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A Meaningful Life on a Budget

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April 9, 2017 By Hannah @ Eat, Drink and Save Money

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Living the Baja lifestyle at Hacienda Encantada in Cabo San Lucas

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I just finished up the most relaxing trip to the Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa in Cabo San Lucas. This was my first time in Cabo, and I’m still impressed that you can see mountains and the beach all in on place. I could totally get used to this view from my room.

The view from my room at Hacienda Encantada

As a contributor to The Daily Meal, I was selected to attend a hosted press trip with the assignment to take pictures of the food and write captions. I took my job very seriously and was able to take a lot of great food photos. I’ll make sure to post a link to The Daily Meal story on my social media channels once it’s published.

While the food at the Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa is amazing, there is so much more to the resort. I’m dying to tell you all about my experience so I put together a recap of some of the amazing things I experienced at the Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa.

The room and property

I started out my stay by checking out my room and then taking a quick tour of the property. I stayed in the newest building on the property. My room was a standard studio room with a huge bed, mini fridge, and shower in the bathroom. This particular room is currently $211 a night or $452 for two people on the all inclusive plan (prices go up between Oct. and Dec.). The resort offers pretty great deals too. Head here to check out their featured sale. At the time of publish the featured sale is the spring sale where you can get deals up to 50% off!

The hotel room bed at the Hacienda Encantada

You know that view I showed at the beginning of this post? You could see it from almost every inch of this room. It was amazing! The property also has 2 bedroom suites, penthouse like suites, and 3 bedroom residences that would be perfect for large or multigenerational families. Personally, I would go back and stay in the standard room again since the resort offers an all inclusive option. You don’t have to purchase the all inclusive option, but for $100-120 extra a day it seems worth it to not have to worry about buying groceries and preparing them in your room. Although it is tempting to rent one of the residences so I can soak in this beautiful tub and enjoy the outdoor shower.

Bathroom at the residences at the Hacienda Encantada

The rest of the property is just as amazing as the view from my room. The entire resort has this authentic Mexican vibe. It doesn’t feel like you’ve left America for a standard all inclusive experience where you don’t even get a feel for the country. At Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa you totally get the feel of Mexico. It’s family run by residents of Mexico who are passionate about the resort. Even the decor is picked out by a member of the family. I especially liked that the resort is beautiful even when you aren’t looking at the landscape or the Sea of Cortez. Every view of the property is breathtaking.

Amazing views at the Hacienda Encantada

There are three pools and all of them are beautiful. Two of them are kid friendly and one is an adults only. This is a view of the adults only pool area with a giant hot tub.

Beautiful pools at the Hacienda Encantada

I sat down in the adults only area to look at the water and read for a couple of hours. It was probably the most relaxed I’ve been in years.

Great view at the hacienda encantada

As for pools, I loved the adult only pool, but preferred to spend my time at the pool outside my building. It’s mostly because I loved looking at this bar. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Pool bar at the Hacienda Encantada

The kiddie pool was pretty adorable too. I know that if I’d taken Robert and Jackson they would have loved lounging in these chairs.

Cute kids chairs at the Hacienda Encantada

What to eat

I feel strongly about this statement: eat all the food at the Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa. You’ll be glad you did. This resort isn’t like some of the tourist trap all inclusive resorts that serve subpar, overpriced American food. The food and drinks at the Hacienda Encantada are the real deal. There is a sommelier on staff to help you pair wine and even tequila!

Tequila tasting at the Hacienda Encantada

As for where to eat at the Hacienda Encantada, there are eight on site restaurants, as well as seven other restaurants at their sister property, Marina Fiesta. All 15 restaurants are included in the all inclusive plan. I did breakfast everyday at the buffet at Las Marias. I’m already missing the savory breakfast food options. Each morning they offered absolutely delicious authentic Mexican food like grilled vegetables, refried beans, marinated pork, and chicken fajitas.

Best breakfast buffet at the Hacienda Encantada

As much as I love my savory food, you know I love donuts too! That’s why I ended every breakfast with a donut dessert.

Donuts at the breakfast buffet

The lunch options are endless, especially with all the pool bars serving food. I had pizza by the pool twice and sushi once. I especially loved my supreme sushi roll that was cooked. I miss eating raw sushi while pregnant, but love the excuse to eat fried sushi.

Supreme sushi roll at the Hacienda Encantada

We took a cooking class for one of our lunches and it was by far the highlight of the trip for me. I love to learn, cook, eat, and photograph food so this was the perfect experience. I highly recommend taking one of the cooking classes if you ever visit the Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa. We learned how to make authentic Baja beer battered seabass fish tacos (recipe coming soon).

Baja fish tacos from Hacienda Encantada

I also learned how to make pico de gallo and the most delicious guacamole.

Pico de gallo and guacamole for the fish taco cooking class at the hacienda encantada

The dinners were just as spectacular as the breakfast and lunch. Maybe even more spectacular since all of the dinners were fine dining. We started out the trip by dining by the Sea of Cortez. The resort offers special dining options outside of the restaurants such as a star gazing dinner and the dinner by the beach. My favorite part of that meal was the lobster bisque.

Lobster bisque at hacienda encantada

The other dinners were spectacular as well. I’d have to say that our experience as Los Deseos outside of the resort at the Golden Marina Zone (part of the all inclusive plan), was my favorite. I loved watching the table-side cheese and tequila flambe.

Making the cheese flambe tableside at Los Deseos

I could eat cheese and freshly made pico de gallo every single day for the rest of my life. There is nothing as refreshing as fresh cilantro mixed with tomatoes and onions.

Cheese Flambe at Los Deseos

There was so much food to choose from at Los Deseos. This carnivore ended up devouring the perfectly cooked and tender flank steak with onions and peppers. It was the most delicious spin on steak fajitas that I’ve ever experienced.

Flank steak at Los Deseos Hacienda encantada

I could write about food all day, but you’ll have to wait for my Daily Meal piece to come out to see the best of the best pictures.

Activities at the Hacienda Encantada

While I would have been perfectly happy eating and lounging all day, I’m glad this tour scheduled in time for activities. We went for a boat ride from the marina near Marina Fiesta and checked out the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. It was a beautiful boat ride, even though I ended up feeling a little sea sick. Check out the color of this water!

Boating in Cabo San Lucas

I saw my first glimpse of sea lions and also saw a juvenile humpback whale. No picture evidence of the whale though. Even my picture of the sea lion didn’t turn out too well. My wildlife photography needs some work.

sea lion in cabo

My favorite part of this tour was seeing the arch between the Sea of Cortez and Pacific Ocean.

The arch in cabo from the sea of cortez

I also enjoyed my spa experience. My mani/ pedi was incredibly relaxing. I spent an hour in the spa relaxing and reading the new Sophie Kinsella book on my Kindle.

Spa treatment from Hacienda Encantada

Very happy with the Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa

The Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa is truly a gem. I feel like they do a great job with combining the feel of an all inclusive with a boutique hotel. It feels intimate but also has all the amenities of a large resort. The bar for all inclusives has been set really high for me now that I’ve stayed at the Hacienda Encantada Resort & Spa. Before this trip I didn’t have the best experiences with all inclusive resorts in Mexico. Now I have nothing but great things to say.

Another big perk of the trip was meeting a fellow Traveling Mom. I was able to bond with Mimi from Mimi Travels. Here we are on the last day of our trip- we both look extremely tired!

Traveling Moms in Cabo San Lucas

She is a journalist who has been in the travel industry for years. I feel like I learned so much from her and the other journalists. It’s a pretty good feeling to come home from vacation/ work trip feeling professionally and mentally fulfilled.

Oh, and notice my sweatshirt? Yup, this Florida girl was actually cold in the Baja Peninsula weather.

Have you ever been to Cabo San Lucas? To the Hacienda Encantada? Tell me all about it!

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Filed Under: Cinco de Mayo, Travel on a Budget Tagged With: food, Travel

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Meet Hannah

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While I love saving money, I also have expensive taste and a passion for the environment. I firmly believe that you can live frugally while enjoying the finer things in life such as travel and high end products. I like fine foods and quality ingredients, I also enjoy spending money on fancy local coffee and kombucha. It’s all about the experience! Join me as I balance a budget and preserve our Earth, while enjoying the finer things in life.

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