Reflect Krystal Grand Los Cabos—On the Road to Cabo.
More than two million travelers come to Los Cabos every year and more than half are from the USA. Los Cabos includes two towns with singular personalities. Reflect Krystal Grand Los Cabos faces the sea and behind it spreads San Jose del Cabo, the larger laid-back and artsy green oasis in the desert (because of a river estuary). But when some speak of flying to Cabo, it is to Cabo San Lucas they are bound—legendary retreat and playground of rock icons and movie stars.
There is more than enough at Reflect and the adjacent amiable colonial town to comprise a perfect vacation. But since the view above is a mere half-hour distant, why not check it out?
We arranged for a day trip at the Amstar desk located in a large palapa pavilion behind the sports bar and Tapas and Martini Bar flanking the adult pool.
The Florida Keys have one road connecting them all: Route 1. Likewise, Baja has one road that connects the whole thousand miles from top to bottom. It is Mexican Federal Highway 1, more often called Carretara Transpeninsular. And the name of the corridor from the entrance of Reflect Krystal Grand Los Cabos to the south tip of Baja is lengthened to Carretara Federal Libre Transpeninsular Cabo San Lucas-San Jose del Cabo. Let’s just call it Route 1.
The Baja Peninsula stops dividing the Pacific from the Sea of Cortez at a pile of rocks called Land’s End.
One of the rocks famously has a hole in the middle. Getting close enough for an Instagram-worthy view of El Arco requires a boat. The photo insert is of Anita and Jorge from Monterrey. We met them at the Reflect swim-up bar. They were celebrating their anniversary. Sharing their photo with us, our new amigos saved us the boat ride, affording more time better spent sipping tequila at Cabo Wabo Cantina.
We stopped along the way to view Land’s End from a beach favored by both locals and tourists. Here we view the arch sideways so the hole is concealed. If you must see the arch Google “El Arco” and scroll through a stockpile of hole pictures. But if you can see the hole, you can’t get a massage with this view on Medano Beach. It really does rank high on TripAdvisor.
If you wish to marvel at El Arco up close, get your ticket here at the marina. The Glass Bottom Boat is a popular choice. It joins the flotilla heading out there, just around the corner.
The Marina District is where a lot of the action is. Tons of bars and restaurants. And shopping. An upscale mall, even.
Even fans not already on Social Security know Sammy Hagar is a hair-band rock star who is worth 120 million dollars today because he is a visionary businessman. He saw the bottom end of Baja as a refuge from touring while selling 80 million albums and had the idea that “if he built it, they would come.” And they still come to his laid-back music-themed Cabo Wabo Cantina.
A few years later, he hired a Jalisco distillery to make a bar-brand Cabo Wabo tequila and enlisted a distributor to help kick-start the 100% agave quality tequila boom in the US market. When he cashed out and sold his brand for 90 million dollars he signed a promise that he wouldn’t make a competing tequila. But he never promised not to mix tequila with mezcal and invent a new high-end spirit called Mezquila. He markets Santo with partner Adam Levine of Maroon 5
Sammy hosts birthday bash concerts at Cabo Wabo where he rocks with famous friends and the ticket always costs one dollar times his age. Tickets to the 2019 shows in October sold out at $72 each. Word was that Covid would cancel this year's 2020 bash.
Former bandmate David Lee Roth once said of Sammy: “He’s the kind of guy you go out with to split a bottle with a friend. I’m the kind of guy you go out with if you want to split your friend with a bottle
The desert of Baja is home to the world’s tallest cactus, and you’ll see many from a distance riding to and from the airport. In Cabo I asked Alfredo, our guide, if we could see one up close. Said Alfredo, “I know a place.”
In Cabo, Route 1 hooks up with Route 19 which loops north around the Pacific coast of Baja until circling and reconnecting with Route 1 farther north. Not far out of town the Pacific side landscape turns into this. The Cardon Cactus can grow above 6 stories tall and its thick trunk can be as wide as Danny DeVito is tall (Fact-checked). Summer is the wet season and rains have caused the desert to bloom. In the dry months the green morphs back into desert.
Travelers should know that most of Los Cabos’ sparkling beaches are for Facebook posting and surfing and not for swimming. Riptides are powerful and wicked undertow can easily carry a weak swimmer away from shore and will not promise the ride will be round-trip. But the views of the rollers are stunning and four pools at Reflect Krystal Grand Los Cabos provide acres of cool H2O on a steamy summer afternoon. There are secluded and protected placid public beaches along the road to Cabo San Lucas that are popular for snorkeling.
Back on Route 1 heading back to the resort from Cabo, we visit one of the best of them: Playa Chileno.
Chileno Beach is the favorite of locals and has shiny new public bathrooms. Stainless steel urinals! There is walk-in snorkeling. Sea urchins and starfish are abundant. Nice assortment of fish in shallow tide pools with turtles and octopus farther out among the rocks.
Lots of crabs skitter across the rocky end of the beach. In whale season stick your head underwater and listen for their songs.
Pro tip: We spoke to a fan of this beach who advises to bring frozen peas. Fish love them and may swarm you.
North on Route 1 just before arriving back at the resort we pause at a scenic overlook with a view to Zippers surfing beach and Reflect Krystal Grand Los Cabos beyond. Between Playa Chileno and here we passed El Dorado, the most expensive refuge for the very rich in Los Cabos. There, George Clooney and a pal paid a distillery a few years ago to make their own vanity label tequila to serve to friends at house parties. A few years later Casamigos Tequila was bought out for a billion dollars. Los Cabos has been very, very good for celebrity tequilas.
If you neglected to buy Sammy’s tequila at the Cantina in town, you will have another opportunity to enrich him at the Cabo Wabo gift shop at the airport.