Los Cabos occupies the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja peninsula where the Sea of Cortez kisses the Pacific Ocean. Mar del Cabo, a boutique hotel in the Velas Resorts portfolio, is nestled between two sister properties on a prime stretch of beachfront, midway between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo.
The intimate Mar del Cabo property looks like it was airlifted from Santorini. White-washed walls, ocean-blue doors and tile accents set the Mediterranean mood. A series of bougainvillea-draped cobblestone staircases descend from the street-level open-air lobby to the freeform pool, glittering in the Pacific sun. It’s a casually chic home base for exploring Cabo, ideal for a romantic retreat or friend getaway.
Mar del Cabo Highlights
- Massive coastal contemporary guest rooms, many with sea-view balconies
- Authentic Mexican folk art and furnishings
- Outstanding beachfront farm-and-sea restaurant
- Friendly at-your-service staff
- Lush landscaping, panoramic water views and charming architecture for Instagrammable moments
- Excellent value
Guest Experience at Mar del Cabo
Your stay at Mar del Cabo begins with a greeting from the bell captain and a refreshing welcome drink. The pink lemonade is made from bugambilia, the Mexican word for bougainvillea, the lush floral vine that is a signature element at all Velas Resorts. The hotel’s open-air lobby is set behind a wall designed to block the traffic noise from the busy tourist highway that connects Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. I couldn’t hear anything after a minute or two because I was gobsmacked by the sea view.
Want more luxury travel ideas? Get inspired with our newsletter!
My suite, a one-bedroom balcony ocean-view suite, featured a charming tiled kitchenette, comfy king bed and a shower bigger than some NYC studio apartments. A wall-hung Smart TV is angled above a wooden console table for viewing from the bed. A table with two chairs in the room provides space for in-room dining or remote work.
The room’s neutral backdrop is ideal for showcasing Mexican handcrafts. Velas Resorts Image Director Melin Castro sources folk art and furniture to include in the rooms and public spaces. Colorful Talavera tile is another authentic touch that makes the guest rooms feel like a cozy home away from home.
About the Shower
The bathroom is almost as big as the bedroom. A large wardrobe has plenty of storage for unpacked clothes and suitcases. A vanity with two sinks spans one wall and there’s a separate toilet room. The highlight of the bathroom is the shower which is large enough for a family of four. No joke.
A hair dryer and basic toiletries are provided so you’ll want to pack makeup remover. Guest robes are an accommodating size; they’re lightweight and absorbent, providing a pleasant hug when stepping from the shower.
My room was located in the two-story lobby building. Other guest rooms flank the cobblestone staircase that winds down to the beach. They vary in size and furnishings, providing options depending on your needs. The resort welcomes teens (16+) accompanied by adults. And pet-friendly Mar del Cabo permits both dogs AND cats. There’s an elevator in the main building for guests with mobility issues and golf cart transport is available to help navigate the steep property.
Room Amenities:
- Air conditioning
- Nespresso coffeemaker
- Mini fridge, microwave
- Complimentary high-speed wifi
- Room safe
- Nightly turndown service
Things to Keep in Mind…
- Mar del Cabo is a historic property so signs of aging are to be expected. My room’s massive balcony doors were a bit sticky to slide and the railing could use touchup paint.
- The hotel is on a busy highway. I could hear a traffic hum in the bathroom but my bedroom was crypt quiet when the bathroom door was closed.
- The three Velas Resorts properties are close together on the beachfront so festive evening activities like wedding parties are to be expected. Music ends with a hard stop around 11 pm. One guest in my party called the front desk to complain and was offered a room change immediately. He declined and, in the morning, admitted that he felt a little silly about being “that guy.”
What to Do on Property
Although Mar del Cabo is not a destination resort, there are still plenty of on-site activities for guests. Here are some of the best ways to spend time on property.
Dine at Encanto
Encanto is Mar del Cabo’s farm-and-sea restaurant. It’s suspended above the freeform pool, overlooking the beach and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Chef Oscar Chavez presents beautifully plated dishes featuring locally sourced ingredients. Spices are used liberally to enhance not overwhelm the flavors. My favorite dish was an elevated avocado toast topped with chickpea hummus, sprouted lentils and fermented Eureka lemon.
The restaurant hosts mini-events that are a fun add-on activity during your stay. Our group tried two: mezcalita and taco tasting and ice cream making.
The mezcalita and taco tasting was a great way to kick off the first night of vacation. Servers introduced three different tacos paired with mezcal cocktails. My experience is limited to tequila shots and margaritas, so I was delighted to try these unique drinks. Mezcal, like tequila, is produced using agave but has a smokier taste. The cocktails we sampled included a variety of ingredients including habanero syrup, homemade chili liqueur, orange juice, lime juice, Aperol and mint.
The ice cream-making session was held outdoors on a grassy terrace overlooking the sea. We took turns hand-stirring flavored cream slurry in a bucket of ice. It’s harder than you think to get to the right consistency. This is the traditional way to prepare Mexican ice cream and how it’s made in the restaurant. We sampled three flavors: strawberry, mango and coconut which we dusted with lemon zest. Yum.
Dip and Sip
You won’t be able to escape the siren call of the Mar del Cabo swimming pool. The water’s warm and there’s always at least one section of the pool that’s shaded if you need to avoid the midday sun. There are plenty of terry cloth-draped loungers and umbrellas steps from the pool. Servers come by regularly to offer bar and food service. Bring a book. Take a nap. It’s a delightful way to spend a few hours.
What you can’t do is swim in the Sea of Cortez at Mar del Cabo. It’s a bit of a tease since the beach is right there, but dangerous conditions in Los Cabos mean that many resort properties do not have swimmable waters.
Don’t despair! There’s a public beach with chairs and umbrellas for rent less than four minutes from Mar del Cabo. The hotel staff will arrange transportation for you.
Different by Design
Velas Resorts is a family-owned Mexican luxury hospitality brand. Their seven properties, in Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit and Los Cabos, routinely appear on Tripadvisor’s Best of the Best All-Inclusive Resorts in Mexico lists and boast Forbes 5 Star and AAA 5 Diamond awards. The brand’s SE Spa at Grand Velas Riviera Maya is 90,000 square feet (the largest in Mexico) and Velas Resorts is the first all-inclusive to receive a Michelin star for its Cocina de Autor restaurants.
Mar del Cabo is flanked on either side by Grand Velas Los Cabos, a 307-suite family resort, and the new Grand Velas Boutique Los Cabos. Opened in January 2024, Grand Velas Boutique is an adults-only property with 79 suites. Both resorts are luxurious all-inclusives with SE Spas, multiple restaurants and jaw-dropping pools with reciprocal guest privileges. These are destination resorts; guests tend to stay on property to indulge in a variety of daily activities and culinary options.
In 2017 Velas Resorts acquired the Mar del Cabo property, built in the 1950s as university student housing. The 48-suite hotel opened in December 2018 after a $4 million renovation. General Manager Gerardo Vela boasts that Mar del Cabo is, by design, neither grand nor luxurious like other Velas Resorts properties that are destinations guests rarely leave during their stay.
Mar del Cabo, on the other hand, is a great home base for guests who want to get out and explore the many area activities and restaurants. It’s the only brand resort that offers European Plan pricing which is the norm in Los Cabos. Mar del Cabo offers exceptional value, with nightly rates typically starting at around $300-$400 (before taxes and fees), depending on the season. Rates include an American breakfast.
Returning home after a full day of fun to share stories over margaritas is a memorable part of the Mar del Cabo experience.
Exploring Los Cabos
Bucket List Alert: Whale Watching
The Sea of Cortez is a migratory path for whale species including humpback, sperm and orca. Although January-March is prime whale watching season in Los Cabos, the migration runs from mid-December through April. I’ve gone on several whale-watching trips in the past and have been disappointed each time. I didn’t have much hope for a sighting when I boarded Bella, the 10-passenger Grand Velas yacht available to guests for hire. Since the day was clear, I knew that the sunset would be epic.
We had just sailed past The Arch, the iconic Cabo San Lucas rock formation when we spotted a superstar humpback whale. Boatloads of tourists gathered around to watch a routine that included soaring breeches, tail slaps and pectoral fin waves. It was awesome. We snacked on crudites, sipped bubbly and giggled like children.
Next, we sailed ’round the tip of Baja into the Pacific Ocean and followed several small pods of whales. The afternoon light made it easy to spot spouts in the water and to see the body prints left on the water as the whales surfaced and dove. Capping off the afternoon was a sherbet-colored sunset that will stay with me for a lifetime.
If you’re interested, ask the Mar del Cabo concierge about Bella sailing options.
UTV Adventure and Tequila Tasting
Cabo Adventures is a one-stop resource for fun in Los Cabos. They have a variety of tours including snorkeling, ziplining, camel rides and jet ski trips so it’s easy to find at least one that you and your travel companions will enjoy. My group traveled to the Cabo Adventures campus, about an hour northwest of Mar del Cabo, to go offroading in UTVs.
After a thorough safety lesson, we were strapped into our vehicles and headed out for a ride that included beach and desert landscapes. My last UTV trip was very muddy and very dirty. I appreciated the dry conditions and the “shower” we received at the end of the ride. The staff hit us with pressurized air from a tire hose so we headed to lunch relatively clean after washing our hands.
Lunch is included in the 3-hour adventure and it was not at all the gift shop taco and warm beer that I expected. Soft drinks, hot hibiscus tea and ice-cold Pacifico were the drink options and lunch was a buffet that included delicious cheese quesadillas, chicken mole and spicy beans and rice. I’m glad I had a pleasantly full stomach for the tequila tasting that followed.
Our guide Erick presented two tequilas – blanco with a lime slice and reposado with a Tajin-dusted orange – with the traditional Mexican drinking chant, “¡Arriba, abajo, al centro y pa’ dentro!” We also tasted Damiana, a liqueur produced with an herb that grows only in Baja and is reported to induce friskiness and fertility.
Spa Day
The SE Spa at Grand Velas is a must. It’s a serene oasis that feels intimate even though it’s nearly 40,000 square feet. Most booked treatments include the seven-station water journey. The hydrotherapy ritual includes a sauna, a eucalyptus steam room, ice room, sensory shower, thermal loungers, polar pool and jacuzzi and a sensation pool with various circuits, cascades and bubble geysers. Yup. It’s as good as it sounds.
Arrive 2+ hours before your scheduled treatment to take the waters. An attendant will retrieve you from the pool area five minutes prior to the start of your treatment so you can change. They’ll take your bathing suit and dry it for you. That’s a service I’ve never been offered before.
My masseuse Christina escorted me to a beautiful treatment room. The back glass wall revealed a secret, light-soaked garden. She welcomed me by lighting herbs, filling the room with natural fragrance and then delivered 90 minutes of bliss. I highly recommend the Ancestral Stone Massage. Although Christina indicated the pressure would be soft to medium, it felt firm compared to other massages I’ve received. Combined with the hot stones, I felt relieved of nagging soreness I’d been experiencing in my shoulders and calves, the areas of particular interest I noted when checking in.
Take time at the end of your treatment to transition back to reality in the relaxation lounge. Guests staying at Mar del Cabo receive a 20% discount on spa services at Grand Velas Los Cabos.
Tee Off in Los Cabos
Los Cabos is an excellent place to play one or more rounds of golf on vacation. If you’re traveling with your clubs, the large rooms at Mar del Cabo will easily accommodate golf bags so you don’t feel crowded. My husband and son are avid golfers. Traveling with heavy body bags is something you get used to, grudgingly. Not tripping over the bags is a plus.
Ask the lobby concierge to assist with tee times. However if you’re traveling during high season (October – May), you may want to make reservations well in advance.
Some of the top golf courses with stunning sea and mountain views include:
- Palmilla
- Puerto Los Cabos
- Club Campestre San Jose
- Cabo del Sol
Dining Delights
The Baja peninsula is a rich agricultural region and the Sea of Cortez is known as the Aquarium of the World. So dining in Los Cabos is a delicious activity because many of the area chefs use locally sourced farm and sea ingredients.
Mar del Cabo guests can dine at any of the seven restaurants at Grand Velas Los Cabos and Grand Velas Boutique, including Michelin-star Cocina de Autor and receive a 20% food and beverage discount.
We dined at Frida, the upscale Mexican restaurant at Grand Velas Los Cabos. Chef Karla Rivera puts her dazzling spin on traditional Mexican dishes. I enjoyed a beet salad that was almost too pretty to eat and red snapper smothered in a tasty tomatillo sauce. Seating is available in the grand dining room or on the outdoor terrace.
Flora Farms
The Los Cabos equivalent of Joanna and Chip Gaines’ Waco-based Magnolia is Flora Farms. Founded by Gloria Wallace and Patrick Greene in 1996, the site began as a small organic farm and has evolved into a 25-acre site with posh shops, a spa, hand-built straw bale luxury homes and Flora’s Field Kitchen. It’s a dreamy, twinkle-lit setting for a memorable meal.
Dine light by sharing a couple of appetizers and splitting a wood-fire Neopolitan-style pizza featuring farm-fresh veggies, herbs and housemade cheese. It’s a great spot to nibble since there’s live music most nights. The band playing during my visit was stellar. Although the musicians were young, the playlist dipped deep into the late ’60s and early ’70s, delighting the boomer crowd.
Entrees are top-notch. I sampled a paper-thin chicken paillard topped with slices of lightly fried eggplant accompanied by marinated cherry tomatoes and mint turmeric yogurt. Assume everything you’re eating and drinking is made on property. The menus are printed using an antique lithographic printer from the 1800s. The napkins are sewn by the team. When I asked the waiter if they had Pacifico, he said yes but also mentioned that the farm’s brewery produced an outstanding Belgian white. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Flora Farms sparkles at night but it’s worth visiting during the day too. They host a variety of classes open to the public including cooking and art classes and farm tours.
Getting To and Around Los Cabos
Cabo was once a remote getaway, popular with Hollywood stars looking to vacay out of the spotlight. Massive infrastructure improvements made the peninsula accessible and Cabo has morphed into a premier resort destination. My shuttle driver casually name-dropped former passengers including George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston and Matthew McConaughey on the half-hour drive from Los Cabos International Airport to the hotel. I assured him I was a nobody and gawked like a hick as we drove by a string of elegant resort properties and golf courses.
As a lifelong New Yorker, I’ve gravitated to Cancun and Riviera Maya on Mexico’s east coast when planning a resort holiday. Non-stop flights are numerous and inexpensive and the relatively short flight time (under 5 hours) means you don’t lose a full day to travel.
Although the flight time to Cabo is approximately seven hours from New York, resulting in a longer travel day, two hours get refunded on arrival day, thanks to the time zone change.
Drive time from the Los Cabos International Airport to Mar del Cabo is approximately 20-30 minutes, depending on traffic. Resort transfer options include taxi, car service and shuttles. The resort does not provide airport transportation but can assist with making reservations for guests. Renting a car is also an option. The area highways are easy to navigate. Uber is readily available too.
Los Cabos Velas Resorts
If you prefer an all-inclusive property in Los Cabos, the two Grand Velas resorts are swanky options. Many of the suites have outdoor private plunge pools, hot tubs or jacuzzis. There are numerous dining options on property and the pool areas are exquisite. Grand Velas Los Cabos welcomes children; Grand Velas Boutique is for adults only. Just curious? Mar del Cabo guests can purchase day passes to use the facilities at either of the Grand Velas Resorts in Los Cabos.
Leave a Reply