Every year my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law and I go on a mother-daughter trip. This is something that Matt’s mom and sister started when his sister was in college. My mother-in-law’s intention was always to include the women that her two sons married as well. Matt and I got married 6 weeks after his brother got married, so his wife and I joined the mother daughter trips at the same time, 7 years ago. It’s such an amazing time for all of us to connect as women, wives and now as mothers. For the first 6 trips one of us (or two of us) were pregnant or nursing. Their have been 5 children added over the past 6 years! We have done quick weekends close to home and have also spent time exploring some amazing big cities.
Since this was the first year that no one was pregnant or nursing and the kids are getting older we decided to go all out and do a full week away in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico! And after all the havoc that 2020 has caused, we definitely could use the time away just relaxing.
My in-laws have an amazing time share program they have had for years, so we were able to take advantage of it and they were gracious enough to share it with us for our trip. We stayed at the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach resort and upgraded to the all-inclusive package, so that we could just relax at the resort the entire week.
Where We Stayed
The resort is simply BREATH TAKING, it looks like it could be from a postcard or in a movie. It is built up the side of a mountain about an hour away from the Los Cabos International Airport. Since there were 4 of us, we shared a 2-bedroom suite. It had a full size living room, kitchen, large table for eating, king master with a full bathroom and a guest room with two queens and a full bath. I believe the sofa was a sleeper as well, so you could technically sleep 8 adults, although I think it would be a bit tight. The balcony was huge, with plenty of space to lounge, eat or just hang out. The only downside of our room was that the balcony got full sun from about 3:30-6:00 every afternoon so we couldn’t enjoy the balcony in the afternoons.
The resort itself is huge and family friendly. They use golf carts to move you around the entire resort as it is very hilly and can be hard to walk from one end to the other, especially if you’ve had a day full of cocktails at the pool! There are specific golf cart stops where you can get a ride, we never had to wait too long to get a ride where we needed to go.
What We Ate
From what I can tell Sunset Beach is the biggest resort in the Pueblo Bonito family and those staying at the other Pueblo Bonita resorts can come to Sunset Beach to eat. The Market is the drop point for the shuttles from other resorts and is like a high end food court with tons of options. There is a coffee shop, Italian restaurant, a greens and juice bar, Mexican restaurant, a deli, a gelato bar and even a 50s diner! We could’ve eaten here everyday and not run out of options.
We had dinner our first night at Tazuna, which is an outdoor sushi restaurant. The sushi was great and the views are even better! We had lunch and breakfast a few times at The Bistro, which was delicious and had tons of food options. Our only disappointment at this restaurant was the oatmeal, it was made with milk (which I am not personally a fan of) and was served more like warm cereal rather than the thick and creamy oatmeal we were anticipating. We had dinner twice at Zao Shen Asian Kitchen and it is basically the little sister to PF Changs. The menu was almost identical to that of PF Changs with different names to the dishes. It was so good we went back a second night. We had breakfast at La Nao multiple times as well. They do a full breakfast buffet with just about anything you could imagine. Due to COVID, they have a gloved and masked employee at every station of the buffet to serve the food. From the omelet station to the sweets, chilaquiles to meats and cheese, you cannot go hungry here. Somehow, it’s bigger and better on Sundays. We also did room service a few times and it was just okay. We really wanted pizza, but it was not on the room service menu and we couldn’t get the restaurants to give us a to-go order. The food on the room service menu was included in our package, but there was a $5 delivery fee. Some of the restaurants do require reservations and have a dress code. The dress code was very simple, basically just that you couldn’t come in your swimsuit and cover up. We also didn’t have any issues getting reservations, we booked these the day before we wanted to go.
My only disappointment about the resort overall were the drinks. The house wines were not good and any of the nicer wines come at an additional charge. I would not consider myself a wine snob, but I couldn’t drink the wine at all. All of the mixed and frozen drinks we got seemed much sweeter than normal to us. My suggestion would be to order a drink mixed with a canned soda or a beer, we seemed to have the best luck with those. And mimosas, cannot go wrong with a mimosa!
Give Me All the Pools
The resort has five amazing pools to choose from. Four out of the five are full service with food and drinks. One is adult only and the sky pool is at the very top of the mountain with the most incredible views of the ocean and surrounding areas (it is a must see)! Several of the pools have a swim up bar, so you can sit on your barstool in the pool while enjoying cocktails! We ended up renting a cabana by the pool and on the beach the last three days we were there. Finding four chairs together with any type of shade was almost impossible if you weren’t at the pool first thing in the morning. However, you can rent cabanas. The price of the cabana is dependent on the package you purchased from the resort for your stay. We thought the price was very reasonable and were able to book the cabanas the night before each day.
Spa
We each booked three services at the resort’s spa as well. Between us, we got massages, facials, body wraps and a pedicure. All of the services were fantastic! I have started booking whatever the spa’s “specialty massage” is when I get the opportunity to go to a fancy hotel spa. I figure I can get a standard Swedish massage at home. Well, apparently, the massage I booked came with a 20-minute hot oil scalp massage. Yep, hot oil, on my scalp and then all in my hair. If you know me in real life, you know I am nuts about how long I can go without washing my hair. I was hoping to go the entire week without washing it. While the scalp massage was incredible, I was just laying there in a full blown panic as the masseuse continued pouring and rubbing the oil all over my head and hair. It took three shampoos and a dip in the pool to get all of the oil out. Live and learn.
While the spa was lovely and had most of the amenities you would expect from a high-end spa, it was very small. For me, half the fun of a fancy spa is being able to lounge around for the better part of the day in the comfy robe they give you. That really isn’t possible here, the room where the hot tub and cold plunge are located only has two chairs, so there just really isn’t the space to lounge. Due to COVID, we were only allowed to arrive an hour before our service. We were not told we had to leave after the service, but it just didn’t seem like we could hang out.
Teepee Experience
Finally, my FAVORITE part of the trip was the teepee experience at Pueblo Bonito Pacifica. We took the shuttle from our hotel to the Pacifica, which was only about a 5-minute ride. The Pacifica was a completely different resort from Sunset Beach. Sunset beach is family friendly, has fun music playing at all the pools and overall just feels like a fun resort. The Pacifica is adult only and is probably one of the most serene hotels I’ve ever walked into. It is quiet, with clean lines, very modern with water features everywhere. The entire place feels like a spa. They set up two teepees with tables and pillows on the beach for a full service meal. They had a DJ playing tranquil music at sunset and we were served a five-course meal paired with cocktails. The entire experience was amazing and was the perfect end to our vacation!
What I Read
I made my way through two and a half books while we were gone. The first was When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger. It is a loose sequel to The Devil Wears Prada and was a perfect, easy beach read. The second book was Untamed by Glennon Doyle. It is a very thought provoking book about misogyny, religious doctrines and the stories of Glennon’s life. The third book I am still reading is The Guest List by Lucy Foley. It is a mystery written from several points of view and is a real page turner!
How We Got to Mexico
We all flew to Los Cabos International Airport on American Airlines through DFW. American (like all other airlines) are requiring face coverings for the entire flight, as well as in the airports. All of our flights were completely full. There is not any onboard service currently on American. If your flight time is longer than two hours you are given a plastic bag with a small bottle of water and a package of Biscoff cookies. Leaving New Orleans, not all the restaurants are open, but it appeared everything was open in DFW. There were no COVID restrictions to enter Mexico other than filling out a form stating that you don’t have any symptoms and have not been in contact with anyone with COVID. The resort seemed to be operating as normal, with additional cleaning and hand sanitizing. Face coverings were required while moving around the resort and in common areas. I have seen that most of the major hotel chains were not offering housekeeping service during your stay, but our room was cleaned daily. Overall, I felt like the airline and hotel were taking every precaution they could and felt safe being there.
Overall, we had an amazing week away, and I feel so grateful to have had the time with family to reboot and recharge. Huge shout out to my mother-in-law for hosting this trip, my husband for putting in overtime at work and at home while I was gone, my parents for their help with the girls and our favorite babysitter for all the extra help in between. It takes a village and I couldn’t be more thankful.
