Arriving at the JW Marriott Los Cabos is meant to feel like an adventure. Driving from Cabo San Lucas into San José del Cabo, with the desert and mountains at your back, you pull into the hotel, a sandstone-colored 299-room resort built in 2015. Pillars tower over 15 feet high and flank the entryway to the lobby. Punctuating your sightline is a reflecting pool, which vanishes perfectly into the horizon line, water meeting sea meeting sky.
The property was designed in alignment with principles of wellness design––long lines, wooden accents brought inside, views from reflecting pools that melt into the Pacific––so walking from the lobby to your room to one of the hotel’s 11 pools, you feel at one with the landscape, which in San José del Cabo is vast. For those unacquainted with Los Cabos, the southern tip of Baja California Sur, the energy is much more West Coast than its easterly answer in Cancún––desert, cliffs, the rich navy Sea of Cortes roaring beyond the bluffs on which the hotel perches, the shoreline striated with black sand.
While the property is well-suited to wellness buffs with a West Coast eye, the resort offers all the amenities for a family-friendly vacation. An adults only pool, hot tub, and swim-up bar take care of patrons who want a more grown-up vacation, while families can enjoy pools outfitted with a volleyball net and water fountains in the shape of elephants and alligators. Among its multiple restaurants onsite, Café des Artistes is suited to date night, whereas MarHumo serves laidback al fresco dining poolside. The breakfast buffet at Uá steals the show with made-to-order smoothies and quesadillas, and––when in Baja California––the Baja fish tacos are a prime poolside bite.
San José del Cabo has a vibrant arts scene, and sunfish can sightsee and snorkel with Pez Gato aboard one of their catamarans or embark on a Pacific whale-watching tour. Golf courses abound around Cabo, and the JW Marriott has its own 27-hole course across the street, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman. The Naaya-Kot Kids and Teens Club offers a host of activities, including outdoor storytelling under the stars, if you want to play 18 holes or visit the Jasha Spa.
The spa was the centerpiece of my visit. The space divides into two gender-divided areas, and both the men’s and women’s sides have a sauna, salt steam shower, cold plunge, hot tub, and relaxation areas. The Temazcal ceremony is one of their signature offerings for groups of three to 20. Using volcanic stones and infusions of purifying herbs inside of a sweat lodge, the temazcalero leads the group through an ancient Mexican ritual involving breathwork, singing, and meditation. I imagined families with adult children might enjoy the communal experience and pictured the Ratliffs from White Lotus finding a moment of collective healing. I visited the spa for a massage on my last day. With returning East on my mind, I, unfortunately, began thinking about taxes that I had to pay. The scalp massage blended the perfect amount of gentle touch and pressure to ground me again in a peaceful place.
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