Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel — Restaurant in El Hongo

Booked a night here in one of the King Suites with the Weekday Hideaway offer, which came with a $75 dining credit if staying the night anytime from M-Th. Check-in was a warm welcome from Ivan, who offered cider as a check-in drink to enjoy. The room looks exactly as is in the picture, and the welcome cookies were a sweet touch! There is a mini fridge, though much of the room is stocked with drinks as an option to take if you'd like to charge one to the room. My partner and I loved the record player--his brother shared a good selection of vinyls for us to play and set the mood for us well. We appreciate the supply of towels, robes, and blankets made available to us for our stay!

We shared the Echo Room with a few folks and noted afterward that the water seemed a bit dirty on top--probably because of folks walking barefoot from the entrance to the tub and picking up dirt on the wet ground. Would it be possible to recommend that people come in with slippers and wash their feet before stepping into the water? There are two rinsing areas / open showers nearby this pool. I came in very early morning after staff had cleaned the pool, and also came in with my partner after lunch the next day, and noted that the water was cleaner. The Echo Room is also the hottest of the three pools. On Day 1, the water felt nice and warm but not as hot as we both would like; however, on Day 2, the water was nice and hot!

I took a dip in the Solstice Pool also in the very early morning, which was still warmer than the outside temperature but not as enjoyable of an experience perhaps because of this pool being cooler than the other two pools. There was someone who lingered in this pool despite the bouts of rain, short snowfall, and windy that we experienced in the afternoon of our check-in!

My partner and I enjoyed the Ritual Pool after lunch, which didn't have any other folks around aside from us two. I was able to actually smell sulfur in the Ritual Pool! If you read the book about the Jacumba area, which I imagine is in all of the guest rooms (?), you'll find info in there that confirms these pools' temperatures and little sulfur smell.

The changing room areas were nice and clean. Lockers are provided--you make your own passcode/lock for the the locker for use. There is one shower room that locks in each changing room, and shampoo, conditioner, and body wash are provided in this shower. Sun protection and water are provided by the outdoor pools.

We loved the restaurant and bar a lot--I drank through their non-alcoholic options and enjoyed all three. My partner had canned Modelos while we were in the restaurant. At the bar, he ordered a Cab Franc at the bar but noted that something was at the bottom of his glass--maybe a sliver of cork? The bartender was kind enough to replace that glass with a new one of Cab Sauv. In the restaurant, we ordered lamb meatballs, guacamole, Imperial Ceasar Salad, pozole, burger, wings, and fries between three different visits to the restaurant and bar. All options were delish! (Also, I thought I'd be able to enjoy breakfast after checkout at 11am, but the breakfast menu changes to lunch after 11am M-F.)

The vibe in this area would probably be much different during the weekend or an event, and I'd hope to experience the differences in setting and crowds that this place draws. Everything here is intentional and deliberately chosen: from the companies from which the hotel sources their teas, toiletries, robes, sun protection; decorations in the room and throughout the hotel; to the menu curation. I'm also a fan of their current policy of letting hotel guests use the facilities after check-out. We lingered around and walked around the town and the lake, soaked more, ate again at the restaurant, and then went on our way to the Anza Borrego desert, While the waters here aren't the hottest (expected temps are on the website--please read through it!), I love and appreciate it all and hope that this place receives the love and appreciation it deserves. I'll definitely be back...

This place is honestly magic.

Jacumba Hot Springs is such a gem tucked away in the desert, and the drive from San Diego is actually super relaxing and pretty. My friend Emily and I went and had the best time. The weather was perfect, the people were SO nice, and the vibe is just different out there in the best way. You meet all kinds of characters, but everyone's chill and easy to talk to.

We got there early on the first day and hit the little bizarre in town. Emily met this hilarious older guy named Don, he's a local who ended up showing us a "secret lake" and invited us to this cool indoor pool floating sound bath at a nearby campsite. Total trip. He calls himself the "concierge of Jacumba" and honestly, I believe him. He's like everyone's eccentric uncle and reminds me of my father-in-law--talks a lot, loves to tell stories, and clearly adores this place.

We checked in at the trailer where Ivan and Jessie greeted us with the warmest welcome and offered us agua fresca--spiked or not. I don't drink often, so that was a nice little touch. Ivan gave us a tour, set us up with wristbands (which you need for your room, the private guest pool, and access points. He and made us feel right at home. THANK YOU!

That night, "B Side Players" were playing live at the main pool (the day pass one), so we posted up for a bit, people watched, and just soaked in the fun. Later the crowd moved to the bar with a DJ, but Emily and I dipped back to the private pool where we made friends with two girls from LA--Rita and Daniel, and and we ended up swimming under the stars until midnight. We had the whole pool to ourselves. It was pure bliss. We're already planning a reunion trip with them soon.

Our room was GORGEOUS!! Earthy and cozy with a super comfy bed, a mini bar, and a handwritten note waiting for us. That kind of detail goes a long way. The outdoor patio restaurant is beautiful and perfect for brunch or dinner. There's a bar too, but after soaking in those sulfur waters all day, we were so zenned out we just wanted to relax instead of party.

We went the Saturday after July 5th and it wasn't crowded at all. The private guest pool is separate from the main one and sooo nice. You can rent cabanas, chill, and on certain nights there's live music and people dancing under the stars. I've done Glen Ivy a bunch, but this place is so much more my vibe. GI can feel like a sorority party in chlorine. Jacumba is peaceful, grounding, and the water feels CLEAN and probably no chemicals at all.

They even have their own natural sunblock that smells like cocoa butter and uses non-nano zinc oxide. I went heavy with it, and reapplied often but I still got a tad sunburned so I'd love if they made a stronger SPF--maybe 50+?

On our last day, I met Julie who worked there. Shes a yoga teacher my friend already knew from SD, and she was so sweet. She's trying to bring massage services to Jacumba too. Shoutout to Rita, our poolside server, and Felix who let me charge my phone after checkout.

The only little hiccup was booking. The website glitched out and kept spinning so I accidentally booked three rooms, so definitely double-check your email or call if the site starts spinning. Thankfully, they were super nice about fixing it. If you book online 30 days in advance, you get a lower rate, just know it's nonrefundable.

This place has something special. It's peaceful, everyone says hi, the staff is happy, and the whole experience feels like a retreat. I'm definitely bringing more friends next time. I face timed my father in Chicago who loves these places as much as I do so I'm looking forward to a father daughter hang out with him when he visits. It's too close and too good not to. Thank you to all the staff that made my weekend pure bliss. I'll be telling...

We stayed one night here. The check in: The room was ready about half hour early and included a tasty hot toddy! We didn't really get any info on check in about the surrounding area, the lake or anything else. They also did not update us on the limited services the next day as they were closing early for the holiday. They did alert us via email a few days before arrival about the early closure, but it was a really late notice considering our advanced reservation. They had the following night as an available reservation date when I originally booked so was surprised to learn of the early property closure just days before our resevation. If we had known we would only be getting half day of resort pools amenities the following day we may have opted for a visit another time.

The property: the renovated property is amazing in detail and decor. So many cool pieces from the doors and light fixtures to the tile and faucets. The art work and decorative pieces throughout are a visual and textual delight. The bar is fantastic!

The room: the king bed and pillows/ linens were very comfy. Slippers and robe were a nice touch. FYI, the robe is thin, not really a pool robe. Cookies and a personal note were also a nice touch. We really enjoyed the turn table and eclectic vinyl records! Fun amenity. Thick towels, very well stocked mini bar with wide range of beverage selections. No tv and no phone in room. Perfect! We were there to relax!

The pools: we love natural hot springs/ mineral pools so were very excited for this. These pools are a bit heavy on the sulfer. We spent several hours both days soaking it up. None of the pools are as hot as advertised on the website which was disappointing. The indoor pool was the hottest and barely 100 degrees. We were there on a week day and it was pretty quiet and very relaxing.

The restaurant: we had made a reservation for dinner and noted it was a birthday. By our arrival at 7pm they had run out of a number of items and ingredients on the menu. That seemed very poor planning. The menu itself was intriguing with some unique dishes. The ribs and sea bass we ordered were good. There were limited sides left available and only two desserts. Oddly, they had run out of the "birthday dessert", whatever that was. Instead of offering a free drink or another available dessert from the menu, they brought what we think was a random item from a staff party or other left over in the freezer. The server was nice and really wanted to make things go well, but it didn't seem that there was any direction or protocol from management. The tables are VERY close together in the dining room so you will really get to know your neighbors.

The service: kind of hit and miss. We got the impression that staff was not really well trained or all on the same page about how things were running or what protocols were. They were all nice and mostly attentive, just not all seemed to know what was going on. We noticed a lack of replacement when things got low: towels in the changing rooms, glasses at the water station, mugs at the coffee station, etc. No one told us of some things, like we had to exchange our room key for a day pass key the next day to not get locked out of the pool after 11am even though the whole day is supposed to be included in your stay, or the advertised services that were not available because of the holiday closure. Just some minor details like that but would have been helpful to have been told on check of the little changes.

Overall: it was a relaxing and comfortable stay and we enjoyed the property and mineral pools. Great option for a staycation within an hour from San Diego. The no kids policy is a huge plus!!

*Suggestion: put in a cold plunge which is a great compliment to the healing...