Where to Stay

Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos vs Dreams Los Cabos: My Pick With Kids

By Cabo Wander

If you're pricing a family all-inclusive in Cabo and you'd like to book it through Hyatt, you end up with two tabs open. One is Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos, and the other is Dreams Los Cabos, which costs less and looks pretty similar in the photos.

For most families, I'd book Hyatt Ziva. It has the only real water park at a Cabo all-inclusive, about twice as many restaurants, a short ride from the airport, and the town of San José five minutes away. Nobody tries to sell you a vacation club at the front desk either.

Dreams runs roughly a fifth to a quarter less, and it wins in a few specific cases. The big one is a 3-year-old. Dreams takes 3-year-olds in its kids' club and Ziva makes them wait until they're 4. The others are parents who want the kids' club open past 5pm, anyone paying with World of Hyatt points, and families who'd honestly prefer a smaller, quieter hotel.

One thing is the same at both, and I'd rather you hear it now. You can't swim in the ocean at either hotel. These are pool vacations with a view of the water.

Both are on my lists of the best family resorts in Cabo and the best all-inclusive resorts in Cabo, where Ziva sits above Dreams. This post is just the two of them, head to head.

The Quick Version

Book Hyatt Ziva if your kids are 4 or older, if the slides are going to be the highlight of the trip, or if you want a dinner or two in town. Ask for a room in the tower that was renovated in 2025, and book the teppanyaki table the afternoon you arrive.

Book Dreams if your youngest is 3, if you're paying with points, or if close to 600 rooms sounds like too much hotel. Book the family suite with two bathrooms, and say no to the breakfast invitation.

Either way, plan on the pool. If your kids need the ocean, the hotel to look at is the Hilton Los Cabos, which I get to in the beach section.

What Each Hotel Is

A lot of you got here by searching for Hyatt Ziva alone, so here's each hotel on its own before I put them side by side.

Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos

Hyatt Ziva is for families with kids from about 4 to 10 who want a week of slides, pools and food with no check at the end of it.

It's a big all-inclusive, close to 600 rooms, right on the sand in San José del Cabo's hotel zone. All ages are welcome, and you can't book it without the meal plan. The airport is 15 to 20 minutes away, which is about as short as a transfer gets in Los Cabos, and with a tired kid that counts for a lot.

What sets it apart is the kids' side of the hotel. There's a fenced water park with five slides and a pair of dump buckets, a separate splash pool for toddlers, a kids' club for ages 4 to 12 and a teens' club for 13 to 17. All of it is included. There are nine restaurants, so a week of dinners doesn't have to repeat much.

The hotel had a big renovation that finished in 2025. One tower of rooms was redone, along with the lobby and several of the restaurants. A good share of the rooms weren't part of that work, though. So this is partly a new hotel and partly an older one, and which room you get has a lot to do with how you'll feel about it. When you book, ask for a room in the renovated tower, and ask again at the desk.

For a family of four, the room I'd book is the Ocean View Master Double. It has two double beds and a sofa bed, and on paper it works for two adults and two small kids. I've seen the size of the standard rooms given two very different ways, so I'm not going to print a number. Check the stated size and the bed layout on the booking page before you pay. If you want a door between you and sleeping kids, look at a one-bedroom or two-bedroom suite, and price two connecting rooms next to it.

The beach is wide and nice to walk on, and you can't swim at it. The shore drops off steeply, there's an undertow, and the black flag is up most days. This is the thing that disappoints people more than anything else about the hotel, mostly because nobody told them before they got there. So I'm telling you.

What gets added to the bill is the spa, a cabana if you want guaranteed shade, the airport ride and a sitter in the evening. Plan on very roughly US$650 to $1,100 a night for a family of four with tax in.

It's the wrong hotel if your kids need to swim in the ocean, if you want quiet, or if you're a couple. The main pool has an MC, games and music, and it's loud by design. For two adults, Marquis and Secrets are the all-inclusives I'd look at first, and both are in the all-inclusive ranking I linked above. If you're weighing Ziva against the other places to stay nearby, I go through them in the best hotels in San José del Cabo.

Dreams Los Cabos

Dreams is for families with a 3-year-old, families on a tighter budget, and anyone who'd take a smaller hotel over a water park.

The full name is Dreams Los Cabos Suites Golf Resort & Spa. It's an all-inclusive of about 300 suites in the middle of the Tourist Corridor, the stretch of highway between the two towns, about 25 minutes from the airport. All ages are welcome here too.

The suites part of the name is true. Every room is a suite, listed at about 650 square feet, with a sitting area and a sofa bed. The golf part is not. There's no course at the hotel. What you get is a discount at a few courses down the road, and if that's the reason you're looking, start with the best golf courses in Cabo and pick a hotel from there.

The kids' club takes ages 3 to 12 and it's included. It's reported to run into the evening, which would make it one of the very few in Cabo that covers dinner. I couldn't confirm the hours to my satisfaction, so get them in writing from the hotel before you count on it.

The room I'd book is the Family Junior Suite Ocean View, which has a real bedroom and two bathrooms.

The beach is the same story as Ziva's. You can't swim at it. Plan on very roughly US$500 to $900 a night for four with tax in.

It's the wrong hotel if you can't stand a sales pitch, if you want to pop into town, or if your kids have seen a picture of Ziva's slides. It's also an older building, and the rooms show more wear than Ziva's.

Kids' Clubs, Ages and the Water Park

This is the section that decides most bookings, so let's start here.

If your kids are 4 or older, Ziva wins and it isn't close. The water park is inside the kids' area, it's fenced, and it's the reason children don't want to leave this hotel. Dreams has a kids' section in its main pool, and I've seen a splash pad mentioned that I couldn't confirm. That's a big gap for a seven-year-old.

Ziva's kids' club is the bigger one too, and there's the separate teens' club. If you have teenagers, Ziva is the better of these two, though with teens I'd honestly look at Hard Rock first.

Now the two catches at Ziva, and they're the reason Dreams is in this post at all.

The first is age. Ziva's club starts at 4. A 3-year-old is one birthday short, and may already be charged as a child, so ask how a 3-year-old is priced before you book. At Dreams that same kid walks into the club. It's the only kids' club I've found in Cabo that starts at 3.

The second is the clock. Ziva's club runs from 9am to 5pm, and it closes from 1pm to 2pm for lunch. So the one hour you might have eaten lunch in peace is the hour the kids come back to you. And there's nothing in the evening. If you want a dinner for two, it's a sitter booked through the hotel and paid by the hour in cash. Ask for the rate, and ask what ages they'll take, before you plan a night around it.

Dreams is reported to keep its club open well into the evening. If that's true for your dates, it changes the whole week for parents. But I'd want it in an email from the hotel, with the hours, before I paid for anything.

A couple of practical things. If you're booking Ziva for September or October, confirm the water park will be open, because fall is when hotels here schedule maintenance. And if you're coming in winter, ask which of the kids' pools are heated at either hotel. I couldn't get a straight answer for either one, and a shaded pool in January is cold for a little kid.

What to do with the kids outside the hotel gates is in Cabo with kids.

Winner: Hyatt Ziva from age 4 up. Dreams with a 3-year-old, and maybe for evenings if the hours check out.

The Beach, and Where You Can Swim Instead

Neither hotel has a beach you can swim at. Both sit on open shore with a steep drop and an undertow, and both fly a flag that means stay out.

You'll find pages online that say Dreams has a swimmable beach, and even one that mentions snorkeling. It doesn't. The calm cove people are thinking of belongs to the hotel next door, the Hilton Los Cabos, and it's calm because it sits behind a rock breakwater.

So here's what a swim day looks like from each.

From Ziva, it's a ten-minute taxi to the cove at Palmilla. Go before 10am and bring your own shade and snacks, because nothing is sold on that beach.

From Dreams, it's a 15 to 20 minute walk east along the sand to the Hilton's cove. That's fine on a calm morning with older kids. I wouldn't do it with small children at midday.

If you've read this far and realized the ocean was the point, I'd skip both and book the Hilton. It sells rooms without meals, so you lose the all-inclusive, but the kids' club is free and a child with a mask can get in the water right in front of the hotel. It's on my list of the best Cabo resorts with swimmable beaches with the others.

The ocean does give you two things at both hotels. From mid-December to April you can watch whales from a lounger, and Ziva has had a bell the staff ring when one shows up offshore. And from about September to December there are baby turtle releases on the beach in front of Ziva, which kids love.

Winner: a tie. Same flag at both. Ziva's backup swim is a cab ride and Dreams's is a walk.

Rooms, and Which One to Book

On paper Dreams has the bigger room at the entry level. In practice Ziva's are in better shape, as long as you get the right one.

At Dreams every room is a suite with a sitting area and a sofa bed, so four people aren't on top of each other. The one that makes the case for the hotel is the Family Junior Suite Ocean View. It's listed at over a thousand square feet, with a bedroom that has a door and two bathrooms, and it can land near the price of a standard room at Ziva. If you book it, get the two bathrooms confirmed in writing, because that detail has gone missing at check-in before.

The catch at Dreams is wear. The furniture and fittings are tired in a lot of the rooms, and you can hear your neighbors. The hotel has been refreshing rooms a section at a time, so before you book, ask what's being worked on near your room. And don't count on rooms next to each other if you're traveling as two families. Request it in writing, and have a plan for being on different floors anyway.

At Ziva the standard family room is the Master Double, with two double beds and a sofa bed. The Ocean View version is the one I'd book, with the warning that the hotel itself calls the view from the terrace "indirect". A few tips for getting a good one:

• Ask for the tower renovated in 2025, before you arrive and again at the desk. Those rooms have new furniture and bathrooms. The rest of the hotel is older.
• Ask whether the room has a full terrace. Some rooms only have a railing you can stand at.
• Skip "resort view" if you were picturing water, and skip ground-level rooms tucked in the shade, which can feel damp.
• Don't book a swim-up suite for a family. They come with an age minimum.
• Bring a white noise app. The walls are thin here too.

You may be offered a better view for a nightly fee at check-in. I'd decide what view I wanted before I got there.

Winner: Dreams on space for the money. Ziva on condition, if you get the renovated tower.

The Food and the Drinks

Ziva wins on food, mostly because there's so much more of it. Neither hotel is somewhere I'd book for the cooking.

At Ziva there are nine restaurants. The best meal of the day is breakfast at La Plaza, the buffet, with omelette and crêpe stations and a low counter that kids can reach themselves. At dinner I'd start with Hacienda, the steakhouse on the beach, where the steaks and the desserts are both good. Farina e Olio, the Italian place on the sand, does pasta and pizza that kids and adults will both be happy with. Bon Vivant is French and adults only, and it's a very good dinner if you're not in a hurry, because the service is slow. There's also an Indian restaurant, Mahika, that I don't have a read on yet.

Here's my tip for Ziva. The teppanyaki tables at Dozo, the Japanese restaurant, have to be reserved in person in the afternoon. Send someone the day you arrive, before the kids have even found the slides. For everything else, ask at check-in which restaurants are taking reservations that week, and eat early. The dinner rooms open around 6pm. If you show up at 7 in a busy week you can wait an hour or more, and that's a long time with a hungry five-year-old.

Room service at Ziva runs around the clock and it's included. It's also mediocre and sometimes arrives cold, so I'd save it for a 6am rescue and eat dinner somewhere else.

At Dreams there are four sit-down restaurants and a buffet, and none of them takes reservations. You show up and put your name down. Portofino, the Italian one, is the favorite and has the line to prove it, often an hour. Oceana, the seafood restaurant, is the one I'd take the kids to. The best restaurant at the hotel is Bordeaux, the French one, and it's adults only, which is a little funny at a family resort. The grill is fine at lunch and I'd skip the steak there at dinner. I haven't found an Asian restaurant on the current list, though older write-ups mention one.

Lunch is the weak spot at Dreams. There isn't much choice, the menus are short, and they're not great for picky kids.

Drinks are about the same at both. The bottles on the shelf are fine and the cocktails by the pool are weak. At Ziva they tend to get better once you've tipped the bartender. At Dreams the pool bars close around 5pm, there's often one bartender working, and the popular bottles run out. Dreams sells an upgrade called Preferred Club that gets you better liquor and a lounge. I wouldn't pay for it for the lounge alone.

In the slow months, both hotels open fewer restaurants each night than the website lists. And in August, Ziva's open-air restaurants are HOT.

Winner: Hyatt Ziva. More places, a better breakfast, and a restaurant you can actually reserve.

The Pools and the Noise

Which hotel wins this one depends on what you want at 2pm.

Ziva is lively. The big oceanfront pool has an MC, music and games most of the day, and there's live music into the evening. Kids love it. If you want quiet, there's an adults-only pool, but it's tucked away with no view of the ocean. In July and August the main pool can get warmer than you'd like.

Dreams is calmer. It's about half the size, the main pool is the family pool, and the adults' pool around the other side of the building is quiet. The entertainment at night is smaller. There's a fire show that's worth seeing.

Lounge chairs are a problem at both. Both hotels have a rule against saving them and neither enforces it, so towels are down before breakfast in busy weeks. At Ziva there's a second issue. A lot of the shaded seating by the pools is paid cabanas, at somewhere around US$100 to $200 a day. If shade matters to you, and with little kids it does, either get down early or budget for a cabana a day or two.

Winner: Hyatt Ziva if your kids want action. Dreams if you want to read a book.

The Sales Pitch

Ziva wins this easily. I haven't found a vacation-club desk there, or anyone complaining about one. The most you'll get is an offer of a paid room upgrade at check-in.

Dreams is a different experience. It sells Unlimited Vacation Club, and you'll hear about it at check-in and again at breakfast. The invitation is usually to a short talk "about Hyatt properties" over breakfast, 45 or 90 minutes. It runs closer to three hours, and it's a hard sell. On a five-night trip that's a whole morning of your vacation.

You can say no. Say it once, politely, and don't accept the gifts that come with the invitation. I walk through what you'd actually be signing up for in the Cabo timeshare presentation.

Winner: Hyatt Ziva. With kids melting down in the lobby, not being sold to is worth real money.

Getting Out of the Resort

This is the other big win for Ziva, and it's one people don't think about until they're there.

Ziva is about a mile from Plaza Mijares, the square in the middle of San José. That's five minutes and about US$5 in an Uber, and you'll want to walk out to the road to meet the car. You can also walk it in half an hour in daylight. There's a supermarket and an open-air mall a five-minute walk from the hotel, which is where you go for diapers, sunscreen and the snack your kid suddenly can't live without. And there's a spa across the road that charges a fraction of what the hotel spa does for a massage. Inside Ziva, plan on US$200 and up.

So from Ziva, one or two dinners in town is easy, and I'd do it. San José has the best walkable restaurants in Los Cabos, and my picks are in the best restaurants in San José del Cabo. On Thursdays from November through June there's also the San José Art Walk, which is a nice evening with kids old enough to stay up. If you want to know the town before you book, that's my San José del Cabo guide.

Dreams has nothing outside the gate. San José is 15 to 20 minutes away and Cabo San Lucas is about 25. A taxi to either is roughly US$25 to $50 each way, and Uber is about half that. Ask the front desk where an Uber is allowed to pick you up before you plan a night around it. With dinner already paid for at the hotel, most families at Dreams don't go out at all. That's what the middle of the highway is like, and I'd read my Tourist Corridor guide before committing to it.

The one place Dreams has an edge is Cabo San Lucas. If you're planning boat trips from the marina, it's about 25 minutes from Dreams and 35 to 40 from Ziva, where an Uber runs US$20 to $40 and a taxi a good deal more. The fares and the workarounds are in getting around Cabo.

For the airport, book your own ride at either hotel. Ziva's own car has been quoted at US$100 and up each way, and a taxi or a pre-booked private car costs about half that or less. Uber can't pick you up at arrivals. The options are in my Cabo airport guide.

Winner: Hyatt Ziva. A US$5 ride to a real town beats a US$50 one.

What It Costs, in Cash and in Points

Dreams is cheaper, by roughly a fifth to a quarter on the same dates. That ratio is the number I trust most.

The dollar figures below are rough planning ranges, per night with tax in, and they could easily be off by a good margin either way. The low end is late summer and the high end is winter.

• Two adults: about US$450 to $900 at Hyatt Ziva, about US$350 to $700 at Dreams
• Family of four, kids 4 to 12: about US$650 to $1,100 at Hyatt Ziva, about US$500 to $900 at Dreams
• With teenagers: both charge teens as adults, so expect a lot closer to double the price for two

September is the cheapest month at both, and it's also hot, humid and the peak of hurricane season. February and March are the most expensive, and Christmas week is above anything in that list. Spring break barely reaches San José, by the way, so March at Ziva is families and not college kids. I go month by month in the best time to visit Cabo.

Kids are priced differently by age at both hotels, and I don't have child rates I trust for either. Check the age cutoffs on the booking page and price your actual family before you compare.

So is Ziva worth the extra? For a family with kids 4 and up, I think yes. On a week you're paying maybe US$1,000 to $1,500 more, and you get the water park, twice the restaurants, a town down the road and no sales pitch. For a couple or a family with a toddler, most of that extra money buys things you won't use.

Now the points, because this is the one place Dreams wins big. Both hotels book with World of Hyatt points, and Dreams sits in a lower category. Per night for two, Dreams runs roughly 20,000 to 40,000 points and Ziva roughly 35,000 to 75,000, depending on the date. That's close to half the points for Dreams, and it's the better redemption at every level I've worked out. Check the current chart before you plan, because categories move. Extra guests cost more points on top, kids included, so get the full figure for your family before you transfer anything.

What each one leaves out is a short list.

• At Hyatt Ziva: the spa, cabanas, the airport ride, a sitter, the photographer's files, and tequila tastings
• At Dreams: the spa, cabanas, the airport ride, a sitter, and the better liquor unless you've paid for Preferred Club

Tips are said to be included at Ziva, and people tip anyway. At Dreams I'd assume they're expected. Either way, bring small bills. Both add an environmental fee of a few dollars a night per room, and there's a state visitor fee of about US$25 a person that you pay online.

If you're still deciding whether to go all-inclusive at all, I do the math both ways in whether a Cabo all-inclusive is worth it. And if Dreams is still more than you want to spend, the cheaper route is a regular room and eating out, and those are in the best affordable Cabo hotels.

Winner: Dreams on price, and by a lot on points. Hyatt Ziva on what you get for the money.

The Small Stuff That Goes Wrong

Neither of these is a luxury hotel, and both slip in the same ways when they're full. I'd rather you know going in.

At both, service slows down at busy times, and if the air conditioning or the plumbing acts up it can take hours to get fixed. If something's wrong with your room, I'd go to the desk in person and not wait on a phone call.

At Ziva, check-in can be slow in peak weeks, and housekeeping keeps its own hours. A room can get cleaned at 5pm, or someone can knock while the baby's asleep. If you've got a napper, tell the desk what time works and use the sign on the door. If you need a crib or a high chair, ask for it before you arrive.

At Dreams, the check-in problems are more about the room itself, like getting a different suite type than the one you booked. That's why I keep saying to get things in writing.

The staff are the best part of both hotels. The bartenders, the pool attendants and the kids' club team at Ziva are the people guests remember by name, and it's the same at the adults' pool and the bars at Dreams.

The Verdict

With kids who are 4 or older, I'd book Hyatt Ziva.

It's the better hotel for a family, and I think the gap in what you get is bigger than the gap in price. The water park alone will carry a six-year-old through the week. You get more places to eat, a 15 to 20 minute ride from the airport, a real town five minutes away for the night you're tired of the buffet, and a check-in where nobody's selling anything. Book the Ocean View Master Double, ask for the renovated tower, and reserve teppanyaki before you unpack.

I'd switch to Dreams in four cases. Your youngest is 3, and you want a kids' club that will take them. You want the club open in the evening, and the hotel has confirmed the hours to you in writing. You're paying with points, where Dreams costs about half. Or you'd just rather be in a smaller, quieter hotel and your kids won't miss the slides. In all four, Dreams is a perfectly good week at a fair price, as long as you can say no at breakfast.

Neither one is for swimmers, and neither is my first pick for a couple. If the ocean matters, book the Hilton. If you've got more to spend and want the kids' club that runs until 11pm, the step up is Grand Velas, which I cover in Grand Velas vs Le Blanc. And if you want to see where these two land against every hotel at every budget, that's the best resorts in Cabo.

Here's how I'd text it to a friend. Kids 4 and up, Hyatt Ziva, renovated tower, book teppanyaki on day one and eat by six. A 3-year-old or a pile of Hyatt points, Dreams, family suite, skip the breakfast talk. You can't swim at either one... so pack for the pool.

Quick Answers

Is Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos worth it? Yes, for a family with kids from about 4 to 10 who want a pool week with slides and no check. I'd pass if you need to swim in the ocean, want quiet, or are traveling as a couple.

Can you swim in the ocean at Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos or Dreams Los Cabos? No, at either one. From Ziva the nearest calm water is Palmilla, about ten minutes by taxi, and from Dreams it's the Hilton's cove, a 15 to 20 minute walk along the sand.

Which is better for kids, Hyatt Ziva or Dreams? Hyatt Ziva from age 4, for the water park, the bigger kids' club and more food. Dreams with a 3-year-old, because its club starts at 3 and Ziva's starts at 4.

Do you need dinner reservations at Hyatt Ziva? For the teppanyaki tables at Dozo, yes, and you book them in person the afternoon you arrive. For the rest, ask at check-in and plan to eat early. Dreams doesn't take reservations anywhere.

Will I get a timeshare pitch? At Dreams, yes. It's sold as a short breakfast talk and can run about three hours, and you can decline. I haven't found a sales desk at Hyatt Ziva.