The Cabo 100 is the definitive list of Los Cabos at its finest: one hundred places and experiences, ten in each of ten categories, chosen by people who live here and never sold to anyone. Today we publish the 2027 edition, and with it the first pieces in our Journal.
This letter explains what the list is, the four standards every name must meet, how a place earns its spot and how it loses one, and how to use all of it to plan a trip, or something longer, at the southern tip of Baja California Sur.
A list, not a directory
Los Cabos has thousands of restaurants, hotels, charters, galleries and service companies, and more arrive every season. Most visitors have a few days and no reliable way to tell the exceptional from the merely expensive. Search results reward whoever pays for the top line. Review sites reward volume. Neither tells you which table to book on the one night you have free.
A directory tries to include everything. A list has to choose, and that discipline is the whole point. Ten places per category, ranked, means every entry has to justify itself every year. When a newcomer deserves a place, someone else gives one up.
One hundred is broad enough to cover a serious trip, from the dinner reservation to the dive boat to the planner who runs a three-day wedding, and narrow enough to mean something. It is the hundred names we would give a friend who asked where to eat, stay, play and spend their time here.
The four standards
Every entry is measured against the same four standards. They are short to state and hard to meet.
I. Excellence, consistently
One great night is not enough. We look for places that deliver at the same level on a quiet Tuesday in September as on a sold-out Saturday in March. Consistency is the hardest thing in hospitality to fake, which is why we ask for it first.
II. Service that remembers you
Luxury is usually decided by small things: the name remembered on the second visit, the table held without being asked, the problem solved before the guest knew it existed. The places on the list treat service as a craft rather than a script.
III. Unmistakably Cabo
Every entry should give you something you could not find anywhere else. That might be the desert running straight into the sea, a kitchen built on Baja produce and Sea of Cortez seafood, or a crew whose knowledge of these waters goes back generations. Polished but placeless does not make the cut.
IV. Independent, always
No one can pay to be on The Cabo 100, and no one can pay to move up it. Where we work with a business as a partner, that relationship is always clearly marked and never affects who is listed or where. This is the standard that gives the other three their meaning.
How a place earns its spot
We weigh the knowledge of people who live in Los Cabos year-round alongside the established inspection programmes: the Michelin Guide, Forbes Travel Guide, AAA and Golf Digest. Those programmes matter, because they apply rigorous criteria of their own. But recognition informs our view without deciding it. Some of the best places here have never chased an award, and some decorated ones suit a different kind of traveller.
What separates the top tier in each category is rarely the obvious thing. These are the questions we keep returning to:
- Does it hold its level out of season? Late summer, when the resorts are quiet and the staff are stretched, is the real test.
- Does it know where it is? The best kitchens cook from the farms of the foothills and the boats of the two seas. The best guides read the water, not a script.
- How does it handle the request that is not on the menu? A birthday arranged in an afternoon, a boat moved for the weather, a dinner rebooked without a fuss.
- Would someone who lives here send a friend? It is the simplest test and the hardest to pass.
The full method, including how a place can lose its position, is set out on our How We Choose page.
Ten categories, one hundred names
The list is organised around how people actually spend their time in Los Cabos, and each category holds ten ranked entries.
- Dine: tables worth the flight, from the destination’s only Michelin-starred tasting menu to live-fire grills and farm kitchens in the foothills.
- Stay: the resorts and private villas that set the standard for the region.
- Golf: the fairways that matter, by designers including Nicklaus, Fazio, Love III and Woods.
- Beach Clubs: days that turn into nights, from members’ clubs to the livelier scene on Médano.
- Spa & Wellness: places to restore, properly.
- On the Water: yachts, sport fishing, sailing and diving.
- Private Service: chefs, concierges, planners and private flights.
- After Dark: cocktails, rooftops and late tables.
- Art & Style: galleries, ateliers and boutiques.
- Live Here: the communities behind it all, for readers who start to wonder what it would take to stay.
The categories are broad by design. A great week in Los Cabos is rarely about one resort or one restaurant. It is about how the pieces fit together, and the list is built so you can assemble that week from it.
Renewed every year
The Cabo 100 is not a hall of fame. The list is reviewed in full every year, and the 2027 edition reflects a destination moving quickly. In the past year Aman opened its first resort in Mexico on the East Cape, Las Ventanas al Paraíso climbed to 25th on The World’s 50 Best Hotels, and the PGA TOUR is returning to Diamante in early November for the 20th edition of the World Wide Technology Championship.
New openings can earn their way in. Places that slip lose their position, and sometimes their place altogether. If you know a restaurant, resort, guide or gallery that meets the four standards, you can nominate it for the next review. A nomination is never a guarantee, and nobody can pay for one to succeed.
Ones to Watch
Some newcomers are too new to rank fairly. A resort that opened last month has not yet shown it can deliver on a quiet Tuesday in September, which is our first standard. Rather than ignore them, we track them on a separate page, Ones to Watch.
Right now it follows fourteen projects: a new St. Regis at Quivira, a Grand Hyatt and a Conrad at Oleada on the Pacific side, the first Soho House in Los Cabos at Cabo del Sol, Kerzner’s SIRO at Palmilla, a Delano on the East Cape, Querencia’s second Tom Fazio course, Ernie Els’s Oleada Golf Links and the Tiger Woods course taking shape at Diamante’s Legacy Club, among others. Opening dates come from the developers and brands, and they move, so the page is updated as each one opens. When a newcomer has built a track record, the best will be considered for the list.
The Journal
The Journal is where the list comes to life. It opens today with a dozen pieces and will keep publishing through the year: seasonal guides timed to the Cabo calendar, from whale season to the holidays; deep looks at single places and what makes them work; practical guides on when to travel, how to get the hardest tables and which beaches are genuinely calm; and a Living series for readers thinking about owning here.
Every piece is held to the same rules as the list. Specific over vague. Sourced over assumed. Never paid for.
How to use the list
Start with the category that matters most to your trip and work outward. A couple planning an anniversary might begin with Stay and Dine, then add a spa afternoon and a sunset sail. A golf group will build the evenings around the tee times. Every entry page explains why the place is on the list and what to know before you go.
Know before you go: book the hard tables first. The tasting menu at Cocina de Autor, the farm kitchens of Ánimas Bajas and the sunset seatings above the Arch are the reservations that fill earliest between December and April. Lock them in when you book your room, then plan the days around them.
Read across the categories and the geography comes into focus: the marina energy of Cabo San Lucas, the galleries and farm restaurants of San José del Cabo, the resorts and golf of the Tourist Corridor, the open Pacific coast and the quieter East Cape.
Join the Insider List
The Insider List is the best way to keep up: the annual reveal, new arrivals as they move from Ones to Watch onto the list, and the occasional table that is otherwise impossible to get. A few emails a year, never more.
Welcome to the 2027 edition. Pick a category, start exploring, and tell us where you think we are wrong. That is how next year’s list gets better.
