Most people start the New Year off with eating healthy, working out more, quitting smoking…The Rex’s decided to take a vacation! We went to Cabo for 10 days this January. It was the first time for both of us and the decision for Cabo was really based on it recently being a milestone birthday for me and I had seen a beautiful ad for it in a travel magazine. We stayed at the beautiful Casa Dorada Resort and Spa right on Medano beach in Cabo San Lucas. It was walking distance to the Marina and plenty of great places to eat, including The Office which I’ve found is on a lot of people’s list. The resort was fantastic! Several pools, a hot tub, several places to eat, often live music at nights. We booked through VRBO and were able to get someone’s timeshare. The room we got was a One Bedroom with a kitchenette and the bedroom separate from the rest of the room (not the Jr. Suite, but then not the One Bedroom Suite either – like a cross between the two). Very comfortable for the two of us. One thing to note is Mexican WiFi is pretty horrible (we were hoping to do some work while we were there).  We only had 7 days at Casa Dorada – we spent the last two nights at the Cabo Villas hotel – this place I do not recommend. They are in the middle of renovations so we heard a lot of construction and they put us in the most outdated room, very unpleasant!

Excursions

One of my favorite excursions was the Whale Watch Cabo – we saw five whales! They had a professional photographer (and shared the photos they took) and marine biologist and they were so knowledgeable!  It was truly a fantastic experience.

Dining in Cabo

The food was incredible! No joke, some of the most amazing seafood I’ve ever eaten in my life! Octopus, shrimp, lobster, fish – every time we got seafood it was so fresh you know it was caught just hours earlier. Here are some of my favorites! I’m not going to lie…we did stray from our low-carb eating plan on the vacation. I’m paying for it now, though!

Maydan (one of the many restaurants at Casa Dorada) – I have to say these are be best tacos I’ve ever eaten – and I live in Austin, TX! The waiter recommended we get these seafood tacos in the unlisted ‘garlic butter’ preparation, which we did and it was out of this world! The seafood was beautifully tender and the way they serve it is just the meat in the tortilla then you add the toppings you prefer – salsas, crema, pico, onions, guac, etc. Such a great way to customize tacos. This place was so great we came back the next day! Note, they also serve these for lunch at the other restaurant 12 Tribes, but it was a bit more expensive (I’m assuming they are the same).

Tacos Gardinas – Campechana…ever had it? If not you are MISSING OUT! It’s pretty much a chunky seafood cocktail – loads of octopus, shrimp and scallops mixed with lime juice, tomatoes, onions. They serve it with chips and crackers and there were also a variety of salsas and toppings to add as well.

Read Danielle D.‘s review of Tacos Gardenias on Yelp

Roasted Grill and Bar – This was one of my favorite nicer restaurants we visited. We were out early-ish for dinner (5:30pm) without reservations – we were already laughed at by a different, very popular restaurant so we walked over to Roasted. At first we were told they were all booked up, but there wasn’t anyone there except at the bar. We sat at the front to find another place and were in luck when a very nice waiter came out and said we could stay if we were done by 7:30 for a prior reservation. No problemo! We started with the Melted Cheese – which was becoming one of our new favorite Cabo dishes, then for dinner had the surf and turf. He even changed the turf to the special of the night – lamb when we couldn’t decide between the two. The food was incredible – four lamb chops, a lobster tail and shrimp with veggies and mashed potatoes! Plenty (if not too much) for the two of us – we really should have taken some to go! Our waiter also treated us to desert! Everything was so romantic – I highly recommend!

La Pintada – We were craving some good beer so we looked up where we might find some and this place pulled up. We had actually passed it on our way to the marina and were already interested in it, by looks alone. We went there for dinner on a Wednesday (2 for 1 of their craft beers) and wow we were impressed. They brought a lot of little complimentary treats, like a herb nut bread with a pesto oil and a mole tostada, not to mention the most adorable little dessert for after our meal. Also, they showed us the fresh selections of fish that were caught that day. We chose the seafood sampler – ½ an octopus, a filet of the fresh fish and some shrimp. These were cooked PERFECTLY and had the most amazing seasonings. My only regret is we didn’t have time to go back!

Read Danielle D.‘s review of La Pintada on Yelp

Day trips

Thanks to the rental car we went on a few day trips! We visited two beaches that were very private – those the locals use called Chilean Beach and Santa Maria Beach. Both were beautiful and semi-private…they won’t be this way for long. There was already some construction underway with new condo’s and hotels about to come up.

Another great adventure was driving up the coast to Todos Santos. This was the cutest little artsy town, home of the famous Hotel California (best margarita’s I’ve ever had) and lots of small artisan shops and galleries.

Overall we had a fantastic trip! My one regret was those last two nights – I wish I had changed our plans to stay in San Jose del Cabo instead. Oh well, something left for the next trip!

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