10 Best Hotels in Cabo San Lucas (2026), Ranked by Guest Reviews

The best hotel in Cabo San Lucas is Nobu Hotel Los Cabos, rated 9.6/10 across 754 guest reviews and priced from $392 a night for two. For a milestone trip, Waldorf Astoria Pedregal is the only perfect 10/10, from $1,082. For a beach you can actually swim at, ME by Meliá on Medano Beach is the highest-rated, from $356. For value, Medano Hotel and Spa scores 9.2 across 1,121 reviews at $139 to $159 a night.

We ranked the ten by guest score weighted for review volume (the formula is at the end of this guide) and priced every one live for the same stay, two adults for three nights, on five check-in dates from October 2026 to February 2027. The three Riu resorts are sold all-inclusive, so they have their own section rather than a place in the ranking, and our best all-inclusive resorts in Cabo San Lucas guide ranks the all-inclusive market separately.

This is the decision that matters most in Cabo San Lucas, and it is not in any hotel's star rating. The town sits at the tip of the Baja peninsula, where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific. The bay side, Medano Beach, faces the Sea of Cortez and is protected. The Pacific side faces open ocean. Of the ten hotels on this list, four are on or beside Medano Beach, one is downtown, one is inland on the Corridor, and four face the Pacific or the open Corridor coast.

What guests say about the Pacific beaches

The reviews are blunt. At Hard Rock, guests write that it is not possible to get into the sea. At Nobu, one guest wrote that the beach "isn't usable at all" and added that they did not miss it. At Waldorf Astoria, a guest described the beach as quiet and beautiful but not swimmable. At The Cape, the beach below is a public surf beach, and a guest who is a physician described watching a snorkeller pulled from the water by other guests and a surfer. These are some of the best-rated hotels in Cabo San Lucas, and they are on this list on merit. Just book them for the pools and the view.

Why that is not a reason to skip the Pacific side

The Pacific side is where the sunsets are, where guests watch whales from the property in winter, and where the quietest, most private hotels sit. All four Pacific and Corridor-coast hotels here score 9.0 or higher. If your trip is about a resort stay, the pools, and the view, an ocean you cannot swim in is a backdrop rather than a problem. If your trip is about getting into the sea every morning, stay on Medano, or plan to reach calmer water on a snorkeling trip to the bays along the Corridor.

Medano Beach: Swimmable and Walkable

Four of the ten are here. ME by Meliá and Casa Dorada are on the sand. Bahia Hotel sits on Avenida del Pescador with its own beach club on Medano, and Medano Hotel and Spa is a short walk back from the beach on Camino Real. This is the busiest beach in Cabo San Lucas and the calm swimming beach in town, lined with beach clubs, water taxis to El Arco, and the nightlife strip a few minutes away on foot. It is also where the best-value good hotels on this list are: Medano Hotel from $139 and Casa Dorada from $165. The trade is noise. Guests at Medano Hotel, Casa Dorada and Bahia all mention it, from late-night bars to spring breakers in the hallways. Our Medano Beach hotels guide ranks every hotel on and near the sand.

Downtown: Boutique and Breakfast Included

The Bungalows Hotel is in town near the Lienzo Charro, a few minutes' walk from the restaurants. Downtown is where you stay if you want to eat out every night rather than on property, and there is no beach. The Bungalows sells breakfast-included rates only and scores a perfect 10 for food, so you start the day well and eat out the rest of it.

The Corridor Inland: Km 4

Hotel Los Patios sits beside the Transpeninsular highway at Km 4, between town and the resorts farther out. It is the cheapest hotel on this list by a wide margin, and the location is the reason: guests mention traffic noise from the highway and a taxi into the centre, which one guest priced at 100 to 200 pesos. Another said a beach was a seven-minute walk away.

Pedregal: The Pacific, Close to Town

Waldorf Astoria Pedregal faces the Pacific on the far side of the rock from Medano, a short taxi ride from downtown and the marina. You reach it through a private tunnel cut through the hillside, and almost every reviewer mentions the arrival.

Diamante: Resort Destination on the Pacific

Nobu and Hard Rock share the Diamante development on the Pacific, about 7 km from the centre of town. It is a self-contained resort area with golf, and the farthest from downtown of anywhere on this list. Hard Rock scores 6.5 for location, its weakest category by a distance, and guests report a no-Uber policy on property, which makes taxis the default and adds cost to every trip into town. Nobu scores 8.7 for location, its only category below 9.

The Corridor Coast at Km 5

The Cape sits at Km 5 of the Tourist Corridor above Monuments Beach, looking back across the bay at El Arco. Guests give it a perfect 10 for location, for the view rather than walkability: you will take a taxi into town. The rest of the Corridor toward San José del Cabo is a separate market with its own resorts, and our best hotels in San José del Cabo guide covers the other town of Los Cabos.

The map below plots every hotel on this page. Pins 1 to 10 follow our ranking, pin 11 is Grand Solmar Land's End, which placed eleventh, and pins 12 to 14 are the three all-inclusive Riu resorts at the eastern end of Medano.

Nobu Hotel Los Cabos

Rated 9.6/10 across 754 guest reviews, Nobu is the strongest combination of score and review volume in Cabo San Lucas, and our pick overall. It scores a perfect 10 for service and for amenities, and 9.7 for cleanliness, room quality and food. That last one is unusual: food and beverage is the weak spot at some of the big resorts here, and at Nobu it is one of the strongest. It sits in the Diamante resort development on the Pacific side, about 7 km from the centre of town. From $392 per night for two, rising to $907 on our mid-November date. Location is its only category below 9, at 8.7, and the complaints are what you would predict: distance from downtown restaurants, a beach you cannot swim at, and high prices for anything not included in the rate. One recent guest also felt the main pool had too many young children for a luxury stay. We'd book this for a resort stay where the pools, the food and the service are the trip. We wouldn't book it if you want to walk to dinner.

Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal

Rated 10/10 across 223 guest reviews, Waldorf Astoria is the only perfect score on this list and the most expensive hotel in it, from $1,082 per night for two and up to $1,861. You arrive through a private tunnel cut through the Pedregal hillside, and nearly every review mentions it. Guests rave about the rooms and their private plunge pools, and the setting on the Pacific is quiet and dramatic. It ranks second rather than first because 223 reviews is a much smaller sample than Nobu's 754: on our weighted score it comes out at 9.31 against Nobu's 9.37 (the formula is explained at the end of this guide). The perfect score also hides a pattern in the lower reviews worth knowing before you pay this much: slow pool service, too few pool chairs, a strong wind that sometimes brings the umbrellas down, and restaurant and spa prices that guests felt did not match the experience. The beach is quiet and beautiful but not swimmable. It returned no availability on one of our five sample dates, so book early. For a milestone trip, this is the one.

The Bungalows Hotel

Rated 9.6/10 across 326 guest reviews, The Bungalows is the boutique pick and one of the two best-rated hotels in Cabo San Lucas under $200. It is a garden hotel downtown near the Lienzo Charro, a few minutes' walk from the restaurants. It sells breakfast-included rates only, and guests score that breakfast a perfect 10, alongside a 10 for service. It also had the steadiest price we saw: $194 to $206 across all five dates, when most hotels on this list moved by hundreds of dollars. The complaints come from the building rather than the staff: loud window air-conditioning units, intermittent WiFi, full-size rather than queen beds in some rooms, limited parking, and noise from a nearby restaurant with live music and from local dogs. There is no beach. We'd give this the edge for anyone who plans to eat out every night and wants to start the day with a good breakfast.

The Cape, A Thompson Hotel

Rated 9.6/10 across 318 guest reviews, The Cape is the hotel for the view. It sits at Km 5 of the Tourist Corridor above Monuments Beach, looking straight back across the bay at El Arco, and guests give it a perfect 10 for location and for service. Guests describe ocean-facing balconies, some with a swinging seat, and the pool terrace and rooftop bar are the social centre of the property. From $569 per night for two, climbing to $1,338 on our February date, the biggest proportional jump in our ranking. Cleanliness is its lowest category at 9.0. The recurring complaints are specific: food and drink prices (guests quote $30 glasses of wine and $35 cocktails), a pool heated to around 90°F that some find too warm, bass from the rooftop bar reaching nearby rooms until midnight on busy nights, and a beach below that is a surf break rather than a place to swim. You will need a taxi for anything in town. We'd book this for a couple or a group who want a lively pool with the best view in Cabo San Lucas, and choose elsewhere for a quiet stay.

ME by Meliá Cabo - Adults Only

Rated 9.4/10 across 480 guest reviews, ME by Meliá is the highest-rated hotel in Cabo San Lucas on a beach you can swim at. It is adults-only, five-star, and right on Medano Beach, with the nightlife strip and the marina a short walk away. It scores 9.4 in every category, and reviewers single out the service and the views of El Arco from the beachfront. From $356 per night for two. The complaints are about price, not quality: one guest quoted $30 for avocado toast, and another reported being charged the resort fee twice. It is not an option for families. We'd pick this over every Pacific-side hotel for a couple who want to walk from their room into the sea.

Medano Hotel and Spa

Rated 9.2/10 across 1,121 guest reviews, Medano Hotel has the largest review base on this list by some distance. It priced between $139 and $159 per night for two on all five of our dates, including the mid-November and February dates when Nobu and The Cape more than doubled. It is a short walk from Medano Beach and the marina, and guests score its service, location, amenities and food all at 9.5. It is not on the sand. The weaker scores are cleanliness and value, both 8.5, and the recurring complaints are noise at night (it is close to the bars and above the road), slow breakfast service, a pool bar that does not open until 2pm, and too few sun loungers in busy weeks. With more than 1,100 reviews behind a 9.2, this is the safest good-value booking in Cabo San Lucas.

Hard Rock Hotel Los Cabos

Rated 9.0/10 across 673 guest reviews, Hard Rock posts perfect 10s for cleanliness, service and food, and guests praise its on-site activities for families, which makes it the family pick here. It sits next to Nobu in Diamante on the Pacific. From $478 per night for two. One finding from our pricing surprised us: its all-inclusive rate was the cheapest board on offer on every one of our five dates, below room-only, so in practice it prices as an all-inclusive resort. Location scores 6.5, and the complaints follow from it: the beach is not swimmable, guests report a no-Uber policy on property, taxis into town and to calmer beaches are expensive, and restaurants have queues at busy times. One reviewer also wrote that timeshare owners had reserved most of the loungers at the main pool, and another that perks were tiered by wristband. We'd book this for a family planning to spend most of the week on property.

Casa Dorada Los Cabos Resort & Spa

Rated 9.0/10 across 537 guest reviews, Casa Dorada is five-star on Medano Beach from $165 per night for two, the lowest five-star rate we found in Cabo San Lucas. It scores 9.8 for service and 9.8 for location. Its all-inclusive plan priced at more than double its room-only rate on our cheapest date ($369 against $167), which makes room-only the obvious choice with the beach clubs and town on your doorstep. Food and beverage is its weakest category at 7.8, and value for money 8.2. Guests say the breakfast buffet is not worth its price, the open-air public areas are hot in humid weather, the building is starting to show its age, rooms near the street pick up noise from the party strip, and the tour desk gives new arrivals a hard sell. None of that touches the core offer: five-star on the swimming beach for less than The Bungalows costs downtown.

Hotel Los Patios

Rated 8.9/10 across 525 guest reviews, Los Patios is the cheapest hotel on this list by a wide margin: $54 to $74 per night for two, breakfast included, on every one of our five dates. It posts a 9.9 for service and 9.4 for both value and food, and guests like the breakfast and the large, comfortable beds. It sits beside the Transpeninsular highway at Km 4, and that is the trade. Location scores 8.9, one guest described the area as awkward to walk around, and several mention traffic noise, though one noted it is much quieter in the courtyard. Cleanliness is its weakest score at 7.9, and guests mention worn linens and fixtures and a neglected jacuzzi. Budget for taxis, which one guest priced at 100 to 200 pesos into the centre. For travellers who will be out on tours all day and want a well-run, friendly base for less than half the price of Medano Hotel, this is it.

Bahia Hotel & Beach House

Rated 8.8/10 across 410 guest reviews, Bahia is a boutique hotel on Avenida del Pescador, steps from Medano Beach, with its own beach club on the sand. Guests praise the concierge by name, the food and drinks at Bar Esquina and the beach club, and small touches such as rosé on arrival. Cleanliness scores 9.1 and food 9.2. From $214 per night for two. Its weaker scores are room quality and amenities, both 8.1. Guests say sound carries through the open hallways, and one warned against staying in March, when spring breakers fill the building. Another described slow service at the beach club. We'd book this for a couple who want a stylish small hotel on the swimming beach at a lower price than ME by Meliá, outside spring break.

Six of the ten hotels in our ranking hold a five-star classification, and with the three Riu resorts and Grand Solmar that makes ten five-star hotels to compare. The range is enormous: from $165 a night at Casa Dorada to $1,082 at Waldorf Astoria on the same dates. Star ratings in Mexico describe facilities rather than quality, so the useful question is what each price tier actually buys.

Under $400: the Medano five-stars

Casa Dorada and ME by Meliá are the two five-star hotels in Cabo San Lucas where you can walk out of the lobby into calm water and then walk to dinner. That combination is the thing the more expensive hotels here cannot offer at any price. ME scores 0.4 higher and is adults-only; Casa Dorada was less than half the price on our cheapest date and takes families.

$400 to $600: the resort experience

Nobu, Hard Rock and The Cape buy you a self-contained resort: bigger pools, better restaurants on site, more space and more seclusion. The money goes into the property rather than the location, and the trade is a beach you look at rather than swim in, and a taxi every time you leave. Grand Solmar Land's End sits in this tier too and placed eleventh in our ranking, just outside the ten: guests score it 9.5 for cleanliness and service but 6.5 for value, the resort is partly timeshare, and its Pacific beach is black-flagged. One guest reported seeing two rescues in four days.

Over $1,000: Waldorf Astoria

Waldorf Astoria is the only hotel in this tier, and the perfect 10 is the case for it. The lower reviews are the case against: at this price, guests expect flawless service and do not always get it. It is the right booking for a honeymoon or a milestone, and a hard one to justify for an ordinary week when Nobu scores 9.6 on more than three times the review base for about a third of the price.

• Check the beach before the star rating: Four of these ten face water that guests say is unsafe for swimming. If swimming in the sea matters, stay on Medano Beach: ME by Meliá, Casa Dorada, Bahia Hotel, or Medano Hotel a short walk back.
• Board type is quoted per rate: Eight of the ten sell both a room-only and a room-plus-breakfast rate, so read which one you are booking. The Bungalows and Los Patios sell breakfast-included only. Hard Rock's all-inclusive rate was its cheapest board on every date we priced.
• Getting there from the airport: Los Cabos International Airport (SJD) serves Cabo San Lucas and is a long drive from town, farther still to the Pacific-side hotels. Book your transfer before you land; our Los Cabos airport transfer guide compares the options, drive times and prices. Arriving late or flying out very early? Our hotels near Los Cabos airport guide covers the hotels by the terminal. One Grand Solmar guest warns about a desk inside the terminal that they took for ground transport, which charged their card over $400 for resort activities.
• Taxis are a real cost outside Medano and downtown: Guests at Hard Rock, Nobu, The Cape and Los Patios all mention the cost of getting into town. Hard Rock guests report a no-Uber policy on property. Budget for it if you are staying in Diamante or on the Corridor.
• Food and drink are priced for a resort: The most common complaint at the luxury end is not the rooms but the bill. Guests quote $30 glasses of wine and $35 cocktails at The Cape and $30 avocado toast at ME by Meliá. Medano Beach and downtown have ordinary restaurants within walking distance; the Pacific hotels do not.
• Expect a card hold and resort fee at check-in: Most larger hotels here take a card authorisation for incidentals, and some charge a resort fee on top of the room rate. Ask for the full arrival cost in writing.
• Timeshare is part of the landscape: Several resorts in Cabo San Lucas share their facilities with timeshare owners. A Hard Rock guest wrote that owners had reserved most of the loungers at the main pool, and many Grand Solmar reviewers are owners themselves. Expect a sales pitch somewhere on your trip; a polite no is enough.
• Families have good options, but not everywhere: ME by Meliá and Riu Palace Baja California are adults-only. Hard Rock has the family programme guests praise most, and Casa Dorada and Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas both take families. One guest at The Cape who travelled with three children called it beautiful but not particularly kid-friendly.

The ten hotels in our ranking priced between $54 and $1,861 per night for two adults on a three-night stay, across five check-in dates from mid-October 2026 to mid-February 2027. It splits into three tiers. All figures below are the cheapest room-only or breakfast rate on offer, before the local taxes and fees the booking site adds at checkout.

Under $300 a night: Medano, downtown and Km 4

Hotel Los Patios at $54 to $74, Medano Hotel at $139 to $159, Casa Dorada at $165 to $365, The Bungalows at $194 to $206, and Bahia Hotel at $214 to $297. Guest scores in this tier run 8.8 to 9.6, overlapping the top of the list. Three of the five are on or beside the swimmable beach. Most people don't realise how good the cheaper end of Cabo San Lucas is: The Bungalows scores the same 9.6 as Nobu and The Cape for about a third of the price.

$350 to $650 a night: the five-star resorts

ME by Meliá at $356 to $619, Nobu at $392 to $907, Hard Rock at $478 to $654, and The Cape at $569 to $1,338. This is where seasonality bites hardest: Nobu more than doubled between our mid-December and mid-November dates, and The Cape more than doubled between December and February.

Over $1,000 a night: Waldorf Astoria

Waldorf Astoria alone, at $1,082 to $1,861.

When to book

Dates move prices more than hotels do. Our mid-December check-in, ahead of the Christmas peak, was the cheapest of the five dates at six of the ten hotels, including every one of the five-stars. Mid-November and February were the most expensive at the luxury end. Only Los Patios, Medano Hotel and The Bungalows held a near-flat price all season. Our month-by-month guides, starting with Cabo in December and Cabo in February, cover the weather and crowds behind those prices.

What to budget beyond the room

Local taxes and fees are added at checkout. Beyond that, the two costs that vary most by hotel are food and taxis. On Medano Beach and downtown you can eat at ordinary restaurants and walk home. In Diamante, at Pedregal, at Km 4 or at Km 5, you will either eat at the hotel or pay a taxi each way. Over a week, that difference can outweigh the gap between two hotels' room rates.

• Decide bay side or Pacific side first: Medano Beach is calm, swimmable and walkable to town. The Pacific side is quieter and more dramatic, and you swim in the pool. Settle that before you compare hotels.
• Read the location score, not just the overall: Hard Rock scores 9.0 overall and 6.5 for location. Nobu is 9.6 overall and 8.7 for location. Both numbers are about distance from town, and a single overall score hides it.
• Look at the value score at the luxury end: Grand Solmar scores 9.5 for cleanliness and service and 6.5 for value. At the top of the market, the complaints are about the bill, not the hotel.
• Price more than one date: The same room at The Cape cost $569 on one of our dates and $1,338 on another. If your dates are flexible, shifting by a few weeks can save more than switching hotels.
• Avoid Medano in spring break if you want quiet: A Bahia guest warned against March specifically, and noise from nearby bars comes up at three of the four Medano hotels on this list.
• Book your airport transfer in advance: Guests warn about desks inside the terminal that present themselves as transport and sell resort activities. Our airport transfer guide covers the reliable options.
• Plan how you will get around: If you are staying in Diamante, at Km 4 or at Km 5, taxis add up. Our Cabo itinerary helps you plan days out around your base.
• Get in the water where it is calm: If your hotel faces the Pacific, the calmest water is at the bays along the Corridor. Our snorkeling in Cabo San Lucas guide covers the tours that take you there.
• Ocean-view hotels are front-row seats in winter: Guests at The Cape mention watching whales from the property. Our whale watching guide covers the boat tours if you want a closer look.
• Plan the days, not just the bed: Our guide to the best things to do in Cabo San Lucas covers what to book around your base, from El Arco boat trips to sunset cruises.
• Read up on safety: Our is Cabo San Lucas safe guide covers the area-by-area detail, including the beaches.
• Adding La Paz or Todos Santos to the trip? Our guides to the best hotels in La Paz and the best hotels in Todos Santos use the same ranking.

Most lists of the best hotels in Cabo San Lucas rank on reputation and never tell you which beach you can swim at. This one starts from verified guest reviews and live prices, and separates the swimmable bay from the Pacific because that is the choice that decides most Cabo trips.

Six inputs go into this guide:

• Guest score: the aggregate post-stay rating out of 10 from verified stays, not a star classification. Stars are shown separately because in Mexico they describe facilities, not quality.
• Review volume: how many verified stays that score rests on, from 1,121 at Medano Hotel down to 223 at Waldorf Astoria. This is why Waldorf's perfect 10 sits second rather than first.
• Category scores: separate ratings for cleanliness, service, location, room quality, amenities, value and food. Location and value separate these hotels far more than the overall number does.
• Review text: we read the recent reviews for every hotel on this page and report the recurring complaints, not just the praise.
• Live inventory and a like-for-like price: every price here was pulled fresh for the same stay (two adults, three nights) on the same five check-in dates, from October 2026 to February 2027. We did not use published from-rates, which drift out of date.
• Beach and location: which water the hotel faces, whether guests can swim there, and whether town is walkable, taken from property data and from what guests report.

We started from the 934 properties our reservation system lists within 12 km of the centre of Cabo San Lucas. We kept hotels and resorts with a guest score of at least 8.0 and at least 300 verified reviews, lowering that to 200 for five-star properties so the most exclusive hotels were not excluded on volume alone. That left 35. We then removed hostels, villa and condo rentals, and anything that returned live rates on fewer than four of our five dates. That last rule removed three excellent hotels you may want to check yourself: Cabo Vista Hotel (9.6 across 336 reviews, adults-only, from $68), Los Milagros (9.4 across 308 reviews) and Esperanza (9.8 across 118 reviews). Finally, we set aside properties sold mainly as all-inclusive packages, including the Pueblo Bonito resorts, Grand Fiesta Americana, Breathless and the three Riu resorts, which are covered in their own section above. Montage Los Cabos (9.6 across 89 reviews) fell below the review floor and sits farther out along the Corridor.

How the ranking is calculated

The order is set by a formula, with no editorial adjustments. Beach access, location and board type decide which hotels are eligible and what we say about them, but not where they rank. Each hotel gets a weighted score:

Weighted score = (reviews × guest score + 300 × 8.8) ÷ (reviews + 300)

In plain terms, every hotel starts as if it already had 300 reviews at a baseline score of 8.8, and its real reviews pull it away from that baseline. A hotel with thousands of reviews ends up almost exactly at its own score. A hotel with a couple of hundred stays gets pulled noticeably toward the baseline, because a small sample can land on a perfect number more easily than a large one. We chose 8.8 as a slightly cautious baseline, just under the 8.9 average of the 35 hotels that met our review floor. Using that 8.9 average instead produces exactly the same order.

Why Nobu ranks above Waldorf Astoria's perfect 10

Waldorf Astoria's 10/10 rests on 223 reviews; Nobu's 9.6 rests on 754, more than three times as many. Run through the formula, Waldorf comes out at 9.31 and Nobu at 9.37. The gap is small, and it is the honest reading of the data: Waldorf's score is the higher one, but Nobu's is the better-evidenced one. If Waldorf's score holds as its review count grows, it will overtake Nobu when we next update this page. Pricing was checked across five check-in dates in September 2026 and reflects two adults for three nights, before the local taxes and fees added at checkout.