There’s no way to sugarcoat cold weather in Chicago – it is just terrible. It’s also not the most correct thing, I suppose, to complain about holidays of any sort, but the past two I went on were in Vancouver and Telluride, both very cold places. So when I got back to Chicago early January, my friend and I started looking into a weekend trip to somewhere warm. After several days of flight & hotel tracking, we found ourselves on a flight to Los Cabos – headed to Marquis Los Cabos!
Despite how often I travel and eat, I’m a bit of a homebody (ha). Is that a contradiction? I prefer to do something comfortable, take things easy. We chose Los Cabos because we were looking for a beautiful warm location that would be great for ~3 days, and avoid nightlife and crowds. Los Cabos is not one city, but rather two towns at the southern tip of Baja California.
From the airport, San Jose del Cabo is much closer (~20 min drive) – it’s a quieter town with many art galleries, restaurants, breweries, and access to a beach (no swim beach). It houses many popular hotel chains as well as boutique hotels, which range from all-inclusive to room only. Cabo San Lucas is the more “exciting” tourist town (~40 min drive) – with nightclubs on the harbor front, endless souvenir shops, and the most famous El Arco de Cabo San Lucas. Most of the water activities (whale-watching, boat tours, snorkeling) also leave from CSL. There is also a stretch of beachfront hotels between the two towns called the Golden Corridor.
Marquis Los Cabos (January 2017)
This is the first time I’ve ever spent time at an all-inclusive hotel by a beach. Unfortunately, I may have set my own first bar far too high.
The lobby of Marquis is impressive. A half dome arch open to the front and back, the guest walks up to a beautiful, simple blue background with minimalist furniture. Besides two statues on either side, it appears that the architecture is meant to highlight the natural colors of the sky. While it did get windy at night (it is winter after all), the weather was still incredibly comfortable for someone who lives in Chicago!
The awesome part of the hotel is that they don’t have “ocean view” and “street view” rooms – all the rooms face the ocean with a balcony, except the fancier rooms which were in villa spaces. We stayed in the most basic, and requested two double beds. When treated as an open-air, the room can be opened from the depths of the bathroom all the way to the balcony. While there’s always a room service option (24 hours and included), why would we waste the delightful weather on staying indoors?
With a variety of restaurants, we went 2 days without any repetition. Some are outdoors, some indoors. There are also attendants around the pool area who will take orders for snacks and drinks! The hotel has a variety of unheated and heated pools, and infinity pools. For fitness aficionados, Marquis also has a well-equipped gym.
Marquis Los Cabos is on the Golden Corridor alongside the Hilton, and some other hotels. Most of the beach (Marquis has direct access) is not for swimming, but there is a very long stretch of beach for horseback riding or walking. The concierge is also happy to help organize various tours (snorkeling, whale watching, etc).
The “practical things”
Getting there: Car rental, private taxi ($70USD), or shared shuttle ($15USD per person)
Reservations: We made our reservations through Hotel Tonight, because it was $200 less than Booking.com! (Feel free to use my referral code: FANYEH for $25 off your first booking!)
Things of note:
- All the rooms face the ocean with a balcony!
- All-inclusive (including room service)
- Adults-only
- Direct beach access
Facilities:
- Swimming pools (heated, non-heated, infinity)
- Fitness gym
- Full service spa
- Daily activities (yoga classes, sports, BBQs, etc)
- Six restaurants:
- Canto del Mar (French, Dinner only, requires additional $ and reservation)
- Sakke (Japanese, Dinner only, Teppanyaki seating requires reservation at front desk day of)
- Vista Ballenas (Mexican, Breakfast & Lunch & Dinner)
- Dos Mares (Seafood, Lunch 11am-5pm)
- Pergola (Italian, Dinner)
- Espresso Capuccino (cafe with pastries)
This is not a sponsored post.
