Where to Stay

Best Cabo Honeymoon Resorts: What the Upgrade Really Buys

By Cabo Wander

The best Cabo honeymoon resorts depend on what the two of you want from the week, so that question comes before any hotel name. The famous ones all look alike in the photos, and they're good at very different things.

If being looked after is the whole point, book Las Ventanas. If you want your own plunge pool and a town you can walk to, book the Waldorf Astoria. If you'd be sad to spend a week on the coast without swimming in the ocean, book Chileno Bay. If you want adults-only and never want to see a check, book Le Blanc. And if the budget is closer to US$600 a night, book Marquis.

Before you pay a deposit, know that most resort beaches in Los Cabos are for looking at, and you can't swim at them. Of the ten hotels I'd book for a honeymoon, only two sit on a beach I'd count on for a swim. On a honeymoon that matters less than usual, because a private plunge pool covers a lot. But it's the first thing to decide, and no hotel's photos will tell you.

The second thing is the upgrade. At some of these hotels the entry-level room already has everything, and at others the plunge pool, the quiet pool or the butler only shows up one or two categories higher. I've said which is which for each one.

The prices here are my rough estimates for two people per night with tax and fees already in, and they swing a lot by season. At the all-inclusives that number covers your food and drinks. At the hotels that sell rooms without meals, it's the room, and eating goes on top.

If you want the top-end hotels ranked for everybody, kids included, that's in the best luxury resorts in Cabo. This post is just for the two of you.

The Quick Version

• Best service: Las Ventanas al Paraíso.
• A plunge pool with every room: Waldorf Astoria Pedregal, or Zadún near San José.
• Swimming in the ocean: Chileno Bay. Paradisus if you want adults-only and all-inclusive too.
• All-inclusive and adults-only: Le Blanc. Grand Velas Boutique if you want somewhere small and very quiet.
• Around US$600 a night: Marquis.
• Small and unusual: Hotel El Ganzo near San José, or Kimpton Mas Olas out toward Todos Santos.

So let's get into it.

If Service Is the Whole Point

Las Ventanas al Paraíso

Las Ventanas has the best service in Los Cabos, and that's why it's my first pick for a honeymoon. Every room gets a personal butler, whatever category you book, and the hotel has a whole Romance Department, which tells you who it's built for.

It's also a couples' hotel in practice. Kids under 16 aren't allowed in the oceanfront junior suites, so most families end up in the villas. The restaurants are the best set at any hotel here, with Árbol as the headliner, and they're priced to match. A light dinner for two can pass US$200 without much effort.

The beach is wide and lovely, and you can't swim at it. Guests who want an ocean swim walk down the sand to a small cove behind a breakwater in front of a neighboring hotel. There are eight pool areas to make up for it, with a lazy river, swim-up bars and one pool for adults only.

The upgrade matters at this hotel. The entry-level room is a big junior suite, close to a thousand square feet with a patio, and it does NOT come with a plunge pool or a hot tub. That surprises people at this price. The junior suite with a rooftop terrace is the upgrade I'd pay for. A private pool means a villa, and that's a very different number.

Plan on about US$1,600 a night for the room in late summer and US$2,700 to $3,900 in winter. There are minimum stays over Christmas and New Year's, so check before you get attached to dates.

Bottom line: if you want to be spoiled and a pool is all the water you need, book it. If one of you is a swimmer, look at Chileno Bay below, or at Palmilla, which I put up against this hotel in Las Ventanas vs One&Only Palmilla.

A Plunge Pool of Your Own

Two hotels here put a private plunge pool in every room, so you get it without paying for an upgrade.

Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal

If I were booking a honeymoon for a couple who wants a plunge pool, a view and a few dinners out, this is the hotel. Every one of its rooms has its own pool, so the cheapest room gets the thing you came for.

It also has something no other hotel at this level has, which is a town within walking distance. The hotel sits on the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas behind a private tunnel through the mountain, and the far end of that tunnel is about ten minutes on foot from the marina. Everywhere else in this post, dinner out starts with a taxi fare. Where I'd walk to is in the best restaurants in Cabo.

The rooms have been renovated and every guest gets a personal concierge. Every afternoon at four, guacamole, chips and two cold beers arrive at your door. From mid-December to April you can watch whales from the room.

The catch is the coast. The beach is on the open Pacific and nobody swims there. This is also the windy side of the cape, and from late winter into spring the wind can make the main pool no fun. The plunge pools are heated to the high 80s, which feels cooler than it sounds on a breezy February evening. If you get cold easily, I'd come between November and January or pick a hotel on the other side.

It's also a popular wedding hotel, and private events can take over part of the pool area, so ask what's booked during your dates.

Plan on about US$2,000 a night for the room in the quiet months and US$2,700 to $4,000 in winter. It has the highest starting rate of the classic hotels, and the base room is all you need.

Zadún, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

Zadún is the one for space and privacy. The entry level is a one-bedroom suite of about 1,500 square feet with a terrace, a plunge pool and glass walls that fold away, so there's no smaller room to be disappointed by.

Each suite has a personal host you reach by WhatsApp, and the adults-only pool has fewer than twenty chairs. It's in Puerto Los Cabos, 10 to 15 minutes by car from San José's plaza, which makes an evening in town an easy ride.

The beach is a mile of sand for walking and whale watching, and the surf is too rough for swimming. There are three restaurants, which gets thin over a week, and food runs around US$250 a person a day. Service at the pool can be slow.

The resort sits in a development that's still being built, and some suites higher up the hill have a partly blocked view. Before you pay, ask the hotel what's beside your building and ask for a suite on the quiet side with a clear view of the water.

Plan on about US$1,200 a night for the suite in late summer and US$2,300 to $3,400 in winter.

A third name comes up a lot for honeymoons, and that's Esperanza. It's small, the staff handle a special occasion well, and many of the casitas have an infinity-edge hot tub. The cove in front is pretty and you can't swim in it, there are a lot of stairs, and extras add up on top of a big service charge. I'd book the Waldorf first.

If You Want to Swim in the Ocean

This is the shortest list in the post. At most of these hotels the ocean is scenery, and that includes every all-inclusive in the next section. The wider field is in the best Cabo resorts with swimmable beaches.

Chileno Bay Resort

Chileno Bay is the honeymoon pick for a couple who wants to get in the water every morning. It's the only hotel on the best swimming bay on the Corridor, with real sand and a gentle way in, and you can snorkel right off the beach.

The snorkels, kayaks and paddleboards are complimentary. There are three pools and one is an adults-only infinity pool, which is the detail I'd care about on a honeymoon, because this hotel takes families too. It's the smaller and more couple-friendly of the two big cove resorts, and I explain why in Montage vs Chileno Bay.

There are only two restaurants, so over a week you'll repeat yourself, and Comal, the main one, is inconsistent for the money. Pool service can be slow. You share the bay with a busy public beach next door and with snorkel boats that anchor outside the buoys from about 10am, so the quiet swim is an early one.

It's also in the middle of the Corridor, 20 to 25 minutes from either town, and a taxi is US$30 to $50 each way. Plan on eating at the hotel most nights.

On the room, I'd book the entry level and spend the difference on the trip. Ask whether your room has an ocean view and get the answer in writing.

Plan on about US$1,200 to $1,300 a night for the room in late summer and US$2,200 to $3,400 in winter.

Swells from the south can close the bay between about May and October, and September is the worst month for it. And from February to April the sea is cold, around 71°F.

Paradisus Los Cabos

Paradisus is the one adults-only all-inclusive in Los Cabos that's both calm and on a beach you can swim at. If you want all of that in one booking, it's your hotel, and a night here with food and drinks in costs about half of what the room alone does at Chileno Bay.

The beach is a cove behind a breakwater, and on a calm day it's a real swim. Summer and early fall swells can close it, so go in the morning and look at the flag.

The upgrade here is called The Reserve, and I think it's worth paying for on a honeymoon. The main pool has a DJ, water aerobics and activity staff during the day. The Reserve has its own calmer pool, a lounge with better liquor and its own restaurant, and a swim-up Reserve room gets you the quiet and the ocean in one booking. Avoid a ground-level room in the regular section, because some of them have a damp problem, and check the category if an ocean view matters.

There's a membership sales pitch, and it's a pushy one. Decide before you arrive that the answer is no. The evenings are slow, too, and the food is good for an all-inclusive without being the reason to come.

Plan on about US$600 to $850 a night with everything in, and a bit more for The Reserve.

If you want the swim and a bigger budget, two more hotels belong here. Montage is the neighbor to Chileno Bay, with larger rooms and stronger service on a cove where the sand is tiny pebbles. One&Only Palmilla has the calmest hotel swimming on the Corridor and San José ten minutes away, in rooms that are showing their age. Both are family favorites, so expect kids at the main pool.

All-Inclusive and Adults-Only

These two are in the middle of the Corridor, and you can't swim in the ocean at either one. You're paying for the food, the service and never having to sign for anything. More options at lower prices are in the best all-inclusive resorts in Cabo.

Le Blanc Spa Resort

Le Blanc is my pick for an all-inclusive honeymoon. Every floor has butlers, the food is well above what all-inclusive usually means, and the evenings are calm, with one live act a night and no loud DJ.

It sells a honeymoon ocean-view room category, and that's the one to ask about. The spa's hydrotherapy circuit is the highlight of the hotel.

The name says "spa resort", but it's a big, busy hotel with around 370 rooms. It also hosts a lot of weddings, so on some weekends a wedding group is the most visible thing at the pool. There isn't much shade at the pools either, so go down early.

The extras are where it adds up. An 80-minute massage is around US$380. There's a membership presentation, and it's long. For most people a polite no ends it, and for some it takes more than one.

Plan on about US$900 to $1,650 a night with everything in.

Grand Velas Boutique

This is the one I'd book if 370 rooms sounds like too many. It has 79 suites, it's adults-only, and it's so quiet that there's no evening entertainment at all.

It sits beside the big Grand Velas resort, and a golf cart takes you next door to eat at the main hotel's dinner restaurants. That includes Cocina de Autor, the tasting-menu restaurant with a Michelin star, and it's all inside your rate. I haven't found a sales desk.

The upgrade is the Grand Class suite, which adds a private plunge pool and a fire pit. If you're already spending this much on a honeymoon, that's the room I'd look at.

It shares its stretch of shore with a neighbor that tells its own guests not to swim, so plan on a pool week. And it's a newer hotel without much of a track record yet, which is the only reason I put Le Blanc ahead of it.

Plan on about US$1,350 to $2,100 a night with everything in.

Bottom line: Le Blanc if you like a little life around you, Grand Velas Boutique if you want almost no sound at all. If you like a bar with other people in it, the Boutique may feel too quiet.

Under US$600 a Night

In late summer, US$600 gets you a very good adults-only all-inclusive. In February and March the same hotels run US$850 to $950, so if the budget is firm, the month matters as much as the hotel.

Marquis Los Cabos

Marquis is the honeymoon I'd book on a budget. It's adults-only and all-inclusive, every room faces the ocean, the food is good across its five restaurants, and nobody tries to sell you anything. There's no timeshare operation here, which is rare at this price.

The three pools sort themselves into a quiet one, a medium one and a loud one, so you get to pick your day. It's toward the San José end of the Corridor, 15 to 20 minutes from the plaza.

The upgrade is the casitas, which have a private plunge pool and are more than twice the size of a junior suite. If you can stretch, that's the honeymoon room. If you can't, the base room is fine, because they all look at the water. Ask for a higher floor away from the kitchens.

The trade is the age of the rooms. They're dated, the loungers are packed close, and the bathrooms are open-plan, so the toilet isn't very private. On a honeymoon you'll find that either funny or a problem, and you probably already know which.

You can't swim at the beach, which has rip tides.

Plan on about US$600 to $950 a night with everything in. The French tasting menu and wine by the bottle are extra, and tips are expected even on the plan.

Two more worth a look at this price:

• Pueblo Bonito Pacifica is the least expensive of the quiet adults-only all-inclusives, at about US$400 to $700 a night, on the Pacific side near Cabo San Lucas. The pool has no DJ and no microphone. The upgrade is The Towers, a separate wing with plunge pools and butlers, at up to around US$1,100. The plan has surcharges at the best restaurants, the coast is windy from late winter into June, and the resort hosts private events and music weekends, so ask what's booked for your dates.
• Secrets Puerto Los Cabos is a big, calm couples' hotel near San José at about US$550 to $850. I wouldn't pay extra for a swim-out room, because they're older and have more maintenance trouble. The mattresses are firm and there's a sales pitch to turn down.

The full field, party hotels included, is in the best adults-only resorts in Cabo.

Small and Unusual

These are for couples who'd rather skip the big resort. They sell the room without meals, so add your dinners to the number. More small hotels are in the best boutique hotels in Cabo.

Hotel El Ganzo

El Ganzo is the small hotel I'd pick for a honeymoon near San José. It's a 70-room, adults-only hotel on the marina at Puerto Los Cabos, and it's built around music, with a recording studio, resident musicians and live sets by the rooftop infinity pool several nights a week.

A two-minute boat shuttle crosses the channel to the hotel's beach club on a small sheltered stretch of sand. Ask at the desk about swimming on the day. San José's plaza is 5 to 10 minutes away, so dinner in town is easy.

The music is also the catch. The soundproofing between rooms is thin, so ask for a room away from the rooftop stairs and the bar. If you want silence at 10pm, pick a different hotel.

Plan on about US$250 to $700 a night for the room. A resort fee goes on top, restaurant checks come with a 15% tip already added, and the menu is pricey.

Kimpton Mas Olas Resort & Spa

Mas Olas is the one for a spa honeymoon a long way from everything. It's in El Pescadero on the Pacific coast, it's adults-only and very quiet, and it's the hotel that used to be called Rancho Pescadero.

It has 103 rooms, three restaurants, several pools and a big spa. The upper-level rooms with a rooftop hot tub and an ocean view are the ones I'd book. Twelve oceanfront villas have plunge pools if you want to go bigger.

The beach is two miles of empty sand, and it's not safe for swimming, which the hotel says itself. The airport is well over an hour away, and restaurant prices at the hotel are high. You'll want a rental car. Todos Santos is close, and what's there is in my Todos Santos day trip post.

Plan on about US$500 to $1,050 a night for the room.

Two More, With Conditions

Paradero Todos Santos has 41 suites and no televisions, on purpose. It isn't on a beach and the pool is small. What you're paying for is the design and the daily activities that come with the room, like surfing, hikes, yoga and cooking. Meals are extra unless you buy the higher tier. Book an upper-level Sky Suite over a ground-floor Garden Suite, which has less privacy and less shade. At about US$600 to $1,150 a night, I think it only earns its price for a couple who'll do something active every day.

The Acre treehouses are adults-only and come with a light breakfast, morning yoga and their own pool. I'd book one for a night or two at the start or end of the trip, and I wouldn't spend the whole honeymoon in one. The walls are open weave, so the air-conditioning doesn't hold, there's nowhere to sit inside, the roosters are part of the night, and events on the grounds can run past midnight. Ask Acre for the treehouse rate directly. How dinner there compares with its neighbors is in Flora Farms vs Acre vs Los Tamarindos.

When to Go

If you can pick your dates, I'd honeymoon in November, in the weeks before Thanksgiving. The ocean is still about 80°F, the days have cooled to the high 80s, the storms are basically done, and winter prices haven't arrived.

Here's how the rest of the year sorts out for a couple:

• Late January to early March is whale season at its best, with sunshine nearly every day. It's also the coldest water of the year, around 71°F, and close to the highest prices. Nights are cool, so pack a layer. More on the whales is in whale watching in Cabo.
• March is the worst value on the calendar. Spring break lands on Médano Beach in Cabo San Lucas and barely touches the Corridor or San José, so the quiet hotels in this post are fine. You'll just pay the most for them.
• May and June are dry, quiet and cheaper. The ocean is still cool, about 74°F.
• July and August are hot and humid, with warm water.
• September is the cheapest month and the peak of hurricane season. I wouldn't put a honeymoon there unless the rate is flexible and you've bought insurance early.
• The first half of December is the one people overlook. It's quiet, the weather is lovely, and rates sit below the Christmas weeks.

The Pacific side is windy from late winter into June, which matters at the Waldorf Astoria, Pacifica and Mas Olas. And if you booked Chileno Bay or Paradisus for the swim, late October through early December is the stretch I'd aim for.

The month-by-month version is in the best time to visit Cabo.

What a Cabo Honeymoon Costs

This is the hotel part of the trip at three levels, for two people, built from the nightly ranges above. Flights are on top.

• An adults-only all-inclusive like Marquis or Paradisus: about US$3,000 to $4,800 for five nights and US$4,200 to $6,700 for seven. Food and drinks are in.
• A top all-inclusive like Le Blanc or Grand Velas Boutique: about US$5,800 to $10,500 for five nights and US$8,000 to $14,700 for seven, with food and drinks in.
• A top hotel that sells rooms without meals, like Las Ventanas, the Waldorf Astoria or Chileno Bay: about US$2,000 to $3,500 a night once you count food and drinks. That's US$10,000 to $17,500 for five nights and US$14,000 to $24,500 for seven, and more in the peak winter weeks.

At the room-only luxury hotels, the rate you see when you book is about three-quarters of what the room costs. Tax adds about a fifth, and a service charge of around 15% goes on the room as well as on everything you eat and drink. Then a day of food and drinks for two runs US$450 to $700.

This is why a top all-inclusive is less of a splurge than it looks. A week at Le Blanc can cost half of a week at a room-only hotel down the highway. What you give up is the ocean swim.

A few extras to budget for:

• The airport ride. A private car is roughly US$75 to $150 each way depending on how far down the coast your hotel is. The arrival is covered in my Cabo airport guide.
• The spa. This is where all-inclusives charge. A long massage at Le Blanc is close to US$400.
• Small fees. There's an environmental fee of four or five dollars a night per room and a state visitor fee of about US$25 a person.
• Getting out. From a Corridor hotel, a taxi into either town is US$20 to $50 each way.

The rest of the trip budget is in how much Cabo costs.

Where I Wouldn't Honeymoon

These are all good hotels built for a different trip.

The adults-only party hotels on Médano Beach. Breathless, ME Cabo and Riu Palace Baja California are all adults-only, and all three have loud pools from mid-morning. "Adults-only" tells you how old the other guests are, and that's all it tells you. If a pool party is your idea of a honeymoon, go for it. Otherwise skip them, especially in March.

The big family all-inclusives. Hyatt Ziva is built around a water park, and Hard Rock is a 639-room family resort a long way out on the Pacific side. Both have an adults-only pool, and you'd still be sharing breakfast with a kids' club.

Nobu Hotel Los Cabos. The rooms are good-looking and the rate is low for a big name. The DJ pool can be heard from the rooms, it's on the windy Pacific side where you can't swim, and a taxi into town is US$50 and up each way.

Park Hyatt Los Cabos. Big rooms and a huge spa, with plenty of families around and a golf hole between the hotel and a beach you can't swim at.

The Four Seasons at Costa Palmas, on a short trip. It has the best hotel beach in the region, and it's about an hour from the airport in the opposite direction from everything else. The ground-floor rooms with plunge pools don't have much privacy. I'd only pick it for a full week, for a couple who's seen Cabo before.

The Verdict

If you made me pick one hotel for a honeymoon, I'd pick Las Ventanas, in a junior suite with a rooftop terrace. It's the hotel most built around looking after two people, and that's what I'd want that week.

If a private plunge pool and dinner in town matter more to you than a butler, book the Waldorf Astoria instead. If you need to swim in the ocean, book Chileno Bay. And if four figures a night is out of reach, Le Blanc gives you a butler and a calm week for about half the total, and Marquis does a very good version for half of that again.

Here's what the upgrade really buys at each:

• Las Ventanas: a rooftop terrace. The private pool is a villa.
• Waldorf Astoria and Zadún: nothing you need. The plunge pool comes with every room.
• Chileno Bay: nothing I'd pay for. Book the entry room.
• Paradisus: The Reserve, for the quiet pool.
• Le Blanc: the honeymoon ocean-view category.
• Grand Velas Boutique: a Grand Class suite, for the plunge pool and fire pit.
• Marquis: a casita, for the plunge pool and twice the space.
• Pacifica: The Towers, for the plunge pool and a butler.

Swimmers should skip everything here except Chileno Bay and Paradisus. Light sleepers should skip El Ganzo and the Acre treehouses. If you get cold easily, skip the Pacific side from February to April. And anyone who hates a sales pitch should stick to Marquis or Grand Velas Boutique among the all-inclusives.

Before you pay, ask every hotel on this list whether a wedding group or a private event is booked during your dates. It's the thing most likely to change a quiet week, and they'll tell you if you ask.

For the two of you, that's Las Ventanas if you want to be spoiled, rooftop terrace suite. Waldorf if you want your own pool and to walk to dinner. Chileno Bay if you have to swim. Le Blanc if you never want to see a check, Marquis if the budget is tight. Go in November. Add a third to any room-only rate... then add dinner.

Quick Answers

What is the best resort in Cabo for a honeymoon? Las Ventanas if service matters most, and the Waldorf Astoria if you want a private plunge pool and a town you can walk to. Neither has a beach you can swim at, so swimmers should book Chileno Bay.

Which Cabo honeymoon resorts have a private plunge pool? Every room at the Waldorf Astoria and every suite at Zadún. At Marquis it's the casitas, at Grand Velas Boutique the Grand Class suites, and at Pueblo Bonito Pacifica the Towers wing. The entry-level room at Las Ventanas doesn't have one.

What is the best adults-only all-inclusive in Cabo for a honeymoon? Le Blanc, with Grand Velas Boutique if you want a small, very quiet hotel. Marquis is the pick at about half the price, and Paradisus is the quiet one with a beach you can swim at.

How much does a honeymoon in Cabo cost? For the hotel, two people should plan on roughly US$4,200 to $6,700 for a week at an adults-only all-inclusive like Marquis, US$8,000 to $14,700 at Le Blanc or Grand Velas Boutique, and US$14,000 and up at a top room-only hotel once food is counted.

When is the best time for a honeymoon in Cabo? November, before Thanksgiving, for warm water, cooler days and prices below winter. Late January to early March is best for whales, with the coldest ocean of the year.