What You Need to Know Before Traveling to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico During Global Pandemic
Every year, my friends & I take an international trip for Tabi’s birthday. This year, we traveled to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - which has been on my list of places to go for a while. It is just south of the state of California and I have saw so many beautiful pictures of people who visited & knew that I had to make my way there one day. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico is a resort city that is located on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. It is known for it’s beaches, water activities & nightlife.
We had such a great time, despite visiting during the global pandemic & I wanted to share all of the details with you all!
Flight
We traveled to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico from February 17, 2021 to February 21, 2021. We flew from EWR (Newark Liberty International Airport) to SJO (Juan Santamaría International Airport and the cost of my flight was $400 after taxes via United Airlines. I booked my flight about a month before the date of our trip, so I don’t think this was a terrible price at all.
The flight time from EWR to SJO was 4 hours and 55 minutes with a direct flight. I slept the entire flight so it wasn’t a bad flight to me.
If you live in New York & are interested in traveling right now, I would consider checking flights from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) as majority of flights are cheaper than flying out of John F. Kennedy Airport. I would just consider taxi prices and tolls when comparing the prices because even though a flight may be cheaper from EWR you may end up paying the same price after factoring in transportation EWR airport.
I did want to note that United Airlines doesn’t follow a “skip seat” policy wherein they do place you in a seat next to someone you are not traveling with (unlike Delta Airlines who follows “skip seat” policy). However, our flight was not full so the flight attendant was able to move me into a row by myself once the flight had fully boarded. I would recommend that if you are not comfortable being seated next to people you don’t know, let the flight attendant be aware once you find out that the seats next to you are occupied. That way they can keep you in mind once they are allowed to move people’s seats around.
Once we were arriving the destination, the flight attendants distributed a total of three forms (immigration, customs, & a general information form) that we had to complete to submit upon our arrival. One of the forms had a departure card on the bottom which was very important. When we went through immigration upon arrival, they noted that we must keep the departure card and present it for our return flight. If this card was lost, we would be charged $30. Therefore, I would recommend to place this departure card in a safe place so that you do not run into any problems.
Mexico also is not currently requiring a COVID test to enter their country. However, I did get a PCR test before leaving just to make sure I was okay before traveling out of the country. I will get more into COVID requirements and specifics late on in this blog post. But if you would like to see how I prepared for my trip to Cabo San Lucas, you can check out my Get Ready with Me for Cabo San Lucas vlog on my Youtube channel!
Housing
We stayed at a Villa in Pedregal, which was a 45 minute drive from the airport. The villa we stayed at can be booked via Cabo Villas. The villa was absolutely amazing. It was just as pictured on the website. It has 9 bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms and I think can sleep 20 people comfortably. For more details on amenities and details of the villa, you can visit the listing.
The villa greeted us with 15 minute complimentary massages and fresh margaritas. It also had maid service everyday, besides on Sundays. The property manager was able to assist us with booking excursions (which I will go into detail later on in this blog post), make recommendations of places to eat and sites to see. I did want to note that the villa had strict rules about noise after 10pm - which wasn’t really a problem for us because we were either out of chilling inside the house at this time.
The villa is located in a gated community that has very strict security. I loved this because I felt very safe while inside the villa. The villa is surrounded by residential houses as well as other villas, so you do have to be mindful that people are living nearby.
It was also conveniently located (about a 5 minute drive to the marina and strip that has bars and clubs).
Food
On the day that we arrived, we went to Walmart in order to stock up on groceries we would need to cook at the villa during our entire stay. The Walmart was about a 10 minute drive from the villa and have many of the same offerings as Walmart in the United States. We were able to purchase everything from meats, to produce, to hair products that we forgot at home (lol) from Walmart. The pricing at Walmart was also similar, if not a little cheaper, then Walmart’s prices within the United States.
We decided to cook in the villa vs. going out to eat because there were 13 of us staying at the villa and we did not want to have to prepare and commute to a restaurant for each & every meal. Therefore, cooking at the villa was a more cost and time efficient option.
Even though we did not visit any restaurants during our time in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, I have put together the following list of recommendations that I received from friends who visited Cabo San Lucas before me. Please keep in mind that I did not visit any of these restaurants so I will not be able to provide you with my thoughts or comments on any of them. I just wanted to share this list in case you all need guidance on where to eat during your stay in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I have also linked menus for any restaurants that have their menus available online for your ease of reference. If you do visit & go to any of these restaurants, please comment on this blog post with your thoughts and opinions so that we can know :)
Romeo Julieta - Italian cuisine
Misiones de Kino - Mexican/Italian cuisine
Casa Martin - Mexican/International cuisine
Ruth Chris - Steakhouse - it was noted that Ruth Chris in Cabo is better than Ruth Chris in the states.
SUR beach house Los Cabo’s - Baja Beach house. They offer breakfast with a beach view.
El Pelegrino- a family owned restaurant that provides good sized portions; good steak, seafood & wines; and 2 for 1 margaritas everyday.
Nick San Cabo - Japanese cuisine
Floras Field Kitchen - Restaurant in the middle of a garden with handmade food using fresh farm ingredients.
The Office Restaurant - Most famous beach restaurant in Cabo. Offers breakfast and Mexican fiesta night on Fridays.
La Revolucion - Mexican cuisine. Popular on Thursday nights.
Ediths- Offers steak & seafood with local ingredients.
Seared- Fine steak seafood & Mexican wines
Tres Sirenas - Seafood
Excursions
As I mentioned earlier, the villa did assist us with booking excursions. The first day, we went parasailing with Cabo Expeditions. I’m not sure what the price was but even if you don’t stay at the villa we stayed at, you can book this excursion directly via Cabo Expeditions.
The second day, we did an all day excursion with Wild Canyon. We paid $200 + $49 insurance for an all day pass which included ATV’s, UTV’s, ziplining, bunjee jumping, bunjee jump swing, horse back ride, and camel ride. I thought that this was a great price for a 6 hour excursion pack vs. paying for each excursion separately though other companies. The excursion also included a pick up and drop off from and to our villa. We paid an extra $15 for a lunch which included one entree and a drink.
The third day, we rented a yacht via Cabo Luxury Yacht Rentals. This rental included lunch, a top shelf open bar, music and great vibes on the sea. We had an amazing time on the boat and the staff was super helpful, accommodating and fun! I would definitely recommend to do a boat ride while in Cabo to experience their beautiful water and see some whales!
Nightlife
As I mentioned earlier, Cabo San Lucas is known for their night life. However, due to the global pandemic, that has changed a lot. Majority of the populars clubs in Cabo San Lucas were closed when we visited. However, we went out one night to Mandala which was located on a strip with some other bars and night clubs.
We had an amazing time. We did have to purchase bottle service for entry. Bottle service prices were similar to bottle service prices in the US. The music and vibes in the club were great and the club closed at about 4am.
We were looking for hookah lounges but we were told that they were also closed due to COVID. However, we had traveled with our own hookahs so that didn’t bother us too much - lol. If you want to travel with your hookah, you must pack it + all of your accessories in your carry on bag.
Overall, night life in Cabo didn’t have too many options but majority of the nights were stayed in our villa and had our own party.
COVID Testing
As of January 26, 2021 if you depart from the US and travel to any other country, you must present.a negative COVID test in order to return. There are special circumstances for some individuals, but this applies to the majority. You must also get your test 72 hours before the time of your return flight.
Our villa was able to connect us with a doctor that came to the house to perform our COVID test for us. The price was $50 (at the time - I don’t usually like displaying prices people charge for things because if they raise their prices, they are 100% entitled to!) - but just to give you all an estimate of how much this is. All of our tests came back negative and we were cleared to return back home.
We were not able to check into our return flight via our phones. We had to check in at the airlines desk once we arrived to the airport. When checking into our return flight, we had to present documentation of our negative test results in order to be checked in.
If you are staying at a hotel, I have heard that majority of the hotels in Cabo San Lucas are offering COVID testing on site or nearby (at a pharmacy or hotel). I would recommend to have plans for your COVID test in advance. Whether you contact your hotel in advance and get information or finding a specific doctor and making an appointment.
The doctor who performed our COVID testing, is also allowing me to share his contact information with any groups of individuals who are traveling to Cabo San Lucas and would like for him to service their group. In order to receive his contact information, please send me at email - contact@kensthetic.net letting me know you would like his information. Serious inquiries only & PLEASE allow me time to respond (at least a week).
Overall, I would recommend Cabo San Lucas, Mexico as a travel destination if you are looking to getaway right now during the global pandemic. As always, I encourage you all to exercise safe travel precautions and to adhere to all COVID 19 policies and rules in order to remain safe during this period of traveling. Whether you are going on a friendcation, baecation, selfcation - I think that there are a lor of options of things to do in Cabo San Lucas so that you can enjoy yourself.
I do plan on visiting Cabo San Lucas, Mexico again (maybe not anytime soon). The next time I do visit, I would like to stay in a hotel or resort since that does change the experience (vs. staying at an Airbnb or villa).
Comment on this blog post and let me know if you have visited Cabo San Lucas, Mexico already, plan to visit or are inspired to visit after reading through this blog post! Also, you can check out my Cabo San Lucas Travel Guide video on my Youtube channel to check out more details and advice that I have based on my travels to Cabo San Lucas!