Where to Stay

Grand Velas vs Le Blanc Los Cabos: Which One I'd Pay For

By Cabo Wander

Grand Velas Los Cabos vs Le Blanc Spa Resort Los Cabos is the question I get from friends who've already decided two things. They want an all-inclusive, and they want the best one in Cabo. That leaves these two, less than a mile apart in the middle of the Corridor, and they're a lot more different than the price tags suggest.

My answer is Le Blanc if you're two adults, and Grand Velas if you have kids or if the room and the dinners are what you're really paying for.

Here's the reasoning. Grand Velas is the better hotel. Its smallest suite is about twice the size of Le Blanc's standard room, every suite faces the ocean, the best restaurant at either hotel is inside the rate, and nobody tries to sell you a membership. Le Blanc is the better buy for a couple. It's adults only, it comes with a butler and a spa water circuit you can use without paying, and it runs roughly US$400 to $600 a night less for two. Over a week that's a few thousand dollars, and for most couples I think it's better spent elsewhere.

One thing takes the decision out of your hands, and that's kids. Le Blanc doesn't take anyone under 18, so with children along it's Grand Velas and you can skip to the room section.

And one thing is the same at both. You can't swim in the ocean at either hotel. If that's news, read the beach section before anything else.

Both sit near the top of the best all-inclusive resorts in Cabo, where I rank Grand Velas first on quality and Le Blanc as the best adults-only pick. This post is just the two of them, head to head.

The Quick Version

Book Le Blanc if you're a couple, you'll use the spa circuit, and you'd rather have a butler than a huge room. Book the Honeymoon Ocean View room, and be ready to say no to a membership presentation at check-in.

Book Grand Velas if you're bringing anyone under 18, if food is the reason for the trip, or if a standard-size room with a sideways ocean view would bug you at four figures a night. The entry-level suite is all you need.

Either way, plan on a pool vacation, book your dinners the day you arrive, pack long pants and a collared shirt, and don't count on popping into town.

What Each Hotel Is

If you got here by searching one name, here's each hotel on its own before I put them side by side.

Grand Velas Los Cabos

Grand Velas is for families with a real budget, groups with grandparents along, and couples who care more about dinner and the room than about a pool deck with no kids on it.

It's a 307-suite all-inclusive in the middle of the Corridor, about 25 minutes from the Cabo San Lucas marina and 30 to 35 from the airport. All ages are welcome. What sets it apart from every other all-inclusive in Los Cabos is that it's really a suite hotel with the food built in. The entry-level suite is about 1,100 square feet, every one of them looks at the ocean, and there are five dinner restaurants, one of which I'd pay for separately if I had to.

I'd book the Ambassador Ocean View, which is the entry-level suite, and not pay for more unless it's a honeymoon.

The beach is for looking at. The hotel says so itself. What gets added to the bill is the spa, the spa's water circuit, the airport transfer and any wine from the longer list. Plan on about US$1,300 to $2,300 a night for two with tax and tips in, and US$4,000 and up at Christmas.

It's the wrong hotel if you want to swim in the ocean, if you don't like dressing for dinner, or if 300 suites sounds too big. For couples who want all of this without children around, the answer is Grand Velas Boutique next door, which I get to further down.

Le Blanc Spa Resort Los Cabos

Le Blanc is for couples. Honeymoons, anniversaries, anyone who wants to be looked after and plans to stay put.

It's an adults-only all-inclusive just up the highway from Grand Velas, the same distance from everything. The name says spa resort, but it's a big hotel, about 370 rooms on twelve floors, white on white, with a wedding most weekends. What you're paying for is the service. Butlers cover every floor, there's a liquor dispenser in the room, the food is well above what all-inclusive usually means, and the hydrotherapy circuit at the spa is included for every guest.

I'd book the Royale Honeymoon Ocean View, and I explain why in the room section.

You can't swim at this beach either. What gets added is spa treatments, a few premium dinners, and a 16% fee on the resort credit, which I'll walk you through. Plan on about US$900 to $1,650 a night for two with tax in, depending on the season.

It's the wrong hotel if you want a big room, a small hotel, or a check-in with nobody selling anything. If the last one is you and Grand Velas is too much money, look at Marquis, which costs a lot less than Le Blanc and has no sales desk. It's in the best adults-only resorts in Cabo with the rest of the field.

Kids, Adults and the Pools

This is the one that decides most bookings, so let's start here. Le Blanc is 18 and over across the whole property. Grand Velas takes all ages.

If you have kids, Grand Velas is a very good place to bring them. The kids' club takes ages 4 to 12 and runs from 9am to 11pm, which is later than some of the restaurants stay open, so parents get a real evening. There's a teens' club, a separate splash area for little ones, and a lot of connecting suites. If your kids aren't swimmers yet, ask about pool depth before you book, because I can't promise you a shallow end in the main pools. I compare it with the other kid-friendly hotels in the best family resorts in Cabo.

If you don't have kids, Grand Velas is closer to an adults' hotel than its label suggests. The pools are on three levels, and the oceanfront one, Serenity, is 16 and over with a swim-up bar. Cocina de Autor is 18 and over. Plenty of couples book it and are happy. How happy depends on the week, though. During school breaks there are a lot of children at breakfast and around the middle pools, and outside those weeks it's a much quieter hotel. So if you're a couple set on Grand Velas, go in May, early June, or September through early November.

At Le Blanc there are four pools, two of them with swim-up bars and one kept quiet, and there's never a child in any of them. The pool problem there is other adults. Towels are on the good loungers by 9am, there aren't enough umbrellas to go around, and on a wedding weekend a big group can take over one end. My tip is to get down before nine if you want shade.

Both hotels heat their pools, which matters more than you'd think in February.

Winner: Le Blanc for couples, because it's guaranteed. Grand Velas for families, because it's the only one that will have you.

The Beach, and Why Nobody Swims

Neither hotel has a beach you can swim at. They share the same stretch of mid-Corridor shore, and the undertow there is serious.

Grand Velas is upfront about it. The hotel tells guests the beach isn't suitable for swimming and points them to the public beach at Chileno Bay, about a mile down the highway. Le Blanc's beach is the same story, with a nicer strip of sand to walk on.

So this whole comparison is about pools, rooms, food and the bill. If you were hoping for a morning swim in the ocean, neither of these is your hotel, and I'd rather you find that out here than at the flagpole. Paradisus is the adults-only all-inclusive on the Corridor with a protected cove, and it's on my list of Cabo resorts with swimmable beaches. And if you'd give up the all-inclusive to get the swim at this price level, the two to look at are in Montage vs Chileno Bay.

The one thing the ocean does give you at both is whales. From mid-December to April you can watch them from a lounger or your balcony.

Winner: a tie. Same shore, same flag.

Rooms, and Which One to Book

This is the biggest physical difference between the two, and Grand Velas wins it easily.

At Grand Velas the entry-level Ambassador Ocean View is about 1,100 square feet, with a terrace, a soaking tub and a full view of the ocean. That's the starting point. I'd book it and stop there, because it already has the two things an upgrade usually buys. The one upgrade with a point is a Grand Class suite. It adds a plunge pool on the terrace, it's sold for two adults only, and the spa's water circuit comes with it. I can't tell you what the jump in price is, so get a quote for both before you decide. Families should ask about the two-bedroom family suite or the two-story Family Duplex, which has its own plunge pool.

At Le Blanc the standard room is ordinary in size. I've seen it listed anywhere from about 500 to 700 square feet, and the bigger figure may be counting the balcony. Either way it's roughly half of what Grand Velas starts you with. The balconies are small too.

Here's the thing to know about Le Blanc's room list. The three categories most people book are the same room. Partial Ocean View, Ocean View and Honeymoon Ocean View share one footprint, and the price difference is the floor and which way you face. Together they're the large majority of the hotel.

So I'd book the Royale Honeymoon Ocean View. You get a full ocean view, a king bed and a daybed on the balcony, and it's the biggest category in the building, so it's usually available. I'd skip the Partial Ocean View unless the savings are big. At around a thousand dollars a night, the view is most of what the room has going for it. If you do book partial, ask the hotel what that means for your room and get it in writing.

A few more Le Blanc tips:

• Ask for an upper floor away from the restaurants. The ground-level rooms near them get noise.
• If you want a real suite, book early. Only a couple dozen rooms in the whole hotel are a Junior Suite or bigger.
• Ask whether a wedding block overlaps your dates, and if you've been promised a specific room for a honeymoon, get that in writing too.
• Twelve floors share three main elevators, so allow a few minutes before a dinner reservation.

Winner: Grand Velas, clearly. If room size is high on your list, the comparison is over.

The Food

Both of these are well above what all-inclusive food usually is. Grand Velas has the better best night, and across a week of dinners it's closer than you'd expect.

At Grand Velas the reason is Cocina de Autor. It's the best restaurant at either hotel, a tasting menu of eight to ten courses that starts with sparkling wine in a lounge and takes two to three hours. The wine pairing is included along with the food. Anywhere else in Los Cabos that dinner would be a big check, and here it's inside your rate. It's 18 and over, it needs a reservation, and it has a dress code. I don't know whether you can book it twice in one stay, so ask the concierge on day one, when you book it the first time.

The other dinner restaurants are Frida for Mexican (the duck confit tamales are the thing to order), Lucca for Italian, Sen Lin for Asian, and Velas 10 for steak and seafood by the ocean, where the tomahawk is the order. If you've read about a French restaurant called Piaf, it's gone, and Sen Lin took its place.

The weak spot at Grand Velas is the daytime food. The poolside menu and the buffet are a clear step below the dinner restaurants, and the buffet repeats. Room service can take anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple of hours when the hotel is full. And not every restaurant opens every night, so ask for the week's schedule before you plan your dinners around one of them.

At Le Blanc there are five dinner restaurants and a buffet. The three I'd book first are Bella for Italian, Yama for the sushi, and Habibi, the Lebanese one, which is served family style with lamb and duck and is the most unusual restaurant at either hotel. Lumière, the French one, is the dressy night and fills up fastest. Blanc Ocean does seafood and grilled things in the open air, and it's the easy lunch along with the wood-fired pizza. The casual food here is better than Grand Velas's, which counts for a lot when you eat lunch by the pool seven days in a row.

Two catches at Le Blanc. The tasting menu at Lumière and the lobster at Blanc Ocean both carry a charge, so ask before you order. And I haven't found a Mexican restaurant on the dinner list. French, Italian, Lebanese and Asian, at a four-figure hotel in Mexico, with nowhere to order mole. If that would bother you, that's one more point for Grand Velas.

At both, book every dinner the day you arrive, through the concierge at Grand Velas or the butler at Le Blanc. For the nights you do want to go out, my picks are in the best restaurants in Cabo.

Winner: Grand Velas. Cocina de Autor with the pairing included is the best single thing either hotel gives you.

Drinks

It's close, and Le Blanc gets a small edge.

Both pour premium brands and both restock the minibar every day. Le Blanc adds a four-bottle liquor dispenser in the room, and its bartenders will make a zero-alcohol version of any cocktail without making you feel like a problem. House wine comes with meals.

At Grand Velas about 50 wines are included, which is generous. The serious bottles are on a separate list of a couple hundred that you pay for. The cocktails are the one soft spot. They run sweet, and a classic doesn't always come out the way it should.

Winner: Le Blanc, slightly. If wine is your thing, Grand Velas.

The Spa

Here's the funny part of this whole comparison. At Grand Velas the tasting menu is included and the water circuit costs extra. At Le Blanc it's the other way around.

Le Blanc's hydrotherapy circuit is included for every guest, and it's the highlight of the hotel. It's guided and takes about an hour. You go through a sauna, a cold room, a eucalyptus steam room and a neck and scalp massage, and then men and women meet up in the warm pools with the jets. I'd do it early in the trip and then again. It's sold as a daily perk, so confirm at check-in that your rate doesn't limit it.

Grand Velas has the bigger spa, and its water circuit is a longer one, about 90 minutes. But for most guests it's a charge. It's free if you book a treatment of 50 minutes or more, or if you're in a Grand Class suite or above. The hotel doesn't post the price, so ask.

Treatments at both are priced like a big-city hotel spa. Plan on around US$300 at Grand Velas and about US$380 for an 80-minute massage at Le Blanc.

Winner: Le Blanc, for anyone who'll use it. A free hour in the circuit every afternoon is a real part of what you're paying for.

Service, and the Sales Pitch

On the service itself I can't separate them. They run it two different ways and both are excellent.

Grand Velas gives each suite a personal concierge, who books your dinners and sorts out whatever comes up. Le Blanc has butlers on every floor from 7am to 11pm. You message yours on WhatsApp, and they'll unpack for you, draw a bath, book the restaurants and get a couple of shirts pressed. The staff at Le Blanc are especially good at noticing small things, like how you take your breakfast, and having it that way the next morning without being asked.

Tipping works the same at both. The rate is sold as including gratuities, and people tip anyway. At Grand Velas every check you sign has a tip line on it, which is a little awkward when you've been told it's covered. I'd bring US$150 to $200 in small bills for a week at either one. A dollar or two a round at the pool, five at lunch, ten at dinner, and something for your butler or concierge at the end. The service is just as good if you don't.

The real difference is the pitch. At Grand Velas I haven't found a sales desk or anyone complaining about one. At Le Blanc you'll be invited to a vacation-club presentation at check-in, right after the cold towel and the white rose, and sometimes again at checkout. For most people a polite no ends it. For some it takes more than one, and you may be offered a paid room upgrade in the same conversation. If you don't want the presentation, turn down the gifts that come with the invitation, because accepting them is how you agree to go. These are sold as 90 minutes and can run a lot longer. What you'd be signing up for is in the Cabo timeshare presentation.

Winner: a tie on service. Grand Velas once you count the pitch.

What It Costs All-In

Le Blanc is cheaper by a wide margin. It runs at about two-thirds to three-quarters of Grand Velas on the same dates.

Here's an entry-level room for two, per night, with tax in. These are planning ranges and they move with the season and the day of the week.

• Late summer into October: about US$1,300 to $1,500 at Grand Velas, US$900 to $1,150 at Le Blanc
• May, June and November: about US$1,500 to $1,900 at Grand Velas, US$1,000 to $1,350 at Le Blanc
• January to March: about US$1,500 to $2,300 at Grand Velas, US$1,100 to $1,650 at Le Blanc
• Christmas and New Year: US$4,000 and up at Grand Velas. I don't have a number I trust for Le Blanc, so expect a big jump and a minimum stay at both.

Both are cheapest from August to October, which is also the hot, humid stretch and hurricane season, and both peak in February. I go through the months in the best time to visit Cabo.

Be careful comparing the two on a screen. Grand Velas quotes per person with tax and tips already in, so the number on its own site is the number you pay. Le Blanc's rate on a booking site is usually before tax, and tax adds about a fifth. Line them up without fixing that and Le Blanc looks like a bigger bargain than it is.

There's one more way to look at it. Per square foot, Grand Velas is the cheaper room. You're paying about a third more for about twice the space. If you'll spend your days at the pool and your evenings at dinner, that won't matter to you. If you like a slow morning on a big terrace, it might.

Then there's what each hotel leaves out.

At Grand Velas:

• Spa treatments, and the water circuit unless you qualify
• Wine from the longer list
• The airport transfer, around US$340 round trip in the hotel's SUV for up to five people
• Laundry
• Kids. Children 4 and up are charged, often around half the adult rate. I can't tell you whether under-4s are free, so get the child rate in writing.

At Le Blanc:

• Spa treatments
• The tasting menu and wine pairing at Lumière, and lobster
• The oceanfront cabanas (there are free first-come ones too) and a private dinner on the beach, which runs several hundred dollars
• Wedding add-ons, which are priced high
• Laundry
• The airport ride, unless your booking includes a shared transfer. Some do, so ask.

At either hotel, an independent private car from the airport runs about US$90 to $130 each way, which beats the hotel's price at Grand Velas if there are only two of you.

Le Blanc's list is longer, and the item to understand before you book is the resort credit. Many Le Blanc rates come with it, somewhere around US$1,500 on a stay of five to seven nights. It sounds like free money and it mostly works like a discount. You pay a 16% fee in cash at checkout on whatever you use, no more than half can go on spa treatments, and anything you don't spend is gone when you leave. So that US$380 massage costs you about US$60 from credit, which is a good deal. Using the full US$1,500 costs you about US$240. It's worth having. Just ask whether your rate includes it, because not every booking does, and get the amount in writing.

Small charges are the same at both. There's an environmental fee of a few dollars a night per room, and a state visitor fee of about US$25 a person that you pay online.

Winner: Le Blanc on price. Grand Velas on having fewer surprises at checkout.

Getting Out of the Resort

It's identical at both, and it's not great. They're neighbors on the same side of the same highway.

Either town is 20 to 25 minutes away, and the airport is 30 to 35. A taxi runs about US$20 to $50 each way depending on where you're headed. Uber is roughly half that and often has to meet you at the gate, so ask the front desk where a pickup is allowed before you plan an evening around it. The details are in getting around Cabo.

Nothing is walkable. There's no shop, pharmacy or restaurant outside either gate, so ask your airport driver to stop for sunscreen and anything else you forgot.

Honestly, I wouldn't plan more than one dinner in town from either hotel. You've already paid for dinner, and a night out adds US$40 to $100 in fares on top. That's also why all-inclusive makes sense on this stretch of coast when it often doesn't elsewhere, and I do that math in whether a Cabo all-inclusive is worth it. If being this far from both towns gives you pause, read my Tourist Corridor guide before you commit.

Winner: a tie. Pick the hotel for the hotel.

What the Week Feels Like

This one's a matter of taste, so I'll just describe them.

Le Blanc is calm. A typical day is a lounger by nine, pizza or grilled fish in flip-flops at lunch, churros at the pool late in the afternoon, the water circuit, and then getting a little dressed up for dinner. Evenings are one live act and a bar with fire pits. The crowd is mostly couples from their forties to their sixties, a lot of them on a second or third visit, and weekends are busier than weekdays. The calm has one exception, and it's weddings. On a wedding weekend there's a large group, and you'll notice them.

Grand Velas is bigger in feel and livelier. There are ten or more scheduled activities a day and a show at night, families head for the middle pools in the morning, and the adult pool gets social late in the afternoon. Dinner is more of an event, with long pants and closed shoes at four of the five restaurants. You dress at Le Blanc too, but only Lumière asks for the collared shirt, and flip-flops are fine at the pizza place and Blanc Ocean.

Winner: depends on you. Le Blanc if you want quiet evenings with other couples. Grand Velas if you like a bit more going on.

What About Grand Velas Boutique?

There's a third option, and it's for the couple who wants Grand Velas without the kids.

Grand Velas Boutique is a 79-suite, adults-only hotel right next to the main resort. A shuttle runs between them and you can eat at the big hotel's restaurants, Cocina de Autor included. I haven't found a sales desk here either. It's the same unswimmable shore, and the evenings are very quiet.

Plan on about US$1,350 to $2,100 a night for two, right alongside the main resort. So you're paying Grand Velas money to get Le Blanc's age rule, in a much smaller hotel. It's newer and doesn't have much of a track record yet, which is the only reason I don't push it harder. For a honeymoon with the budget for it, it's worth a quote next to a Grand Class suite at the main hotel, and the rest of that field is in the best Cabo honeymoon resorts.

The Verdict

For two adults, I'd book Le Blanc.

Grand Velas is the better hotel, and I don't want to undersell it. The room is twice the size, the view is guaranteed, and Cocina de Autor comes with the rate. But a couple at Le Blanc gets a pool deck with no children on it, a butler, very good food and an hour in the spa every afternoon, for US$400 to $600 a night less. On a week that's a few thousand dollars. I'd take it, book the Honeymoon Ocean View, and say no at the welcome desk.

I'd switch to Grand Velas in four cases. You're bringing kids, which settles it. Food is the reason for the trip. You care about the room, and a standard-size one would feel wrong at this price. Or being sold to on the first afternoon of your vacation would sour the whole thing, which is a completely fair reason to pay more.

Neither one is for swimmers, for anyone planning three or more dinners in town, or for anyone who wants a small hotel. If these prices are more than you want to spend with kids along, the next step down is in Hyatt Ziva vs Dreams Los Cabos. To see how both stack up against the room-only hotels at this level, that's the best luxury resorts in Cabo, and the whole field at every budget is in the best resorts in Cabo.

Here's how I'd text it to a friend. Two adults, Le Blanc, Honeymoon Ocean View, decline the welcome gift. Kids or a food trip, Grand Velas, entry suite, book Cocina de Autor before you unpack. You can't swim at either... so pack for the pool.

Quick Answers

Which is better, Grand Velas or Le Blanc in Cabo? Grand Velas is the better hotel, with bigger rooms, an ocean view from every suite and the best restaurant of the two. Le Blanc is the better buy for two adults, at about two-thirds to three-quarters of the price with a butler and the spa circuit included.

Is Le Blanc Los Cabos adults only? Is Grand Velas? Le Blanc is 18 and over throughout. Grand Velas takes all ages, with one pool for 16 and over and one restaurant, Cocina de Autor, for 18 and over.

Can you swim in the ocean at either one? No. They're on the same stretch of shore with a strong undertow, and Grand Velas sends its own guests to the public beach at Chileno Bay, about a mile away.

Is the hydrotherapy included? At Le Blanc, yes, for every guest. At Grand Velas it's a charge unless you book a treatment of 50 minutes or more or you're in a Grand Class suite or above.

Is there a timeshare pitch? At Le Blanc you'll be invited to a vacation-club presentation at check-in, and you can decline. I haven't found a sales desk at Grand Velas.