We got back to The Pearl on Tuesday, but not before spending an interesting weekend.
Last Friday we moved from our hotel in The Gallery district of San Jose del Cabo to the Zona Hotelera. We stayed at Krystal Grand Los Cabos, an all inclusive resort.
This was our first experience with an all inclusive resort, going in I compared it to a cruise ship, without the ship, and I was not far off. The location was right on the beach, yet it was at the end of the hotel zone which meant it was not close to the shops and restaurants prevalent in the heart of the zone. It is a mid-range basic property, not in the same leagues as the Hyatt and Hilton properties just down the road, and of course, that is reflected in the cost, and the luxury level, but it is much more budget friendly. The staff did make up for a bit of the deficiency in other areas, though overall we were disappointed and will most likely not stay at all inclusive properties again.
The best part of the property was the pools, just hanging out at them is the major activity on the property.
The food offerings were pretty much average, with a couple of exceptions, but the dining experience was not outstanding – reviews on TripAdvisor support our findings. There were only three wine choices: white, red, or champagne which was the best of the three (note the small “c”, this did not come from France). At the Italian restaurant on the first night I had oso buco, which I will admit was quite good.
Pool time gave me sketching time.
If you read my Tuesday post you saw that I was reverting to graphite, which is what I used the most. First I did a few of what I call “shape sketching” because there is little detail, just capturing the shape with 5mm graphite in a KOH-I-NOOR holder. This is easy and quick, and the only way to ruin it is to obsess over the lack of details.
Monday was Tricia’s birthday, though she got her best present on Saturday – be sure to check her post today.
As is our tradition, a good restaurant is part of most any celebration and the resort certainly did not have such an offering. One of our Uber drivers was also a chef, she recommended a place called Acre, a farm to table restaurant at the Acre Resort.
It was about a 20 minute ride from Krystal, the last ten minutes were on a dusty, rutty, dirt road through roughly developed hills. We ended up in a jungle setting with, suprise of surprise, a luxury resort. It was quite a place, with treehouse accommodations as well as cabins. We are not sure about us staying there after we heard that snake sightings are not uncommon. But, the restaurant and the service was such a welcome change from Krystal.
My main was fish tacos.
Since it was Tricia’s birthday they brought Champagne (the real stuff from France) and sorbet. Read more about it an upcoming post on Tricia’s site.
It was a good trip, our first to Mexico in 37 years, and we confirmed that Europe is still our favorite. The pool time was good, but I just don’t really like swimming much any more, and I was even a lifeguard at one time. Yet we are so glad we went, we had some good food and some quality time, but now we are planning for our Europe trip, tickets are in hand for Europe in May.
Would love to hear your thoughts, hope you are enjoying friends in these turbulent days, and capturing some of the moments with pencil and paint.
theTravelsketcher 
There are many more culture filled, beachless destinations in Mexico. Don’t give it up Mexico just yet 😊 Maggie
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I get that, we went to one city in the interior, the name escapes me. Tricia has been to Mexico more times than I have, together we have been there three times. Seen pyramids, Isle Mujeres, Mazatlan, Aucopolco, Zihoutineo (?), Cancun, and a few others. We in general are just not as attracted to tropical destinations. But who knows???
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Have just come from Tricia’s post, smiling! Not surprised about the ‘average, average’ re your hotel . . . pity one has to learn this way. Glad you did find an interesting place to spend some dining hours – the tacos look delicious . . . what ingredient gave them their dark toning?
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The tortillas were blue corn I think, which is a pretty common thing, they look good and have a deeper taste.
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Terry – thanks heaps! You have taught an ignoramus from across the Pond a lesson > I did not even know there is such a variety as ‘blue’ corn. Thanks for the homework – shall find out whether we can get it here!
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It is quite good, bonne chance
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Pity about the resort – I remember my brother did that a few years ago when he was still able to travel and his wife was still alive and they made a huge mistake and ended up in a place full of families and very noisy which did not suit them. The tacos look good and love the sketches by the pool.
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Thank you so much. Overall it was a good trip, plenty of down time, and good food. And we verified our thinking about how we like to travel, still good to be reminded after all these years.
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I admit, I’m not a huge resort type of traveler, although I will say that Krystal Grand Los Cabos looks quite nice, especially that pool! Those fish tacos look good, and I’m always down for a solid fish taco. Happy belated birthday to Tricia, and I’m glad you two are safely back home. Can’t wait to see where you go in Europe later this spring!
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Krystal was good, not great, but the pool was nice. They would not have done the fish tacos as well, glad we went elsewhere for them.
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I’m more of a fan of all-inclusives than you are, but they definitely have a time and a place. There are people we’ve met at all-inclusives who only vacation at all-inclusives! That boggles my mind. I prefer Europe to Mexico, too, but sometimes Mexico/the Caribbean is just easier (and beachier). Looking forward to reading about your return to Europe.
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I can see their place, but would want to kick it up a notch in the quality department, especially food and beverage, which is more important to us than most anything. I think for tropics I prefer Hawaii, which is not any more expensive than Cabo, and only one hour longer flight.
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Oh, that’s good to know. I always thought Hawaii was super expensive. Noted!
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Been awhile since I’ve been to Hawaii, was a time I was there multiple times a year. I don’t think it any more expensive than Cabo, if you look a bit that is.
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