Cabo
5 days in Cabo in August with kids
Cabo was not in our original plan for 2023. We were supposed to be in Maui and then a week before our trip tragedy ensued. That island and it’s people are beautiful. A fire wont take that away and we hope to go again in the future.
But it did leave us with our kids for a week with no plans and promises of beach vacation, so we pivoted to Cabo, MX. Hurricane Hillary delayed things… but we made it!
This was our first time in Cabo, but as new Californians (we moved to CA almost two years ago) we realized how EASY it is to book a trip to Mexico. I did it in 30 minutes with no plans. The flight from Southern California is non-stop only 2 hours, transportation is easy, hotels are easy to book (August was technically their off-season). And guess what - it’s not just a party town, it was great for a family.
Did you know there is more than one town in Cabo? I didn’t!
San Jose Cabo and Cabo San Lucus are the two main ones. With hotels all along the beach in between. We stayed closer to San Jose Cabo, and it is the much smaller/quieter/cuter sister of the two (in my opinion).
With two kids our initial reaction was - stay at the resort! But after a couple of days we were restless… and the hotel convinced it was completely safe - it was! We went to downtown San Jose Cabo for their Thursday night “Market Night” and we were completely charmed!
While downtown we somehow stumbled across a very popular dinner taco place - La Lupita. Where if you go - I recommend reservations! We didn’t have one and got in on the early side, but had to share a table with another couple. We didn’t mind in the least. It fit the vibe. The food was FANTASTIC. Along with a margarita that lived up to the hype and an awesome band… this was 100% worth it.
It was also very easy to get transportation home (my biggest concern when we ventured out). There was a Taxi stand right in front of the church in the square. Easy to find with the bright yellow vans.
In booking our trip (both last minute and with honestly no mental capacity to plan), we went safe with an all-inclusive at a name brand (and bonus! Friends had stayed there recently) - Hyatt Ziva Cabo.
Few pros and cons for me with this hotel:
- The resort was BEAUTIFUL (and easy to get to from the airport)
- I’ve never come across a hotel with better/NICER staff than we did on this trip. They were AMAZING and all just so genuinely nice.
- While the food was actually pretty good, I should be fair in saying, I don’t think we’re all-inclusive type people. I feel weird with the “do we tip? we tip right? Can I really order anything?”. We also like to explore and go out to meals. I get stir-crazy at the hotel longer than a day.
- Once the weekend hit I noticed the guests started to become “drink as much as we can!” crowds…
- The pool music was LOUD in the afternoon. With games and club music. A lot of people enjoyed it… but not our scene. (Although to be fair - my 6 year old son loved it!)
- KID’s CLUB! - ya’all, I love my kids. Enjoy spending time with them. This was a family vacation, I didn’t think I’d want to “put them in day care”. But to be honest, it wasn’t like that. The kids loved going and they LOVED the activities! They got to have fun and it gave Mom and Dad a little bit of alone time. We did 1-2 hours for them two of the days and it was perfect.
- The beach was unfortunately at a black flag the whole time and no swimming allowed. But it was beautiful to look at.
- August was HOT. I’d probably recommend the winter.
- For those that didn’t want to venture out, they brought a lot of different things to the hotel almost every night, so you still got to see some nice artsy trinkets.
Overall the employees, the location, and the view made this great. If all-inclusives are your thing - this hotel was awesome for kids.
One of the best things we did though while there was our 1/2 day trip to the arch and snorkeling. Cabo Adventures did an AMAZING job. Can’t recommend them enough. And YES you can take your kids, and YES they can love it! I think my son at 6+ was probably perfect for it.
They also have an option for pick up/drop off directly at your hotel (perfect for us). See my notes under “travel must haves” for our travel car seats that made this easy.
I highly recommend if you do snorkeling to buy the kids masks… just made it 100 times easier for them. We borrowed these and it was amazing
Kids snorkeling equipment:
I’d also recommend bringing your own kids life vests. We happened to have some and they were just a lot more comfortable in them!
For those that didn’t want to snorkel they had paddle boards! My daughter loved this.
The water was also refreshing and WARM! Which I and the kids loved.
Overall - my kids (and us) had a great time. My 6 year old son in particular said it was one of his favorite trips we’ve taken! Sun, fun, and family time.
