something new happened for our family. we found a new favorite vacation place.

a little backstory: last year, my husband and i went to cabo san lucas for the first time to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary + my grad school graduation. it was a week of perfection. amazing food, the beach, sun + experiencing a new place for us. we had a fantastic stay at the the westin baja point villas. we had been off the plane for about 27 minutes before we looked at each other and said, “we have to bring the boys here.” we were home for about five days and the next trip – with the boys – was booked. passports for the boys were applied for + gotten and we were ready to take them on their first trip out of the united states!

fast-forward to june 2025, the school year was over + we were on our way to cabo! the boys had all the plans to eat all of the tacos. they had all of the plans to use all of the duolingo + spanish class work they had done over the past year+. i had a pile of books and one plan to get back to one of my very favorite places ever with my mom (who went with us!): flora farms. we all were ready to have sand between our toes and to see some incredible sunsets.

here’s the highlights, tips + tricks from our trip:

– tip: take all the sunscreen. wear a hat. reapply sunscreen often.
– tip: the local currency is mexican pesos. all pricing is presented in mexican pesos, but we did find that all of our uber drivers did accept the U.S. dollar as tips. (one of the cutest moments: when we sat down to lunch the day we arrived, alex looked at the menu and freaked out at the pricing…because he thought it was in dollars. i think he said, “mom, oh my gosh, why is this so expensive?”
– trick: there are few swimmable beaches in cabo. the beach at our resort was not swimmable, but it was walkable. there are some public swimmable beaches, but we didn’t feel the pull to go. between walking the beach + our resort pools, we were all good.
– highlight: edith’s in cabo san lucas. my mom, stepdad, and their friends had dinner here when they visited in 2024 and raved about it…and my mom was determined to take us for a special birthday dinner while we were there in june. honestly, i really didn’t know anything about the restaurant except the video she shared with me of the fire coffee they serve. it was insane. it was incredible. hands down, one of the best dining experiences i have ever had, in a beautiful semi-outdoor environment. absolute perfection!
– tip: uber is the best way to get around. just remember: the pricing is in mexican pesos! it was super safe and every driver we had was incredibly kind and helpful!
– highlight: flora farms. this is one of my absolutely favorite places. it’s a 25-acre working farm with a restaurant, gardens, boutique shopping, cooking classes, and so much more. it’s so dreamy. there are flowers everywhere. the food is insanely good. if you just want beauty on your social feed, i highly recommend following their instagram.
– tip: don’t sleep on el merkado. think of this as food trucks, but without the truck (the vendors are in more booth-type settings). my husband and i discovered el merkado when we were there last year, and loved it since we could essentially try a little bit of different dishes.
– highlight: sunset cruise to the arch. we used cabo adventures which was a fantastic experience!

in case you’re wondering, yes the question of “when are we going back?” has already been tossed around in our house. one of the biggest things we love about cabo is that it is so easy to get to. we love hawaii, but it’s a haul to get there and the time change is a little bit of a beast to manage. we were able to get a direct flight out of o’hare to cabo (score!) and the two hour time difference is pretty easy to overcome.

tell me: have you been to cabo? where are your very favorite places to relax + unwind?