The story of Cabo Land’s End, and the hotel chain that defines it, begins some 70 years ago. When Luis Bulnes Molleda and his wife Conchita arrived in Cabo San Lucas in 1954, the town had only about 400 inhabitants and no hotels. The only industry of note was the tuna cannery. Bulnes had come from Ribadesella, Spain to take over as manager there at the behest of the owner (and his boss), Elías Pando Pendás, who not coincidentally was from the same part of Spain.
Both men had enormous energy and ambition. Pando, for instance, became rich due to various business interests and lived to the age of 102. Bulnes would later retire from the cannery to build hotels, becoming a pioneer developer of Cabo San Lucas. The family-owned hotel chain he founded, Solmar Hotels & Resorts, remains the only one ever born at Land’s End. A statue of him stands on the marina boardwalk, a testament to his enormous contributions to tourism.
How Cabo San Lucas became a tourist destination
It was a destiny that must have seemed impossible when he first arrived in what is today Los Cabos. “We had no children in those days. It was impossible to have children here,” Bulnes told Baja Explorer in 1992. “No doctors, no medicine, no nothing. It was really isolated. To take a trip to La Paz took five or six hours by car. In the stormy season it could take a week because the road would wash out. Once I had to rebuild the road with my guys. We were isolated for 25 days.”
By 1971, Cabo San Lucas was no longer isolated. That was the year Hotel Finisterra opened near Land’s End, built by Luis Cóppola Bonillas, Bulnes, and Raúl Aréchiga. It wasn’t the first hotel to arrive in Cabo San Lucas. Abelardo “Rod” Rodriguez Jr., son of a former Mexican president, premiered Hotel Hacienda at the juncture of the marina and Playa El Medano in 1963. Except there was no marina then. Dredging on the marina wouldn’t begin until 1973, the same year the Transpeninsular Highway was completed.
Bulnes saw it all and played a major role in the destination’s continued development. He sold his shares in Hotel Finisterra and opened his own 20-room and two-suite Hotel Solmar in 1974, even closer to Land’s End than the hotel that bears its name. That was also the year Baja California Sur became a state, becoming, along with Quintana Roo, the last to join the nation.
The evolution of the Solmar brand
That means Hotel Solmar, later redubbed Solmar Resort and renovated and expanded to 100 rooms, is celebrating its 50 anniversary in 2024. Bulnes and his family would eventually help grow Solmar from a single hotel to a hospitality brand managing resorts, restaurants, residences, spas, and a world-class golf course.
The first restaurant of note was Romeo y Julieta, which opened in 1986 and continues to serve Italian-style cuisine in an enchanting setting in Cabo San Lucas. By then, he had partnered with Marco Monroy on Terrasol, the first beachfront condominium project in Los Cabos. It received a presidential inauguration in 1988 and today retains its pristine location between Solmar Resort and Playa Grande Resort & Grand Spa, overlooking Playa Solmar and the Pacific Ocean. By 1990, Solmar would also venture into timeshares.
Playa Grande, another Solmar property, opened in 1998 and was followed by an adjoining luxury resort – The Ridge at Playa Grande – in 2005.
A commitment to sustainability
It may seem surprising that a former manager of one of Mexico’s most productive fishing canneries and once the owner of Cabo San Lucas’ largest sportfishing fleet would be so dedicated to sustainability. But Bulnes was an early advocate for big-game fishing in Los Cabos while also seeking to protect its resources. For example, he established the Fundación para la Conservación de los Picudos in 1993 to help preserve the billfish species so important to sportfishing in Los Cabos.
He also helped to promote catch-and-release policies. “We have to protect the resource. There are too many lines in the water. The important thing is catch-and-release,” he said in 1992. “I want my grandkids to be able to fish these waters.”
This spirit has carried on into the 21st century at Solmar. The world-class Solmar Golf Links designed by Greg Norman that opened in 2020 is an Audubon Certified Cooperative Sanctuary, attesting to its efforts to remain environmentally sustainable while protecting native wildlife.
Solmar in the 21st century
The fact that Solmar Hotels & Resorts is the only locally grown hotel chain with a history that dates to Cabo San Lucas’ early days as a tourism destination has certainly provided some benefits. No other hospitality brand has ever built hotels on the Land’s End headland at the tip of Cabo San Lucas. Bulnes passed away in 2011, the year the most spectacular of these properties, Grand Solmar Land’s End Resort & Spa opened. That was also the year the non-profit Solmar Foundation was created in Bulnes’ honor to aid those who need it most locally.
His son Francisco “Paco” Bulnes took the reins, overseeing a decade of tremendous growth, including the opening of Grand Solmar Pacific Dunes & Spa and Grand Solmar The Residences in 2017, and the nearby Solmar Golf Links. He would pass away too soon in 2021. However, the legacy endures with new president Rosario “Charo” Bulnes Malo, a tribute to what one family can achieve, for themselves and their community. Solmar Hotels & Resorts has grown from its original 22 rooms to a collection of properties offering about 1800. More are on the way, too.
For instance, several new food and drink destinations have recently opened under the Solmar aegis. The Wine Bar premiered next to Romeo y Julieta in 2019, Picaro Garden Cuisine on the Pacific Coast near Solmar Golf Links in 2020, and Fiore Bakery & Coffee (also by Romeo y Julieta) in 2024. More rooms are also expected to be added to Grand Solmar Pacific Dunes and a renovation is planned for Playa Grande.
What would Luis Bulnes think of Cabo San Lucas today, which no longer has 300 residents, but over 200,000? Probably some variation of his quote after the opening of the Transpeninsular Highway in 1973, remembered in Gene S. Kira’s superb The Unforgettable Sea of Cortez: “We are going to lose the tranquility, but we are going to make a lot of money. Civilization has a price.”
Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook, and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.
Source: Mexico News Daily
