My wife and I just returned from our first visit to Cabo. During our weeklong vacation, we visited quite a few of the other resorts that we had researched before settling on the Sheraton. Based on what we saw, we definitely recommend the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar for all but those who are expecting either: (a) nonstop action, or (b) Four Seasons level service and luxury.

The first choice you have to make is your preferred location - in the quiet and relaxed Corridor area or in the town of Cabo itself. If you're looking for busy beaches with jet ski and boat rentals, boisterous beach bars, and other restaurants and bars within walking distance, you need to stay in town. We thought the Pueblo Bonito Blanco on Medano Beach was a real nice hotel for that purpose. Solmar Suites was more rustic and a little farther away from the action but we actually liked its location on the Pacific side of town. The Hacienda del Mar on Medano beach (no relation to the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar) looked nice from the beach but we didn't visit it.

We wanted a little more space and solitude while still being reasonably close to the action. The Sheraton Hacienda del Mar was perfect in that regard. It's one of the southernmost resorts in the corridor and only about a five-mile ride into town. The resort is one of the newest in the corridor and we think overall the grounds were the second-best of the hotels we saw. The Palmilla was the best, but it's way up near San Jose and thus is more inconvenient if you plan on going to Cabo at night (it’s probably a 15-20 minute drive). It also costs a fortune.

As with most of the Cabo hotels, the Sheraton Hacienda is part of a larger resort development. It appears a single developer or maybe the government buys up each cove/beach area and then sells or leases parts of each area to different hotel chains. The Sheraton is located in the Cabo del Sol development, which it shares with the Fiesta Americana Grand, two Jack Nicklaus golf courses, and the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar Vacation Club. It is a very impressive layout with lush tropical plants and palm trees lining every cobblestone street and pathway. The overall grounds and the three beautiful pools were the top features of the Sheraton.

The Vacation Club timeshare units are not actually a part of the hotel. These luxury units flank both sides of the hotel and are indistinguishable from the hotel from an architectural standpoint. We stayed in the hotel itself, which is relatively small. The Vacation Club units had a separate check-in building, concierge area, etc. but the pools and restaurants are open to both the hotel and Vacation Club guests and the overall resort is essentially one unit. Personally, we liked the existence of the additional Vacation Club areas because it added breadth to what would otherwise be a pretty small hotel. Instead, it becomes a nice-sized resort with a ton of amenities (multiple restaurants, 3 pools, 2 hot tubs, a sports bar, etc.). We would give the resort grounds a 9 out of 10.

I’m a good swimmer and even brought swim fins with me, but like many beaches in Cabo the beach in front of the Sheraton is only swimmable at certain times. The main problems are the immediate dropoff into deep water, the strong and unusual currents caused by the steepness of the beach, and the ubiquitous underwater rocks. The water was also cold in April – probably about 66-68 degrees or so. When we first got there, the waves were nonexistent and some people were swimming because the currents were fairly reasonable (we didn’t because the water was too cold that day). Later in the week, the water warmed a couple of degrees but the waves had kicked up and were causing some really dangerous currents. The Sheraton put up red flags but a couple of brave guests went in briefly anyway. My sense is that children and average swimmers rarely would be able to swim there; more experienced swimmers also would have some problems due to the currents and the narrow area where there are no rocks. However, you can almost always go in up to your knees or waist, and swimmable beaches can be found at the nearby Santa Maria or Chileno beaches or downtown at Medano beach, though you’ll need transportation to get to those areas. The Sheraton beach itself was very nice looking and there were plenty of places to sit on the beach including numerous padded lounge chairs with umbrellas. Since most of the beaches in Cabo have the same problems re: swimming, I’ll give the Sheraton beach setup a 7 out of 10.

The rooms in the hotel were very spacious, perfectly clean, modern and well equipped (in-room Jacuzzi, free safe, hair dryer, walk-in shower, large balcony). The décor was Hacienda-style, which at first struck me as a little bland (bare off-white walls, tile floor) but then grew on me. The bed was extremely comfortable. There were a lot of families staying at the resort because it was Easter week. Our particular room was near the elevator and was located under a room that had a family staying in it. Add in the tile floors and it was rather noisy – fortunately, we had brought a sound machine with us to mask some of the hotel sounds. We would give the rooms a 7.5 or 8 out of 10 just because we didn’t get that ultra luxury feel due to the décor and also due to the somewhat-more-than-average noise factor.

We do not deal with hotel personnel as much as some people on this site seem to do. The few times we did (check in, bellman, maids, check out) we had no problems whatsoever and everybody was extremely pleasant to deal with. We paid only $131/night because we booked six months early, but upon request we were still given a free upgrade from a garden view room to a partial ocean view room (possibly because we are members of the Starwood Preferred Guest program, though we just signed up for it prior to this trip). We had no other special requests and were not expecting to be individually pampered like guests at Las Ventanas or the Palmilla so our view of the service is limited. We had no billing issues when it came to checkout. Waiters and waitresses frequently asked us if we wanted drinks while we were near the pool or on the beach. I would agree that restaurant service was a bit slow, but the same slowness existed at just about every other restaurant we visited in Cabo. We were called a few times to attend a timeshare presentation but it didn’t rise to an annoying level. We’ll give service an 8 out of 10 based on our limited interactions.

The Cortez restaurant on site was very good but a bit pricey ($90 for us even though we didn’t get appetizers, desert or wine and had just a couple of beers). The casual restaurant near the beach was fine for lunch, though again on the expensive side ($11 for a cheeseburger, etc.). The costs at other resorts and most other well-known restaurants and bars were about the same – Cabo is definitely an expensive place. For example, the cheeseburger at the Westin’s casual restaurant was $12+ and at Las Ventanas it was almost $20. At the Sheraton, beers generally cost about $4.25 on site and mixed drinks are $6+. We purchased some drinks and snacks offsite and brought them back to the hotel to keep costs reasonable. We’ve been to Cancun, Hawaii, California and other places and we live in an expensive state, but the prices for food just about everywhere in Cabo definitely make you take notice. One mainstream recommendation: The Office on Medano Beach during Thursday or Sunday evenings when they have a Mexican-style stage show (particularly good for kids and fun-loving adults). Two offbeat recommendations: The Tropicana in San Jose for dinner/dancing (very nice interior; Mexican-style jazzy music); Zippers near San Jose and the Palmilla (casual lunch on the Costa Azul beachfront).

We rented a car, which we strongly recommend in Cabo unless you simply plan to relax at your resort without visiting the towns for restaurants and nightlife. The Sheraton offers free and convenient parking. We did not inquire about public transportation or taxis but we didn’t see too many shuttle buses (not anything like Cancun, where the busses are so frequent they almost dominate the roads) and taxi service is fairly expensive. Driving in the Cabo area was very easy, as was finding free parking downtown. We loved the convenience of having a car which allowed us to visit other resorts, other beaches, San Jose or Cabo pretty much every night, and Todos Santos (not really much to see unless you like to look out your window as you drive, which we do).

Compared to the other resorts we saw, we thought the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar had the best balance. The Westin was dramatic but we liked the Sheraton’s grounds and pool better and the Sheraton is a little closer to town; the Fiesta American Grand doesn’t share the same flat area as the Sheraton and is stark and dry on the non-beach side in contrast to the Sheraton’s palm-lined walkways, etc.; the Pueblo Bonito Blanco and Rose are a quiet oasis in the mix of Medano beach but still are a little too busy for us; the Twin Dolphin is very nice but small and deathly quiet – it’s designed for a total getaway and isn’t really a full-service resort; Las Ventanas is extremely impressive but perhaps a bit too starkly white and too quiet for our tastes – again, it’s designed for ultra luxury and has a price to match; the OneandOnlyPalmilla is probably our favorite due to the beautiful grounds and high level of service, but we need to make a lot more money before we can afford to stay there, plus it’s the farthest resort from downtown Cabo.

All in all, if you want a very pretty and extremely well-maintained resort that has a lot of amenities, a high class of people, and is relatively close to Cabo, then the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar can’t be beat.