RIU PALACE CABO SAN LUCAS

Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas: the family one of the trio, with whales and not a single piece of sargassum

This is the family hotel of the three neighbouring Riu properties in Los Cabos, 692 rooms and suites on El Médano beach, beside the adults-only Riu Palace Baja California and the Riu Santa Fe. Six pools including two for children, a waterslide on site, the RiuLand kids club for ages four to twelve, and included access to the water park at the neighbouring Santa Fe, reached on foot. Two things to know before booking, and they pull in opposite directions. The good one: Los Cabos gets no sargassum, ever, and from mid-December to mid-April the whales pass in front of the hotel. The less good: you do not swim in the sea here. The red flag flies almost every day. You swim in the pools, and that is the point to weigh as a family before choosing this coast.

Can children swim in the sea?

No, and it is the first thing to know when travelling as a family on this coast.

The red flag flies almost every day in front of the hotel. The beach is very steep, the bottom drops away at once, which creates a violent shorebreak, and the currents pull out. Regulars who return every year say they have never seen a swimmable day. There have been drownings on these stretches of coast.

The explanation is geographic. El Médano beach really is the swimmable beach of Cabo San Lucas, but that is its western part, facing the bay sheltered by the Arch. The Riu hotels sit at the eastern end, outside the bay's shelter, exposed to open swell.

What remains, and it is plenty for a family: six pools including two for children, a waterslide on site, and the neighbouring Santa Fe water park included in the plan. For the sea, a fifteen-minute walk toward the marina reaches the swimmable stretch, or a water taxi goes to Playa del Amor.

The honest rule: a family coming to Mexico so the children can jump in the waves in front of the hotel should choose another coast. A family coming for the landscape, the dry climate, the whales and the pools will do very well here.

Is it a good hotel for children?

Yes, with one specific limit worth knowing.

RiuLand takes children in two groups, four to seven and eight to twelve, with supervised activities at no extra cost. Two pools are reserved for them, a waterslide sits on site, and the Splash Water World park at the Riu Santa Fe is included and reached on foot.

The limit: there is no teen club at all. A family with thirteen to seventeen year olds will rely on the pools, the beach, the sports and the general entertainment. It is a real gap, and we say so rather than let you find out.

One administrative detail that surprises people: the published minimum age for the booking holder is twenty-one. It does not apply to the other guests, but it is worth knowing when a young couple books for the family.

Why Los Cabos rather than Cancún?

Because it is a completely different Mexico, and the choice should be made knowingly.

Here the desert falls into the sea: giant cactus, arid mountains, ochre rock, and the Arch at the tip of the peninsula. No jungle, no cenotes, no Mayan ruins.

The climate is dry, and that is the argument that convinces Canadians. None of the heavy humidity of the Riviera Maya. From December to February, warm days and cool evenings: pack a light sweater for dinner. February is the most reliable month for weather.

And there are the whales. From mid-December to mid-April, peaking in January and February, humpback and grey whales come to calve in these waters. You often see them from the beach, with no excursion. For a child, that is the memory that stays.

And the sargassum?

There is none, in any month. Sargassum is an Atlantic phenomenon: the weed rafts cross the ocean and land on coasts facing the Caribbean. Pacific currents carry none.

For a family wanting to travel in May, June, July or August after a week spoiled by seaweed in Cancún, this is the answer. Clean beach, no smell, no machinery on the sand.

Which room should you choose?

Eight categories, and three markers are enough.

The standard doubles come in garden view and in sea view with a king bed. The Junior Suites step up and come in garden view, partial sea view and sea view. For a large family, the connecting two-bedroom Junior Suite in partial sea view is the solution.

Two categories deserve a mention. The Swim-Out Junior Suites, with direct pool access from the terrace, are reserved for adults: it is an adult enclave inside a family hotel, so it will not do if you are travelling with children. And the sea-view Jacuzzi Suite offers a terrace with a private hot tub, added during the 2016 renovation.

Our advice, as next door: since you do not swim in the sea, the view is worth more than proximity to the sand. In January and February, it is from your terrace that you will watch the whales go by.

Where do you eat, and do you need a reservation?

Six restaurants. Mar de Cortés is the main buffet. Five tables complete it: Krystal for fusion, Misaki for Japanese, Bombay for Indian, San José for Mexican, and El Médano which serves poolside by day and becomes a grill in the evening. Capuchino serves pastry and ice cream. Seven bars, one of them open around the clock and two in the pool.

Riu's twenty-four-hour all-inclusive applies: meals, snacks, local and premium imported drinks, day and night, plus continuous room service and a restocked minibar.

Two practical points. The à la carte tables work on a first-come basis: travellers advise showing up at opening, six in the evening, or waiting a long time. And the dress code is published by the hotel: long trousers and no tank tops for men in every à la carte room, with tank tops excluded even at the buffet.

Can you use the two neighbouring hotels?

Partly, and the rule is better understood before departure.

The three Riu hotels in Los Cabos sit side by side on the same beach and are walkable: this one, the adults-only Riu Palace Baja California, and the livelier Riu Santa Fe, which holds the water park and the nightclub.

What is shared and included: every bar across the three hotels, lunch, snacks, the Splash Water World park, 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 disappointment on this complex. Riu adjusts these privileges without notice, so we confirm them with the supplier for your dates.

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.

One detail that avoids a bad surprise: the airport is on the San José del Cabo side and the hotel on the Cabo San Lucas side. You cross the whole corridor, about forty-six kilometres and forty to fifty minutes by road.

The transfer is not included in the hotel plan. We arrange it with you at booking rather than leave you negotiating a taxi on arrival with children and suitcases.

Downtown Cabo San Lucas and the marina are four or five kilometres away, ten to fifteen minutes by taxi.

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, September being the riskiest month.

What disappoints, said plainly

The hotel holds a good rating and several travellers say they prefer staying here over the neighbouring Santa Fe, for the upkeep of the grounds and the cleanliness. The complaints are specific.

The building is dated. The last major renovation was in 2016 and it shows in 2026: tired furniture, smells from older air conditioning systems, and at least one report of insects in a room. The adults-only neighbour, opened in 2018, is the newest of the three.

Air conditioning in the common areas and the lobby struggles during the humid months. September is cited as the worst.

Reception leaves a cold impression with several guests, and fees have been charged for unreturned key cards without the rule being explained on arrival. We are warning you: hand back your cards.

Then there is night noise on the livelier side of the hotel, queues at the restaurants, a single beach towel per person, and vendors on the beach, which is public.

Who this suits, and who it does not

It suits the family with children aged four to twelve, who will find their club, their pools, a waterslide and the neighbouring water park included. It suits the family travelling between December and April who wants to show their children whales without paying for an excursion. And it suits the one travelling in summer who refuses to risk sargassum.

It suits poorly the family with teenagers, for lack of a club for them. It suits poorly anyone who wants the children swimming in the ocean. And it suits poorly anyone looking for a recent building: the adults-only neighbour is two years newer.

Two other addresses in Los Cabos answer those needs. Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos welcomes families on a different stretch of coast, in a more upscale register. And the Riu Santa Fe, right next door, carries the water park and the liveliest atmosphere of the three, for a family that came for exactly that.

Booking Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas with an advisor

At this address, four things are settled before departure. The airport transfer, which is not included. The room category, because the suites with pool access are adults only and therefore will not do for a family. The exchange privileges with the neighbouring hotels, which Riu adjusts. And the age of your children, because a teenager has no club here and that changes the choice.

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 room, 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.