The year 2021 was a big year for me. The Hubby and I celebrated 25 years of marriage and last week, I turned the big 5-0.

Earlier this year I thought it would be fun to stay at an all-inclusive in Cabo San Lucas. This is one of my favorite cities in Mexico to visit. We had been there a number of times pre-children and decided to take the kids in 2019 – wow has downtown Cabo changed!

For this trip it was adults only. The Hubby and myself were joined with two other couples who we consider our very best friends. We have known them since college – they are truly remarkable friendships.

We landed on the Hard Rock Hotel Los Cabos as our resort and got a screamin’ deal on the All-Inclusive fees. Our trip was 5 days and 4 nights with the arrival on my birthday.

My bestie and I do enjoy taking selfies, so there are plenty of those here! But also wanted to share details about the hotel as well as a couple of places we visited in town.

There were many restaurants available to us and upon check in, we made dinner reservations for the three nights we were dining on property. Our rooms weren’t quite ready so we headed to Los Gallos down by the main pool to enjoy Mexican food along with the live band that was playing at the pool. There was a big table seated just before us, so our food took a bit of time, but we ate plenty of chips, enjoyed our cold beverages, and listened to the music. The food was excellent and hit the spot after traveling. Happy Birthday song and dessert from the wait staff #1 was here!

After checking into our rooms, we headed to the pool to hang out for a bit before dinner. There are 5 pools available (1 is for members only) so plenty of choices. Each couple had their own room with a balcony, here is the view from ours.

Our dinner reservations that night were at Zen, we did not eat at the teppanyaki tables, but instead enjoyed sushi and other Chinese and Japanese dishes served to us. Service was a little slow here too, but then we decided that maybe we we needed to relax and not rush so much! Happy Birthday song and dessert from wait staff #2 was here!

Right next to Zen was the Moonlight Bar, Lounge, and Bowling Ally. While no one was bowling, there were plenty of people there dancing away to a DJ – what a fun night of dancing for my birthday!

Thursday we had a pool day and early dinner reservations – more to come on that. We enjoyed a buffet breakfast at The Market and once we got down to the pool area, weren’t really finding what we wanted as a space to chill for the day. I told The Hubby I was heading to the vacation planner hut to see if a cabana was available for the day. Score! Balinese Bed Cabana at Rhythm Pool (also adults only pool) for $95 – done! It worked out perfectly, we were right by the pool which overlooked the ocean (and we saw whales!) and had a shady spot to hang out for lunch. We had a fun waiter at this pool as well – Fernando 911 – he told us to yell 911 whenever we needed more cocktails! You can see my TikTok video of him here.

For dinner we had booked a premium table and birthday celebration package at Sunset Monalisa. The Hubby and I took our boys there in 2019 – it was spectacular. After telling our friends about it, they couldn’t wait to experience it themselves. This is a top rated restaurant with all of their tables outdoors built into the side of a cliff overlooking the water. You have your table for the evening and there are several tasting menu options from which to choose.

With our birthday package, we had a premium table location, fresh flowers and candles on the table, and a custom birthday cake for 6 (it was huge and could have fed 12!). At sunset there is a ceremony where the staff is blowing into conch shells to signify the end of the day.

This is an amazing place to watch the sunset and take lots of memorable photos!

We all chose the 3 course tasting dinner but since we had a cake arriving for dessert, we requested a salad as another course to swap out for the dessert course. The restaurant happily accommodated. And of course, Happy Birthday song and dessert from wait staff #3 was here!

On Friday we planned to head into town for a few hours to hit some of our favorite spots. As we did for our visit to Sunset Monalisa, we arranged transportation through the hotel into town on Friday, which worked out perfectly for 6 people.

We started at the Giggling Marlin for a bucket of beers then headed over to the Plaza Los Mariachis as our plan was to order the famous Rainbow Shot from MCO (formerly known as Rip’s) and then head to Cabo Wabo. The Rainbow Shot is a really cool process that we saw for the first time many years ago during our first visit. For $10, it’s worth it! You can watch the pouring process on my TikTok here.

After a little shopping in the plaza, we made our way to Cabo Wabo. I am a HUGE Van Hager fan and so is my friend Derek. It’s fun to check out all of the photos and memorabilia inside. We enjoyed lunch and beers on the patio – if you order nachos, ask for extra jalapeños – you won’t regret it!

Lastly we headed to Squid Roe. Pictures say enough. Happy Birthday song and dessert from wait staff #4 was here!

We headed back to the hotel and headed to the pool. HRH Los Cabos has these amazing papasan type swings that hang over water, in the shade, perfect for a nap!

Friday night’s dinner reservation was at Ciao, this is an Italian restaurant and the service was impeccable here! The food was delicious and of course…Happy Birthday song and dessert from wait staff #5 was here!

For our final full day at the resort, we had pre-booked a Super Cabana at the Lyric Pool. This was a fantastic cabana – complete with a bathroom and shower! Plenty of room to hang in the shade and super close to the pool. With a very attentive staff, we were taking care of all day long. We brought a bunch of birthday decorations to hang in the cabana as well – we had the most festive cabana at the pool! Guess what? Happy Birthday song and dessert from the waitstaff #6 was here!

Our final dinner was at Toro which was the steakhouse on property. This was a tough reservation to get! We ended up with a 9:00 p.m. seating – which worked out well to give us max time at the pool. Once again the service was amazing and the food was delicious. They put a big HBD at the end of our table and enjoyed the Happy Birthday song and dessert from the waitstaff #7!

I would recommend the Hard Rock Hotel Los Cabos for anyone looking for an All-Inclusive in Cabo San Lucas. It is at the end of the peninsula, so no swimming and a bit of a drive into town – but worth it.

Link to full weekend TikTok here!!!

We are so fortunate to have our amazing friends from college and couldn’t have had a better 50th birthday weekend with them!

Cheers!