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“Garza Blanca,” or “White Swan,” evokes a refined, graceful image. While the Garza Blanca Los Cabos does indeed reflect a swan’s image, it also reflects a swan’s personality: caring towards those in its charge, but at times aggressive.
Garza Blanca Los Cabos Review:
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First Impressions
Stepping through the entrance of Garza Blanca Los Cabos, you find yourself in a lobby that’s open, beachy, yet elegant. The space is defined by shimmering tones of silver and gold.
Floor-to-ceiling bleached bamboo divide sitting areas in an interesting way. Light wooden accents appear in the coffee tables and decor. There’s even a large boat standing vertically in the center of the room to remind you that you’re on the water.
Tall, teardrop-shaped seats reminiscent of peacock feathers give a fun pop of color and make for a great photo op.
The staff at check-in were friendly and talkative. I learned the Garza Blanca was at around 80-85% capacity during my visit. Most of their guests throughout the year are Americans, and 95% of guests are English-speaking. The hotel is cashless, although tips are welcomed.
The resort hosts 2-3 weddings a month and a party of 100 were arriving the next day (an encounter I’ll recount shortly). Staff also told me they believed the third week of October is the best week to visit Los Cabos, as the rainy season’s over but it’s not too hot or humid.
I was escorted to my room personally and given a tour of its contents while the staff member and I discussed the Spanish language. Overall, a really solid and warm welcome to the Garza Blanca Los Cabos.
The Room
The junior suite’s bright white interior with green and gold accents continue the “beachy, yet elegant” vibe. Gilded feathers and birds glitter on the walls. The partial room divider features an interesting teardrop pattern and delivers another golden pop.
The coffee bar and mini fridge are combined together in what appears to be a large luggage case, full of complimentary bottled water and Nespresso coffee pods.
Floor-to-ceiling white stone surrounds the TV, framed by thin mirrored sections of the same height. An interesting focal point of the room. You can use Chromecast to connect to the TV and order room service.
It took me far too long to learn the curtains were electrically operated. Let me save you the embarrassment – the switch may be hidden behind your bedside lamp. I discovered this fact when the curtains opened by themselves once. It was almost Día de Muertos; there was probably a ghost in the room.
Very bright backlit mirrors appear both at the vanity next to the TV and in the bathroom. The giant one in the bathroom serves as the main source of light and, for me, did almost too good of a job.
The sinks are an interesting teardrop shape, accompanied by more bottled water for toothbrushing. (PSA: Don’t use the tap water to brush your teeth!) I couldn’t find any amenity kits apart from the standard soap and shower supplies.
My stay at the Garza Blanca Resort and Spa Los Cabos marked my first time experiencing a Toto toilet. The warm seat was surprisingly pleasant, but I certainly wasn’t expecting to be introduced to a Japanese toilet in Mexico.
The bathroom’s centerpiece is an awesome freestanding bathtub that was long enough that I could fully stretch out in it, which isn’t usually the case.
Note that there is zero privacy with this bathtub (and bathroom in general). The partial room divider extends a little but you can see right through it. You can’t see through the frosted glass doors to the shower and toilet, but you would still play exhibitionist when exiting the shower to get dressed. The bathroom is essentially open-concept with the rest of the suite. (One of the larger room layouts may remedy this.)
There were candles on a ledge next to the tub but no matches to light them. Probably the right move for safety if kids are staying in the room, but bothersome for the introverts who would have to ask staff to bring them.
The only design element in the room that seemed out of place was the dark iridescent backsplash and tiling in the shower and around the tub. While fun and helpful in dividing the otherwise open areas, I think a dark green would have harmonized better with the rest of the room’s concept.
One unique feature of the suites at Garza Blanca Los Cabos is that there’s a hammock stretched across every balcony. I surprised myself and took an unintended nap in said hammock. I also liked how some balconies had window boxes for greenery.
Design & Layout
It seems like they want you to feel that the resort is one with the ocean, like you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. The ocean view is the focal point of Garza Blanca Los Cabos, and for good reason. Many of the resort’s features highlight the stunning ocean scenery.
From the rooftop infinity pool, it’s as if you’re floating in the ocean itself. Extending from the lobby is an expansive balcony with some seating where you can take in the prime center view of the water. The main walkway through the pool area leads to an elevated lounge platform that exhibits yet another stunning view.
Perhaps the most striking visual comes from the fire-orange tree in the pool courtyard. The warm hues contrast perfectly with the teal of the water behind it, making for a popular photo op.
Whimsical statues border the walkways around the pools.
While there are many interesting features, both the design and layout of the hotel are incongruous. The layout of the resort is not intuitive. If a map isn’t provided at check-in, I recommend asking for one.
You come in the main hotel entrance directly into the lobby, on the fifth floor. The gym’s on the sixth floor. The spa’s on the ninth. Access to the main pools and restaurants is on the second floor. The first floor is for employees only. After many misadventures, I quested to the concierge for a map to end my suffering.
Contrary to the JW Marriott Los Cabos, there’s not a lot of greenery incorporated into the design. There are quite a few palm trees dispersed throughout the pool area with some small patches of grass. Outside of those, plants are limited to the various balcony boxes.
The design disharmony was most apparent in the hallways. Beautiful wallpapered images greeted you as you stepped off the elevator, and then tall vertical frames featuring photography of varying themes sparsely decorated otherwise blank walls. The images they chose didn’t really make sense together or jell with the rest of the branding. I was on the Buddha floor (perhaps because it was home to the gym and wellness room, but that could be a stretch).
Other photos ranged from artistic portraits to the Grand Canyon to moody trees. It just didn’t make sense. There were also some awkward blank spaces. Since they clearly weren’t going for a minimalist aesthetic, it just seemed empty in places, like they didn’t know what to fill the space with. The hallways felt more like an unremarkable corporate hotel than a fun tropical resort on the beach.
Most restaurants had a “casual elegant” dress code, and it seems that was the vibe the hotel was aiming for with their decor. However, the hallways were a miss. It would have better served their branding if they stuck with the silver and gold scheme they nicely established elsewhere. Foiled artwork and metal pieces on the walls would have been a better design choice, I think.
Outside of your room, your places to hang out are the pool area, beach, rooftop, lobby, and a TV room with a pool table. During my stay, these places were always crowded unless it was quite early.
Food
When I visited the concierge for a map, they mentioned reservations were necessary for dinner every night because the restaurants get full. Whoops. Didn’t get that memo at booking.
When I hastily tried to make a reservation for that evening, there was no more availability at any restaurant onsite. Would I be able to eat that night? Fortunately, Hiroshi was able to squeeze me in. “We always have room for one,” they said as they sat me at a table for four.
Upon inspecting Garza Blanca Los Cabos’ dining FAQs on their website, they recommend booking meal reservations 30 days in advance. If you’re thinking of staying here (especially with multiple people), keep that in mind and plan accordingly.
You can make reservations at the four main restaurants here.
Hiroshi
Hiroshi has Japanese-style offerings that incorporate Mexican spices.
The server introduced himself in Japanese, then in English. The menu was nicely labeled with allergen markers (fish, seafood, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free). But interestingly, the sunomono salad had both the seafood and vegan markers next to its name.
When the server returned, I pointed out the anomaly so staff would know to fix the error. The kind server didn’t seem to understand what I meant, as he insisted that if the vegan marker was present, the dish was vegan. (Sir, if the listed ingredients include shrimp and octopus, I regret to inform you it is not.)
For a hotel that touts having vegan options and their ability to cater to individual dietary preferences on their website, this experience was disappointing. I was immediately wary of if the other allergen markers were accurate. This particular staff member didn’t appear to know what each of them meant. Were the other restaurants like this? Should I make plans to eat elsewhere?
Pressing on, I selected something that sounded both delicious and safe – the yuzu maki, featuring avocado, cucumber, and honey yuzu dressing. (If the dressing actually contained honey, that would be the second vegan marker error). It was served with ginger and wasabi, and it was indeed delicious.
Additionally, I got the veggie robata – four mini skewers with Brussels sprouts, portobello mushrooms, and zucchini served on a bed of asparagus. It was also pretty good but I wasn’t sure about the most polite way to eat it. I prayed the sauce wasn’t eel or oyster sauce.
The vegan chocolate cake, served with fruit, hit the spot. And fortunately, no sickness followed.
The silver lining of the evening was that it gave me an excuse to venture back to the incredible Flora Farms for another delightful meal.
Blanca Blue
You’ll find dinner cuisine inspired by traditional Mexican dishes at Blanca Blue. It’s also the restaurant that houses the breakfast buffet.
The breakfast buffet offers a pretty good variety of options for non-picky eaters. There were various customized order stations, but I only utilized the smoothie bar. However, watching the smoothie crafter do the sniff test and confirm with their coworker if the unlabeled decanter was indeed almond milk didn’t help rebuild my trust from the previous night’s dinner. (I did banana, strawberry, mango, and papaya with added chia seeds, oats, and peanuts, if you were wondering.)
I appreciated that staff gave me coffee without my having to ask, which was waiting at my table upon my return with food. They kindly brought me soy milk on request as well. I was particularly intrigued to also try the traditional Mexican coffee (café de olla) made in a large clay pot. If you enjoy spices in the same genre as cinnamon, definitely give it a try!
The lovely-looking hash browns were made with butter, but the staff asked the cook to make me an individual serving without it, which was very nice of them. They were tasty and well seasoned.
There were no allergen labels on the placards, but certain items mentioned if they were made with soy milk or were gluten-free. They had a giant container of lactose-free milk next to the cereal as well.
$45 grants you access to this buffet. Meh for me. That isn’t including the automatic 12.5% gratuity at the restaurants either.
Bocados
Bocados is the onsite steakhouse. Their specialty is their self-produced dry-aged meat via a 35-50 day process. Also on the menu are fish, lobster, soup, and salad options.
NOI Terrazza Italiana
As the name suggests, you’ll find all your pasta, pizza, and other Italian fare needs met here. Unlike the other restaurants, instead of being near the pools it sits atop a terrace with a prime ocean view.
NOI is new to the Garza Blanca Los Cabos since my stay. I’m glad they added it, since having only three restaurants seemed insufficient to accommodate a full resort. Hopefully it will open up reservation availability property-wide.
Beach Food Truck
On an afternoon of chilling beachside, you can grab a bite at a food truck parked on the waterfront patio. They have burgers and other grilled fare, tacos, salads, and a variety of seafood. The seafood selection includes both cooked and raw options.
The food truck can also put a cold cocktail in your hand as you enjoy the ocean waves.
The Rooftop Bar
Behind the adults-only penthouse pool is the Rooftop Bar. While they can satisfy your beverage needs, they also have a pretty varied lunch menu.
Options include tacos, wings, flat breads, burgers, salads, oysters, and the usual poolside comforts like nachos, fruit platters, and onion rings.
The Snack
If you find yourself not next to the water, but in it, you also have The Snack. The swim-up bar is located in the pool closest to the beach.
The menu has sandwiches, tacos, tostadas, salad, pizza, burgers, quesadillas, and other fried finger foods.
Related: Ocean views and beautiful design at JW Marriott Los Cabos | Review
Amenities
The Garza Blanca Los Cabos provides a handful of amenities to explore:
Spa
For days when you’d like a little pampering, the Spa Imagine offers a variety of face and body treatments, as well as beauty treatments like hair styling, manicures, and waxing. Most of these indulgent experiences are enjoyed from an ocean-view therapy room.
Garza Blanca Los Cabos’ Spa Imagine touts its hydrotherapy circuit, a series of saunas, showers, pools, and jacuzzis where you alternate between hot and cold water as you progress through.
You can make an appointment for your spa treatment here. Treatments are not included in any all-inclusive rates. Most facials, massages, and body treatments range from $200-400 (before gratuity).
Fitness
The indoor fitness center contains many types of weight, cable, and cardio machines. Next door is the wellness zone, or yoga room. There’s a tennis court hiding on the premises as well.
Free daily stretching and pilates classes take place outdoors, as well as yoga on the beach. You can even take an electric bike tour along the beach.
Pools
While the beach is regrettably un-swimmable, the Garza Blanca Los Cabos features 8 swimming pools to choose from. There’s a shallow unassuming kids pool with a few miniature fountains, compensating for the adults-only rooftop infinity pool.
One of the pools exhibits a side with a small transparent section. It was both amusing and jarring to see a person do an impression of a straw in a glass of water.
Beach
The hotel boasts a seemingly endless expanse of ocean. You can easily walk right down to the beach and enjoy a nice walk along the coast. Unfortunately, the waves are too strong for swimming.
The view is breathtaking, but the sand is a bit coarse. Perfect if you’d like a free mild exfoliation.
Kids’ Club
The Kids’ Club at the resort offers a wide range of games and activities to entertain your children ages 4-12.
Every day has a different hourly itinerary, including creative projects like watercolor art and bracelet making, and games like Pictionary, Uno, Hide and Seek, and Simon Says.
Kids can hang out at the Kids’ Club for no additional charge. You can find the most current weekly schedule here.
Atmosphere
I’m reading my book at the rooftop pool…and I’ve located this week’s wedding party. It’s hard to determine which is louder, the details of the wedding dress or the bumping pop playlist. One of the grooms-persons is positive their speech will make everyone cry. Another is the resident anime trivia expert. Sean’s sleeveless “beer” shirt has been declared the crowd favorite. He must be the life of the party.
The betrothed couple arrives, practicing an informal walk down an aisle of lounge chairs, underscored by a cacophony of hoots and hollers. The wedding party is dissatisfied with the hotel’s choice of music. They choose to engage in battle using a small but mighty Bluetooth speaker. I forget this is the adults-only pool.
Garza Blanca Los Cabos has a lot of spring break energy.
You can hear everything from your room: voices, doors, breathing too loud. The hallways are wide and echoey. Balcony doors don’t completely cut out the music blasting at the pool.
With the purple and green lights in the trees near the pools, it perpetually looks like dusk when the sun goes down.
Like the JW Marriott Los Cabos, the Garza Blanca is a U configuration. However, unlike the JW Marriott, the resort walls are much closer together so sounds echo more outside. There were also way more children here than during my stay at the JW Marriott, contributing to the general din underscoring my two days here.
Due to the constant noise, the crowded spaces, and the closeness of the hotel’s U shape, there was not much privacy to be had. I don’t think this will bother folks who thrive in environments with young, lively crowds. But for those who desire moments of calm and quiet, you will not find those here.
Related: 16 Fun Things to Do at Flora Farms Los Cabos
Staff & Service
Overall, the staff were kind and attuned to the guests. In passing, the staff greeting was hand over heart and a slight bow, sometimes with a verbal greeting. A little more sheepish than the JW Marriott, but still nice and appreciated. They were also quite willing to have a conversation with me.
The staff were very attentive if I looked lost or like I was waiting for something. When they saw me waiting several minutes past my shuttle pickup time post-checkout, they asked for the shuttle’s phone number and called to make sure they were on their way. I felt well taken care of since I didn’t even have to ask for help.
Outside of my meal at Hiroshi, my only negative experience with the Garza Blanca staff was with the concierge. I want to be clear: I didn’t enjoy this interaction purely due to personal preferences with how I’d like to be assisted, not because the concierge was rude or didn’t do their best to be helpful. You may perceive this anecdote differently. That being said…
I sought out the concierge for a map of the place since I kept getting lost. The woman at the desk asked me to sit down. I obliged. Instead of guiding me through the map, the conversation immediately became very sales-y. She tried to lure me into a vacation timeshare presentation with the offer of a free breakfast and 15% off all dining bills. “We are a very young hotel and believe word of mouth is the best marketing.”
My simple request turned into promoting the hotel as a brand. “We have many other locations… We have a loyalty program…” They’re also apparently a travel agency because she began pushing various excursion partnerships. For the introvert in me, all the offerings at once felt a little too aggressive.
The concierge was…nice…but the half-forced musical theatre smile after every sentence, the eventual questions about my age and remarking “You look younger,” and trying to get me to book an excursion and a reservation at a timeshare breakfast when all I wanted was a map put me off.
On a separate note, the resort has one ATM that happened to be broken the two days I was there. When I needed to top up on cash, I was lead to an almost one-way-mirror-like window in the lobby (an exchange station). My transaction incurred a 10% commission fee. I couldn’t help but think that ATM being broken was awfully convenient.
Related: How I Saved $1,700 in Los Cabos | Expense Report
Location
The Garza Blanca Los Cabos lives in the Tourist Corridor, about halfway between San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. A 15-20 minute drive in either direction will get you to the downtown center of either place.
Since the property’s on a long strip of beachside resorts, there isn’t much to walk to in the immediate area. You could dine at a neighboring hotel’s onsite restaurants if allowed, but that’s about it. Fortunately, Uber is a pretty affordable option for getting around.
Getting There
If you’re coming from another resort, an Uber or taxi will serve you just fine. If you’re coming from the airport, you’ll need to take a taxi or reserve a shuttle service. By law, Uber drivers can’t pick up or drop off at the airport in Los Cabos.
The hotel is about 30 minutes from the Los Cabos International Airport. The property doesn’t offer transportation to and from SJD outside of calling a taxi, so you may want to reserve a shuttle in advance if you have lots of people/luggage.
This is the shuttle I personally reserved from Viator. I was able to find them easily in the airport’s shuttle pick-up area upon arriving. The drivers were courteous, and by luck I ended up enjoying a private ride both to and from the airport even though I booked a shared van. You may have to call the shuttle company to confirm your pick-up time for your trip back to the airport, which the concierge can help with.
Tip: If using a shared shuttle for the return trip to the airport, I would recommend booking an earlier time than needed. If the folks picked up before you are late checking out, your ride will also be late. A time buffer can be helpful.
Booking
You have two rate options when booking Garza Blanca Los Cabos: all-inclusive or accommodation only.
All-Inclusive
You are given a bracelet to wear at all times to mark yourself as an all-inclusive guest.
Here’s what’s included in the all-inclusive rate:
- breakfast buffet (Blanca Blue)
- lunch (The Snack, The Rooftop – adults only, Food Truck)
- dinner (Blanca Blue, Bocados, Hiroshi, NOI)
- room service (24 hours)
- soft drinks, beer, wine (glasses)
- all tax and gratuities (although additional fees may still apply)
What’s not included:
- select premium dishes at the restaurants, marked with a symbol (although a 20% discount is applied for all-inclusive patrons)
- liquor and wine bottles
- spa treatments
- laundry and dry cleaning services
- items from the Deli Corner and The Market
- movies on demand
- phone calls
- off-property excursions
I recommend running the numbers between both rate options. Divide the difference between the two totals by the number of nights you’ll stay. If you think you’d pay more than that amount per day for sustenance and libations, then you’ll probably get more value out of going all-inclusive.
Also consider if you’d venture off-property for any meals, as that will affect your calculations.
Accommodation Only
As the name suggests, this rate only includes the room and everything else is à la carte. This is the rate I chose.
I booked the Garza Blanca Los Cabos through Citi’s travel portal. Comparing the price between booking there and booking direct, it was a no-brainer. Had I booked the same rate for the same two nights directly with Garza Blanca, I would have paid $1,002.
My total booking through Citi was $758.03. However, I could use my Citi Strata Premier card’s $100 travel portal discount since my total was over $500 before taxes.
My grand total was $658.03 for two nights. The Citi portal saved me almost $350! A rare but welcome occurrence.
You can book the Garza Blanca Los Cabos via their website or your favorite travel portal.
Garza Blanca is part of the Tafer Rewards program.
Overall Garza Blanca Los Cabos Review
My favorite elements of the Garza Blanca Los Cabos were the expansive beach, beautiful ocean views, and silver and gold design touches. However, I don’t think I’m the right demographic for this hotel.
I prefer a more laidback atmosphere with many places to hang out without feeling stifled, so I didn’t find my stay particularly relaxing. I think the Garza Blanca is more suitable for folks who want to be riled up instead of calmed down. The more boisterous groups around me seemed to be really enjoying themselves.
If I were to stay here again, I would prefer to come during off-season when capacity may be lower.
Stay here if:
- You’re traveling with a romantic partner
- You want to stay right on the ocean, with an impressive beach
- You’re looking for a place with “young energy” and some rowdiness doesn’t bother you
Skip if:
- You’re not comfortable with your travel companions seeing all of you upon entering and exiting the shower or bathtub
- You’re after a serene getaway with calm energy
- You’d like to avoid crossing any wedding parties
- You have specific dietary restrictions with no flexibility
Related Reading:
Ocean views and beautiful design at JW Marriott Los Cabos | Review