Live Aqua Private Residences Los Cabos ★★★★★

Room Service to a Four Bedroom Apartment

Live Aqua Private Residences is a hotel arranged as a block of flats, or a block of flats arranged as a hotel; either description holds. The residences run from one to four bedrooms, each with a full kitchen, a laundry and a terrace facing the Sea of Cortes, and around them sits the service you would expect at a resort: concierge, infinity pools, a spa, a restaurant and a bar with the sunset in it. The setting is Cabo del Sol at km 10.3 of the corridor, a golf estate rather than a beach strip. The result is an address that rewards a fortnight more than a long weekend.

Why It Works

We kept it for the format, and for where the format sits. A four bedroom residence with a kitchen and a laundry inside a serviced estate answers a particular kind of trip: a family of six, two couples, a group playing a week of golf, anybody who does not want to eat every meal out. The property lays the resort layer on top, with infinity pools, the Somma Wine Spa and a concierge running around the clock, and an all inclusive plan available for the days when nobody wants to cook. Dogs are accepted, which is rare at this level.

Why This Location

Km 10.3 puts you in Cabo del Sol, one of the corridor’s golf estates, on the Sea of Cortes side between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. The championship courses of Los Cabos are the immediate reason to be here, and the concierge arranges the tee times. Beyond golf, Chileno Bay and Santa Maria Bay, the two swimming and snorkelling coves, lie a few minutes west along the highway, and downtown Cabo San Lucas with its marina is roughly fifteen minutes away. A golf cart runs down to the Grand Fiesta Americana for the beach, the pools and further dining.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Residential, contemporary, quiet, estate

• Rooms: One, premier one, two, three and four bedroom residences with full kitchens, laundry and ocean view terraces

• Best For: Golf weeks, families of six or more, two couples sharing, stays of a fortnight

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The Sky Bar at sunset, the one moment of the day when this quiet property turns sociable

• Dining: Mai for international cooking, the Sky Bar for drinks and the sunset, the restaurants of the Grand Fiesta Americana a golf cart away, and an optional all inclusive plan

• Amenities: Main and semi private infinity pools, Somma Wine Spa, gym, round the clock digital concierge, dogs accepted, beach access through the neighbouring resort

• Attractions: Cabo del Sol golf on the doorstep, Chileno Bay and Santa Maria Bay snorkelling a few minutes west, Cabo San Lucas marina and El Arco about fifteen minutes away, San Jose del Cabo in the other direction

Mai, the Sky Bar and the Somma Wine Spa

Mai is the restaurant, international rather than regional, and it carries the evening for guests who are not cooking. The Sky Bar is the better story: a room at the top of the building with a clean line over the Sea of Cortes, built for the half hour before the light goes. Somma Wine Spa takes the wellness side, working vine derived treatments, an unusual register in Baja and a welcome one after eighteen holes.

Golf, and How the Cart Works

There is no course inside the property, which surprises some guests: the fairways of Cabo del Sol are the neighbourhood rather than the garden. The concierge books tee times across the Los Cabos courses, and a golf cart shuttles guests down to the Grand Fiesta Americana, where the beach, the additional pools, the spa and more restaurants are open to you. It is a short ride, and it is the mechanism that turns a residential block into a full resort stay.

Long Stays, Groups and Dogs

The kitchens and the laundries are what make this work for two weeks rather than four nights, and the larger residences take a group without anyone sleeping on a sofa. The all inclusive plan is priced per person and stays optional, so a family can put the children on it and cook for themselves. Dogs are accepted, and the concierge runs continuously.