Our Visit to Rancho La Puerta - Fitness Retreat

We had a freaking blast last week at Rancho La Puerta. I  tried to show as much as I could of our trip through Instagram stories, but the ranch promotes disconnecting from the outside world and technology to focus inward and on those around you (being present..... ahhh). The ranch is pretty life changing and we realized quickly that people keep coming to the ranch for years - many we met had been to the ranch 15-20 times over the years. The ranch just celebrated 78 years!.

There are tons of spots like this all over the ranch to just sit and relax or read a book.

When I told Ricky about the ranch, I told him it was a fitness and wellness resort, but there would be time to chill and relax. They had pools, a spa, amazing food, a juice bar, etc. I thought we'd really have downtime to work on our tans (how we normally like to vacation haha), but there was so much to do and we wanted to try everything! I was pretty impressed with Ricky's desire to get into it and do some of the classes with me.

When we got there on Saturday evening, it had just rained and the humidity was insane. Tecate is just south of the border in CA, but more inland so its generally very dry, desert heat. The humidity we experienced while there was very rare. We got a quick tour of the grounds (which are too vast to cover entirely in the 30 minute tour), and then an overview of how to go about our time at the ranch. And seriously you guys, there is so much to do while you're there.

The amazing sunset from our first night at the ranch.

Fitness

Every hour starting at 9 am, the ranch offers 5-7 different classes ranging from TRX to yoga to circuit training to pickleball to tennis to swimming, etc. Any class you can think of, they offer it at some point or another. The classes last 45 minutes, which allows you enough time to get to your next class.

Each morning starting around 6 am, the ranch offers different hikes, varying in difficulty and duration, over the 4,000 acre property. The ranch is every runner's dream. They have miles of trails to explore on the property + a 1/6 mile long dirt track. After doing some track repeats, you can hop into one of the gym's next to it where they offer stretch classes, or you can hit up the weight room for circuit training or TRX (this was my favorite class!).

Running around the track with view of Kuchumaa mountain in the back.

Food

The food at the ranch was delicious. Another thing I thought would kill Ricky since he has to eat meat at every meal and the ranch offers mostly vegetarian food with the exception of a seafood option every other night. We both felt light and good by the end of our stay - finding we could be satisfied with large breakfasts and lunches and that the timing of each meal period perfectly aligned with the hunger we felt after a series of classes.

The ranch offers a morning hike up to their organic farm. It's a moderate hike of 2 miles ending at their cooking school where we eat a delicious breakfast. You get to tour the farm and see where all the food you've been eating on the ranch is coming from. They also offer a cooking class at the farm a few times during the week. We took the cooking class on Tuesday and it was led by Su Mei Yu, the owner of Saffron in San Diego. We cooked traditional Indian dishes like Dal and Egg Puri. Ricky and I are not huge fans of Indian food, but we tried everything and really enjoyed the unique twists she brought to each dish (And I think I may like Indian food now!). It was a great experience and they give you all the recipes to take home with you if you'd like to make them again.

Our morning hike to the ranch's farm.

Learn

The ranch takes a very well rounded approach to wellness - offering art classes, like jewelry making and painting, throughout the week as well as lectures. They had a certified nutritionist discuss gut and bone health, a sexologist and marriage therapist share information on creating happy and healthy relationships, and certified Soul Collage teacher explore this unique form of art therapy with guests. As soon to be newlyweds, we definitely took to the marriage therapists lectures and we're working to keep what we learned going now that we're back at home. The nutritionist discussions on gut health and bone health really interested me as well, as I'm always trying to find ways to optimize my health and nutrition to be a better runner.

Relax

Even though there was so much to do with every second of our day, we made time to relax on our casita's patio, get massages, and chill at the pool one afternoon. We felt so zen by the end of our trip being able to spend time focusing on ourselves, each other, and those around us.

We lounged by the activity pool between classes.

Relaxing on our Casita's patio between classes.

The hardest part was leaving the ranch. I found that while I was tired from our daily activities, I felt fulfilled by everything we'd done and all the amazing people we'd met. We came back feeling refreshed and ready to continue the healthy lifestyle the ranch promoted. I saw very quickly after returning home why people continue going back to the ranch year after year - we fell back into our busy lifestyle with work, quick dinners, hurried workouts, and exhaustion within a week. I will definitely be going back to the ranch to experience the amazing relaxation and self-care you can only get there!

J

This post was created in partnership with Rancho La Puerta. Travel accommodations were provided, but all opinions are my own.