Cabo San Lucas hotels

A getaway for A-listers since the 1950s, One&Only Pamilla is one of the best hotels in Cabo San Lucas – or anywhere, for that matter.

The hotel has access to one of the area’s best beaches for swimming, while the state-of-the-art spa – where spiritual healers perform treatments – is inspired by local traditions and Baja’s coastal landscape. The hotel has retained its original hacienda-style architecture – guests regularly visit the original whitewashed chapel, with its artisan-made gold leaf altar – but renovations have added modern touches like carved wood doors, travertine flooring and studded leather furniture.

One of the best hotels to stay in Cabo San Lucas for golf, the hotel’s Palmilla Golf Club, designed by former pro golfer Jack Nicklaus, winds through cliffs and desert arroyos (dry watercourses). The One&Only is only about 10 minutes from San Jose del Cabo, an artsy town with great restaurants and galleries. The field-to-fork Flora Farms restaurant is one of my favourite on the peninsula.

Set on 39 acres of beachfront overlooking Santa Maria Bay, Montage Los Cabos is among the best hotels in Cabo San Lucas for water adventures. The seas in Cabo San Lucas teem with life, with the Sea of Cortez home to turtles, sea lions, whales, dolphins and sharks.

You can spot them all during your stay at Montage Los Cabos, which offers swimming, snorkelling and world-class diving. The luxury hotel’s on-site outfitter has a PADI-certified diving programme for guests, where beginners can get their certification and advanced divers can take specialised courses. Visiting the UNESCO-protected Cabo Pulmo, a national marine park with a 20,000-year-old coral reef, on a Montage excursion is an unforgettable experience.

Back at the hotel you’ll find 122 open-plan guestrooms and suites complete with indoor-outdoor living and marble bathrooms, as well as a 40,000-square-foot (3,716 sq. m) spa, multiple restaurants and three azure pools.