So back in May, I decided to take a little trip over to beautiful Cabo, Mexico. I came across a deal via Delta for around $300 roundtrip out of Charlotte. If you have experience with flying anywhere from Charlotte, then you know this is pretty darn good.
Well, I’ve been to Cabo before, but not solo. I went for my 31st birthday a few years ago with 3 other girlfriends, so splurging a little wasn’t that bad. However, this time I was going solo and simply to relax and recharge for a few days.
I did my normal routine of stalking booking.com and airbnb.com for potential places to stay. I finally came across a resort called Medano Hotel and Suites in Cabo San Lucas. It was a newer boutique hotel and prefect for my budget at around $90 a night for my 3 nights.
I then looked up cheap ways to get to my hotel from the airport since, depending on where you stay within the city the fee for transportation can add up. I found a shuttle service (Cabo Transfers) that charged $21 one-way from the airport into Cabo San Lucas. (yes this is different from Los Cabos) The driver met us outside of the airport at the ground transportation area. There were a few other people in the van with me that we had to drop off as well. You can reserve private service for around $45 one-way, but since I was solo I didn’t need all that.
My hotel was nice, basic but nice. It had a cute little rooftop pool with day beds and loungers. We were given vouchers to get breakfast from 3 places within a 2-minute walk from the property. This was clutch so that you didn’t feel like you were eating the same thing everyday.
We weren’t directly on the beach, but literally 3 blocks away. They had a partnership with a resort on the beach. The only catch is that you had to sit through the annoying vacation club presentation during one of the days of your stay.
I’ve done these presentations before and the rewards in Cabo are often worth the time wasted. I agreed to the presentation the next day and was instantly given access to the VIP beach club which had these super cute daybeds right on the water. I also got a coupon card that gave me discounts on food around the beach.
I pretty much lounged on the beach for my first day. I caught a really bad migraine that forced me to literally sleep the rest of the day too. It was horrible.
The next day I got up to go sit thorough the pointless presentation. After about 2-hours, I finally convinced the people I wasn’t interested to collect my rewards. I was given a free 4-day 3-night stay at that resort, half off all excursions in the area, and my continued access to the beach club with food discounts.
I did a little work on the beach and then headed back to my room to get ready for my one fancy dinner.
Cabo is known to have some really awesome beach/cliffside restaurants. This time, I chose to try out Cocina Del Mar at the Esperanza resort. I figured out that you can take uber for around $4 as opposed to taxi which was $25 one-way. (No thanks). At first my Uber app rejected my card, but luckily you can pay the drivers in cash. (Praise the Lordt!)
The restaurant was absolutely breathtaking. I obviously chose it based on pics I saw before and they were 100% accurate. Like, there are no words. I will say, it is pretty pricey, even solo. I spent right at $100 on my meal. I had a cocktail, a salad, and an entree. So yea…but the view was worth it.
On my last full day, I decided to get a little adventurous. I signed up to go ATVn along the beach. The base price was about $30 with the discount I had. However, when you got to the place there was an additional $25 insurance fee to cover any damages or you had to let them hold your credit card during your ride. I just opted to pay the $25 to keep my card to myself.
The only downside on this ATV tour was that they had a no phones policy. If you had a Go Pro it was ok, but cell phones had to be put in a locker.
The ATVs were real ATVs…meaning manual transmission. So the tour started with a short lesson on how to operate them. I ended up in a group with some folks who weren’t really into adventure. Literally less than 5 minutes into the ride we had to stop because a few of them got scared and backed out.
Another tour guide ended up letting me come with her. It was all fun and games until I overcorrected on a curve, hit an embankment, and flipped completely off my ATV. THANK GOD it didn’t land on me but the handle bar did bruise my leg pretty bad.
After I recovered and literally five people came to check me out, I continued on the tour. It lasted almost 2-hours, including riding along a private beach. It was well worth the money.
That night, I went to check out a restaurant in the area. It was also right on the beach and apparently pretty popular because it was packed! Luckily since it was only me, I was able to get a table really fast.
I ate so much that all I could do was literally walk back to my hotel and go to bed!
The next morning, I had a few hours to kill before my afternoon flight…so it was time for a mini photoshoot. Just a block away from my hotel were several dope and colorful buildings that I just had to shoot.
Well, you can see in the photos. I had a tripod to help some and then for harder pictures, I simply asked strangers walking by and kinda guided them on where to aim. (You have to or else people will snap any old thing)
After getting a few shots in, I made my way back to figure out my way to the airport. I was hoping to use Uber again, but quickly found that that that price to the main airport was crazy. I luckily was able to book the shuttle from my hotel for $25.
I hope this post can help those looking to venture to Cabo solo. If you have questions, feel free to drop them in the comments…I got you!