Areas

The Pacific Side of Cabo: It's Really Two Different Places

By Cabo Wander

When a friend tells me they've booked "the Pacific side" of Cabo San Lucas, I ask which hotel before I say anything else. A room at Solmar Resort and a room at the Hard Rock both get that label on a booking site. From the first one you walk to dinner at the marina in ten minutes. From the second, dinner in town is a 25 minute taxi from behind two security gates.

So here's my answer up front. I'd stay on the Pacific side only if the resort is the trip, because you can't get in the ocean at any hotel on this coast. And I'd treat it as two separate areas. At the Land's End end, which is the Waldorf Astoria in Pedregal and the hotels on Playa Solmar, you give up the swim and keep the town. At the gated resorts up Highway 19, which are Quivira, Diamante and Rancho San Lucas, you give up the swim and the town too. What you get back up there is a bigger room for the money, a sunset over open water every night, whales from the balcony in winter, and three of the best golf courses in Los Cabos.

That's a good trade for some trips. It's the wrong one for a first visit, and I say so in where to stay in Cabo, where the Pacific side gets a short section. This post is the long version, and it adds one thing that section doesn't spell out: the "too far out, can't leave" problem only starts once you're over the hill.

What It's Actually Like

The first thing you notice is the sound. You open the balcony door and the surf is loud, and it stays loud all night. I love it. This is open ocean, with nothing between you and the horizon, and the swell comes straight in and breaks hard on a steep beach.

Then you walk down to the sand and see how the hotel has set things up. There's a rope, a red or black flag, and a row of loungers placed well back from the water. The sand tilts toward the sea like a roof. The staff will ask you to stay away from where the waves wash up, and they mean it.

The beach itself is the best-looking one in Los Cabos, and I don't say that lightly. It's wide and pale and it runs for miles with almost nobody on it. It's also the one you aren't allowed into. Every photo you've seen of these resorts is honest about how it looks and silent about that.

So the days happen at the pool. In January you'll see a whale spout before you've finished unpacking. In March the umbrellas come down by early afternoon because of the wind. In August that same wind is the reason the pool is bearable. And every evening of the year the sun drops into the water right in front of you, which is the thing people who love this side talk about first.

Nights depend completely on which half you're in. At the Land's End end, you walk into town. Up the highway, the evening belongs to the resort, the way it does on the Corridor.

The Two Halves, South to North

Everything here has a Cabo San Lucas address. The dividing line is the Pedregal hill, the rocky ridge that separates the marina from the open ocean. South of it you're in town with a Pacific view. North of it you're on Highway 19, the road that keeps going to Todos Santos, and each resort sits behind its own gate with a long private road after it.

If I were ranking the five clusters as places to base yourself, I'd put Pedregal first if money is no object, Playa Solmar second, Pacifica at Quivira third, Diamante fourth and Rancho San Lucas fifth. I'd skip Sunset Beach at Quivira. The hotels are ranked against the rest of the area in the best resorts in Cabo.

Playa Solmar

This is the one I'd tell most people about, because it's the affordable way to have the Pacific and still live in a town. Solmar Resort, Playa Grande, Grand Solmar Land's End and Sandos Finisterra sit behind the marina, facing the ocean, with Land's End rising at one end of their beach. The marina is five to ten minutes away on foot.

You get the surf, the sunsets and the winter whales, and then you stroll to dinner. Solmar Resort runs about US$150 to $230 a night, room only, and the group as a whole goes from roughly US$110 to $450. Grand Solmar is the nice one. Sandos is the all-inclusive, at about US$365 to $690 for two, and its food is the weak point.

The catch is that these are older hotels, they sell timeshare, and Sandos has the pushiest sales pitch of the bunch. I'll be straight that I know these hotels less well than the ones up the highway. What I'm sure of is the location, and the location is the reason to book.

Pedregal

Pedregal is one hotel and a hillside of villas. The hotel is the Waldorf Astoria, and it's the only way to have this coast at the very top of the market and walk to dinner. You reach it through a private tunnel cut 300 meters through the hill, and the town end of that tunnel is about ten minutes on foot from the marina. The guards will run you through in a golf cart if you'd rather not walk it.

Every room has a plunge pool, and at four o'clock they send guacamole and a couple of beers to the room. I think that's a lovely touch at a hotel where you can also walk to a taco stand. It starts around US$1,500 a night in the quiet months, and closer to US$2,000 once tax and service are added. It's in the best luxury resorts in Cabo for good reason.

What I'd want to be different is the wind in spring, which can make those pools pretty hard to enjoy on some afternoons, and of course the beach.

The villas up the hill are another story. It's twenty minutes down to the marina on foot and a real climb back, and the guardhouse can refuse to let an Uber in. They work for a big group that's happy to cab everywhere.

Quivira

Quivira is Pueblo Bonito's development, 15 to 20 minutes from the marina by car. It has two hotels, a Jack Nicklaus golf course, a market and food hall, and a few condo complexes deeper inside.

Pacifica is the one I'd book. It's adults only, with about 200 rooms, a pool where amplified music isn't allowed, and a lounge set up for watching whales. It's a true all-inclusive at about US$400 to $700 a night for two. The Towers is its fancier wing, with 47 suites and butlers, at about US$720 to $1,100. If you're over fifty, you read by the pool and you're coming in whale season, this is your hotel. I do wish the standard rooms were fresher, because the furniture is dated. And when the hotel hosts an event, the quiet rule gets set aside for the night.

Sunset Beach, the family hotel on the hilltop next door, is the one I'd pass on. It's about 50 acres on a slope, so you call a golf cart to get to a pool or a restaurant and wait anywhere from five to twenty minutes for it, sometimes longer at dinner time. The rooms are tired, and the timeshare reps work the lobby, the restaurants and even the shuttle. The view is terrific. You get the same view from Pacifica.

The condos (Copala, Montecristo and Novaispania) only make sense with a rental car. The gate is a few miles from them, which is about an hour on foot, so read up on renting a car in Cabo before you book one.

Diamante

Diamante is about 25 minutes from the marina and it's the farthest I'd send most people. It's a private golf development with two big hotels, the Hard Rock with over 600 rooms and Nobu with 200, plus timeshare and residence buildings that are still going up.

The Hard Rock is my pick here for a family with teenagers who will happily stay on the property. It's all-inclusive with tips covered, there are eight restaurants, and the pool staff and the entertainment are what people love about it. Plan on roughly US$500 to $950 a night. My caution is that it's showing wear in places, with leaks, damp rooms and tired finishes, and that isn't only a summer problem. I'd look at how it's doing right before you book, whatever the month. It can also be loud late at night.

Nobu is the opposite mood. I'd book it for the room, the restaurant and the breakfast, and for very little else. The other restaurants don't keep up, the main pool has a DJ, and the rate is room only, starting around US$400 and passing US$1,000 in winter, with about a third on top for tax and service. You may be offered a pitch for a Diamante residence when you arrive. I put the two side by side in Hard Rock vs Nobu Los Cabos.

At either one, ask what's being built next to your building before you pay extra for a view. Construction at Diamante has been going for years and I don't see it ending soon.

Rancho San Lucas

This is the last one out, beyond Diamante. The developer says 20 minutes from downtown and I'd plan on 25 to 30. It's a Solmar property, Grand Solmar at Rancho San Lucas, with a Greg Norman golf course, spread-out pools, a saltwater lagoon you can paddle on and a small market.

It's probably the calmest of the five, and it's the one I can tell you the least about. It also gets the wind as badly as anywhere on this coast. If you're looking at it for a winter or spring week, pack long sleeves and pants, and I'm completely serious about that.

Can You Swim Anywhere?

No, at none of them, at any price. That goes for the Waldorf, every hotel on Playa Solmar, both Pueblo Bonitos, the Hard Rock, Nobu and Rancho San Lucas. Some listings talk about "private beach access" and enjoying "the sand and sea". You get the sand.

I want to be really clear about why, because it's different from an ordinary rough beach. The swell arrives from open ocean and breaks right at the shore, the bottom drops away fast, and there's a strong undertow. Every so often a wave comes in much bigger than the ones before it. People have been swept in here while walking along the edge of the water with no plan to swim. On Divorce Beach, a kid playing a good twenty feet back from the water was knocked over by a wave and dragged in, and it took three adults to get him out. Divorce Beach, Playa Solmar and the beach at Pedregal are three of the most dangerous beaches in Los Cabos.

So my rule here is simple. Walk on the dry sand, well back, and keep kids off the wet sand completely. It's a wonderful beach for a long walk at that distance. There's more on the ocean, and everything else people worry about, in is Cabo safe.

When you want an actual swim, here's how it works from each place:

• Playa Solmar hotels: walk about ten minutes to Playa Empacadora, or 15 to 25 minutes to Médano. Sandos staff lead walks over to a public beach.
• Pueblo Bonito at Quivira: take the free shuttle to the company's two hotels on Médano.
• Everyone else: a taxi.

If swimming in the ocean is a big part of your vacation, I'd honestly stay somewhere else, and the best swimmable beaches in Cabo will show you where.

Getting Around

This is where the two halves split apart for good.

From the Land's End End

You walk. From the Playa Solmar hotels it's five to ten minutes to the marina, and from the Waldorf's tunnel about ten. If you don't feel like walking, a taxi is around US$10 to $15 and an Uber is about US$5. That's the whole section, and it's why I keep saying these hotels belong with the town. What's waiting at the other end of that walk is in my Cabo San Lucas guide.

From the Gated Resorts: Uber

Here's the thing nobody tells you until you're standing in the lobby with your phone out. Uber can bring you home to these resorts, and it can't come get you.

At the Hard Rock and Nobu, cars are stopped at the Diamante entrance, and the Hard Rock puts it in writing: Uber is allowed in to drop off arriving guests, and that's it. At Sunset Beach an Uber will pick you up, but only at the main gate, which is about a mile from the lobby and uphill. Pacifica is on the same estate, so I'd assume the same and ask. I don't know the rule at Rancho San Lucas, so ask there too.

Getting back is easy. You order the Uber outside the restaurant, and it's waved through the gate because you're in it. It costs roughly a third to half of the taxi, somewhere around US$7 to $15.

Taxis

There are always a few taxis waiting out front, so getting one is never the problem. The price is. There are no meters and nobody posts a fare, so these are the ranges I'd budget. They're each way, and they're for the whole car:

• From the Land's End end: about US$10 to $15, if you don't walk
• From Quivira: about US$20 to $35
• From Diamante: about US$50 to $70

I'm less sure of the Quivira number than the Diamante one, and I don't have a figure I trust for Rancho San Lucas, though it's farther out than Diamante. Ask the bell desk at check-in, before you book a dinner, and ask whether the price is for everyone in the car.

Hotel Shuttles

Only one of these is really useful, and it's Pueblo Bonito's. It's free, and it runs between the two Quivira hotels and the two Pueblo Bonito hotels on Médano about once an hour, from roughly ten in the morning to ten at night. The ride is 20 to 30 minutes.

It's a nice perk, and it doesn't work like a bus. You have to reserve a seat in the hotel's app, the mid-morning runs fill up, and if you book late you can get bumped. So reserve the night before. It also takes you to a beach and stops there. From that Médano hotel the marina is another 15 to 20 minutes on foot, so dinner is still a walk away. And the last one back is at ten, which is early for a night out.

The Hard Rock has a shuttle into town, but it's paid. It has been about US$12 a person each way, so for two of you it costs the same as the taxi. I haven't found a shuttle at Nobu. Solmar has run a free hourly shuttle from Rancho San Lucas to its Land's End hotel, which puts you a short walk from the marina. Confirm it's still running and what the hours are before you count on it.

The Airport Run

Plan on 50 to 60 minutes to anything past the hill, and 45 to 50 to the Waldorf. Your driver should take the inland toll road, which skips San José and the Corridor and comes out on Highway 19 north of town. Ask whether the toll is in the price.

Book the car yourself. An independent private transfer is about US$100 to $150 each way for the vehicle. The Hard Rock's own car is closer to US$170 to $190 for the same ride. The shared shuttles are cheaper per person and slower, and how arrivals works is in my Cabo airport guide.

This is also why I wouldn't do three nights beyond the hill. That's nearly two hours of a short trip on the airport road. Three nights at Playa Solmar is fine.

What an Evening in Town Costs

From Diamante, a taxi out and an Uber back comes to about US$65 to $100 for the evening. From Quivira, with the free shuttle out and an Uber back to your own lobby, it can be under US$15, as long as you can live with the reservation and the timetable. From the Land's End end it's free, because you have feet.

That's less than the same evening costs from the middle of the Corridor, to be fair. It still adds up fast if you're planning dinner out most nights or three boat mornings, and in that case I'd either rent a car or stay in town. Every option is compared in getting around Cabo.

Bottom line: at the Land's End end you don't need a plan. Up the highway, decide how many times you're really going out, and do the math before you book.

Where to Eat and Drink

I'd normally give you a handful of restaurants here. On the Pacific side there aren't any outside the gates. I can't point you to a single independent restaurant between Pedregal and the end of the resorts that's worth a trip. You eat at your hotel or you go into town, so what matters is how good your hotel's food is and what it costs.

The Waldorf Astoria has the one dinner on this coast I'd tell anybody to book, guest or not. El Farallón is seafood on a ledge in the cliff with the surf right below. It's about US$450 to $600 for two, so I'd do it once, and I go through whether that's money well spent in is El Farallón worth it.

The Playa Solmar hotels don't need to feed you well, because the marina's restaurants are ten minutes away. That's lucky for Sandos, whose restaurants are the weakest part of the stay. I wouldn't pay for all-inclusive at this end.

Pacifica has better food than I expect from an all-inclusive, across four restaurants. Four gets a little thin by the end of a week. The two best dinners on the estate, LaFrida and the steakhouse at the golf club, cost an extra US$30 to $50 a person even on the plan.

Sunset Beach has LaFrida, which is really good, and buffets that are pretty generic. The meal plan there is optional, and it's about US$120 a day per adult bought ahead and around US$185 bought at the desk. Even with it, some restaurants add a cover charge of close to US$50. Buy it in advance if you're going, and read what it leaves out.

The Hard Rock has the most variety, with eight restaurants, and the food is good for a big all-inclusive. Most of them are walk-in, so expect a wait in the busy weeks, and book the teppanyaki table as soon as you check in.

Nobu is worth it for Nobu itself and for breakfast. The rest is forgettable, and everything carries about a third on top in service and tax.

Rancho San Lucas has a fine dining restaurant called Anica. I don't know it well enough to tell you if it's good.

My rule is that the harder a hotel is to leave, the more the meal plan is worth, and up the highway these are hard to leave. The best all-inclusive resorts in Cabo ranks the ones that include everything against the ones that sell a plan on top.

One tip for anyone on a room-only rate out here. Ask your airport driver to stop at a supermarket on the way in, and get water and snacks for the week. There's a market and deli at Quivira and a mini-market at Rancho San Lucas, at resort prices.

What to Do

The list is short, and almost all of it happens without leaving your hotel. I think that's the appeal.

Watch the sunset. The resorts face west over open water, so the sun goes straight into the sea every evening of the year. Get to whichever bar or terrace faces the ocean half an hour before.

Watch whales from your balcony. The season is mid-December to April, and January to March is when you can count on it. From a high room at the Waldorf, The Towers or Sunset Beach you can see spouts and breaches most winter days without binoculars. If you want to be close to them, that takes a boat from the marina, and I cover it in whale watching in Cabo.

Play golf, at the course your room key opens. The famous courses out here aren't public, and this trips people up. Quivira is for guests of a Pueblo Bonito hotel, which includes the two on Médano, so you can sleep on a swimmable beach and still play it. The two courses at Diamante, one by Davis Love III and one that was Tiger Woods' first design, belong to a private club that lets Hard Rock and Nobu guests play when there's room. The Greg Norman course at Rancho San Lucas, now called Solmar Golf Links, has been for guests of that resort. I've also seen it sold to outside players, so call the pro shop before you assume either way. A Hard Rock room won't get you onto Quivira, and a Pacifica room won't get you onto Diamante.

A round at Quivira runs about US$350 to $475 in winter and US$300 to $400 in summer, and that includes all the food and drink you want at four stations around the course. Regulars treat it as breakfast and lunch. They won't let a non-golfer ride along for the views, which is a shame, because the cliff holes are the famous part. The courses anyone can book are in the best golf courses in Cabo.

Walk the beach, well back from the water. It goes for miles.

Climb Mt Solmar or go for a swim, if you're at the Land's End end. The trailhead and Playa Empacadora are both a few minutes from the Playa Solmar hotels.

What I'd Skip

Walking the waterline. I covered why above. It's the one thing on this coast I'd really ask you not to do.

The welcome breakfast. At the Pueblo Bonito and Solmar hotels, the gift and the free breakfast offered at the desk are a timeshare tour. One polite "no, gracias" does it. If you're tempted, read what a Cabo timeshare presentation costs you first.

A day of "exploring the area". There's a highway and gates. If you want a day out in this direction, keep going up Highway 19 and make it a proper Todos Santos day trip.

When It's at Its Best

Summer and early fall, which surprises people. From July to October the rest of Los Cabos is hot and sticky, and this coast has a steady breeze off the ocean. Rates are at their lowest and Quivira's green fees drop. The trade-off is that this is hurricane season, some resort restaurants close for stretches in September, and the surf is at its biggest, which is something to see from a safe distance.

Winter is whale season and it's lovely, with one adjustment. December to March evenings are cool enough that you'll want a layer for dinner outside.

Then there's the wind. From late winter into June this side is cooler and a lot windier than Médano or the Corridor, and March and April are the worst of it. Umbrellas get taken down, and some afternoons the pool isn't much fun. At Pacifica the hot tubs have wind guards built around them, which tells you what the hotel thinks of its own weather. If you're coming between February and April and you get cold easily, I'd think twice about this side.

The Catch

The catch is the ocean, and I've said it enough. The second catch is that up the highway, the hotel has to be everything. Your food, your pool, your evening and even your ride to a beach you can swim at all come from the resort, on the resort's schedule and at the resort's prices. The farther you are from Land's End, the more that's true.

A few smaller things come with that.

Several of these are sales operations as well as hotels. At Sunset Beach you'll be approached more than once. At Nobu the pitch is for a residence. At Sandos it's the hardest sell I know of on this coast. None of it is dangerous. It's just tiring on a vacation.

The checkout has surprises. At Sunset Beach, look for restaurant surcharges and a small daily donation line you didn't ask for. At Nobu, look for the service charge and the room service fees.

And the rate isn't always the bargain it looks like. You really do get more room for the money than on the Corridor, where rates start around US$350 and hit four figures in winter. Rooms here start around US$300. But a room-only rate at Diamante plus a third in tax and service plus US$50 or more every time you leave closes that gap pretty quickly.

Honestly, if the pull is a quiet resort far from everything, compare this side with two others before you pay. A cove hotel in my Tourist Corridor guide costs more and lets you swim. And the beach in my East Cape guide is calm enough for a paddleboard, though it's even farther from town.

The Verdict

The Pacific side is a good place to stay for a small number of trips and the wrong place for a first one. And before anything else, find out which half your hotel is in.

Here's who I'd send, and where:

• Honeymoon, big budget, and you want to walk to town: the Waldorf Astoria.
• A couple who wants quiet near town on a normal budget: Grand Solmar Land's End or Solmar Resort on Playa Solmar.
• Adults who want a quiet pool, a book and whales: Pacifica, in The Towers if you can.
• Golfers: the hotel that matches the course. Pueblo Bonito for Quivira, the Hard Rock or Nobu for Diamante, Grand Solmar for Rancho San Lucas.
• A family with teenagers who'll stay on property: the Hard Rock, after checking how it's holding up.
• Anyone coming July to October who wants a breeze: any of them.

And here's who I'd send somewhere else:

• First-timers: Médano Beach.
• Anyone whose vacation includes swimming in the ocean: Médano or a Corridor cove hotel. This goes for the whole coast, Land's End end included.
• Three-night trips: nothing beyond the hill. Playa Solmar is fine.
• Three or more dinners out or boat mornings: stay in town, or rent a car.
• February to April, and you feel the cold: the bay side.
• Condo renters without a car: don't.

So what would I book? Playa Solmar, any time I want a quiet week with the town next door. Pacifica in whale season, on a week when I've already decided I'm not going anywhere. I wouldn't book anything up the highway planning to go out a lot... that's what the other side of the hill is for.

And here's how I'd text it to a friend: check which half you're in. Solmar and the Waldorf walk to the marina, everything up Highway 19 is a taxi. No swimming at any of them and stay off the wet sand. Uber drops off, doesn't pick up. Budget $20 to $50 each way for the cab and ask at check-in. Pacifica if you want quiet, skip Sunset Beach. Best in summer and in whale season, windy in spring.

Quick Answers

Can you swim at the Pacific side resorts in Cabo? No, at none of them. The surf breaks hard on a steep beach with a strong undertow, and people have been swept in just walking at the water's edge.

How far is the Pacific side from downtown Cabo San Lucas? It depends on which half. The Waldorf and the Playa Solmar hotels are about ten minutes on foot from the marina. Quivira is 15 to 20 minutes by car, Diamante about 25, and Rancho San Lucas a little more.

Can I get an Uber from the Hard Rock, Nobu or Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach? To them, yes. From them, you can't get one at the lobby. At Diamante the cars aren't allowed in to pick up, and at Sunset Beach the pickup is at the main gate, about a mile uphill.

How much is a taxi into town? About US$10 to $15 from the Land's End end, US$20 to $35 from Quivira and US$50 to $70 from Diamante, each way, for the car. Ask at check-in, because nothing is posted.

Is the Pacific side windy? In late winter and spring, yes, and noticeably more than Médano or the Corridor. From July to October the same breeze is the best reason to book it.