I’m writing this from Room 306 at The Cape, a Thompson Hotel in Cabo San Lucas, a Deluxe Ocean View King on the third floor with the ocean straight ahead. I have booked couples into this property for years, and this was my first time checking in myself.
I came down as a Hyatt Privé top producer, ahead of a roundtable Hyatt runs with its general managers and executives. That is also why I spent part of the stay touring rooms around The Cape that I wasn’t sleeping in.
The Cape fits a specific traveler: chic, cool, well-priced luxury boutique. It holds one MICHELIN Key. The design, by Mexico City architect Javier Sanchez, runs cohesively from the open-air lobby through the rooms, the restaurants, and the residences, and it is one of the most stylish hotels in Los Cabos.
Two things decide whether The Cape suits you. The beach is a surf break, not a swimming beach. And in the standard rooms, including the two-queens, a sheer drape is all that separates the shower from the bed. Both are easy to plan around, and they matter most for families with young children and for friends sharing a room.
Book With Hyatt Privé Benefits
How to Book The Cape (With Added Benefits)
The Cape participates in Hyatt Privé and I am one of the program’s top producers. The benefits below attach at no extra cost, with no minimum stay, when you book the Hyatt Privé rate in our booking tool. The tool is password-protected because the program agreements require it, and the password arrives by email in about a minute.
Breakfast
Daily for two at The Ledge
Property Credit
$100 USD per stay
VIP Touches
Upgrade, welcome amenity, early check-in
Complicated trip? Multiple rooms, connecting rooms, a residence, or flexible dates: send it through my luxury hotel request form. My team also checks Virtuoso and our other programs for your dates. You earn World of Hyatt points either way.
AddressCarretera Transpeninsular Km. 5, Cabo San Lucas
Phone+52 624 163 0000
WebsiteThe Cape, a Thompson Hotel
What I Love
- Nearly every room and public space frames El Arco and the Sea of Cortez. The whole hotel is built around the view
- The design is cohesive from the open-air lobby through the rooms, restaurants, and residences: minimalist concrete, dark woods, sculptural lighting, colorful tile
- Manta, Enrique Olvera’s Japanese-Mexican restaurant, is a reason to book on its own
- Thompson beds live up to the reputation. I slept better here than I usually do in hotels
- The residences are steps from the resort action and a lot of space for the money
- Service is personal from before arrival. The team texts and emails ahead of your stay, and everyone addresses you by name
Good to Know
- The beach is a surf break, beautiful to watch but not for swimming. You swim in the pools
- The standard rooms, including the two-queens, have open-concept bathrooms. Plan around it unless you’re sharing with a partner
- The pool and rooftop scene can run lively in high season. Early-to-bed travelers should be placed away from it, which we arrange
- It leans couples and adults, with no kids’ menus or programming outside the holidays
- Two-queen rooms and connecting sets are limited, so groups need to book early
- No in-room coffee yet. Nespresso machines are being added, so expect one by the time you stay
My Deluxe Ocean View King Room at The Cape
-
The hanging daybed on the terrace. -
The dual-head rain shower and the copper tub. -
The vanity, with the shower behind glass. -
A working desk with a drawer. -
Robes, a luggage rack, an iron and an ironing board. -
The minibar: beer, coconut water, spirits and candy. No soda. -
Refillable bottles and filtered water instead of plastic. -
The Hyatt Privé welcome amenity, a bottle of Cape tequila.
Mine is a big room with a big bathroom, and the first thing you notice is the copper freestanding tub, which sits in the room itself. The rain shower is huge, with two showerheads. The bathroom is stocked with the small things many hotels have quietly dropped: toothbrushes, cotton swabs, shower caps, full-size bath products. Robes and slippers are in the closet, along with a luggage rack, and there’s an iron and ironing board (no steamer).
Here’s the part to plan around: the bathroom is open-concept. Very sheer drapes separate the bedroom from the tub and bathing area, and if you leave them open, whoever is in the tub, and especially the glass shower with the light on at night, is in full view of the room.
For couples it’s fine, but the two-queen rooms have the same layout, so keep this in mind when traveling with friends.
The rest of the room has a small closet, a chest of drawers, a working desk with a drawer, and a minibar with beer, coconut water, spirits, and candy (no soda). Instead of plastic bottles, you get refillable water bottles with glassware, and the water tastes great, which is genuinely not a worry at Cabo resorts these days. My Hyatt Privé welcome amenity was a decently sized bottle of Cape tequila with spiced mango, and if you don’t drink alcohol, we can have it customized to something else.
The terrace has one of those hanging sofa swings, and I actually used it with my laptop open, a cocktail nearby, and the ocean in front. And then there’s the bed. Thompson is known for its beds, and this one, with its pillows, gave me some of the best hotel sleep I’ve had, and I don’t always sleep well in hotels.
Insider Tips · Rooms
Plan around the open bathroom if you’re not a couple. A residence or one of the connecting configurations below offers more privacy. If you’re two friends in a two-queen, it’s workable (plenty of guests do it).
Tell us if you’re an early-to-bed traveler. The rooftop runs a DJ in the evenings, and the pool scene picks up in high season. Our contact at the hotel blocks your room away from the energy.
Coffee note. The Ledge pours excellent coffee until the rooms get in-room Nespresso machines (we’re told these are coming soon).
Which Room to Book at The Cape
The Cape has 159 guestrooms, all with private terraces and ocean or garden views, plus a collection of residences that deserve their own section below. You can browse every category with 3D virtual tours on The Cape’s site. These are the categories I’m asked about most.
Deluxe Ocean View King
My Pick
One king bed, 581 square feet. The category I stayed in: copper tub, dual-head rain shower, hanging daybed on the terrace, and the full ocean view. Where I start for most couples.
Deluxe Ocean View Two Queens
Two queen beds with the same finishes and view. The open-concept bathroom applies here too, which matters most in this category, since it’s where friends share. Inventory is limited.
Partial Ocean View (King or Two Queens)
The entry point. Through Hyatt Privé, an Ocean View King can often be upgraded to a Deluxe Ocean View King subject to forecasted occupancy.
Ocean View Junior Suite
The step up in space before the full suites, around 829 square feet, with or without a plunge pool. I toured one on this stay.
Ocean View Thompson Suite
Around 1,109 square feet with a separate living area, available with or without a plunge pool, and it’s the suite that can connect to a Deluxe Two Queens room, the configuration to ask for when a group wants privacy plus proximity.
Ocean View Panoramic Suite with Plunge Pool
The top of the suite lineup, a corner suite at 807 square feet with the plunge pool, the widest version of the view, and standing binoculars for whale watching.
Accessible King and Two Queens
Accessible layouts in both king and two-queen configurations. Tell us what you need and we will confirm the specific features with the hotel before you book.
Max occupancy varies by category, and the hotel enforces it, so confirm your party fits before you book. King rooms and suites have a maximum of two people, and two queen rooms can sleep up to two adults and two children. For three adults or more, you’ll need a residence or connecting rooms.
Connecting and Adjoining Options
These configurations are the options when you’re traveling with more than two adults:
- Thompson Suite connecting to a Deluxe Two Queens guestroom
- Thompson Suite with Plunge Pool connecting to a Deluxe Two Queens guestroom
- One Bedroom Residence with a Superior King guestroom as a detached lock-off
These book up, so we arrange them well in advance. And when connecting rooms aren’t available, we can try to block rooms next to each other.
The Residences Are the Quiet Standout
I toured a junior suite, a suite, and three of the residences, which Thompson also calls villas. At many hotels, the residences feel disconnected from the main resort because they’re a bit further afield. Here they sit in a separate building overlooking the heart of the resort. I could walk from a residence to the pool or the restaurants in the same time it took from my own room, or less.
They’re beautifully furnished in Mexican contemporary style, with high ceilings, fully equipped kitchens, and pull-out sofas in the living areas, and they don’t have the open-concept bathroom situation. If privacy and space are the priority, this is the answer, and it’s a great call for a group: a milestone celebration, a girls’ trip like a bachelorette party, or a few couples traveling together.
The ground-floor Garden View residences also tend to suit guests traveling with pets, and many have plunge pools. Bed configurations: the Garden View Two Bedroom has a king in each bedroom, and the Ocean View Two Bedroom has one king bedroom and one with two queens, which the hotel itself calls ideal for shared stays.
The flagship Oceanfront Surfer Residence sleeps up to eight and is two stories and three bedrooms, with a private fitness room and sauna, a giant patio with a barbecue and plunge pool, a media room, and a walk-out to the resort.
The Penthouse Residence sleeps up to six and adds a 3,000-square-foot rooftop terrace with a grill, fire pit, plunge pool, and air-conditioned living room. The Ocean View Three Bedroom also sleeps six, which is the first option to check if you are trying to fit a group.
Residence inclusions are tiered and get richer with size, which is worth reading closely before you choose one:
- Every residence: daily breakfast at The Ledge, private in-residence check-in, a dedicated concierge, one selected cocktail per person daily at the Sunken Bar, chef’s nightly turndown snacks, and a tequila welcome amenity.
- Two-bedroom residences add: a spa credit, morning bread and coffee delivery, and a daily minibar refill.
- Three-bedroom residences add: a complimentary cabana day and an in-residence guacamole and salsa class with a chef.
- The Penthouse and the Oceanfront Surfer add: private airport transfers and surfboard rentals, with the Surfer also including a personal training session and amenities for children and pets.
Advisor Intel
Before you book two or three rooms for a group, have us price a multi-bedroom residence for the same dates, including over the festive season, when the residences carry a minimum-night requirement anyway. Split across a few couples, a residence buys you a kitchen, a plunge pool, and doors on the bathrooms.
Eating and Drinking at The Cape
Food is where Thompson shines. At The Cape, that starts with Manta, the restaurant from Enrique Olvera, one of Mexico’s best-known chefs.
Manta
Manta is the signature restaurant, conceived by Enrique Olvera of Pujol in Mexico City and Cosme in New York, with chef de cuisine Abisai Sanchez. The menu draws on Mexico, Peru, and Japan and is built on local Baja ingredients.
I had the sashimi, a deceptively simple salad of yuzu, lettuce, and avocado where every single leaf carried flavor; and the tuna and tuna belly with ponzu and habanero, which is the dish nearly everyone orders. The mushroom dumplings (suggested by the front desk) arrive in a dashi broth with cotija cheese inside, which sounds odd but works perfectly. There’s also a five-course chef’s menu, and as a World of Hyatt Globalist I was sent a small appetizer and dessert bite, which was a fun touch.
-
Mushroom dumplings in dashi broth, with cotija inside. -
The yuzu, lettuce and avocado salad. -
The dessert bite sent out for World of Hyatt Globalists.
The Ledge
The Ledge is where breakfast happens, with the same panoramic ocean view as everything else here. Breakfast is a semi-buffet: fruit, chia pudding, mini pastries, green juice, and empanada-style bites to graze, then fresh coffee poured at the table and a choice of entrees.
I had the chilaquiles one morning and scrambled eggs another, and their famous Cape toast, their take on French toast, is delicious. Two house-made salsas land on the table with the dishes that warrant them, including a habanero that’s full of flavor (a few dots is perfect for me). Eat on the patio if you can.
The Sunken Bar
The Sunken Bar sits in the center of the open-air lobby, facing the ocean, and it’s where I caught up on email over lunch. The server recommended the ceviche: giant chunks of white fish marinated in citrus and lime with fresh corn and sweet potato, and it was outstanding.
The Rooftop
The Rooftop, on the sixth floor, has the best views in the hotel, with sofa seating along the perimeter, glass walls against the wind, and a corner table everyone wants for photos. The mezcal margarita is excellent, and when I was there, the DJ played at a volume you could talk over, which I appreciated.
More Dining
Point Break is the swim-up bar and restaurant at the main pool, and room service held its own too. My carne asada tacos were very good. Turndown brings two little cookies per person, chocolate chip one night, birthday cake the next.
The Spa and Wellness
The spa is not large, but I had one of the best massages of my luxury-hotel life here, easily top ten, and I treat hotel spas as part of the job. Every stroke felt like it had a purpose, there was a bit of stretching worked in, and I upgraded with hot stones, which I recommend. Afterward you’re taken to the relaxation area, which is coed and open-air (bring a bathing suit), with plunge pools, comfortable seating, flavored water, and in my case a little matcha cake. There’s a modest spa shop, and the larger retail shop upstairs covers the sundresses and hats you forgot to pack.
Thompson leans into wellness generally: the hotel runs cooking and mixology classes, and yoga classes appear on the schedule through the year.
Pools, Beach, and Gym
There are two pools. The main infinity pool is the social hub, lined with cabanas and served by Point Break, and it’s where guests park for the day. During my stay there was even an early morning happy hour from 8:30 to 10:30, and more power to you if you’re on vacation. The second is a saltwater pool below the spa and gym, designed to mimic the ocean.
The beach itself, Monumentos, is a surf break. No one stops you from walking in, but it is not a swimming beach, and during my unusually windy stay the surf was huge. I wouldn’t have gone near the shoreline.
Nobody at this hotel seems to mind, and you swim in the pools. Experienced surfers treat Monumentos as a destination, and I’m told competitions are held here. In season, the whale migration is visible from the rooms, The Ledge, and the Sunken Bar.
The gym shares the same panoramic view as the rooms, out to El Arco and the surf, and it’s well equipped: a Peloton, more bikes, treadmills, an elliptical, free weights, medicine balls, and a couple of machines. It’s also well air-conditioned, which matters to me in tropical climates.
Staying at The Cape With Kids
The Cape is primarily a couples and adults hotel, but families do stay, and I saw quite a few. There just aren’t kids’ amenities: no kids’ menus, no club, no programming, though the hotel runs more kid-friendly activations over the holidays.
If your kids are easygoing and happy spending the day with you, you’re fine. If they need a resort built around them, a different Los Cabos property serves you better. My Los Cabos luxury resorts roundup covers the ones I book, including swimmable-beach options. For families who do choose The Cape, the connecting configurations and residences above solve the space and privacy questions.
Getting There
The Cape is about 40 minutes from Los Cabos International Airport (SJD) and roughly 10 minutes from downtown Cabo San Lucas. After you collect your bags, clear customs, and pass the taxi touts, you cross a small street to where the hotel drivers wait.
Mine was ready, and the handoff was flawless. The drive is easy, well paved, and civilized, and the property is gated, with the driver giving your name and room at the gate so arrival feels seamless.
Who The Cape Is For (and Who It Isn’t)
The Cape is for couples first: honeymooners, occasion travelers, and design lovers who want a comfortable bed, exceptional food, and one of the better hotel spas in Los Cabos instead of a kids’ club and a splash pad.
It’s an option I really like for upscale group stays in Cabo for friends (ideal for girlfriend getaways or a few couples traveling together). Most Thompson hotels are city properties, in places like New York, Miami, and London. The Cape is a resort Thompson and one of the brand’s flagships, so loyalists will feel at home immediately.
It’s not for you if you want to swim at the beach (Monumentos is for watching and for expert surfers), if you’re traveling with young children who need dedicated programming outside the holidays, or if you need full bathroom privacy in a shared standard room.
FAQs About Staying at The Cape
Is The Cape all-inclusive?
No. The Cape is not an all-inclusive resort. You pay for dining, drinks, the spa, and extras as you go. Booking the Hyatt Privé rate adds daily breakfast for two and a property credit, which offsets some of it.
Is The Cape part of Hyatt?
Yes. The Cape is a Thompson hotel, and Thompson Hotels is part of the Hyatt family, so you earn and redeem World of Hyatt points here and Globalist status is recognized. Booking the Hyatt Privé rate adds breakfast for two, a property credit, and upgrade privileges on top. The upgrade, early check-in, and connecting rooms are subject to forecasted occupancy, and the benefits require no minimum length of stay.
Can you swim at The Cape’s beach?
No. Monumentos Beach is a surf break with powerful water, beautiful to watch and popular with experienced surfers, but not for swimming. You swim in the two pools.
Is The Cape kid-friendly?
It is primarily a couples and adults hotel. Families stay, especially over the holidays when there is more kid-focused programming, but there are no kids’ menus or dedicated children’s facilities the rest of the year.
Is The Cape a party hotel?
The pool and rooftop can run a lively, music-forward scene in high season, which many guests love. In the off-season there were no parties, though The Rooftop still had a DJ in the evening at a talk-over volume. Early-to-bed travelers should have their room placed away from the energy, which we arrange when we book you.
Do all rooms at The Cape have ocean views?
All 159 guestrooms have private terraces with either ocean or garden views, and most face El Arco. If an ocean view is essential, book a category that guarantees it rather than counting on an upgrade.
How far is The Cape from the Los Cabos airport?
The Cape is about a 40-minute drive from Los Cabos International Airport (SJD) and roughly 10 minutes from downtown Cabo San Lucas. The hotel arranges transfers, and its drivers wait just across a small street from the terminal exit once you are through customs and past the taxi touts.
Does The Cape have connecting rooms?
Yes, in three configurations: a Thompson Suite connecting to a Deluxe Two Queens guestroom, a Thompson Suite with Plunge Pool connecting to a Deluxe Two Queens guestroom, and a One Bedroom Residence with a Superior King guestroom as a detached lock-off. Inventory is limited and these book well ahead, so ask early. When true connecting rooms are not available, we can block rooms next to each other instead.
Which room should you book at The Cape?
For most couples, the Deluxe Ocean View King, with the copper tub, the hanging terrace daybed, and the full view. For groups, families, or anyone who wants bathroom privacy and more space, a residence or one of the connecting configurations is the better choice. Confirm max occupancy for your party before you book.
Weighing other Los Cabos options? If an all-inclusive is on your list, see my Hyatt Ziva Los Cabos review.
