Need to know
Rooms
140, including four suites and 50 villas.
Check–Out
12 noon, but late check-out till 2pm is available, subject to availability; after this time charges apply. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
More details
Rates don’t include breakfast. A 15 per cent service charge is added to every stay.
Also
The team have made every accommodation for disabled guests: public areas are easily navigated, there are elevators and many rooms and suites are ADA compliant. There are wheelchairs to borrow, portable hoists, roll-in showers, closed-captioning on TVs, visual fire alarms and doorbell or telephone notifications.
Please note
To celebrate Comal restaurant’s five year anniversary, a series of noted chefs – including Quintonil’s Jorge Vallejo and Daniela Soto-Innes of Cosme – will be taking over the kitchen for pop-up feasts until December. The teens’ club is currently being remodelled and a speakeasy bar is rumoured to be in the resort’s future. And, until 31 October 2022, kids under-five eat free and kids aged six to 12 get half-price meals.
At the hotel
Sports activity centre with free-to-borrow kit; spa and fitness centre; beauty parlour and barbershop; private cinema; indoor-outdoor lounging spaces; kids’ club; La Bodeguita and spa boutiques; art gallery; tropical gardens; a free Chilenito drink on arrival. In rooms: TV, tea- and coffee-making kit, air-conditioning, free bottled water. Some suites and villas have special extras, such as a pool or hot tub, full kitchen or butler service.
Our favourite rooms
The best of the suites here have a private pool or your very own spa treatment room (with other perks such as discounted massages) – but the villas are like beachy mansions, some with their own butlers.
Poolside
The pool (open 7am to 6pm) is the siren song of the resort – a seductive Quetzalcoatl snaking its way through the centre with three tiers of joy: a shallow pool for kids, a playful pool for families and one adults-only, all of which tail off into the beachy sunset. You’ll spend a considerable amount of time wallowing within or prone by its side, so there’s an array of ways to do so – banks of shaded white sunloungers, ergonomic sun-beds set in the water, floating four-poster cabanas for couples (for an extra charge with prosecco, a mocktail jug, snacks and spa discounts), and – prime poolside real estate – a bungalow with a day-bed and fan, champagne, snacks, games and a free mini massage. And if – horrors – your drink should run out mid-swim, the barman will simply float the bar out to you and top you up, or you can call over the inflatable game table for some rounds of blackjack and Texas hold ’em.
Spa
Sometimes a journey of self discovery starts with one step; sometimes it starts with a refreshing misting, a spell in a salt-cabin and a soak in a mosaic-lined pool where mini waterfalls massage you. Treatments here aren’t just skin deep – of course, there’s a suite of massages (including specials for couples or gents), facials that va-va-voom your visage using tricks like a slick of bio-active oil or turning it all the way up to microcurrent toning; and beautifying with mani-pedis, blow-outs and waxes. But, Mayan, Aztec and Kayaumauri rituals take a more soulful approach using copal cleansings, jade-stone rubdowns, stretches using strips of traditional rebozo cloth, cactus body masks and petitions to Huichol fire deity Tatewari using indigenous dance. Acupuncture sessions re-harmonise your Qi, NuBody firms things up and the movement studio breaks you out in a sweat with Peloton bikes, Woodway Curve treadmills, Wattbikes and Tidalwave Water Exercise Bikes; personal trainers available on request, and a Peloton can be brought to your room on request.
Packing tips
Make the most of that swimmable beach and pose-by pool, and pack a different costume for every day of your stay, plus lounge-around kaftans and wraps. You’d think that in the middle of the desert souvenirs might be light on the ground, but this keeps-on-giving stay has two boutiques: La Bodeguita with clothes and sandals, locally made homewares (woven pillows, painted plates), jewellery and totes; and the spa boutique with potions from True Botanicals, Zents, Sachajuan and Gentlemen’s Tonic; bikinis and trunks; cover-ups and more.
Also
The hotel’s private cinema has a high-definition screen, 12-speaker Dolby Atmos surround sound and intelligent Savant system. Tickets and popcorn are $15 for a different movie screened at 7pm each Wednesday and sporting events are screened, too.
Pet‐friendly
Small pups are put on a paw-destal here. For $150 a pet, each night, they get ‘resort wear’ (a collar tag), bowls, all-natural chew toys, vegan soap made in Queretaro, and a kit with a map of relief areas and bags. A pet photoshoot can be arranged too. See more pet-friendly hotels in Los Cabos.
Children
Lil’ Cabeños have a kids’ club and creche, huge villas to roam, customised meals and distractions for days – the concierge can craft itineraries. Babysitting can be arranged and highchairs can be borrowed.
Best for
Come one (two, three…) year-olds – come all.
Recommended rooms
Any of the villas will comfortably fit even several generations of your family. You’ll have a kitchen, roof terrace and private pool and some come with butler,s too. Baby cots and rollaway beds are free for children under 12.
Activities
It takes dedication to be bored here – when you’re little ones aren’t frolicking like fishies in the pools or sea, they can raid the H20 Cave for watersports equipment (snorkels, paddleboards, kayaks), see what’s playing at the cinema, compete over lawn games (foosball, giant chess, bocce, American football), or head off on camel or Jeep safaris. And, if they start to lag, there’s the Pescadito Kids’ Club (for four to 11 year olds) for full- or half-day sessions (with food if needed). Highly trained staff will entertain with seashell collecting, kite-flying, slime making, puppetry, piñata crafting, and special add-on treats, such as computer-game nights and pyjama parties. For tweens and teens, there’s a more grown-up club room with its own recording studio, photobooth, karaoke machine, Xbox and Playstation Pro, and other games.
Swimming pool
There are two tiers of child-friendly pool – at the top, just outside Yaya, there’s a shallow area for very little ones to safely splash about in. Then the next level down is for more swim-confident kids. They’re not supervised, but loungers abound.
Meals
Comal’s menu might be for the more adventurous of palate, but some of the appetisers might appeal, and dedicated kids’ menus have American staples. Yaya is a bit more casual and has a pizza oven, and TnT’s tacos are tried-and-tested favourites. But, chefs are also very accommodating for mini-divas. And, you can request churro-flavoured popcorn and a Mexican-style hot chocolate for bedtime.
Babysitting
Babysitting can be arranged on request.
No need to pack
The hotel is fairly well-equipped, so you’ll only need to bring those can’t-live-without bits and bobs.
Also
If you’re ‘WFP’ (working from paradise), the hotel can arrange daily tutoring and childcare.
Sustainability efforts
Just call Chileno Bay Captain Planet. It makes a superhero-ic effort to keep things green onsite: all waste water flows into a treatment plant to be re-used in the grounds; a desalination plant provides fresh drinking water; low-water plants were used in landscaping, shade trees help to preserve buildings from bleaching; and energy-efficient air-conditioning units and eco-friendly foam insulation have been installed. The cuisine takes a gentle bite out of the surrounds, using home- and locally grown produce and is sourced from small suppliers. The freshest of catches comes in collaboration with the Coperativa Alvarez, which supports 20 of the region’s fishing families and buys up their entire hauls. And it’s socially conscientious too, with a Green Scholarship programme that covers the first year of university tuition (plus transport, books, psychological support, English lessons and learning visits to the Chileno Bay and nearby Esperanza resorts) to two female students studying tourism or marine biology.