This has been a difficult review to write because there are such clear pros and cons about this property. We stayed at Lajitas because we wanted to visit the Big Bend region and play golf on their new golf course. It's remoteness is part of the charm of the property. It is truly just beyond the edge of civilization. The closest town with a grocery store or pharmacy is more than 50 miles away in Presidio. The closest hospital is in Alpine more than 100 miles from Lajita.

But you know that before you go there. In return, you are in the most natural wilderness area in the southwest with amazing landscapes and the clearest skies you will ever encounter. The trip is worth taking just to experience the nighttime skies.

The new golf course has the potential to be one of the most beautiful courses anywhere. I've never played on a Lanny Watkins designed course before and this one is astonishingly picturesque and playable. Due to the limitations of geography, most mountain courses have at least a few "stupid" holes. Holes where the playability has been compromised because of the need to use less desirable land for part of the course. There are no "stupid" holes at Black Jack's Landing. Every hole is fairly designed for maximum playability. Every hole is challenging and fun to play. Every hole offers some of the most spectacular views and vistas I have ever experience on a golf course, and I have played golf around the world.

This golf course has the potential to be the best mountain golf course in the world. That distinction currently belongs to Wade Hampton in North Carolina.

So now for the cons.

Lajitas Resort is a tired hotel that need a major makeover. We stayed in something called the Officers Quarters apparently because I requested a room with a view. Well the room had a very nice view but the room itself was a big disappointment. First, you had to lug bags up 17 steps to get to the room. With peeling paint and warped and loose boards, the stairs nor the upper deck made a very good first impression. That no bellman was anywhere to be seen to offer assistance with luggage didn't help. We entered the room through an an exterior door that had cracks in it so big the sun shone through the cracks once you were inside. The advertised sitting room was a strange little room about 5 feet wide by 12 feet long. It had a small faded leather loveseaft that I'm sure has been there since the hotel opened some 30 years ago. The oldest tv I've seen in a very long term sat kitty cornered in the room on a small table jammed up against the junky loveseat. Inexplicably, this useless room had a ceiling fan. The sleeping room did not. The king bed was comfortable but the room was terrible. There was nowhere to sit. There wasn't a closet, just a small wardrobe. The tv was small and older than the other one. The lighting was horrible. The carpet was fraying on the seams and the floor was uneven. The toilet seat was loose and too small for the toilet. The shower floor was slippery with no handle or bar present to grab if you slipped. The water trickled from the shower head. Just turning on the shower was awkward because of the design of the shower stall.

The hotel dining room was better but there is a torn lamp shade on a lamp sitting in a corner that I guarantee has been there for quite awhile. This room also needs a facelift. The food though was pretty good and all of the servers were very nice and friendly.

Lajitas has good bones and lots of potential. But right now it's pretty dumpy. Very few people are going to play that gorgeous golf course if the place isn't spiffed up. I hope management understands what they have with the new golf course and how it won't matter if the high end golf crowd can't like your accommodations as much as the golf.

I love West Texas and the Big Bend area in particular. My organization recently had a board meeting held at Lajitas and the location selection was inspired. Lajitas is in remote West Texas, so service can understandably be spotty, given the fact that many folks out there work just to allow them to live pretty far away from urban civilization. However, on my latest visit to Lajitas, almost every customer service person I encountered seemed to have elevated their game. In particular, Renee and Erica in the Candelilla Cafe were terrific. My breakfast was served one morning at room temperature (not hot as it should have been) and Erica would not let me pay for the entire breakfast. The bartender Stan in the Saloon serves up a mean Bourbon Old Fashioned. And the band that performed that Saturday evening was fantastic, playing old Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Doobie Brothers music.

We visited Lajitas and Big Bend for 3 nights just before Christmas. I found the place and the experience met with my expectations with few exceptions.

Quick tip: Have everyone going on the trip be somewhat familiar with what is, or perhaps to some, not in the region. It can make for less surprises, especially for older children.

Pros: Unbeatable scenery, essentially from 360 anywhere on the property.
Safety: Saw many border patrol and felt staff was always around checking things out.
Great variety of accommodations, something for everyone. We greatly enjoyed the Badlands hotel, but rooms are smaller and stairs are not for everyone, especially with lots of luggage. Cavalry Post rooms we toured were large and location was great for families with kids to run around, especially in the summer as the pool is located in that part of the property.
Decor: Variety yet consistent with theme. Many things to look at and see around the grounds, although was disappointed not to have marked walking trails or similar on or from the property.
Bring a telescope if you have one, the night skies are unlike I had ever seen.
Check in cookies and water: Great option for the desert as even in the winter, we found ourselves thirsty quite often. Cookies were fresh and fabulous, so good its hard to imagine the other bakery incident below.
Evening staff seemed friendlier, but could have been coincidence.

Cons: Bakery. Having read about the fresh baked items on site (rare even for city hotels), we longed to try something out. Our first morning and each subsequent morning(as we observed from our window) the bakery was not open at the said time. We even noticed other guests disappointingly heading back (toward Cavalry Post) after being turned away by the cerrado sign. When I did go over that first morning I ordered a cinnamon roll.The first question I got after I ordered (this is minutes after opening) was "would you like me to microwave it". I should have known by the comment what was to come by eating it, but was so taken back by the question, I intentionally waited about 30 minutes before indulging in the pastry. As expected, it was far from fresh, I'm guessing 2-3 days old after my experience hitting the "day(s) old rack" in the back of the local big box megamart in my hometown. While far from a food snob(notice previous comment), I did not know that the word "microwave" was to be used in a bakery, especially in a nice resort. The experience likely saved us more money as we failed to try any of the other eating options at the resort for fear of high priced disappointment. To finish this portion on a high note however, the staff was very responsive and receptive to our request for a microwave to be brought to our room to heat up the food that we brought from home.

Equestrian center: My comment is prompted by that, while nice and knowledgable, 2 members of the horse staff made thinly coated derogatory remarks about my daughter(6)'s pink cowgirl boots. I might have looked past it, but since in 30 minutes 2 different people making similar comments, I was disappointed. Lots of big city little girls wear pink cowgirl boots and, the comments are best kept for after hours.

Bar: While not a big bar person I was surprised to see no TV on each night in the heart of college bowl season. Seemed uninviting. I am sure I am not the only dad who was looking for an after bedtime(kids) place to watch a game. Clever art, however.

Summary: If you want to get really far away from one of the zillion big cities in TX and see some unbelievable scenery and still be in TX, this option cannot be beat. Lajitas is one of the few lodging options close to both parks and from what we saw, definitely the nicest.

We spent 3 nights at this resort during the Christmas weekend. We (4 families) rented two Boardwalk Condos. Check in was a breeze. Accommodations were luxurious, better than we expected. Kitchens were well stocked with good quality utensils. Very comfortable beds, clean showers. We had a few issues - washer and dryer and a hot tub in one of the condos did not work. Called maintenance on this and the person who came to inspect commented that he had never worked on the brand of washer/dryer installed in this condo. May have been a new employee. He promised to come back the next day to fix it but never did. He also said that the hot tube could not be fixed. We called the front desk and they offered $100 to make up for the washer/dryer and hot tub. We were unhappy but satisfied with the compensation. The other condo had a bike, several clothes still hanging in the closet. We felt that some one was likely living there before we checked in.

The resort is about 20 min away from Big Bend National Park and likely the most comfortable accommodations in this neighborhood. Arid but very scenic. We were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed our visit.