Westin Los cabos - first timer

[David Yuan]

Hi all, we will be going to Westin Los Cabos at the end of June...wonder if you guys have any info on:

1. grocery, any store near by?
2. is it even worth it to cook on your own, or should we just eat at / around the resort?
3. any beach near by that's ok to swim in?
4. how's the water temp vs the carribean side? seems a bit cooler at around 78-80ish?
5. any other hints / tips would be awesome!

thanks!

 

[iowaguy09]

We were there in October 2020 so a lot of Covid restrictions were still in place, but here are our answers to your questions:

1. There is no major shopping close to the resort, so you need a taxi or Uber to get there. We shopped in San Jose del Cabo at the Chedraui Selecto Mendoza supermarket. It was a very nice grocery store with a merchandise section also. We used Uber to get there and back.

2. We thought it was worth cooking several meals, especially our breakfast. They have grills onsite, but not the most convenient location relative to the rooms (a bit of a hike). If more restaurant options at the resort are open now, I think a mix of cook in and eat out is ideal. Plenty of good restaurants around, but you need to do taxi or Uber if going off resort.

3. The beaches at the resort are nice, but definitely not for swimming. There are better beaches closer to Cabo San Lucas, but again taxi or Uber required. However, we did not seek out any other beaches beyond the resort.

4. Cannot answer this.

5. The resort is definitely somewhat isolated, but we found that to be a real plus for a laid back, relaxing escape (we were in the Baja Point villas). Assuming the on-site restaurants and amenities are back to normal, you could be content to stay onsite for most of the time. But a day trip to San Jose del Cabo (artsy, and more laid back) or Cabo San Lucas (party town) is recommended. We also took a day trip catamaran excursion to Isla Lobos from LaPaz to snorkel at the seal colony. Quite a unique experience, but a very long day (shuttle ride from resort to Cabo San Lucas then to LaPaz and back). Bucket list trip is to return but during the peak of whale season.

 

[geist1223]

We almost always get a rental car in Cabo. We have not stayed at the Westin but we have stayed at the Club Regina that is next to the Westin and shares the long driveway from the Hwy. You are far from everything. So unless you plan on staying at the Resort most of time you will using a lot of Taxis. All activities (snorkeling trips, swim with the dolphins, etc) will pick you up at the Resort and take you back to the Resort.

 

[Troyrissa]

I was there in April. All restaurants should now be open but possibly still reduced capacity. The main grill restaurant at the resort has decent food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No breakfast buffet when I was there but you could get room service or go down to the restaurant and order omelets, pancakes etc. There is no store near the resort and the market store at the resort is extremely limited. Compared to Westin Lagunamar which has a lot more that you can purchase to cook with. But I found the resort restaurant food to be very good. The fancy restaurant is Cocina Cosera up at Baja Point. We had one dinner there it was very good. Otherwise, I recommend going to San Jose del Cabo, especially on Thursdays for art walk. Very nice shops, galleries and a lot of great restaurants. Also, please use Uber instead of taxis. You have to walk down to the entrance gate to catch the Uber but they come very quickly and much cheaper than taxis.

 

[Troyrissa]

Sorry, Cocina Casera is the main restaurant. El Ciruelo is the fancy restaurant at Baja Point.

 

[David Yuan]

Awesome, thanks guys for all the info! We've only been to Lagunamar and remember eating out was super easy, I guess this will be a little different...

 

[grrrah]

1. grocery, any store near by?
El Merkado is an excellent grocery store and is very close driving/taxi, but maybe on the border of too much to walk/cross the highway.

2. is it even worth it to cook on your own, or should we just eat at / around the resort?
Yes. We generally try to cook 1 meal a day

3. any beach near by that's ok to swim in?
No

4. how's the water temp vs the carribean side? seems a bit cooler at around 78-80ish? Can't say.
5. any other hints / tips would be awesome! get a car, have fun!

 

[buzglyd]

I would say renting a car might be the best tip. You’re fairly isolated in that location and being able to easily drive to a grocery or restaurant will be a bonus. It is very easy to drive in the Los Cabo’s area as it is basically one road Up and down the corridor.

 

[CVBCHART]

Just returned from Westin Los Cabo last week. It’s hot! Seven of us went and stayed in a 3 Bedroom Lockoff. Here are my thougths:

1. Freskos is a full supermarket 1-2 miles up the road toward San Jose. You definitely need to take a taxi or Uber if you don’t rent a car. The taxi’s charge basically by the person, and not by distance. (Distance can come into play, but the majority of the price was in number of people.). So 4 people going 2 miles will cost you about $40-$50. Uber is much better, but I did get a fair number of cancellations. You can rent a car on site for approx $75/day.

2. I don’t like to pay a lot for breakfast, so I got breakfast stuff and a bag of coffee at Freskos. There is a Starbucks in the little market at the Westin and Westin supplies a little bit of coffee in the rooms. But if you’re a coffee drinker and you have more than a couple of people, it’s worth it to get a bag.

3. No. The pools are nice.

4. Can’t answer

5. Misc Tips: If you go to the marina area in Cabo, the street vendors and singing groups are relentless.
They have COVID tests to return to the US onsite at the Westin. You need to make a reservation. They are about US$28/per person. You can also get tested at many other places (outside Freskos, at the airport, etc).
Eat before you go to the airport to return, if you can. I’ve never seen anything like the prices there.
For restaurants, we liked El Ciruelo at the Westin a lot.
Arrange your transit from the airport to the Westin ahead of time. You will be tired and hot and will take the first thing you can get if you don’t. We got taken advantage of - 5 people paid $100 to take the taxi service.

 

[dandjane1]

We haven't been to (San Jose del) Cabo in 2-1/2 years, but SJdC is a lot more laid back than Cabo San Lucas .
Not familiar with the Westin location, but if you shop in San Jose, definitely go to La Comer (The Commercial) Hyper Market.
Extremely good prices, especially on adult beverages, onsite bakery, and for 12 pesos (about 50 cents), ride the rattletrap local transport!
It's an experience, folks are friendly, it's cheap and very convenient. Don't know if CSL has this system.

 

[Rubyredboots]

Hi all, we will be going to Westin Los Cabos at the end of June...wonder if you guys have any info on:

1. grocery, any store near by?
2. is it even worth it to cook on your own, or should we just eat at / around the resort?
3. any beach near by that's ok to swim in?
4. how's the water temp vs the carribean side? seems a bit cooler at around 78-80ish?
5. any other hints / tips would be awesome!

thanks!

As others have replied, there is a grocery store - taxi or Uber. We did not rent a car while there and chose to do some cooking, some resort restaurant and then San Jose del Cabo restaurant during their Thursday Night market.

Suggestion for a unique outing -- Flora Farms - for a cooking class and tour of organic farm. Best experience of our trip - location where Adam Levine got married. Also has a restaurant. We Ubered it there and back. San Jose del Cabo less touristy.

Took a snorkelling excursion from Cabo san Lucas where you swim with the sea lions .... excellent as well.

Resort is nice and relaxing .. so you choose your level of activity. Entertainment and food on Mexican night is wonderful too.

 

[youknowthenight]

Definitely get a car. The Westin is isolated. Even if you don't want to drive everywhere yourself, the cost of a car would likely be no more than the cost of transportation to/from the airport and one extra taxi ride. We took a taxi that was like a five minute ride and it was like $20

 

[grrrah]

I’ll second Flora Farms!

 

[melissy123]

We haven't been to (San Jose del) Cabo in 2-1/2 years, but SJdC is a lot more laid back than Cabo San Lucas .
Not familiar with the Westin location, but if you shop in San Jose, definitely go to La Comer (The Commercial) Hyper Market.
Extremely good prices, especially on adult beverages, onsite bakery, and for 12 pesos (about 50 cents), ride the rattletrap local transport!
It's an experience, folks are friendly, it's cheap and very convenient. Don't know if CSL has this system.

We got the best lunch from La Comer one day: fresh ceviche from their ceviche seafood cart (about 8 different choices). Freshly fried tortilla chips that had been dusted with salt, lime, and spices. Yum…

 

[buzglyd]

We got the best lunch from La Comer one day: fresh ceviche from their ceviche seafood cart (about 8 different choices). Freshly fried tortilla chips that had been dusted with salt, lime, and spices. Yum…

There is a restaurant right behind La Comer called Lateral that is excellent. It’s open air so you’ll have to deal with flies but they usually point a fan at you to blow them away. The food is fantastic. Inexpensive as well. The Italian place across from Cabo Azul was pretty good too.

 

[daviator]

1. Freskos is a full supermarket 1-2 miles up the road toward San Jose. You definitely need to take a taxi or Uber if you don’t rent a car. The taxi’s charge basically by the person, and not by distance. (Distance can come into play, but the majority of the price was in number of people.). So 4 people going 2 miles will cost you about $40-$50. Uber is much better, but I did get a fair number of cancellations. You can rent a car on site for approx $75/day.

I hope you mean 40-50 MXP for the taxi and not $40-50 U.S.!

 

[David Yuan]

thanks for all the great info guys, I think we will get a rental car once we get to the resort...
Also booked a brunch at the flora farm already, can't wait to go!

 

[iowaguy09]

I hope you mean 40-50 MXP for the taxi and not $40-50 U.S.!

In Oct 2020 for Ubers we paid $19-26 one way (depending on time of day) for trips into Cabo San Lucas. $2.25-3.00 one way for trips into San Jose del Cabo.

 

[Bunk]

Santa Maria Cove and Chileno Bay are two nice beaches on the corridor that are a short car ride from the Westin. Snorkeling is good at Santa Maria

 

[Pipercub925]

We were there last November and loved it. We rented a car, and definitely recommend renting one. We had brunch at Flora Farms and really enjoyed it, but my absolute favorite place we ate was The Green Room in Todos Santos. Somewhat of an adventure to get there, long dirt road, but loved everything about it. When I think of a simple, low key, quiet place to dine on the beach with a beautiful sunset, this is the place! And the food was amazing! Just be sure to have the Westin concierge make a reservation, and be sure and plan it out and draw yourself a map, or screen shot one. We didn’t have any service, so it was quite the adventure finding it, but very well worth it! The shrimp Rosarito Beach Rolls were the best I’ve ever had! Enjoy your vacation!

 

[dsmrp]

We were there last November and loved it. We rented a car, and definitely recommend renting one. We had brunch at Flora Farms and really enjoyed it, but my absolute favorite place we ate was The Green Room in Todos Santos. Somewhat of an adventure to get there, long dirt road, but loved everything about it. When I think of a simple, low key, quiet place to dine on the beach with a beautiful sunset, this is the place! And the food was amazing! Just be sure to have the Westin concierge make a reservation, and be sure and plan it out and draw yourself a map, or screen shot one. We didn’t have any service, so it was quite the adventure finding it, but very well worth it! The shrimp Rosarito Beach Rolls were the best I’ve ever had! Enjoy your vacation!

We drove to Todos Santos too, liked it. A tourist shopping town, but fun. Like you we went off the main drag to find the "turtle farm" that was on Google maps, thinking it was like the hatchery on Isla Mujeres off of Cancun. Turned out the farm was a staked out section of a long section of beach bordered by beach homes. This was a little south of your Green Room eatery. There was a low dip in the road with lots of sand, and for a moment I thought we might get stuck. We had no idea there were any eating places in that area. Will keep in mind if we ever go back!

 

[David Yuan]

Are there any cabanas at the pool and do we need to book them (or first come first serve)?
thanks!

 

[David Yuan]

Ok, just got here, this place is beautiful...the pools are awesome, thou it feels like a workout going back and forth between places : )
At WLR, they have a owner's discount card for 20% off within the resort, is there similar thing at Westin Los Cabos? the Concierge didn't mention it when I went to see her...

If I want to buy into this place, any idea how?
I didn't see any ads for resale on redweek nor tug2...

thanks!

 

[Kellybwiney]

Hi all, we will be going to Westin Los Cabos at the end of June...wonder if you guys have any info on:

1. grocery, any store near by?
2. is it even worth it to cook on your own, or should we just eat at / around the resort?
3. any beach near by that's ok to swim in?
4. how's the water temp vs the carribean side? seems a bit cooler at around 78-80ish?
5. any other hints / tips would be awesome!

thanks!

I can comment on the beach. Rent a car and drive out to Cerritos. It is the closest swimmable beach and is beautiful! Also, Todos Santos has nice beaches and is a small artsy town that is such a treat!

 

[Veritoalsol]

Out of curiosity - do you rent a car upon arrival at the airport or can that be done once at the resort? We have plans to go there in May for the first time. Thanks!