There’s generic hotels, good hotels, and destination hotels. The Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal is one of those destination hotels, and is often seen by many as Hilton Hotel’s crown jewels in North America. The Waldorf Astoria brand is Hilton’s flagship brand with 38 properties, and is named after the famous Waldorf Astoria New York (under construction until 2025). To be honest, I can’t seem to find any unique traditions outside of the Peacock Alley bar that each hotel offers, though that didn’t seem to matter for our trip. Being a grad trip, we did splurge a bit, as prices were around $1,400 a night…and that was before the mandatory 18% tip and 16% tax!

Location

The Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal is located at the bottom tip of the Cabo San Lucas, which is around 45 minutes from Los Cabos Airport. It’s also situated around 15 minutes from downtown Cabo, 5 minutes from the Marina and near to a Walmart - it’s a good balance between being it’s own isolated island whilst still having access to the outdoors.

Upon Ubering to the hotel, we were greeted by a nice gentleman who double checked our reservation, and asked for our welcome drink orders (alcohol, and non-alcoholic).

One of the coolest part of the hotels is the tunnel that you have to drive through when you get there, which goes through the middle of a mountain. There is a scary statue in the middle of it though.

Greeting us was Hugo, our concierge, and a few team members to help with our bags. And of course, some wonderful cocktails.

Definitely wild to be a few college students sipping margs whilst everyone else was in class :D. If you look in the background, there are also a bunch of golf carts which can be used to drive you around, including through the tunnel through the entrance.

Look at the beautiful lobby! Back to check in: we were upgraded to an Ocean View Deluxe 2 Queen Bed with Plunge Pool from the base Pacific View King Bed, which is around a ~$200 difference.

I actually preferred our room, which was near the lobby, as it would have been a bit too much work to call a buggy all the time for such a short distance.

Furthermore, I really like the beach vibes of the hallways, which were grounded by a large, and extremely heavy door. In addition, the hotel put a little doll indicating when housekeeping was working, which I thought was super cute!

Room

The Ocean View Deluxe 2 Queen Bed with Plunge Pool was 865 sq ft, although the hotel counted in the private plunge pool as part of the room, so the actual room was a bit on the smaller side. The entrance of the room was grounded by a massive table / mini fridge, and topped with free, bottled water, a Nespresso and Clase Azul Reposado. The last item costs about $175, and one can take the decanter home once finished!

The mini-fridge had complementary bottled water, Coca-cola, soda water, juice, and coffee ingredients.

We used the fridge to store a massive papaya from Walmart, which we never ended up eating.

The room was grounded by comfy queen beds, though I was relegated to a roll in bed because the air conditioning hit that bed too hard :(. The hotel usually charges $100 for the bed, but was nice enough to waive the fee for our journey.

The room also contained a massive closest (rightmost door), as well as a fireplace that we elected not to turn on. But beyond the beds, in the middle of the room was a small table that had a list of all the hotel amenities. This was where the hotel staff would leave cute turnover cookies for us!

Speaking of free stuff, the hotel also dropped off beers (or non-alcoholic equivalent), chips, guac and other sauces at between 4-5PM.

While I wasn’t able to take a picture of the entire room, it did feel like the main living area was around 400 sq ft, so with 3 beds and some furniture it did feel a bit tight. Though it was redeemed by the wonderful balcony / plunge pool.

My minor complaint was that the pool was a bit too cold; however, given the facilities of the hotel we only used this area to do calls / homework .

Finally, we have the bathroom, which was one of the most splendid I had ever seen: it included a massive door, toilet, double sink, massive bathtub and shower.

The bathtub was amazing for an evening rinse off, and if you’re in the mood for it the hotel offers several salt baths.

Overall, I really enjoyed the room, and it balanced well between artisanal and modern. That being said, at a hotel of this caliber you didn’t plan to spend your time just in the room!

Amenities

Because you can just spend it in the gym. The hotel gym was pretty good, and was split into several rooms: main, weightlifting, studio. In addition, there was an actual squat rack, and weights that were heavy. Beyond that, there was also a complementary yoga session at 8:00AM, as well as hikes and private training sessions.

The yoga session was definitely stretching out, although it was a bit annoying that some people showed up late and disturbed the session - show up on time people! I took one picture whilst recovering from the session of the roof of the outdoor yoga studio.

If you’re looking for a less strenuous activity, one can go shopping at the AlmArte, though in my opinion there much better options in town.

Or if one needs to get work done, this is a small business center next to the gym, which my friend used to print out some important last minute paperwork!

There is also a spa at the Waldorf Astoria, with price points that certainly befit a place charging up to $2,000 a night.

But the main reason people venture to this part of the world, besides the view, is to look at said views from the pool. Remember, one can’t swim in the beaches at Los Cabos.

The hotel was great in providing cool looking and cool refillable water bottles for the guests, as well as a variety of snacks.

The lounge chairs can get filled up quickly, so by sure to either reserve them early or pay extra for one of the larger cabanas.

If you didn’t want to look at the beach, you could hang by one of the many plunge pools, including family friendly and adult ones. Those who book a villa also get their own private lounge chairs, though everyone can also see you, which I feel kind of defeats the point of the privacy.

The architecture of the hotel is certainty something to be marveled at, combining Mexican culture with a rustic feel.

The hotel also puts some incredibly cut decorations around the hotel, and I was told that they also do themed ones based on specific holidays.

The hotel also looks stunning at night, and I spent one night just sipping tequila strolling the grounds and vibing by the fireplace.

Dining

Let’s start with the famous Peacock alley - at the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos, it was the Agave Study, a sophisticated bar which offered tequila tastings and teachings.

The main restaurant is Don Manuel’s, and for a restaurant / hotel of this caliber, I feel it definitely had good value.

Breakfast for status members was continental, although one could pay a $20 upgrade for a full buffet. The full includes various hot traditional Mexico dishes, along with a made to order egg station, a variety of pastries and cold dishes, as well as healthy beverage choices.

If you dine there at night, there is live music, and the restaurant turns into a more formal affair.

However, we thought that it would be best to dine at El Farallon - the views here are bloody spectacular. Its best to get there at around 6 / 6:15PM to get in the full sunset experience, so make sure you reserve several weeks in advance.

The hotel does make you wait a bit in the champagne terrace if you don’t have a reservation - the prices here are steep, but might be worth it for the sunset views!

This fine dining restaurant offers a 5 course meal with a choice of main, with the highlight being that everything is caught freshly that day.

I really like my food, with the exception of the creamy risotto, which was heavily oversalted.

One of my friends have a lactose allergy, and so the kitchen kindly made a new, special dish for her (chocolate cake). The concierge kindly informed the kitchen of our impending graduation, and we got a nice unique treat!

If you can afford it, there is also an extensive and insanely expensive wine list.

We could only afford a $80 bottle lol.

There also is a champagne bar called Va y Viene, with glasses starting at $35 a bottle - it seemed to be only open at request, as we saw it was closed most of the time. We used it to take photos for Instagram.

There are also a few other venues, such as the Neutral Coffee Lab, a Beach Club, and pool dining for the real ballers (its like $35-40 for a SALAD).

Service

Excellent. The Waldorf’s service was slightly better than the Ritz Carlton Cancun’s, which was already amazing. Being a graduation trip to a Five-Star hotel, I had high standards, and sent the concierge over a list of items, which were quickly attended to. I made a rookie mistake, and forgot to book El Farallon restaurant in advance. Hugo, our amazing concierge, pulled a few strings, and got us an amazing seaside table at the prime time of 6:15PM. Throughout our stay there, the staff was warm, but not overbearing, which included tactical things like refilling water bottles and feeding us to giving us suggestions of the best places take pictures and off-premise recommendations. Bravo, the hotel has earned it’s 5 star rating.

The Point

This hotel ranks within the top 3 hotels I have stay in my lifetime, the others being the Ritz Carlton Hong Kong and Al Maha. The grounds were breathtaking day and night, mixing in traditional Mexican themes with modern luxuries. The room was wonderfully decorated, with the hotel providing us far too many snacks and drinks at our time there. And to top it all off, the hotel was cared for by an enthusiastic, professional team that made it feel each guest was their only guest - after all, see the last photo of fresh fish being caught! Very few places are once in a lifetime, but this one certain makes it onto that list: we saw fireworks, wedding, and joy from all of the guests.

Oct 27 WOW - Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal

Location

Room

Amenities

Dining

Service

The Point

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Oct 27 WOW - Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal

Location

Room

Amenities

Dining

Service

The Point

Oct 27 The Wonderful Ritz Carlton Hong Kong