We stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort Los Cabos All Inclusive for one week in March of 2019. This is one of those rare resorts that is great for people with kids and people without. The kiddie pool is on one side of the resort and the adults-only pool is on the complete opposite side, with a communal swimming pool in the middle. The resort is located on a beautiful stretch of beach in San José del Cabo and the atmosphere is very quiet and laid back.

THE GOOD

When you land in Los Cabos, you will likely catch a transfer bus or a cab to your resort and it is a very short 20-minute drive from the airport to the Holiday Inn. When you have spent several hours on an airplane, nothing beats a quick drive to the resort!

The Holiday Inn is not a fancy hotel, but it was clean and everyone there worked hard to make our trip a good one. Our room was on the ground floor of one of the buildings relatively close to the main pool and the buffet area. We had a fully accessible bathroom with a wheel-in shower and built-in shower bench. The room itself was spacious and there was a small ramp leading out onto the outdoor patio. On the patio, there was a small sitting/eating area and a giant hammock for lounging in. We had free wi-fi in our room.

There were two main eating locations – the buffet and the restaurant just off the beach. The buffet had your usual fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the beach restaurant was open every day for lunch and for dinner with a reservation. We never made it to the dinner there as the reservation list filled up early in the morning, but we went there pretty much every day for lunch and the food was consistently decent. 

The grounds of the Holiday Inn were really beautiful and well-maintained. The resort is pet-friendly and there were cute little pet relief areas in various locations around the resort. 

The Holiday Inn is situated at the end of a long line of resorts and hotels. To the right, you can walk for miles along the beach behind the hotels. To the left you can walk for miles through a nature reserve and bird sanctuary. I spent a lot of time walking through that area and the scenery was incredible. I saw whales spouting out in the ocean, local fishermen fishing with large nets and I saw tons of unusual birds! The beach, unfortunately, is not accessible. It is quite large and would be really difficult to wheel across, even in a beach chair. If you have the ability to ride a horse, that would be one way to see it all as there are people constantly going up and down the beach on horseback.

Everything you could possibly need is within walking distance of this resort. There is a nice shopping area about 10 minutes away and there is a large supermarket about 20 minutes away (there is an amazing playground across the street from the supermarket). There are several local markets nearby where you can shop for souvenirs and gifts. One of the market areas turns into an art show on Thursday nights, complete with wine, food and music. All of the people we talked to who went said it was amazing. The sidewalks on the main streets are relatively easy to traverse in a wheelchair (they do have curb cuts). They also have a number of bike lanes in Los Cabos, which are smooth, flat and well-maintained. Off the beaten path, you will likely have to wheel on the street to avoid the giant curbs. Also be aware that some of the streets are very hilly!

The Holiday Inn has a number of local vendors spread out in different areas of the resort. If you don’t feel like going too far away to find souvenirs, there is plenty of opportunity to buy things right there.

THE BAD

The food at the resort was your standard Mexican buffet fare. It wasn’t horrible and it wasn’t great. They did try to mix things up from day to day but it often felt heavy and greasy and the desserts were always disappointing (except for the chocolate croissants). It would have been really nice if there were a few more restaurant options.

The decor at the Holiday Inn was nothing fancy. The rooms looked more like a 3-star hotel than a 4-star, but they were clean and functional.

The entertainment was pretty bad compared to what we have seen at other resorts in Mexico. While we were there, they put on an Earth Day celebration and we took the kids to the show. Only one person had a microphone and the show appeared to be very unrehearsed. They had no lighting and you could barely see what was going on. On another night, they did a Mexican celebration with an outdoor buffet and a live show. We definitely could have skipped it and not missed out on anything spectacular.

Due to the strong undertow and riptides, swimming in the ocean here is strongly discouraged. If you enjoy swimming in the ocean, this is not the place for you.  

In terms of accessibility, the main entrance to the hotel has quite a steep ramp to get into a side door. It isn’t a great set-up because if you were going up the ramp by yourself, it would be really difficult to open the door at the top while on an incline.

The beach is not accessible. You will be able to get right up to the sand and, if you’re lucky, you will still be able to see whales out in the ocean. The water is quite a distance away, however. 

There is a fitness facility upstairs in one of the towers and you can get right up to the door, but there are a few steps to get into the gym (and no ramp available). 

THE UGLY

We didn’t notice anything terrible or ugly about this resort. We spent a week there and not a single bad thing happened. None of us got sick or had any stomach issues and the resort and surrounding areas felt incredibly safe. 

OVERALL

Overall, we loved this resort. The flight to get there was short, the price was really reasonable and we have never experienced a more beautiful, expansive beach. The resort itself had a fun pool area for kids and a quiet pool areas for adults. They had a tennis court, a spa, on-site laundry, a kids’ club, a playground, etc. and the resort was large enough that we didn’t feel like it was overly busy (even though it was spring break).

One of the other pleasant surprises about the Holiday Inn was that a lot of guests seemed to be repeat visitors and they were so unbelievably nice. One set of neighbours we had left us with a giant cooler filled with drinks and water for use by the pool. Another set of neighbours left their giant pool floaties for our kids to play with after they went back home. All of the people we encountered around the resort and on the beach were extremely friendly and laid back. I got the feeling that the staff at this resort worked hard to cultivate that atmosphere.

We typically don’t like to go back to the same place twice, but we would definitely go back to the Holiday Inn in Los Cabos. We had a really great experience there.