I just got back from a week at La Estancia. It is a very upscale condo development, not really a hotel. It was a very nice place to stay - beautiful room, well manicured grounds, great pool, ultra clean, and VERY QUIET. Food/drinks were pricey, but we went to Costco to buy water & beer for the week. I highly recommend Vila La Estancia.

I wasn't crazy about Cabo itself - more expensive than any other Mexican resort town, dirty streets, beaches had very coarse sand, and the water isn't very swimmable (the water gets very deep, very quickly).

Villa La Estancia was awesome, though.

I just returned from Cabo where I stayed at Villa la Estancia. If you're looking for a gorgeous, *quiet*, relaxing resort on the beach and close to downtown Cabo, this is the place for you! Most of the other resorts in this category are "party" resorts, with loud music and constant activities or fiestas. I went to Cabo to get away from noise and to relax in a beautiful setting. Villa la Estancia provided this! The on-site super-market is very helpful, the drinks at the bar are expertly made, and the breakfast at the restaraunt is reasonably priced and delicious. They weren't pushy at all with the time-share thing. I simply said "no thanks", and they left me alone. A perfect vacation!

My husband and I and another couple stayed at the La Estancia in Nov/2005. We booked a 2 bedroom condo that could sleep up to 8 or 9 people. The La Estancia is beautiful. The grounds is very well kept up. The pool and beach is clean. Our condo was beautiful and spacious. We had cable T.V.and a washer and dryer. We stayed in room #1706. The view was amazing!!! Our balcony had mable floors. We hung out on the balcony pretty much the whole time. The decor was very nice. We all agreed to highly recommend the La Estancia to all of our friends and family. My girlfriend works for Starwood (Sheraton, Westin, and such) and was very impressed with La Estancia. Tips on Cabo-We rented a car. Very simple and cost effective. Round-trip for the 4 of us would have cost ATLEAST $160.00. Then there is the cab fares to and from the action $7.00 each way. We rented w/ Thrifty online for $140.00. and also drove to Todos Santos. Pretty views of Pacific Ocean. Town is nice and quiet. Shopping is better here than Cabo. Cabo is expensive for a Mexican vacation. The La Estancia has kithens so you can cook your own food. The prices for food and cocktails are like any other U.S. city. Pancho's was wonderful for dinner. Margaritaville is not related to Jimmy Buffet's restaurants of the same name. They have huge margaritas. Now, I have to say I wasn't very impressed with Cabo. I could have been in any other U.S. city by the beach. I wanted a more ethnic feel. Cabo has a frat boy party feel to it. Do not get me wrong I like to go out and have a great time and all. I would not recommend Cabo for honeymooners or a romantic getaway. We did not go to San Jose del Cabo which is suppose to be much quieter. Hope this helps.

This was the second time we stayed at La Estancia. Our first time was less than a year ago, and it was wonderful.
This time, however, we were somewhat disappointed, mostly with the service. For example, when we arrived, our safe did not work (but it was promptly fixed). I asked for an early wake-up call for a fishing trip, and never got a call. The TV in the room of the couple with whom we were traveling did not work and, in the entire week we were at the hotel, the hotel never responded to any of their requests to have it fixed. Finally, when we were checking out, I was told that the VISA card that I used to pay for the hotel was rejected and that I'd have to pay on the spot. This was quite surprising, as I bought a package deal for flight and hotel from a travel website, and paid months in advance, with an American Express card. After much discussion, they finally took my e-mail confirmation showing payment with my AMX and let me go. I don't think that this was an intentional scam, but it was quite irritating (especially at 5:45 in the morning when we were trying to get to the airport).

Enough about my complaints...
The hotel grounds were beautiful (as always), and you can't beat the view of Lands End from the hotel grounds.
As for the rooms, you can go to to see the floorplans. If you rent a "room", it's the smaller part of the "lock-off" shown on the website, and it's like a regular hotel room, but with better storage and nice travertine floors inside and on the terrace. In a "room", there's a fridge (minibar), but no microwave.

There is a grocery store at the hotel that has everything you'd really need (at convenience store prices). There is also a nice internet cafe, with plenty of PC's, where you can use the internet for $5/hour, I think. Also, although the travel websites don't show Internet access in the rooms, I was told that if your laptop is WiFi enabled, you can access the Internet that way in your room.

I disagree with one of the other reviews on the issue of renting a car, especially if you are traveling with more than two in your party. The shuttle from the airport costs $80 per person, each way (at least that was the price last time we went). If you have a car, you can self-park for free at La Estancia (so you don't have to wait for the valet to bring your car), and there is free parking at the marina and at Puerto Paraiso mall, and you can walk anywhere in town from either of those spots. Plus, of course, you have the flexibility to go wherever you want with a car.

This doesn't have anything to do with the hotel, but we fished with Pisces twice on each of our trips, and were happy with everything (and caught fish every time). If you catch eating fish, take it straight to a restaurant at the dock and they will cook it up for you 5 different ways.