Push past the spring-break stereotypes and discover a calmer, more sophisticated Cabo San Lucas.
by Leah LeMoine | Photos courtesy Corazón Cabo Resort & Spa
When you’re a lifestyle journalist blessed with the work perk of traveling to fun destinations to write about them – “it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it” we say, all smirks and ironic eyebrows – people often inquire about your travel plans.
“What’s your next big trip?” a PR pro friend asks at a restaurant opening, eyes aglow with the glamorous possibilities.
I hesitate before replying, almost sheepishly, “Cabo.”
It’s certainly nothing to be ashamed of. Cabo San Lucas is a glamorous destination, a beautiful resort town on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. Along with neighboring city San José del Cabo, it makes up the tourism nexus of Los Cabos, which draws visitors from around the world for its beaches, water activities, outdoor adventures, nightlife, cultural events and bucket-list restaurants, including several newly recommended by the Michelin Guide (see sidebar). It’s where Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar got married. It’s where Justin and Hailey Bieber vacation. It’s where George Clooney and Cindy Crawford purportedly own neighboring properties.
But it’s also the home of Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Cantina. It’s where spring-breakers flock to get hammered and do wet T-shirt contests. It’s where boozy bachelorette parties laden with anatomical ephemera stumble around in a haze of tequila and bronzer. I can feel the bass and hear the oontz oontz oontz of club music already, and Grandma Leah wants no part in it.
“No, it’s really nice there,” my friend replies, trying to assuage my concerns. “Not all of the resorts are like that. Some are for grown-ups.”
A few weeks later, itinerary in hand for a press trip titled “Cabo à la Connoisseur,” I’m inclined to believe her. We’ll be doing aqua yoga! And a walking food tour! And a mocktail class! If all goes well, I’ll make it through my first visit to Cabo without taking shots or showing everyone my business.
DÍA UNO
I break that resolution within hours of arriving at Corazón Cabo Resort & Spa (corazoncabo.com), a decidedly adult getaway that opened in 2022 on the shores of Médano Beach. Well, the shots part, anyway. But instead of glugging bargain tequila at a tacky tourist trap, I’m sipping several expressions of Herradura and discussing the distinction between sotol and raicilla in an agave education class at Rooftop 360, the resort’s open-air bar and restaurant. (Sotol is distilled from the desert spoon plant and can have a variety of tasting notes based on terroir, from cocoa to eucalyptus to pepper, while raicilla is made from agave and has a sweeter, fruitier character.)
My travel companions and I are seated by an infinity pool with a transparent glass wall that affords jaw-dropping views of the Sea of Cortez. I have never seen such a stunning golden hour, and as the sun sets, patrons from every table pop up and pose for photos with a breathtaking 360-degree backdrop of sea, mountains and city. As an Arizona girl, I’m pretty cynical about claims of beautiful sunsets. Have you seen ours? I smugly think to myself. But this one blows even me away. And it’s not just the añejo talking.
DÍA DOS
The next morning, we’re back at the infinity pool, but we’ve swapped chips and guac for swimsuits and floating mats in a sunrise aqua yoga session. Our experience levels are all over the place, but we all try our best, and our instructor meets us where we are. The lilting water and the sound of the ocean below us soothe my Piscean soul. Who cares that I can’t do a proper tree pose atop a bobbing mat? Modified is just fine.
After breakfast at the resort’s beachfront restaurant Aleta (chilaquiles for me – half rojo, half verde – and surprisingly delicious pain au chocolat), we return to Rooftop 360 for a mocktail class. After a demo by the mixology team, we each take turns “behind the stick” shaking and stirring up our own concoctions and christening them with fun names. My non-alcoholic tipple features grapefruit, pineapple and lime juices with a little agave syrup, topped with soda water. It feels as light and refreshing as the sea breeze the bartenders say the city is known for, so I garnish it with a pineapple wedge and a lime wheel and call it the Cabo Breeze.
Unlike some of its neighbors along Médano Beach – populated with all-inclusive resorts geared toward the partying crowd – Corazón has a private swath of sand down by the water, roped off from the masses. As we lounge on reserved daybeds, I see people ordering cocktails from Corazón Beach Club, but nobody is getting crazy. Most are simply sunning or, like me, reading. There’s nothing that screams, “Old soul!” like catching up on your book club’s latest selection on the beach while drinking a Spa-Colada, a lighter take on a piña colada made with coconut water. My kind of party.
A few hours later, sun-kissed and hungry in the way only being by the water all day can make you, we head out for the part of the trip I’ve been most anticipating: the Eat Like a Local Tour. Resort restaurants and fine dining are fab, but it’s nice to venture beyond them and eat amongst the people who actually live in a city. That’s why American expat Robin Couch founded AvoCabo Food Tours (avocabofoodtours.com) – to get visitors out of the resort-saturated tourist zone to see what it’s like to live and eat in the residential/downtown area.
Our first stop is seafood haunt Mariscos Las Tres Islas, where we’re welcomed with citrusy ceviche tostadas and a seafood platter showcasing the local catches. Couch explains that seafood has historically been a breakfast or lunch meal in Cabo, since it was caught in the morning and needed to be consumed quickly for freshness. Interesante, I think as I sip my gigantic mango margarita, which Couch’s right-hand man Sylvano helpfully pours into a to-go cup for me. We’re working with Las Vegas and New Orleans rules here with alcohol, it seems.
Our second stop is El Burro Loco for some of the best mole I have had in my life – and I’m a mole-holic. A tender chicken thigh is bathed in the dizzyingly complex sauce, and I scoop the lot into fresh, steaming-hot flour tortillas. Paired with a glass of jamaica, it’s paradise. I’m glad I gorged on ceviche and mole because the signature al pastor tacos at our next stop, Taqueria el Paisa, are too spicy for my gringa tongue. I soldier on for a few bites because the succulent meat, freshly carved from the trompo, is so tasty, but ultimately the heat forces me to tap out.
I can’t stand the policing of “authenticity” in the food world, but even I have to admit our next stop is muy auténtico: tamales from a street vendor. Street food culture is deeply rooted in the psyches and stomachs of the Mexican people, and this rich tradition yields some of the best food you can find south of the border. My green chile chicken tamale is plush with moist, flavorful masa and juicy with stewed chicken and earthy chiles. It’s the best meal I’ve eaten out of a plastic bag.
We end the night with dessert from another street cart – hot, fresh and crisp churros rellenos, churros filled with sauces including chocolate, strawberry and cajeta (caramel made with goat milk). I choose chocolate, which provides pleasantly bittersweet contrast to the sugared exterior of the fried dough. Sylvano offers us moist towelettes to clean our sticky hands, capping an evening of heartwarming Mexican hospitality with a final sweet gesture.
DÍA TRES
We’re back on the water this morning, zipping away from the marina in a luxury pontoon boat with Rancho Tours (ranchotours.com). It’s captained by our tour guide, Alejandro, whom I’m surprised to find wearing an Arizona State University hat. “Hey, I like your hat,” I say. “I’m from Arizona. I went to ASU.” He lights up. “My brother lives there! I visit him as much as I can. It’s just too hot.”
Alejandro takes us on a leisurely tour of the very tip of the peninsula, with stops at Land’s End, Playa del Amor (Lover’s Beach, where we hop out for photos with the rocky cliffs and flan-colored sand) and the natural archway El Arco, perhaps the most-photographed site in Los Cabos. It’s a lovely start to our last full day here.
We continue the sea-themed fun with a ceviche class back at Corazón. Executive chef Eric De Maeyer – a Belgian who’s worked throughout Europe and Mexico and regales us with stories of his humorous linguistic learning curves in kitchens around the globe – shows us how to make three different kinds of ceviche before turning us loose to make our own. Mine is soupier than I’d like (too much lime juice), but the flavors are there. I leave inspired to try this at home.
Panzas full of ceviche, chips and margaritas, we decamp to the resort’s Sparitual for chakra-cleansing massages. The word “ritual” is used a lot in wellness circles, usually erroneously. But here the massage really does start with a ritual, with the therapist asking what I want to let go and what I want to attract before smudging me with copal, a resin that is sacred in Mexican and Indigenous cultures. I recently wrote a piece on curanderismo (Mexican folk healing), and I feel like I am experiencing it in real time through this treatment. How magical, and deeply nurturing.
We’re still blissed out during our farewell dinner at Aleta, with a seemingly never-ending parade of Mexican and Japanese dishes – tuna with crispy rice, nigiri, sushi rolls, Yucatán pork empanadas, lobster enchiladas, ribeye, cheesecake. Some of the gals do rounds of tequila shots, trying to keep the revelry going as long as possible before we depart in the morning. They offer me one, but I demur.
“You kids have fun,” I say, sipping my third limonada mineral. The sparkling lemon-limeade is fun and fizzy without giving me a headache – just like this grown-up tour of Cabo has turned out to be.
Michelin in Cabo
The vaunted Michelin Guide made it to Los Cabos for the first time this year, rating 11 restaurantes worthy of recommendation (a serious honor, but not the formal award of a star – only Cocina de Autor Los Cabos earned a star). We’re making reservations at these three next time.
Comal
This open-air, oceanfront eatery at Chileno Bay Resort & Residences offers modern twists on Mexican classics, like short ribs with mole, striped bass aguachile with passionfruit, and smoked tuna tostadas with citrus-marinated tomatoes. aubergeresorts.com/chilenobay/dine/comal
Arbol
Baja California ingredients shine in South Asian preparations like Punjabi fish masala and charcoal-grilled Mexican lobster with saffron-yuzu Béarnaise, served atop Arbol’s signature sunken dining tables. Located in Las Ventanas al Paraíso resort. rosewoodhotels.com/en/las-ventanas-los-cabos/dining/arbol
Nao Cocina Mediterránea
Local ingredients also star at Nao, in Mediterranean applications like grilled carrots with turmeric, ginger and mint sprouts, and fish carpaccio with fermented olive tapenade and preserved lime. Everything is made in-house, from bread to gelato. naocabo.com
