Los Cabos

Baja is a different Mexico

Los Cabos sits at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, on the Pacific side of the country — desert meeting sea rather than jungle meeting reef. There is no cenote, no Mayan ruin, no Caribbean lagoon. The landscape is the opposite of Cancun’s in almost every respect.

That matters more than any amenity list when deciding between the two, and we have written the comparison separately.

One road, two resorts, opposite audiences

Both properties we document publish a Camino Viejo a San Jose address — the corridor road between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo.

Riu Palace Baja California is adults-only, four pools, seven bars, junior suites and above. Riu Santa Fe is family, with a named water park and eight named dining venues.

Same road, same operator, and a clean split by audience. If you are travelling with children, one of these is not available to you; if you are travelling to get away from them, the other is not what you want.

The transfer, published once

The Palace publishes 40 km from Los Cabos International (SJD) and advises allowing about an hour.

That is the longest published transfer of any Mexican resort we document — roughly triple a Cancun hotel-zone property. Across a return trip it is two hours in a vehicle.

Riu Santa Fe, on the same road, publishes nothing. We have not carried the Palace’s figure across to it, because a distance published for one hotel is not evidence about another, even one a few hundred metres away.

Swimming

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 sort of claim that circulates between travel sites unsourced. Check it with the operator for the specific beach.

Last verified 2026-09-13.