Montage Los Cabos - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

It all started on a whim, after a rough first month of summer, with parenting, sickness, and life, all crowding us, we were offered to take a weekend away. Just Katie and I. And, of course, when you're given this opportunity, you have to take advantage of it. And so, we did what any pioneering couple would do and moved whatever we could to make this happen.

We split some time with my mom, Katie's parents, a family from church, to allow us to have three nights away. And once we have the time slotted, it was just a matter of figuring out where we wanted to go. We were deciding between an adventure, extended weekend. Something like camping in a national park, taking a van through somewhere, or given that we tend to do a lot of family vacations in the adventure style, something a bit more relaxed that we couldn't do with our three kids.

So, we decided on a beach vacation, or some sort of resort style trip. Not napa valley. We're not 40 yet, so we didn't feel like that was appropriate. The Caribbean, we usually go there with the kids. So something a bit more inconvenient. but close enough for a weekend, so Europe was out of consideration. We decided on Cabo, Cabo, Mexico.

This wasn't a place I was very familiar with. I didn't really know it was a destination. Our neighbor, and his family had gone there earlier in the year, and based on his descriptions, it sounded perfect, so we decided to fly four hours to Cabo, Mexico. And stay at a resort.

Staying at a resort was a bit of a new experience for us. Typically, we stay at Airbnbs, because it's a bit more of the local feel you stay in a town, and you also can get, you know, four bedrooms, so you're not sharing a room with your kids. At a resort that's much more challenging, but given that it was just two of us, we decided to swing for the fences, and started down the hunt for the best resorts in Cabo.

We ended up selecting the Montage, because of its proximity to a swimmable bay, and it's quality restaurants that were on site. There were three amazing restaurants on site that would be perfect for ease and, you know, doing all of the meals that we wanted to on site without compromising quality or local influence. Our second option was the One&Only, and it was a close runner up.

Day 1: Travel & Arrival

Travel & Shuttle Ride

So, on a Friday, we flew in. We had never flown out of the international terminal in Atlanta before, and were quite disappointed to find how nice it was compared to domestic, but I digress. After some lounge snacks, we departed to Cabo.

When we were landed, we were greeted with glorious mountain ranges, which was not something that I expected, because again, I did very little research, except to know that we were going to eat well and relax well. So we land, greeted by glorious mountain ranges, sandy deserts, cactuses, and a million taxi drivers trying to sell me a ride. If you come to Cabo, I suggest booking your shuttle or taxi in advance so you aren't dealing with trying to sort through the best option on site.

Once we made our way through customs in the foray of eager taxi drivers, we found our way to our shuttle. It's not cheap getting to and from the airport, even if it's a 30 minute drive. But having privacy and air conditioning. Being greeted with a cooler of beer and water after sitting in the hot sun, trying to find your driver in the first place, made it worth it.

Once we had our driver, and we started heading from the airports to the Montage, we were fortunate enough to get a chatty driver telling us a bit of history about the culture of Cabo as we drove along. Including how he ended up there, used a vacation here as a kid. He was originally from Guadalajara and loved it so much, he eventually settled here, married, has a family. Very fun ride.

Arrival & Michelin Key Experience

Once we arrived at the hotel, we were about four hours before check in. So, they took our bags and allowed us to explore. One of the more stunning hotel entrances I've ever seen. You pull up to a roundabout, and you're greeted by two or three people with cold towels and a pair of grapefruit margaritas. After that you walk towards a wall of glass, fountains and beautiful views of the beach and architecture of the resort.

As it turned out, I didn't really know this was a thing, but there are Michelin hotels, and this hotel was a 2 key hotel. One of five in Cabo, and about 570 worldwide. And what this meant was, we were in for an experience that I don't think either one of us knew was a thing. We knew Michelin dining experiences and how those work. Two and three stars, usually distinguishes a napkin hardly hitting the ground. You're not pulling out your own chair. It's a cool experience, slightly bewildering and off, but an experience.

And this hotel follows that Michelin dining experience. So, it is not all inclusive. And so your get in price is a bit deceiving, because a cocktail here is $30 to $40. You know, a coffee's 20 bucks, dinner, if you're getting out for less than 100 bucks a person, it's highway robbery. However, to say something is worth it is to the eye of the beholder. For us, it was definitely an experience that we are grateful to have experienced.

Beach Time & Room Check-In

Either way back to our arrival. We check our bags, get into some swimsuits, and head down to the beach. I have no clue how this works, so we sit down at our chairs. I have no idea if I'm paying for these chairs at this point. I don't really understand what's complimentary, what's not. But we sit down, we're starving. We order some food on the beach and dine out. They adjust your umbrella for you, deliver your towels, fresh buckets of water.

We got tacos. A Poke Bowl with tuna, and some veggies in it. Guacamole. It was truly incredible food. Sometimes you stay in a resort, and, the food you get is pretty mid-tier. Thinking of you, Disney, when I pay Grand Floridian prices, and I'm eating a frozen Mickey waffle for breakfast, it feels a little off. I digress. Yeah, you definitely pay for the quality, but it is good quality. You don't feel like you're being duped in any sort of way.

Onto the beach and water. It was a red flag, but it was middle of the day. We swam, got tossed around, we enjoyed our time. And after a couple hours, our room was ready. We get driven to our residence, and, I mean, it was beautiful. We picked a coastal view room with a pool. So it had its own patio pool / hot tub. And all the details were taken care of. Nothing in the room felt lazy or unconsidered.

Evening: Dinner at Marea

After some afternoon rest we walked around a bit, and then had a 6 p.m. at Marea, one of their three on site sit-down restaurants, beautiful table, right above the water. We had some lovely bread service with some homemade focaccia, and very, very fresh olive oil. We ate lobster risotto, fresh sea bass, asparagus.

And I think that was it for day one. We were very tired. This is, again, this is a travel day. It started at 7 a.m. Eastern and ended at 9 p.m. Pacific. So we were pretty tired, but it was very fun to get to experience what felt like a full day.

Day 2: Exploration, Horseback Riding & Mexican Tasting Menu

Morning Ocean Swim

Day 2 started off with a nice morning walk around the facility. Checking out the beach, seeing how calm it was in the morning. We didn't really know that the beach was calm in the morning because we didn't know anything about tides, and the day before had been a red flag, so things were a little chaotic in the water on day one. So that made the pleasure of a calm morning, ocean, all the better on day two.

So, before our early morning horseback riding. We went to the water, swim around a bit and were in shock. We didn't have snorkel gear at this point, but given the calm waters and the close proximity of both rocks and reefs, there were just fish everywhere, and not just minnows or some, you know, brown and grayfish. There were these gorgeous schools of yellow and bluefish swimming all around our feet in our legs, and it made us all the more excited to get back and use the snorkel gear from the resort to explore.

Horseback Riding Excursion

So after we saw the beautiful fish that were in the water, we headed off to grab a quick overnight oats, yogurt parfait breakfast before our Uber took us to Cuadra San Francisco.

The location had been open since 1995. The guy who had signed us in and set us up was the grandson of the original owner. They had dozens and dozens of beautiful photographs from over the decades of people riding the horses. They had a room filled with old spurs, and boots, and hats, and saddles. And I wouldn't even know the right word to call the wardrobe of some of the more dressier occasions that the guys would wear people riding a horse to certain events or weddings, whatever it might be. It was wonderful.

As he was signing us in, they ask what sort of ride we wanted. When I had communicated with them beforehand for our appointment. I had originally told them a 2 hour ride. And as I considered the lack of horse riding, prowess that myself and my wife attained, we decided to lower it to one hour along the canyon per their recommendation.

They asked us if we had any experience with horses. We both said it had been a long time. They said, fine. They walked us out. They put us right on the horse, told us left, right, pull back, kick, let's go. And we were off. 30 second tutorial, and it was an exhilarating hour ride up to a beautiful lookout point that overlooked the ocean.

It was just us two and a guide, followed and chased by a couple of dogs that were hunting and looking for small mice as we went along. And it was awesome. It was hard. If you're not used to using those muscles. It's challenging, especially going uphill and downhill. Climbing and going slower, faster, trotting, back to walking. But it was so much fun. Highly recomend.

Lunch & Snorkeling

After the ride was over we took an Uber to a local burrito spot where we had some lunch, and then back to the resort. We spent the next few hours lounging by the beach, enjoying some guacamole and snorkeling. It was a glorious hour of snorkeling. I got to see a stingray, all sorts of fish. I don't even know what to call any of them. There was, I think, an angel fish, a puffer fish. It's just schools of fish swimming and surrounding you.

It was just a wonderful experience all around. Pretty tiring, fighting the waves, though, I'll be honest, because the way that the bay was curved out where the reefs were, you were pretty close to rocks. So you constantly had to be fighting some of the undertow and the waves to be close to the fish, but not too close to get squat up into the rocks.

Resort Hospitality & Evening Tasting Menu at Mezcal

From there, we headed back to the room. This was the our first full day at the resort. So we did not know that when you're out of your room at this resort and I’m assuming other Michelin key places, they just are always in your room, turning things up, turning things down, cleaning up, they know your schedule. When you leave a room, they know, like they're communicating over the their intercom system. So you come back from your room from a day at the pool, everything's beautiful. They had cocktail refreshers, sushi, fresh tuna, fruit, snacks, just all waiting for you. Nice surprise.

And then a couple hours later, after some relaxation in the room, we went to Mezcal for their Imprints of Mexico’s tasting menu. Each course had a postcard that had a watercolor picture of the dish on the front. On the back, the region. it came from. And of course, you know, each dish was superseded by someone coming out and introducing it, explaining where the chef got its inspiration from, all that sort of stuff.

It’s just a truly amazing experience. A high priced tag, but felt worth every penny. Everybody was very kind and the food was, it was not buttoned up. It was definitely fancy interpretations of local cuisine, which is exactly what you want from a place like this. A lovely evening, beautiful architecture, got like a tour of the inside, and the bar area. What the architecture pointed to, and what they were talking about with some of the decorations, and it's inspiration.

Day 3: Relaxation & Final Dining Experiences

Morning Routine & Brunch

All right, day three, final full day. The morning started off nicely with a nice morning coffee at the beach, reading, journaling. It's so peaceful in the morning. There's hardly anybody down at the ocean. The resort is very quiet. There's nobody walking around. We spent the rest of the morning by the pool.

Since it was a bit cloudy, we decided to make a brunch reservation at Mezcal. There would be no tasting menu this morning, because we weren't insane. They had some pastries, homemaker granola, wonderful coffee. For our meal we had Huevos rancheros and Chilaquiles. A great brunch..

Afternoon Pool, Snorkeling & Room Amenities

We relaxed by the pool for the rest of the day. It was lovely. Had some poolside service for snacks and drinks later in the day. Cold towels that smelled like cucumber, tiny little guava and fruit shots. Pure relaxation, snorkeling later in the day that was, again, just thrilling. Schools of fish just swimming around you, surrounding you. A wonderful afternoon.

Evening: Dinner at Talay & Night Walks

From there we went to the final remaining restaurant on property, Talay Tai. Wonderful menu. We ate dumplings, pad Thai with shrimp, sea bass curry, these little like coconut caramel desserts, spicy, flavorful, like savory, shrimp fritters. I had a couple of local Mexican beers. A wonderful meal to finish off the trip. To cap off the day, a nice walk along the pools and jacuzzi time back at the villa.

Final Day

This morning, I am sitting on the beach before our flights. Our driver picks us up in a couple hours. It's been a wonderful trip, this part of Mexico, although I haven't been to any part of Mexico. But this part of Mexico was beautiful and unexpected. The people are kind, the food was wonderful and filled with depth and opinion. I'm glad I got to experience different parts of Mexican cuisine through the tasting menu, a sort of rushed baptism into Mexican fine dining.

Just a great, wonderful trip. The Montage well deserves the two keys that it was given. I dont know what that means, but I see what they were talking about. It's like you didn't just dip into a Michelin restaurant, but you're living there. It's pretty insane. Highly recommended if you have the chance.