Take Your Pick in Cabo (Mexico)

If you’ve known our family for any period of time, you know we generally value experiences over things. Or at least, buying things that create meaningful experiences.

Great Experiences > Stuff

If you’re reading this right now, you probably feel the same way.

You also might imagine that after 10+ years in a travel club, we got to experience quite a few places around the world.

One place we continue to go back to is Mexico.

It’s not too far away, it’s warm there when it’s cold here…

And admittedly, it’s super nice to be at an all inclusive where you don’t have to cook and clean up after yourself or your kids.

(Fellow parents, why does it always feel like we are cleaning!?)

Anyways, we recently decided to stay at and compare two different resorts in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

If you’re looking for a unique place to take your family so you can create some lasting memories, get away for a handful of days to refresh and reset, keep reading.

Villa La Valencia vs Villa Del Palmar

We’ve been to several places in Cabo, but recently we stayed at each of these sister resorts.

Which one is better for you?

I suppose it all depends on what you’re looking for.

First, we went to Villa La Valencia.

The pool and rooms were TOP notch. And the food was as good as we’ve had in all of Mexico (on par with one of our favorites, the Marival Distinct in Nuevo Vallarta).

I’m not kidding when I say lunchtime sushi and poolside steak tacos are still talked about in our household.

But the favorite family activity was the Lazy River…

(Apparently it is the only one of it’s kind in Cabo).

While it’s probably a good babysitter for older kids, Riser & Haven are still 4 and 7 at the time of this writing…so they went went around it on tubes and floaties while we chased them (it was a good workout for me and Sarah).

Pro tip: If you go and want a challenging workout, walk against the current for a few laps : )

Without going into every single detail, here are our ratings of Villa La Valencia:

Room Quality: 9/10

Service: 9.5/10

Restaurant Options: 9.5/10 (They were all great, but the Italian restaurant was exceptional)

Food Quality: 9.5/10

Gym/Amenities/Entertainment: 10/10 (we didn’t do the Spa. The gym was one of the best we’ve been to in Mexico. We didn’t send out kids to Kids Club or do any of the excursions. So other than the Lazy River we can’t speak to this part from experience)

Pools: 10/10 (Play areas for kids, Infinity Pool overlooking the ocean, hot tubs, everything you need. It was cool watching the whales from the infinity pool, too)

Villa Del Palmar

Most recently, we stayed at the Villa Del Palmar with some family members.

Walking in, it definitely didn’t have the high end feel of La Valencia. And the kids were a bit bummed there was no lazy river.

However, the Killer Whale slide quickly made them forget all about it. We spent probably 70% of our waking hours by that slide.

Pro tip: When you go down that slide, be sure to plug your nose. It’s unusually fast.

The number of pools and pool area was much smaller…and there were no poolside steak tacos like La Valencia.

Unfortunately, all of the restaurants were outside. Not ideal since it was so warm and humid in early September

On a positive note, we appreciated the fact they had courts so the kids could play pickle ball and tennis with their grandpa, aunt and uncle.

How was the beach?

We did go down to the beach, but there’s a pretty good rip current in Cabo, so we had to be aware of how far we went in and make sure we were right with the kids too. If you’ve never been to Cabo, the sand is much more rough than other Mexico beaches like Cancun, Nuevo Vallarta, Playa Del Carmen, etc.

We considered doing the glass bottom boat ride or the ski doos, but weather didn’t cooperate that day.

One of the coolest parts of the resort was the nightly shows. We attended “The Greatest Showman” and “The Lion King” shows with the kids. We were impressed by the level of production and attention to detail.

Without going into every single detail, here are our ratings of Villa Del Palmar.

Room Quality: 6/10 (rooms were a bit outdated, shades didn’t keep the hallway light out well at night. They did have a refrigerator, stove and microwave in the room though. So you could order a pizza, save what you don’t eat for later and warm it up).

Service: 7.5/10

Restaurant Options: 6.5/10

Food Quality: 8/10 (some restaurants were a 6.5/10, others were 9/10 like “El Carbon”

Gym/Amenities/Entertainment: 7.5/10 (we didn’t do the Spa or Kids Club. Our rating would be 6/10 without the nightly shows).

Pools: 7/10 (would be 5/10 without the Killer Whale Slide)

Cost comparison between the two resorts:

The average cost for a family of four staying for 5 days with an all-inclusive package at Villa La Valencia and Villa Del Palmar varies based on the season, room type, and booking deals, but here are general estimates (does not include flights):

Villa La Valencia (Los Cabos) - All-Inclusive Package:

• Average Price: $600 - $800 per night for a family of 4 (all-inclusive).

• Total for 5 Days: $3,000 - $4,000.

Villa Del Palmar (Cabo San Lucas) - All-Inclusive Package:

• Average Price: $400 - $600 per night for a family of 4 (all-inclusive).

• Total for 5 Days: $2,000 - $3,000.

Which resort would we go back to?

Villa La Valencia. 100%

When we were at Del Palmar and people learned that we were previously at La Valencia they said, “Oh, yeah that’s where the celebrities stay.”

I don’t know if that’s true or not, but we definitely approve!

So…if you’re looking for a unique place to take your family so you can create some lasting memories, get away for a handful of days to refresh and reset, Villa La Valencia is money well spent.

Reply with any questions (or if you have a Mexico resort you LOVE).

Until next time, own what matters : )

Brian, Sarah, Riser & Haven

P.S. If you don’t have an emergency fund with 6 months of living expenses saved…OR a separate account set up to acquire assets…we recommend you don’t buy what we just reviewed. Instead, reply with the phrase “budgeting sucks” and we will get you access to a powerful app that allows you to put your cash flow on autopilot.

P.P.S. If you haven’t answered life’s most important question, anything else we talk about is irrelevant. So consider watching a few minutes or more of this: https://youtu.be/E7t9U1H0t1U

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