I just got back from a vacation to Cabo with friends from Cleveland, November 9th thru November 16th...Friday to Friday. Two out of four of us are time share owners with the Villa Group. One great perk of being a time share owner is access to the gold card, which offers many great discounts to food, drink and entertainment!
I'll start by telling you that all four of us bought the all-inclusive package for the first three days we were on the resort. Everyone in the room must go all inclusive. Knowing that there are a limited number of restaurants and bars at both Del Arco and Del Palmar, we figured three days would be plenty. We definitely made the $89 work for us all three days, particularly at 'El Farro', the sushi bar! Had great service there too! We got food and drink poolside all day as well...service begins at 10am. You can get some great greasy American or Mexican food at the taco bar or the Buckanero. We even got sushi rolls poolside one day. If you don't go all inclusive, they bill everything to,your room. They don't deal with cash anywhere. We sometimes gave cash tips, to make sure we got attentive service.
As far as the pool, it's awesome beyond belief! If you want pool chairs with both an ocean view near the pool, you'll need to put your towel out around 6am to save your seat. These are the first chairs to go every morning. There are plenty of umbrellas if you need shade, plus palm trees that block sun at times. There are also chairs in the very shallow part of the pool that are cool if you want to dip your feet will laying back. The servers are pretty on top of things over all, but cash tips help get quicker service.
They offer trolley service to their sister resort, Villa Del Palmar, just a few minutes down the road...also walkable. Palmar has twice as many guests and lots more planned activities if you want that sort of thing. We went over one night for Casino and karaoke night, which was a lot of fun. We also paid for the buffet for dinner, which was good...plenty of prime rib! There s also some shops and a small market for grocery essentials for your room.
Del Arco is the much more relaxed and upscale of the two resorts, with half as many rooms...so no over crowding. It's a combination of professionals, families and couples. I didn't see a lot of kids...but of course school is in session. We mainly saw very young kids under 5. So not much kiddie noise in early November.
Downtown, the marina and the beach offer many other food and entertainment options. Cabo Wabo, El Squid Roe, Nowhere Bar and The Office are a few to name. 'The Office' on the beach has the best margaritas! Pochos in the marina had a great dinner menu, Pepe's was some wonderful Mexican and the Baja Cantina near the beach had a nice sushi menu.
I also recommend a sunset cruise/bruise cruise, many to pick from. We took the Tropicat, which was a wine and cheese version of what most call a booze cruise. Beautiful cruise of lands end (the arch) and the southwestern coastline. Roughly a two hour cruise.
Anyway, I highly recommend the Villa Del Arco. I wouldn't say it's cheap...but you get what you pay for! The front desk and concierge staff are very good, as well as the door and bell hop staff. Most of the wait staff are quite good as well. Rooms are immaculate with fantastic views...ours was of the pool and ocean. Very spacious outdoor patios with comfortable seats and table.
Give it a shot.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.