El Encanto All Inclusive Resort ★★★★

An All Inclusive That Sends You Into Town

All inclusive is a format with a reputation for keeping guests inside the gate. El Encanto works it differently. The resort sits on a cliff at km 7.3 of the Transpeninsular, roughly ten minutes from downtown Cabo San Lucas, and its plan includes dining at partner restaurants in the Golden Zone as well as at its own kitchens, so the week has a way out built into it. The buildings take a colonial line, deep arches, carved wood, painted ceramics and regional art, arranged to hold the view south across the Sea of Cortes. It reads as a hacienda that happens to have a rate card.

Why It Works

Two reasons. The first is that dine out plan: an inclusive stay that puts you at tables in town several nights of the week is a different proposition, which in Cabo San Lucas changes what the holiday is. The second is the position. Cliff top on the Sea of Cortes side, with the water calm and the sunrise in front, ten minutes from the marina and out of earshot of it. Add a spa that keeps a temazcal, a kids club and a pickleball court, and the property carries a family week without strain.

Why This Location

Km 7.3 is the near end of the corridor, and that is the part people underestimate. You are close enough to Cabo San Lucas to go in for dinner on a whim, to take a boat from the marina out to El Arco and Lovers Beach in the morning, and to be back before the heat of the afternoon. Chileno Bay and Santa Maria Bay, the two snorkelling coves, lie a few minutes further east. Los Cabos International Airport is a straight run along the same road. The setting is cliff rather than sand, so the water is something you go down to rather than step onto.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: Colonial, warm, cliff top, family easy

• Rooms: Garden and ocean view studios, luxury suites, one and two bedroom suites

• Best For: Families who want an inclusive plan, first time visitors who also want to eat in town, groups needing two bedroom units

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The temazcal at Milagro Spa, a ceremonial sweat lodge rather than another treatment room

• Dining: On site restaurants and bars, plus a dine out inclusive plan at partner tables in the Golden Zone of downtown Cabo San Lucas

• Amenities: Milagro Spa, pools, fitness centre, kids club, pickleball, cliff top terraces over the Sea of Cortes

• Attractions: Cabo San Lucas marina and the Golden Zone about ten minutes away, El Arco and Lovers Beach by boat, Chileno Bay and Santa Maria Bay snorkelling to the east, Medano Beach in town

Studios, Suites and Who They Are For

The inventory starts with garden and ocean view studios, which suit a couple on a short stay, and climbs through luxury suites to one and two bedroom units that take a family or two couples. Ocean view is the category worth paying for here, because the cliff does the work: the sightline runs clean across the Sea of Cortes with nothing between the terrace and the water. The studio arrangement makes a longer stay manageable when not everyone wants the full plan every day.

A Temazcal at the End of the Treatment List

Milagro Spa runs the expected massages and body scrubs, and then keeps a temazcal, the pre Hispanic sweat lodge ceremony, which is the reason to book a treatment here rather than anywhere. It is a genuine regional practice, guided, and it fits the hacienda register of the property better than a hydrotherapy circuit would. A fitness centre sits alongside it, and the pickleball courts pick up the competitive end of the afternoon.

Before You Commit to the Plan

Check in is from 15:00. The dine out element of the inclusive package is worth examining before you book, because it determines how many evenings you spend in town and how many on the terrace. Children are welcome and the kids club is part of the offer; pets are not accepted. And because the resort sits on a cliff, ask about the route down to the water if that matters to your party.