ironic because the pool itself has no deep end. There is also no bench so you literally have to hang onto the side with your arm. It's fun to watch people step in assuming there will be a bench to stand on and completely chunce it and sink to the bottom.
The food at the hotel is actually quite good and a full room service menu is available 24 hours. They have everything from Mexican dishes to pizza and ice cream and pastas available on the room service menu in addition to upscale restaurants and a nightly themed buffet.
The rooms are large and spacious with comfortable beds, bathrobes and good showers. Everything is very clean and your room will always be promptly cleaned while you are out at the beach during the day.
There is a gym at the hotel but they charge an additional fee for its use. There is also a store with snacks and souveneirs as well as a complimentary shuttle that goes to Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach (the Rose's sister hotel) on the pacific side of the peninsula if you want to go to a more secluded beach.

I wasn't officially staying here but have used all the facilities of this hotel multiple times and ended up spending the night here in friend's rooms a couple of times when I was staying at the other Pueblo Bonito's. The rates and level of service are comparable to the Pueblo Bonito Rose (see other review in this journal) The food and drinks offered are essentially the same at both. The towels are a differnent color and that's about the only differnce even though you can return them at either.
The rooms here offer more of a complete kitchen then those at Rose if I recall with dishes and utensils in at least some rooms and a small dining room table.
If you can afford it the presidential suite at this hotel it is awesome and definately worth the price. It is right on the front right corner of the hotel on the top floor. It has a very large balcony with a tile jacuzzi tub built right into the deck that was a great place to stumble into after a day of drinking at the beach. The tub and deck overlook the pool area and around dinner time you can watch the live dance performances from a bird's eye view. There is also a "jacuzzi room" upstairs that is literally a room with benches that is one huge jacuzzi. It sleeps a lot of people so it can definately be worth it to split with a bunch of friends.
The restaurant here serves quite good food at night. I'm paranoid about eating in Mexico and was fine eating here. I stuck to the basics "Spaghetti a la Lerry", traditional Mexican dishes etc and was generally fine.
Don't forget to return your towel at the end of the day at this or any of the other Pueblo Bonito hotels in order to get your towel card back or you will be charged $20 at checkout. Not entirely ethical but most people lose a towel around the pool at some point throughout your stay so if this happens I would just recommend snatching up someone elses. There are always wet soggy ones lying around the pool that people have forgotten.
There is a small liquor store in the lobby that is extremely overpriced. If you walk out the main driveway and turn left past the guardhouse you will find a much cheaper liquor store about 50 yards down the street on your right. There is also an ATM vestibule right by the guard gate if you need to get cash for anything.

El Squid Roe (Squid Roe) is what Cabo is all about. No other bar epitomizes the Cabo experience like this place. A restaurant by day and evening it turns into a crazy club at night that packs in thousands of people on two levels. The place is relatively narrow but hundreds of feet deep. Squid Roe gets extremely crowded during spring break months but that is part of the fun. Even at its busiest you never have to wait long in line because they place is so big. They keep things moving very efficiently. One of the benefits of Cabo over Cancun is that nothing is all inclusive so you aren't stuck going to one club, paying a huge entrance fee, and then being stuck there for the night. Nowhere has a cover and you can come and go as you please. Also, because nothing is all inclusive the drinks are exponentially better and have much more alcohol in them. It is also very easy to get a drink even when the place is packed. One of the trademarks of Squid Roe is the decor. They have humorous signs and other random objects such as giant sombreros handing everywhere. They have multiple staircases going between upstairs and downstairs throughout the club to keep traffic flowing. The back half of the bar has rows of bleacher style steps going up the side of the wall to dance on and there are plenty of tables to dance on downstairs. They play all American music that is great to dance to. The DJ's do a really good job.

There are at least a dozen satellite bars on both floors at night. Drinks are not incredibly expensive but given that their customers are almost exclusively Americans they know they can get away with charging 7 or 8 bucks for a Margarita. They also have your standard Mexican tourist bar yard stick margaritas which come in a souveneir cup that you get to keep if you can manage to hold on to it for the entire evening. (This place has really good margaritas by the way) There are girls walking around with jello and tequila shots that you can buy for a couple of dollars. If you get a shot they will do the classic whistle and head shake for you. There is a hot dog stand on the upper floor on the left side if you get hungry (sounds sketchy but I know a lot of people that have eaten them and no one ever got sick).

One of the most fun things about Squid Roe is "the cage". The legendary cage sits above the second floor in the back of the club next to the DJ booth. There is a little narrow staircase that you have to ascend to get to it. It looks like a big birdcage that hangs over the club. The walls are vertical bars and you can dance in it with a great view of both levels of the club below. It's worth pushing your way through the crowd to get up there.

This place can not be missed when going to Cabo. Haven't been there in two years and I'm starting to have withdrawals. It's awesome!! Have a margarita and tequila shot for me if you make it!