RIU PALACE BAJA CALIFORNIA

Riu Palace Baja California: whales from your lounger, zero sargassum, and a sea you do not swim in

Three truths about this address, and you are better off holding them before you book. First, Los Cabos gets no sargassum, ever, in any month of the year: it is an Atlantic phenomenon and we are on the Pacific here. Second, from mid-December to mid-April, humpback and grey whales come to calve in these waters and you often see them from the hotel beach. Third, and it matters most: you do not swim in the sea in front of this hotel. The red flag flies there almost permanently. The beach drops away suddenly, the shorebreak is violent and the currents pull out. You walk it, you sit on it, you watch whales from it, and you swim in the pools. As for the rest: 602 suites opened in 2018, adults only, four pools including two heated in winter, and two neighbouring hotels within walking distance.

Can you swim in the sea here?

No, and we would rather write it first than let you find out with a towel over your shoulder.

The red flag flies almost every day in front of these hotels. The reason is geographic and it will not change: the beach is extremely steep, the bottom drops away at once, which creates a violent shorebreak, and the currents pull out quickly. Regulars who return to Los Cabos every year write that they have never seen a single day when the surf looked swimmable. There have been drownings on these stretches of coast.

Here is the nuance that explains everything, and which nobody takes the trouble to explain. El Médano beach is the swimmable beach of Cabo San Lucas, but that is its western end, the part facing the bay sheltered by the Arch, near the marina. The Riu hotels sit at the eastern end, outside the bay's shelter, exposed to open swell.

What remains possible, and it is a lot: walk fifteen minutes west toward the marina, where swimming becomes normal again. Or take a water taxi to Playa del Amor, at the foot of the Arch. And of course the hotel's four pools, two of them heated in winter.

The honest rule in one sentence: a traveller who comes to Mexico to swim in the ocean in front of their hotel should not go to Los Cabos. One who comes for the landscape, the dry climate and the whales will be delighted.

Why Los Cabos, and why not Cancún?

It is a completely different Mexico, and confusing the two is the surest way to spoil a trip.

Here the desert falls into the sea. Giant cactus, arid mountains, ochre rock. No jungle, no cenotes, no Mayan ruins. The landscape is mineral and spectacular, and the Arch at the tip of the peninsula is its emblem.

The climate is dry, and for a Canadian that is the decisive argument: none of the heavy humidity of the Riviera Maya. From December to February, warm sunny days and cool evenings. Pack a light sweater for dinner; it surprises people every year. February is known for reliable weather, and May is the driest month of the year.

And there are the whales. From mid-December to mid-April, peaking in January and February, humpback and grey whales come here to calve. You often see them from the beach, with no excursion. No other Mexican sun destination offers that, and it lands exactly in the season when we travel.

And the sargassum?

There is none. None at all, in any month, on either side of the peninsula.

The explanation is simple: sargassum is an Atlantic phenomenon. The weed rafts cross the ocean and land on coasts facing the Caribbean. Pacific currents carry none, and the weed does not grow in these waters.

That detail is worth a fortune to one particular traveller: the one who wants to leave in May, June, July or August, and who had a week spoiled by seaweed in Cancún. Los Cabos is the answer. Clean beach, no smell, no machinery on the sand. On condition, once again, that they know they will not be swimming in it.

Is this a quiet adults-only hotel?

This is the question that decides your stay, and the answer calls for frankness.

The hotel is indeed adults only. But several recent travellers write that the atmosphere is markedly louder and more festive than they expected from an adults-only. One compares the place to a docked cruise ship. It is not a universal complaint, and many love exactly that energy. But a couple looking for hushed calm and refinement has the wrong address, and we will say so before they book rather than after.

One point to confirm against your dates: the minimum age. The hotel's own site advertises eighteen, while some channels show twenty-one, particularly during the American spring break period in March. If someone in your group is between eighteen and twenty, we have the rule validated by the supplier before confirming.

Which suite should you choose?

Every unit is a suite, opened in 2018, across five floors.

The standard Junior Suite is the entry level. The partial sea-view Junior Suite adds an angle on the Pacific, and the Grande Junior Suite adds space. Above them sit two Elite Club categories in front sea view: a Junior Suite and a Suite. A two-bedroom Junior Suite exists for groups, and an adapted category for reduced mobility appears in the official list, bookable as such.

Our advice here differs from elsewhere. Since you do not swim in the sea, the view is worth more than proximity to the beach: it is from your terrace that you will watch the whales go by in January and February. If your stay falls in that window, a front sea view stops being a luxury and becomes the show.

Can you use the two neighbouring hotels?

Partly, and the rule is better understood before departure than at the front desk.

The three Riu hotels in Los Cabos sit side by side on the same beach and are walkable: Riu Palace Baja California, the Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas which takes families, and the Riu Santa Fe, the livelier one.

What is shared and included: every bar across the three hotels, lunch, snacks, the Splash Water World water park at the Santa Fe, the Pacha nightclub with its drinks, and the tennis courts.

What is not: breakfast and dinner are taken at the hotel where you are staying. That is the published rule, and it is the most frequent source of disappointment on this complex. Riu adjusts its exchange privileges without notice, so we have them confirmed by the supplier for your specific dates.

Where do you eat?

Promenade is the main buffet. Around it orbit Yu Hi for Japanese, Krystal for fusion, Sofia for Italian, San José for Mexican, Bombay for Indian, and Guacamole which serves poolside at midday and becomes a grill in the evening. Add Pepe's Food for snacks and Capuchino for pastry and ice cream.

Riu's twenty-four-hour all-inclusive applies: meals, snacks, local and premium imported drinks, day and night. Room service runs around the clock, and the room has its own minibar and spirits dispenser.

Two practical points. The à la carte tables work on a first-come basis, so show up early or push your dinner back an hour. And the evening dress code asks for long trousers for men, with tank tops excluded even at the buffet.

How do you get there from Quebec?

Los Cabos is reachable non-stop from Montreal during the winter season. The flight runs around six hours.

Then one detail that avoids a bad surprise. The airport is on the San José del Cabo side and the hotels on the Cabo San Lucas side: you cross the whole corridor, about forty-six kilometres and forty to fifty minutes by road. This is not a fifteen-minute transfer.

The transfer is not included in the hotel plan. Several travellers learned that on arrival and had to pay for a taxi. We arrange it with you at booking.

Downtown Cabo San Lucas and the marina are four or five kilometres away, ten to fifteen minutes by taxi, or about thirty minutes on foot along the beach. Note that Uber cars cannot enter the hotel and you have to walk about four hundred metres to the road, which counts in real heat. Taxis do come in.

For the country and its regions, our Mexico page covers the ground, and our Los Cabos page presents the other addresses in the area.

A valid Canadian passport is enough for a tourist stay, with no visa. For current requirements, consult travel.gc.ca before you leave. Hurricane season runs from 15 May to 30 November on this coast, with September the riskiest month.

What disappoints, said plainly

The hotel holds a good rating and it is the newest of the three Riu properties in Los Cabos. The complaints are specific.

The Wi-Fi is free but it falters. Travellers report outages lasting several days. If you plan to work during your stay, have a fallback.

The wear surprises for a 2018 building. Guests describe tired fixtures and above all electrical problems: outlets that no longer grip, chargers that unplug themselves.

The festive atmosphere, mentioned above, is the real tipping point between a successful stay and a failed one, depending on what you came for.

Some travellers found the spirits watered down at the busiest bar. The food is judged uneven from one table to the next.

Finally, an irritant that gets settled upstream: guests faced billing adjustments at check-in over occupancy changes, and virtual prepaid cards caused problems. Pay with a real credit card and have the occupancy confirmed in writing before you leave. That is exactly the kind of thing an advisor settles beforehand rather than after.

Who this suits, and who it does not

It suits the couple or group of friends who enjoy atmosphere, music and entertainment, in a recent well-kept hotel, without children. It suits the traveller going between December and April who wants to see whales from their terrace. And it suits the one going in May, June, July or August who refuses to risk sargassum.

It suits poorly the couple looking for the calm and refinement of a hushed adults-only. It suits poorly anyone who wants to swim in the ocean in front of their hotel. And it suits poorly anyone hoping for jungle, cenotes and Mayan ruins: that Mexico is three thousand kilometres from here.

Two other addresses in Los Cabos answer those needs. Secrets Puerto Los Cabos keeps the adults-only formula in a markedly calmer and more upscale register, for a couple who wants quiet. Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos welcomes families and sits on a different stretch of coast, for those travelling with children.

Booking Riu Palace Baja California with an advisor

At this address, four things are settled before departure and not after. The airport transfer, which is not included. The minimum age, if anyone in the group is between eighteen and twenty. The exchange privileges with the neighbouring hotels, which Riu adjusts. And above all, knowing whether you want the party or the peace, because this address answers the first very well and the second poorly.

Call 1 866 628-6241. You will reach someone who knows this address and who has time for you. We look together at what is actually free on your dates, we pick the right suite and the right view, and we stay a phone call away while you are there. That is the difference between booking alone in front of a screen and leaving with someone behind you.

RIU also runs the Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas and the Riu Santa Fe in the same area. To compare every resort in the chain, see our guide to RIU all-inclusive resorts.