Spend Your Spring Break in Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas has never been more popular. It didn’t take MTV’s Laguna Beach filming a vacation there to spice it up – it’s been a hot vacation spot for people on the West Coast for years. Now more than ever, Cabo is being looked to as a home away from home, a vacation destination where most of the locals speak English, dollars are welcome – a place that has an exotic feel yet is close enough to jet down on a whim.
What makes Cabo special? It’s temperate year round climate, which allows for endless outdoor and ocean activities, the friendliness of the local people, the excellent food and shopping – it’s really a one stop vacation for all ages and activity levels.
Cabo is set in Mountain Time (for Americans) and is located at the end of the Baja Peninsula. The entire area is considered to be the Cabo area, with two towns at opposite ends of the coast. The first, San Jose Del Cabo, is a rustic Mexican community with restaurants and shopping but very little nightlife. The second town is Cabo San Lucas (the town most people think of when they think “Cabo!”) which also has restaurants, shopping, and a lot of nightlife activities. Between these two towns, for a length of about 40 kilometers, is the Corridor area, along which there are many fine resorts, hotels, and homes.
Which destination is right for you? It depends on what you want out of your Spring Break. If you’re a family with very small children and you’re looking for convenience, you might want to consider one of the all-inclusive resorts in the area. These include the Royal Solaris, the Dreams , the Melia Cabo Real , and the Riu Palace. If you’ve got teenagers, or you are a teenager/college-aged person, you definitely want to be nearer town, to participate in all of the activities/nightlife that’s available.
First off – how to get there. Cabo San Lucas’s airport is Los Cabos International Airport, airport code SJD. You’ll need a birth certificate and a valid ID, or a passport and a valid ID. You won’t be required to have a passport until Dec 31, 2006. Once you land, you’ll need to go through customs. You’ll either need to rent a car or take a cab, and this largely depends on where your resort is located and your activities planned. Will you need to go to golf courses or the marina for a fishing charter? Will you be staying for seven days and be ready to leave the environs of your resort to explore – or will you just be getting a three day breather on the beach?
If you choose to cab, a cab is about $60.00 from the airport to Cabo San Lucas. Inside town, a cab to and from downtown and the resorts (if you’ve been shopping, eating too much, or drinking) is about $5.00. Car rentals are reasonable, and all prices depend on your length of stay and size of car needed. Get the insurance when they offer it to you at the desk. While the roads in Cabo are well paved, you never know!
If you are parents lucky enough to have sent the kids to grandma’s for the week, look to Pueblo Bonito Pacifica – it’s an adults only hotel on the Pacific Ocean. It’s got a great Zen design inside, and is sure to be off the Spring Break party route. Another option is to rent a private Villa in the Pedregal area – it’s an exclusive gated community right outside of town, with homes of every size and price range. You can be guaranteed privacy, and in most cases will have your own pool.
For families, all inclusives will have more supervised activities for children. These typically include guided play, and time to play with other children and available toys. In addition to the all inclusive options given above, I recommend the Villa del Palmar . They’ve got an excellent kids club which will entertain children from ages 4-12 for hours every day doing guided activities such as piÃ?±ata making, miniature golf, and disco-nights. They’re also located right on the main swimming beach in Cabo, Playa El Medano. Their more luxurious sister property Villa la Estancia is a bit more pricey, but people staying there have access to all of the amenities at Villa del Palmar (including the kid’s club) while staying at a six star resort.
Worth a special mention is the Royal Solaris, which recently installed a miniature water park, complete with a Very Important Kids program, with visits from Spongebob Squarepants and Winne the Pooh.
For families with teens, you’ll probably want to be nearer Cabo San Lucas. In town, there’s a variety of activities that you can schedule through your travel agent or with the concierge at your hotel. There are several golf courses in the area. The nicest is Cabo del Sol, designed by Jack Nicklaus, located in the corridor area, and one of the most economical is the Raven , right outside of town. Fishing charters on boats of all sizes leave from the Marina all day long. These begin at $100-200.00 for a shared boat up to $1000.00 for a large boat private outing. You can rent ATVs to take tours through the desert regions, take horseback rides on the beach, go shopping for silver and souvenirs in the downtown area. You can rent jet-skis to race around the beach, rent gear to go snorkeling in the amazingly clear water, or go on guided scuba dives if you’re certified.
And – you can eat! You should try to sample some of the wonderful Mexican cuisine available all throughout the Cabo area. There are everything from cheap taco stands to amazing steak and lobster dinners. I recommend Lorenzillo’s Live Lobster House, La Casa Country, and the Trailer Park.
And last, but not least, older teens and college spring breakers – there are several resorts in the area that help cater to your needs. (And by needs, I mean pool bars.) The Melia San Lucas is most popular with Spring Breakers this year. It’s a great hotel that understands that you want to be out and about having fun and meeting others in your age group, and it facilitates that with its Nikki Beach Club. It’s a short walk to downtown Cabo San Lucas from it, and it is conveniently located on the main swimming beach for intramural activities. If you want to stack yourselves into a room like cord-wood, you can do it at Hotel Solmar, which is a ten minute walk from downtown, but has very competitive prices, and a view of the Pacific Ocean that can’t be beat. Also good is the Marina Fiesta – it’s located right on the Marina, so a very short walk to downtown, and only a block from the main beach. Another economical option is the Bahia Condos. It’s two blocks off the main swimming beach, just a hop into downtown, and it’s roughly equivalent to a very nice Motel 6 or Super 8 in the states.
Once you’re in town, you can experience all the nightlife Cabo has to offer at several popular bars. There’s Cabo Wabo, Sammy Hagar’s bar, the Giggling Marlin, the Nowhere Bar, Squid Roe, and many many more. Drink prices are akin to those in the , so if you really intend to drink your weight in tequila, you might want to stay at an all-inclusive hotel so your alcohol will be covered.
The best place for cheap prices isn’t always Expedia.com or Hotels.com – many times travel agents and travel wholesalers can offer fourth or seventh night free deals that larger chains can’t. I recommend doing a lot of comparison shopping online, and don’t be afraid to call in to hotels or other points of sale for more information.
I haven’t touched on all the hotel and resort possibilities here – I only have so much time and finger-strength! – but I hope I’ve given you a reason to go, and a good start for planning this Spring Break and future trips to Cabo! Have a great trip!
