East of Cabo San Lucas is a gorgeous Ritz-Carlton Reserve resort, Zadun, tucked in the desert hills. Continue reading for my overall experience and an incredibly detailed review of Zadun (and lots of pictures), along with suggestions on what I’d do differently if I visited again.
Booking at Zadun
Booking was easy; I was able to book everything through the Marriott website. Our booking was for a Ground Floor Ocean View King Room, with a Plunge Pool and Terrace. We chose the ground floor over the upper floor due to the larger terrace, but I would consider the upper floor in the future, more on that later.
We booked the Reconnect Package for November 9th-14th, which included breakfast for two daily. The package cost $999.20 USD or $1,119.20 USD per night, depending on the day.
This package offered flexibility, and we actually cancelled our original booking a day or two later because another commitment came up. While we were unable to adjust our original booking days, it was easy enough to cancel and re-book for the new dates. No issues.
Prior to arrival, you will likely receive an email from the team offering to assist with booking any restaurants or spa activities. I’m unsure if we actually received this email because my husband’s email is an abyss, but I had no trouble just booking things on our own.
Getting There/Getting Around Zadun
We flew into Los Cabos International Airport (SJD), which is the closest airport, about 35 minutes from Zadun.
The hotel offers private transportation, including transfers to and from the airport. $200 USD one way or $400 USD round trip.
If you are comfortable, I suggest an Uber. The shuttle and taxi employees at the airport are going to try to tell you that you have to walk off the airport property to get an Uber because they can’t pick you up at the airport. However, they do pick up at the Departures level, go up the escalator, and go to door 3 or 4 to call an Uber. Our Uber trip to Zadun cost $40 USD.
One night for dinner, we did opt to leave the property and head to Acre for dinner. We used the hotel’s private transportation for this, which cost $80 round-trip. We opted for this over an Uber because the restaurant is located up a winding dirt road, and the resort uses large SUVs.
Check Out Our Dinner Experience At
Acre Restaurant and Bar
Additionally, our Tosoani provided us with pricing information about traveling to San Jose del Cabo, which was $100 USD round-trip, and Cabo San Lucas, which was $200 USD round-trip.
Zadun General Information
The hotel is located east of Cabo San Lucas in a fairly secluded area, and you pass through two security points to enter the property.
During your stay, you will have a Tosoani, who is basically your personal butler for the entirety of your stay. They are there to help you with anything you might need. Guillermo was our main Tosoani, but he was assisted by Diego, who we didn’t get a chance to meet until check-out. When you arrive, they will set up a chat with you, either via SMS or WhatsApp, so that you can message back and forth during your stay.
If you are looking for an accessible hotel, I would say this is not it. It appears that there is only one accessible room, and we also observed only one ramp and one elevator during the trip. Staff can shuttle you around in a golf cart; however, the ramps that the carts take are pretty steep. There are also so many stairs. Stairs to get into the rooms, stairs to get into the restaurants, stairs to get to the pools. Any accessibility really seems like an afterthought.
Arrival at Zadun
When we entered Zadun, we stopped at a security point to give our last name and confirm our check-in. On later trips back into the resort, security asked us to provide our room number and name.
As we pulled into the entry driveway, our Tosoani Guillermo immediately greeted us, and the staff whisked our bags away to store them until our room was ready.
We were quickly taken down some stairs to the “lobby,” which was a couple of desks in an open-air area just below the entry driveway. We were immediately offered a welcome drink, which was fruity, spicy, and delicious. There was an option to add liquor, but neither of us chose to do so.
The whole arrival was very quick and felt like a whirlwind, to be honest. We provided our credit card at the desk and were to sign the paperwork later, once in our room. Our Tosoani took us down to El Barrio for lunch and picked us back up about an hour and a half later to drive us to our room via golf cart, pointing out the stairs up to our villa during the drive.
Room at Zadun
Details and Positives
Each room at Zadun has a gate, followed by the main door into the room. Our Ground Level Ocean View King Room was part of a unit that had a second ground-level room and a single upper-level room right above our room. The terrace outside the room has a table with four chairs, two lounge chairs next to the plunge pool, and multiple other sitting options out on the main terrace area overlooking the resort and ocean.
The room itself felt like a small apartment, complete with a large bedroom, a sitting area, a desk, a bar area, a spacious closet, and a massive bathroom with a tub, shower, two sinks, a vanity, and an outdoor shower. Two sliding glass doors in the main room fully opened to create a seamless transition between the inside and outside.
The bar included a variety of alcohols and drinks, plus a few snacks, all of which were paid, and were exorbitantly priced. However, coffee, tea, and water were available at no additional cost. Water was plentiful in the room.
Each day, there was a morning cleaning between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm, and a turn-down service between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm. We skipped turn down two nights, one night the Tosoani checked in with us to make sure it was okay, and the second night we ordered room service so they knew we would not be leaving the room.
The room looked gorgeous, spacious, and clean. The staff provided many items that made our stay much more comfortable, and they handled cleaning and turn-down with meticulous attention to detail. When we arrived, they welcomed us with a snack of cheese and fruit. They also decorated our room with flowers and surprised us one evening with a rose-petal bubble bath and chocolate-covered strawberries. They even used wooden room cards, which I thought was a random but really nice touch.
Negatives and Suggestions
However, the main reason we booked the room was the outdoor terrace, which we used for less than an hour because there were so many mosquitoes that we couldn’t stay out there for more than a few minutes. The plunge pool was a little dirty and cold for most of the trip, and was missing some tiles. We got in it once on the last day to make it feel worthwhile.
We constantly had bugs in the room; they found their way in through gaps under the front door, which had gaps both above and below. The outdoor shower had giant cockroaches at night, and one even found its way into the room on the final night. Needless to say, we were really over the number of bugs in the room by the final day.
The room had some insect repellent available, and we applied it frequently, but it didn’t seem to do much. Be sure to bring your own repellent with DEET or picaridin, or you’ll end up returning home covered in bites, just like I did.
If I were to visit again, I’d probably consider booking an upper-level room or an oceanfront room to try to avoid the bugs as much as possible. The terrace on the upper level is smaller, but I don’t think all the space is necessary anyway.
Food at Zadun
My biggest takeaway from the food is that the prices are high for what you receive. Most of the food was pretty tasty, but there were very few outstanding dishes. All of the service was top-tier, no complaints about any of the staff. I was able to book all reservations through OpenTable.
El Barrio
El Barrio is the main restaurant at Zadun, offering daily breakfast and lunch without reservations. The menu is the same for breakfast and lunch each day. There is also dinner offered at this restaurant two nights a week. On Sunday, there is a Tacos & Tequila night, and on Wednesday, there is La Cantina, which features a set menu priced at $2,330 MXN, accompanied by a mariachi band.
One thing to note, like the room, you could not escape the bugs at El Barrio. While we didn’t have problems with mosquitoes here, there was an onslaught of flies and moths, as well as the occasional wasp.
Breakfast
We had breakfast included for two with our stay, which I highly recommend if you can find a package that includes it. The food is expensive, but the amount included with the breakfast is generous.
The included breakfast comes with water (Fiji), juice, fresh fruit, a pastry, and a main dish. There was so much food; I was honestly amazed by how much was included in the breakfast. We tried a variety of different breakfast items, and all of them were tasty; no disappointments for breakfast. There were options for berries or melon for the fruit bowl, and about 10 different pastries to choose from. We were also given an amuse-bouche for breakfast each day.
Lunch
I wouldn’t say lunch was anything to write home about. There were a variety of options, from seafood to sandwiches to tacos. Everything we ate was tasty. I had a nice shrimp & ajillo quesadilla. As with most other meals at Zadun, we were given an amuse-bouche with lunch.
Although the resort offers an abundance of free water, I noticed that the restaurants seem to only serve paid, 1-liter bottles of Fiji water for $14 USD. At least you could take the bottle with you, though.
We had lunch at El Barrio by the pool on our first full day. The whole menu was offered, and everything was brought over in little baskets so we could eat at our pool chairs.
Dinner
We did not go to the La Cantina dinner, but we did go to the Tacos & Taquilla dinner on our first night. Unlike breakfast and lunch, we needed a reservation for the Tacos & Taquilla dinner. Despite our Tosoani giving us the menu earlier, we were unaware that a reservation was required. Fortunately, when we arrived at 7 pm, we secured a reservation for 8:30 pm. It was a bit late, but it was the only dinner option for us that night, so we made it work.
The tacos are pretty small and boast a high price per taco, $12.50 USD to $23.50 USD, depending on the taco. If you are ordering appetizers, 2-3 tacos should suffice; otherwise, you might want more. The tacos were delicious, though! We were also served a small appetizer dip before receiving our tacos, and we shared a banana cake dessert.
Equis (X)
Equis is the beachside restaurant and bar. It’s quiet and more secluded. They offer a Peruvian Nikkei dinner twice a week, on Tuesday and Saturday.
Lunch
We ate lunch at Equis twice, both times by the small pool that is adjacent to the restaurant. The lunch items were smaller and easy to order, so 2-3 items were enough to share. The menu was full of seafood and asian inspired items. We preferred to eat lunch here because there were fewer bugs and the portions were smaller. It felt like we were eating so much food all day long, having the option for smaller meals mid-day was really nice.
Dinner
Dinner was reservation-only on Tuesday and Saturday. We booked our reservation after we arrived on Sunday for the Tuesday dinner. The dinner menu is a Peruvian-Japanese fusion called Peruvian Nikkei, which was really intriguing. Unfortunately, we found it to be the most underwhelming meal of the entire trip, aside from the Nikkei Ceviche, which was delicious and one of the standout dishes of the trip.
We ordered the Totoaba and the Peruvian-Style Chicken. The chicken was bland, the mashed potatoes on the side were the best part, and the Totoaba wasn’t fully cooked. We also ordered the Cheesecake & Caramel dessert, which was one of the more confusing desserts I’ve seen and not at all what you would expect.
This dinner would be a skip for me, or I would need to order completely different main dishes and dessert.
Humo
Humo is Zadun’s fine dining experience with a smart-casual dress code. The restaurant reopened in November 2025 after a brief summer closure, allowing for a reimagination of the experience. They offer a nightly dinner and require a reservation. Humo means smoke, and the entire restaurant is themed around smoke, fire, and ash. There is indoor and outdoor seating; we chose to sit outdoors.
The menu is à la carte and includes three appetizer sections, a main course, and, of course, desserts and drinks. The waiter suggested that we order one item from each of the appetizer sections to share and then an individual main course. We ended up ordering only two appetizers instead of three, as we wanted to make sure we had room for dessert.
The meal began with a complimentary bread and eggplant hummus; additional bread was provided upon request. Our two appetizers, grilled miraflores corn and empanadas, arrived together. The empanadas were delicious, one of each of the varieties offered. The main courses we ordered were a New York Steak & Zucchini and Grilled Shrimp with Red Adobo. The steak was excellent, one of the standout dishes of the trip, and we considered going back on a second night just to have it again.
For drinks, we had a passionfruit and coconut cream tequila drink and a mango mocktail with pink peppercorn. If there is a mango drink, I will be ordering it! Dessert was called ‘Cocoa Ashes,’ and it basically summed up the restaurant’s theme: a Mexican chocolate cake with yogurt ice cream, all of it black/grey. The yogurt ice cream was delicious.
We went into the experience at Humo expecting it to be significantly more expensive than it actually was, based on a few reviews. Granted, we shared appetizers and ordered only one alcoholic drink. The total came out to $385 USD after an additional tip. It was similar in experience to a Michelin-starred restaurant, with a price to match.
Room Service
Room service is provided 24 hours a day, with different menus throughout the day, including a “movie night” menu. You can also order room service breakfast as part of the included breakfast for two.
On our last night, we ordered room service for dinner, primarily because there were few dinner options at the resort and we didn’t feel like leaving again. We weren’t really sure how to order the room service, whether we were supposed to call or message our Tosoani. We ended up messaging our Tosoani to ask, and we were able to place the order with him. He then provided us with a rough estimate of how long it would take to arrive.
We ordered a burger and nachos. The nachos were part of the movie night menu.
When the food arrived, they brought it into the room and set up everything on our small dining table. Included were every sauce you could think of for the burger and fries, and all the toppings for the nachos, except for the chicken and some cheese, were on the side in their own bowls. You basically could make every nacho the perfect nacho. The experience was great, and everything was delicious. The nachos were honestly a standout item.
Pools & Ocean at Zadun
Pools
There are 4 pools at Zadun: a family pool, an adults pool, a beachside pool, and the spa pool. They seem to close daily around 5 pm.
The family pool and adult pool are located adjacent to each other, forming an L shape. If you are genuinely looking to get away from children, I’d suggest heading down to the beachside pool near Equis. It is quiet and secluded, with only four cabanas and 10 beach chairs.
We didn’t visit the spa at all, so unfortunately, I can’t comment on the spa pool.
We spent one day at the adult pool and two days at the beachside pool. At both locations, you can speak with a pool attendant to arrange for chairs to be set up for you. They will cover them with towels and provide you with a cooler containing six bottles of water. There will also be a QR code for food and drink menus, and the employees will stop by periodically to see if you need anything.
You don’t need to reserve anything in advance; all chairs and cabanas are first-come, first-served, and the cabanas don’t cost anything additional. They have curtains to help block the sun and a fan.
The pools are said to be temperature-controlled, but we found them pretty chilly and didn’t spend much time in them.
Ocean
On the beach, there are tables, beach chairs, and cabanas. The same service is provided at both the pool and the beach. However, the chairs and cabanas are pretty far from the ocean. The ocean at this property is basically not swimmable. There is a steep drop off to the ocean, and the ocean itself has rocks, rough waves, and an undertow. It’s completely unsafe to swim in, so you are really just here to enjoy the beach. On the plus side, you can see whales in the ocean from the resort, and they will ring a whale bell when one is spotted.
Activities at Zadun
Spa
The main activity at the Zadun is the spa, which provides your standard spa treatments in addition to the spa pool at the facility. We opted not to use the spa on our trip, so I’m unable to comment on the treatments or the facilities.
Gym
There is a gym on the lower level below the adult pool. Some classes require a reservation. The open gym space has a variety of machines and free weights. Water and towels are provided, and we also saw a few snack bars when we stopped by. Right outside the gym, there is a lap pool.
Food Experiences
There are a variety of food experiences throughout the week listed in the activities calendar provided in each room. The experiences are paid and require reservations. Most of these experiences are just the special dinners at the restaurants, but there do seem to be one or two other experiences throughout the week.
Various Other Activities
There are a few other random activities throughout the week, like stargazing and birdwatching. Frankly, I don’t think you need to pay for a birdwatching tour if it’s something you are interested in. We basically did this ourselves while walking around the property; there was so much wildlife.
You may also find that your Tosoani will message you about special events at the resort. For instance, during our stay, there was a turtle release at 5:30 pm one night, and we headed down to the beach to watch hundreds of baby turtles make their way to the ocean.
Final Thoughts on Zadun
I’m not sure if this is normal, if our stay was particularly quiet, or if it was because there was a conference at the hotel while we were there, but we hardly saw other people and had no trouble getting a pool chair or making last-minute reservations. That was very nice, no matter the reason.
The staff at Zadun is absolutely fantastic; every single person was incredibly welcoming and helpful. They were all so lovely, and I cannot say enough nice things about everyone we interacted with. Our Tosoani Diego gave us an adorable bead-covered whale as a goodbye gift.
The food was okay, good even, but I expect more from this caliber of resort in terms of food, especially considering the prices. Nothing was offensively bad; most things were tasty, but realistically, I expected just a little bit more. Standout items included the Mango Sunshine smoothie at El Barrio, the Nikkei Ceviche at Equis, the New York Steak at Humo, and the room-service nachos.
Also, it felt like the resort had too few restaurants, especially since they encouraged guests not to leave the property. We didn’t visit one restaurant, Candil, because it is mostly a bar. They could probably benefit from having one more restaurant that serves lunch and dinner, or from a location that offers a variety of snacks throughout the day.
The rooms were spacious and very lovely, the amenities were nice, and the turn-down service was top-tier. However, the number of bugs on the terrace and inside the room absolutely detracts from the potential niceness of this space.
For the most part, I think you get exactly what you pay for and what you expect at this resort. Despite my complaints, we had a very nice and relaxing stay. I would consider staying again if breakfast is included and I am better prepared for the bugs. I would not stay longer than 5 nights, and I think a 3-night stay would be perfect.
