One&Only Palmilla review: Heart Score 7.2

Service

Every room here comes with a butler, and it's the best reason to choose Palmilla over the newer hotels along the coast. Mine texted through the day, booked the dinner tables I couldn't get myself and kept the room stocked the way I like it. Staff greet you with a hand on the heart, and it never feels rehearsed. A lot of them have been here for years, and so have a lot of the guests.

You arrive through a cloud of copal smoke, there's a little gift and a scented oil on the pillow at turndown, and at the adults' pool someone comes round with sorbet and offers a ten-minute foot massage at no charge. Children are made welcome, and the kids' club, in a new and much bigger home since late 2025, is the best in Cabo.

When everything runs to plan the service is the best on this coast. When something goes wrong, the fix can be slow and oddly rigid, and room service can take an hour or more. The thing I'd really watch is the bill. Charges that aren't yours do turn up, and getting them corrected after you've flown home is hard work, so go through the folio line by line before you check out.

Rooms

All 174 rooms face the sea, which is rare, and they're big. Even the entry-level Ocean Front Room is about 600 square feet, with a terrace, a daybed and the sound of the waves at night. The style is old Mexico: dark carved wood, painted Talavera tiles, stone-lined showers, white walls. I love it, and it's exactly what the glass-and-concrete newcomers don't have.

The rooms let it down. They were last redone after the hurricane, in 2015, and there has been no full refresh since. The dark reds, the light fittings, the old power sockets and the blue-tiled plunge pools all look their age, the beds are on the soft side and you can hear the neighbours. Everything is spotless, but next to the Four Seasons at Cabo Del Sol these feel a generation behind.

The room I'd book is an Ocean Front Junior Suite, and I'd ask for buildings 15 to 17, out on the point. The view is better there and it's quieter, because you're furthest from the public beach. The ground-floor suites in those buildings have big patios, the upper floor has the wider view, and there are no lifts. The plunge pool on some terrace suites is really a small whirlpool, so don't pay extra expecting to swim. If you're celebrating, the Casita Suites above the beach, with infinity pools, are the ones in the photographs. Families do better in the two-bedroom Family Suite than squeezed into a casita.

Food and drink

The food is good, and one or two meals are very good, but it doesn't quite match the rest. The dinner I'd book first is Seared, the Jean-Georges steakhouse, candlelit and romantic. Hoshi, the 28-seat omakase counter in the old bell tower, opened in 2024 and is the most interesting table here. It's dinner only and closed on Mondays. Agua, on the cliff, has the view but is the least reliable kitchen, so I'd go for a sunset drink and eat elsewhere. What's missing is somewhere easy and casual for dinner. It's all white tablecloths after dark.

Breakfast is a pleasure. I like Breeze, beside the adults' pool, with the sea crashing on the rocks below. Since December 2025 you can also go up to Lucille's Kitchen at the new Palmilla Social Club, a short golf cart ride away, looking over the fairways.

Then there are the prices. A margarita is $30, a small bowl of guacamole by the pool is nearly $40, and a couple who eat every meal here will spend $400 to $500 a day before they've had a massage, which starts at around $460 an hour. Nothing is within walking distance, so I'd plan two or three dinners out. San José del Cabo is close, with Flora Farms and Acre just beyond it, and your butler will arrange the car.

Setting

Palmilla sits on its own point at the San José end of the Corridor, and the gardens are the prettiest in Cabo: old palms, bougainvillea, fountains, hidden hammocks and a little white chapel from 1957.

Most of the famous hotels here sit on beaches where you can look but not swim. Pelican Beach, tucked into the sheltered side of the point, is one of the very few resort beaches on the Corridor you can swim from, and the kayaks, paddleboards and snorkels are free. It has limits. It's calm on many days, but there are days of real waves and pull when I wouldn't let small children in, and the bay at Chileno is gentler. The sand is shared with a public beach, which gets very busy at weekends and in high season.

There are two main pools. Agua, the family one, is the showpiece, long and shallow-edged, right on the sea. Vista, the adults' pool, has the swim-up bar and the whales passing from December to April, but it's small, and in the winter weeks it fills up and turns into a party. Palmilla also takes big weddings, and the music can run late, so ask us to check what's on before you fix your dates.

Value

It's very expensive, and the room rate is only the start. Expect from around $900 a night in the hot late-summer months, and $1,400 to $2,000 for an entry room from Christmas to Easter. Suites with their own pool are usually well over $2,000. Then add the daily food bill, which will surprise you even if you've been warned.

In its favour, a lot is included: the butler, the water sports, the kids' club and all those poolside treats. It's also a little cheaper than Las Ventanas or the Four Seasons, room for room. For a family who want a swimming beach and to be known by name, I think it's worth it. For a couple who care most about a beautiful new room, I think there are better places to spend this much.

Booking through an advisor matters here because the extras are worth real money at Palmilla prices. Breakfast for two and a hotel credit usually come with the same rate, plus an upgrade when one is available, and the hotel often runs a fourth-night-free offer outside the peak weeks.

Who it suits

This is for families who want a swimming beach and a great kids' club, couples who like old-Mexico character over a design hotel, and anyone who values being known by name. For the best rooms in Cabo, book the Four Seasons at Cabo Del Sol. For a honeymoon with no children in sight, Las Ventanas al Paraíso. For the calmest water for toddlers, Chileno Bay, and for a swimmable bay with a sleeker look, Montage Los Cabos.