My husband and I have stayed at the Costa Real for the last 3 years. We are making plans to come again this year in Sept. As for some of the comments I have read this place is not bad as some say.
Yes, plan on walking a little but who dosen't need to walk off all the food and drinks anyway. We have never had a problem with being harrassed in the lobbys, you are in Mexico which is poverty stricken. You will encounter children begging for money, just say no and go on your way. You could not pay me to stay anywhere else. Stay in one of the fancy hotels out side of town and pay more and spend your hole time in a taxi coming into town oh and that will run you about $30.00 each way. No thanks.

Hello...

We stayed at the Costa Real from 4/29 through 5/2/05. We have done many all inclusives in Mexico, as well as in the Carribean. After reading some of the reviews here, I was a bit concerned in that I had already made the reservations for a "decompression weekend" for my husband and myself. We found this hotel to be charming, and the waitstaff outstanding.

Having chosen the "all inclusive plan", the two restaurants offered either buffet and/or ala carte (which is unusual for all inclusive). The minibar in our room was stocked daily with soda, V-8, water, mineral water and beer. I must admit when checking out we were presented with a charge for the minibar consumption, but when my husband protested (since we were told by the bell boy upon check-in the minibar was "free"), it was cheerfully taken off our bill.

The location couldn't be better! We usually choose a beach location, but this hotel is right in the heart of things. They offer an hourly shuttle to a beautiful local beach.

The only legitimate complaints we have are the beds are extremely hard, as well as the chairs at the pool (pads would go a long way!). If this is the most we have to complain about, I'd say that's not too bad!

Summary: We felt this was an extremely charming hotel with great food and service. They appear to have "growing pains", but we felt they are sincerely interested in pleasing their clientele. It's not the Riu, but then it's not the price of the Riu either. We got exactly what we expected, and we will return. To all of the friends we made there: we're the happy couple from OC, hope you are well, it was a pleasure, and same time next year? :-)

I spent several days at Costa Real Cabo and my advice is don't even bother wasting your time or money. I'm not sure where, exactly, to start, but the best place is probably the lobby where immediately upon check-in you will be assaulted by aggressive people trying to bully you into attending (4-hour) time share presentations in exchange for free pirate ship excursions and sunset horseback riding. In fact, you can't even walk THROUGH the lobby without being harrassed by numerous vendors at any time of the day or night. Being hassled in the streets is one thing, and somewhat common in Cabo, but in the LOBBY of the hotel?? And in the elevator, and at the pool, and in the shops, and probably in your bathroom if they could get a key from the front desk.

All-inclusive food and drinks at Costa Real Cabo means you don't get what you don't pay for. The drinks at all of the bars were completely watered down. Your best bet for alcohol is to order beer since they can't pop the bottle cap and dilute the contents. The food on the lobby restaurant menu was okay, but the buffet food was less than memorable and contained enough MSG to make a Chinese restaurant proud. A word of caution about the food on the second-floor buffet -- be prepared to share it with the pigeons. The birds have free access to all of the food on the bar, and the sight of them landing on the dessert platters and digging into the key lime pie was a terrific source of entertainment for everyone who ventured in there (by the way, it's your only option for breakfast and lunch in the hotel). The buffet servers stood by and watched the birds, and shrugged when one of our group suggested they remove the pies the birds had been jumping in and out of. I'm not exaggerating.

Eating dinner in the lobby restaurant is no guarantee of a quiet meal, either. Children wander off the street through the lobby bar and restaurant and tug on your elbow every five minutes at the table trying to get you to buy whistles and jewelry. They also wander in and take regular advantage of the unattended 24-hour "snack bar" which consisted of cold hot dogs and a chafing dish of chicken fingers.

The rooms are clean enough, if you can get room service there to clean on a daily basis (we had to call the front desk at 6:00 PM one evening and beg them to send someone to clean our room), but be prepared to walk a mile or more through long winding hallways to get to your room, and, when you finally get there, don't expect a good night's sleep on the beds, which are, literally, as hard as concrete slabs. The front desk staff were casual and unconcerned. They explained to two of our guests that their toilets kept getting clogged because the plumbing between the bathtub drain and the toilet pipes was faulty. They didn't offer to move the guests to another room, or to fix the toilets, but they were helpful enough to leave plungers.

This hotel (the "Resort and Spa" moniker is one VERY large leap of imagination) is probably a safe bet for non-discriminating college students wanting to drink large amounts of anything alcoholic on spring break, but if you are accustomed to even a shred of comfort and class, look someplace besides Costa Real Cabo. You couldn't PAY me to spend a single night there again, and if you're considering the place for business purposes, spare yourself and your company the embarrassment. Your clients will thank you.

Recently stayed at Costa Real in Cabo San Lucas. GREAT location for being able to get around downtown, go out at night, lots of dinning options and even with a good walk to the beach it was within reach by foot.
HOWEVER, it was older, clean but showing its wear. Staff was very pleasent.....EVEN when my Visa credit card came up missing at the Salon.
Apparently the Salon is owned by seperate person so the hotel would do nothing to compensate or even assist in my quest for justice.
Had to deal with the owner herself of the salon and all in all i was satisfied with her offer....free massage needless to say and extra cash as i now had no credit to use.
the beds were like ROCK ! ugh. the hammick on the balcony was more comfortable and i did sleep there one evening because of my neck!
yep came home with a crick in and to this day still dealing with the pain....thanks to my chiropractor i will recover !
Downtown is a great place to stay....i just wish there was a better option than Costa Real.