Travellers who think of Mexico as one beach holiday are often surprised by Los Cabos. It sits at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, on the Pacific side of the country, and the landscape is nothing like the Caribbean coast. This guide sets out what the setting means for an all-inclusive stay, what the airport transfer asks of you and which questions are worth settling before you book.
Desert meeting sea
Los Cabos is desert meeting sea, rather than jungle meeting reef. There is no cenote, no Mayan ruin and no Caribbean lagoon. In almost every respect it is the opposite of Cancun, and that matters more than any amenity list when you are choosing between the two. If what you want from Mexico is turquoise shallows and ruins, the Caribbean side is the better fit. If you want dry sunshine, dramatic coastline and a Pacific horizon, Los Cabos makes the case for itself.
We have set the two side by side in our Cabo versus Cancun comparison for an all-inclusive, and the overview on our Los Cabos destination page sets out the evidence behind this article.
One road, two resorts, opposite audiences
The two properties we document in the area both publish a Camino Viejo a San Jose address, on the corridor road between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. They are run by the same operator and split cleanly by audience.
- Hotel Riu Palace Baja California is adults-only, with four pools, seven bars and junior suites and above.
- Hotel Riu Santa Fe is a family resort with a named water park and eight named dining venues.
That split makes the first decision easy. If you are travelling with children, one of these is not available to you. If you are travelling to get away from children, the other is not what you want. Our comparison of Riu Palace Baja California and Riu Santa Fe covers the rest.
The transfer is the number to plan around
The adults-only property publishes a distance of 40 km from Los Cabos International Airport (SJD) and advises allowing about an hour. That is the longest published transfer of any Mexican resort we document, roughly triple that of a Cancun hotel-zone property. Over a return trip it is two hours in a vehicle.
The family resort on the same road publishes no distance and no time. We have not carried the first figure across to the second, because a distance published for one hotel is not evidence about another, even one a short way along the same road. If your resort is not the one that publishes a figure, ask for it in writing.
The arithmetic matters most on short trips. An hour each way is trivial across ten nights and a real slice of a long weekend. Our guide to how far from the airport your resort should be explains how to weigh transfer time against everything else you want from a resort, and resort airport transfers explained covers the shuttle, private car and taxi options once you know the distance.
Swimming: check before you assume
We hold no verified information about swimming conditions on the beaches serving either property. The Pacific side of Baja has stretches where swimming is not advised, and this is exactly the kind of claim that circulates between travel sites without a source. Check it with the operator for the specific beach, and read our guide to rip currents and beach flags at a resort before you go into the water. If the resort has good pools, that may be where most of your swimming happens.
What to settle before you book
- Who is travelling. Adults-only or family decides which property is open to you.
- The transfer. Get the distance and drive time in writing for your actual resort.
- The beach. Ask whether swimming is advised at the beach in front of the resort, and what the pools offer if it is not.
- The season. Match the month to the coast, not only the country. Our guide to choosing the right month for a beach resort trip helps with that.
- Things to do. See things to do in Los Cabos beyond the resort for ideas that do not depend on the resort desk.
Who Los Cabos suits
Los Cabos suits travellers who want a dry, scenic coast and are comfortable with a longer transfer in exchange for it. It suits couples who like the adults-only option and families who prefer a resort with a water park and a range of dining venues. It suits less well anyone who wants to be in the water at the beach every day without checking conditions first, or anyone whose trip is so short that two hours of road time would take a noticeable share of it.
We cover two properties here, and that is not coverage of a whole region. Treat this as a guide to the questions that matter, not a survey of every resort in Los Cabos. Last verified on our destination page: 2026-09-13.