Take 25 - The Hotel - Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas

Take 25 - The Hotel - Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas

There is a gazillion and one hotels in the world, some of them 'run of the mill" and some of them that really stand out and cause you to talk about them for a long time, even  after you have checked out and returned home.

I mentioned in my previous post that I would tell you about the hotel we stayed at in Cabo San Lucas. Before I say anything about it, please understand that I was not paid nor offered any incentives to say what I am about to say about this hotel. I am simply sharing because my husband and I were  very impressed by the location, the service, the decor, the food, etc.

The first thing I must say is that the Riu Palace in Cabo San Lucas is part of a chain of hotels that originated in Spain in the 1950s and still, to this day, is a family owned company, with its headquarters in Majorca.  Of all the places where they have resorts,  here are a few locations I remember reading about : Varadero, Cuba, 5 locations + in Dominican Republic, Palm Beach, Florida, ........ and so many more.

At the Riu Palace, Cabo San Lucas, rooms are large, comfortable and well appointed with a sunken mini living room and a large balcony. The bathrooms are large with a double sink vanity. The water is plentiful, very hot and with great pressure. The floors are tiled and the air conditioning is very efficient. There is a small fridge filled with drinks (alcoholic and non) and something I had never seen before in a hotel, a contraption with  four bottles of hard liquor installed upside down above the mini-fridge (for those who wish to enjoy them) where you simply press your glass upward and your liquid of choice is dispensed (we tried the gadget for fun).

There are several beautiful swimming pools, large and small, all with plenty of seating possibilities and at certain times of day, activities for everyone. There is a grill and chef poolside at lunchtime for those who wish to tan and eat uninterrupted. 


There are several restaurants on the premises, some requiring reservations and some that don't. The food is mostly outstanding and more than plentiful. Several bars are also there, each with a different look and every one of them with excellent service. There is even a stage at one of them and at night there are shows with a different theme each evening.

One restaurant charmed us beyond all others; so much so that we frequented it three times during our 5-day stay. I am talking about the Japanese one. Having lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, David and I have a certain knowledge of Japanese food. The food at the Misaki was truly outstanding. I will include photos of several dishes.  The desserts were out of this world. The decor of the restaurant was truly authentic including a pond with a gurgling fountain. Even some shamisen music was softly piped in through the hidden speakers. The only thing missing ? A few koi to complete the Japanese illusion. You could have easily sworn you were in Japan. (Photos to come in a couple of days)

Another wonderful place to eat breakfast and dinner was ............ This was a huge room decorated in the style of an elegant French dining room with chandeliers, high ceilings, tall windows dressed with beautiful plein jour curtains and lovely drapes. The food there was also delicious and the choices were endless. The desserts were also quite impressive including a chocolate fountain, a huge selection of ice cream and all of the ingredients to make a fine sundae creation, if that is your thing. There were also lots of petits fours to make your mouth drool as well as flan, panna cotta and chocolate truffles.

There are too many amenities at that resort to list them all here and I apologize for the one I may have omitted, but suffice it to say that it is the perfect place to relax and enjoy life with an incredible view of the Sea of Cortes to boot.  However,  one thing I must tell you about is the quality of the service. Anytime you ask a staff member a question, you are given a quick, polite and efficient response. Your requests for a product or service are met quickly and efficiently and personnel will go beyond the call to satisfy you. We even experienced a totally awesome event. We had gone to one of the bars to get a pre-dinner drink. When our waiter approached us to take our order, I asked if he had something bubbly and explained we were celebrating some news we had just received via email. He seemed genuinely delighted for us and told us he had champagne if we wanted it. We immediately agreed to one glass each. He then asked us if we would like to have a bottle sent to our room ? We were stunned by his offer and immediately agreed. Then, when we offered him a tip, he politely declined and said it was a pleasure for him to do his job and make us happy. How cool is that ? Ok, so the champagne turned out to be Portuguese bubbly wine but it was a very good bubbly. Also, everything is included at that resort, even a bottle sent to your room, but the mere fact that he suggested having a bottle sent to our room was of the utmost kindness to us.

This resort does not quality as cheap tourism and is worth every dollar you will spend there. Personally, we  can only say good things about this place and we will most certainly try and experience another of their resorts in another part of the world, some day soon.




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Take 24 - A Little Trip Down South - Cabo San Lucas way

Take 24 - A little trip down South - Cabo San Lucas way

I might have mentioned this before, but my husband David works for Google and at that company, when employees meet deadlines, reach milestones or do something extraordinary the company generously rewards them, usually per department, because of the size of the company. The rewards can be different things or events and this time, it was a three-day trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Yeah, airfare, hotel and all the bells and whistles ! And not just any hotel, an all exclusive top of the line vacation resort.

Each employee could invite a Plus One as long as this Plus One paid for her or his flight.  Well, naturally, I tagged along (who wouldn't?)  and we were given the option to add a couple of days' stay before or after the three-day event, which we did. We opted to add two days at the end of the week. Additionally, we were provided will all shuttle services. Living here in San Jose, California  and visiting Mexico is not such a  big stretch since we are surrounded by people of Mexican descent in all spheres of life. We hear people speaking Spanish every day here. Who knew there were still so many Mexicans in Mexico. We thought they all had moved to California, particularly to San Jose. :-)))

 Our hotel was the Rui Palace, an All Inclusive -24 hour type of resort. Man have all-inclusives ever changed since the last time I stayed at one ! Mine had been the cheap tourism type. Not in this case. How do I put this? So many things are  included in the package, you forget to use them all. An orgy of food and alcoholic beverages as well as all types of bottled water. What ???  Let's just say that us Paleo (ers)  had plenty of things to chose from and did not have to worry about our next meal.  Cabo, means Cape and there are two of them. Namely, Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. This area of Mexico is high end tourism. Nothing cheap here. 

We had a main event on the night of our arrival with all employees (about 100) and their Plus One invited to dinner on the beach as well as a karaoke where several employees showed off their pipes.After watching and listening in pain to a few employees, we walked away and sat on the side of the pool, dangling our feet in the water and chatted while listening to the waves crashing nearby. Ahhhhh, so romantic and relaxing too.

 The rest of the week had several activities and lots of free time. We had booked an excursion called A taste of Cabo which turned out to be, an excursion on a glass bottomed boat that enabled us to observe angel fish and clown fish as well as granite rocks while seriously rocking on waves on the Sea of Cortes. During this activity we also had a visit to a Tequila factory with tasting, a visit to a Glass blowing studio, lunch in the  beautiful courtyard of a San Jose de Cabo restaurant, a visit of a Mission and a short shopping session,  all of this on  a very very hot day. In conclusion, those five days were filled with walks, great meals, restorative naps and even a visit from a beautiful cat, which had probably escaped from a nearby villa to come and beg a few morsels of fish from resort guests enjoying dinner outside. A smart cat indeed !

No recipe in this post.  In my next blog, I will tell you about the Riu Palace in greater detail.

Hasta Luego !