Rockin’ the Holidays: Our Family Review of Hard Rock Hotel Los Cabos
We had a great time at the Hard Rock. There was lots to do and the food was decent.
If you’ve been following CarryOnTwins.com, you know that traveling with six-year-olds requires a specific blend of patience, organization and entertainment. This past December, we decided to trade the snow for the desert sands of Baja California, arriving on Christmas Eve for a seven-night stay at the Hard Rock Hotel Los Cabos.
From "the towel game" to hidden booking gems, here is the breakdown of our experience at this rock-and-roll paradise.
💰 The Booking Hack: Saving $1,500
Before we dive into the resort, a quick tip for your wallet: Shop around. We booked our one-bedroom suite through Booking.com and saved roughly $1,500 compared to the Hard Rock’s direct website.
Even better? Upon check-in, we discovered our reservation included a $200 per night room credit for the spa, bowling and activities. This wasn't mentioned in our confirmation, but it turned out to be a game-changer for our stay.
Pro Tip: Your room keys are wristbands. They are super convenient, but keep a close eye on them—there is a $100 charge for lost bands!
🏨 The Room: Space to Breathe
The twins provide a room tour.
Traveling with twins means space is a non-negotiable. Our Junior suite featured:
The Layout: A king bedroom for us and a living area with a pull-out bed for the twins. The ability to close the bedroom doors while the kids still had their own access to the bathroom was a lifesaver for everyone’s sleep.
The Amenities: A large balcony with a dining table and an outdoor jacuzzi (which the kids treated like their own private hot tub). The dining table was great for frequent room service orders.
Modern Vibes: The resort opened in 2019, so the tech and decor feel fresh, including a tablet next to the bed where you could check out activities, place room service orders, etc. Though the bathroom felt a bit more dated and the shower took a surprisingly long time to get hot.
Tech-Forward Service: We loved the resort app. We could order room service or request turndown service and extra linens without making a single phone call. When one of the twins got sick in the middle of the night, fresh bedding arrived in 20 minutes.
☀️ The Pool & The "Towel Game"
The Hard Rock Los Cabos is located in the Diamante community. While Nobu is next door, there isn't much else within walking distance, and the ocean has significant currents that make it unswimmable. The beach is large and wide, but the resort does not have beach umbrellas set up and there is no beach service.
This means the action is all at the pools.
The Struggle: Because it was Christmas week, the resort was at capacity. If you weren’t down at the main pool by 8:00 AM, every single chair was claimed by a towel at the main pool.
The Solution: We’d love to see the resort add more seating or allow guests to use the "Loyalist/Timeshare" pool when the main area is overflowing. One day we found an alternative pool away from the main pool with some chairs which provided relief. But even the adults pool near the beach was overcapacity when we used it while the twins were at the kids club.
The Service: Despite the crowds, the service was incredible. A huge shoutout to Ruben, who was a machine—zipping between groups to keep the drinks and lunch orders flowing.
Swim Up: Most pools had swim up bars and the kids loved ordering cherry temples and drinks like an adult. We brought uninflated floaties for ease of keeping in our carry on luggage, and the gift shop by the main pool nicely filled them up with air for us.
🍽️ Dining: Hits and Misses
The food was good, though not "exceptional." The standout issue was the reservation system—or lack thereof. Only the Hibachi restaurant (Zen) allowed reservations. For the Italian (Ciao) and the steakhouse (Toro), we often faced hour-long waits.
Ciao: Our favorite. The risotto, calamari, and pasta were top-notch. Though we did wait an hour on our last night for a table. It also has a breakfast buffet each day, which we didn’t find a whole lot different there than the regular buffet “The Market”, It would be nice if there was a restaurant that offered a la carte for breakfast.
The Hibachi: A total win for six-year-olds. The fire and "chef show" kept them mesmerized. Zen also has an a la carte option where you don’t need reservations, but we didn’t try it.
Los Gallos: open for lunch and dinner, this restaurant offered traditional Mexican food. It also had a la carte and buffet options for lunch — it just depended on the day.
Umo: Featured local cuisine and some great fish and steak options. This restaurant was off on its own below one of the room towers, but still had a wait.
Toro: steakhouse had the longest wait of any of the restaurants we tried. The service was great and while the steaks were the featured items, seafood and other protein options were available.
The Market: We ate here most mornings except one stop at Ciao for breakfast. It was a standard buffet, with made to order eggs, some local specialties and pastries. The food was fine. Nothing exceptional. Service here was worse than the dinner spots, as we frequently waited a while for drinks or even salt and pepper.
The Drinks: For an all-inclusive, the wine was surprisingly good (and served at the right temperature! There is nothing worse than room temperature reds when it is warm outside). We also loved the "cart bars" that popped up throughout the day. Mimosas outside the breakfast buffet and craft cocktails in the evenings. The main lobby had a bar open all day, with an outdoor patio bar available as well where you could look out at the main pool and was elevated so you could see the ocean as well.
Snacks: There is a coffee shop just off the main lobby. It served sandwiches, coffees and a number of flavors of ice cream for the kids. The service was typically fast as well.
Our twins recap their day while enjoying some ice cream.
🎸 For the Kids (and the Parents!)
The Hard Rock Kids Club is one of the best we’ve encountered. They offer three sessions (Morning, Afternoon, and Evening) with breaks for lunch and dinner. Reservations are required, and we would make reservations for the next session when dropping the twins off at the current one. One day, they did lose our reservation and meant we had to wait an hour to come back, but it wasn’t a huge problem.
The Perks: It stays open until 8:30 PM, which allowed us to have several kid-free dinners. It opens at 9am each day with formal programing starting at 10am.
The Activities: Our twins came back with crafts, face painting, stories of pool games and memories of movie nights. Christmas evening featured a screening of “Home Alone” just off the lobby.
The Entertainment: The 8:30 PM nightly shows were high-production. The Circus show and the Michael Jackson tribute were family favorites. Each was only an hour long which made for easy activities in the evening.
The Staff: Was incredibly kind, learning our twins names quickly and when we went to say goodbye on checkout day, gave the twins each a nice tshirt.
Waterslides: There were three waterslides just off to the side of the main pool. There are lifeguards on duty throughout the resort, including at the waterslides.
💆♂️ The Spa & Extras
We put that $200/night credit to good use. The spa allowed us to combine credits from multiple days, which turned a $600 couples massage into a $180 service charge. We also squeezed in a $40 haircut and their onsite salon! 30 percent service charge was steep if you didn’t have the resort credit, so we wouldn’t have used it if we didn’t have it.
If you’re feeling active, there is a massive gym, bowling alley, and courts for pickleball, tennis, and basketball. The bowling alley is connected to another bar and turns into a bit of a night club at night, but we were back in our room by 10pm each night so didn’t experience the club. There are also pool tables, shuffleboard tables and foosball tables just off of the lobby bar, with TVs showing sporting events.
If you are looking for an escape room activity, the resort has those on site for an extra charge.
We arrived on Christmas Eve and left on New Years Eve. There was a large buffet and show on one of the patios on Christmas Eve and the crew was setting up a massive festival sized stage for New Years Eve. While we missed it, we know they had fireworks and live music to ring in the new year.
Naturally this being a Hard Rock, there was tons of music memorabilia from John Lennon’s camera to guitars.
🐢 Turtles!
Turtles are hatched into the sea!
On our last full day, the twins got to experience the hatching of over 200 turtles and their journey to the see. The turtles nested in the sand right in front of the resort and then a team came and helped them into the water. Great stuff!
🏁 The Verdict
For $6,200 for seven nights (for a family of four in a suite), we feel like we got a great deal. While the "towel game" and restaurant wait times were frustrating, the quality of the service, the kids' programming and the modern rooms made it a fantastic Christmas getaway.
Would we go back? Absolutely! As long as we can snag that Booking.com price again!
