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Book through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts and you’ll get daily breakfast for two, a $100 property credit, room upgrade when available, and guaranteed 4pm late checkout — same room rate, better stay.
Two miles of white sand. Calm turquoise water. The Sierra de la Laguna mountains on the horizon. Seven months pregnant, toddler at my feet, and not another soul in sight.
This is not the Cabo you’re picturing.
Most people hear Cabo and think the town of Cabo San Lucas — the spring breakers, vulgar bandanas, the crowded swim-up bars, the Pacific surf that will absolutely destroy you. Four Seasons Costa Palmas is something else entirely. It sits on Baja’s East Cape, technically one hour northeast of the airport, functionally a world away. The Sea of Cortez instead of the Pacific. Calm, swimmable water. A masterplanned 1,500-acre community where A-listers are quietly buying multimillion-dollar residences, and where an Aman and Park Hyatt are currently under construction next door. The kind of place that doesn’t need to announce itself.
We went for our second babymoon — our last trip as a family of three before baby number two arrived. I was 28 weeks pregnant and already had a very fast, very opinionated 18-month-old boy who treats the word ‘no’ as a loose suggestion. We needed somewhere that could contain and provide. Costa Palmas delivered. Here’s our detailed Four Seasons Costa Palmas review, and everything you need to know before booking your trip.
Why We Chose Costa Palmas
I needed a trip that could meet three variables at once: pregnancy limitations, a high-energy toddler, and the very reasonable requirement that this still feel like an actual luxury vacation.
Cabo San Lucas was out immediately — too party-forward, rough beaches, not the right energy. Hawaii meant a long flight plus a three-hour time change with a toddler, which honestly sounded like torture. Costa Palmas kept coming up on my Instagram feed for its swimmable beaches and luxe, this-is-the-next-it-place atmosphere.
On the Pacific side of Cabo, the surf makes swimming genuinely dangerous. The Sea of Cortez is calm, clear, and completely different. For a pregnant woman and an 18-month-old, that’s not a small distinction. It’s the whole trip.
Here’s what sold us:
- Swimmable beach with calm, gentle water — safe for toddlers and third trimester-ers alike
- New property — pristine, not worn down by years of heavy tourism
- ~60 minutes from the airport — with a small child, a short transfer is not a small thing
- Four Seasons service standards, which we already trusted completely
- Bookable through Amex Platinum Fine Hotels + Resorts — which changed the financial math significantly
Getting To Costa Palmas
We flew direct from San Diego to Los Cabos International — genuinely one of the easier trips we’ve done with a toddler, which matters when you’re also managing a third-trimester body. The resort arranged our transfer in advance, included through our Amex FHR booking: a luxury SUV, already fitted with a child seat, waiting at arrivals.
The 60-minute drive northeast on Highway 1 is part of the arrival experience. You pass through San José del Cabo, then the hotel corridor thins out and gives way to coastal desert and mountain views. When you turn through the Costa Palmas gates, the shift is immediate. No high-rises. No timeshare hawkers. No noise. Just open land, pristine beach, and the particular kind of quiet that feels expensive.
First Impressions
The architecture lands first — low-lying, open-air, natural materials throughout. No enclosed corridors. Everything flows toward the water. Check-in involved cold towels, a craft mocktail prepared for a pregnant woman without being asked, a proper cocktail for my husband, and a fruit drink for our son. The Four Seasons signature is this: they anticipate. You feel it within the first five minutes and it doesn’t let up.
The first look at the beach from the resort grounds is the kind of view that makes you go quiet for a second. Two miles of white sand, the calm turquoise of the Sea of Cortez, mountains framing the back edge of everything. 141 rooms and 27 suites spread across multiple beachfront buildings, and it still felt genuinely private. Uncrowded in the way resorts always promise and rarely deliver.
Our son was clocked as the fastest child at the resort within about four minutes of arrival, based entirely on my husband’s pursuit of him across the resort. The staff found this charming — they knew his name by day two — and honestly, so did we, eventually.
The Room: Executive Suite
We were upgraded to an Executive Suite on arrival — one of the perks of booking through Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts. In practice: a large living area with a king bed, a sofa bed, enough floor space for a travel crib and a toddler to run real laps, and a private terrace with an outdoor shower and plunge pool that became our son’s personal splash pad for three days straight.
Design: modern, warm, natural materials throughout — travertine, warm wood, contemporary Mexican touches that feel intentional rather than decorative. The bathroom was large enough to fit a travel crib with room to spare (a parenting hack we’ve since refined into a science). Double vanity, deep soaking tub, Byredo toiletries. The blackout shades were so effective that our son’s naps ran long, which at seven months pregnant I treated as a personal gift from the universe.
The staff delivered a birthday cake and balloons to our room upon arrival, thanks to the concierge reaching out to my husband prior to arrival to see if we were celebrating anything special. It’s the kind of detail you can’t manufacture, and it’s why people stay loyal to Four Seasons properties year after year.
Parent hack: Set up the travel crib in the bathroom especially if the toilet is in a separate place — it creates a completely separate sleep environment from the main room. Game-changer for nap schedules and for staying up past 7pm like an adult.
The Resort: What Makes Costa Palmas Different
Four Seasons Costa Palmas isn’t just a hotel sitting on a beautiful beach. It’s the anchor property of a 1,500-acre masterplanned community — and once you’re there, you feel the scope of it.
The Beach
The 2+ miles of Sea of Cortez beach is the whole argument. Calm, clear, genuinely swimmable — the kind of water where I could actually float at seven months pregnant without any anxiety, and where our 18-month-old could wade without me being convinced something terrible was about to happen. On the Pacific side of Cabo, that’s simply not an option. Here it is, and it changes everything about what a family trip can feel like.
According to other reviewers, there are times of year where the wind is high and seaweed can roll in. But during our trip in September, we didn’t experience this at all. It was hot though.
The Marina
The Four Seasons marina is the only one in the brand’s entire global portfolio — worth knowing. The complimentary water taxi runs between the resort and Marina Village, where Nancy Silverton’s Mozza Baja, nightlife at Chiki, and the Italian-inspired Casena all sit alongside waterfront residences starting in the multimillions. It has a European waterfront energy that feels genuinely surprising in Baja. Take the water taxi – worth it every time.
The Farm
Eighteen acres of organic farms supply the resort’s restaurants. You can taste it in the produce — and I don’t say that loosely. This is not a marketing detail. It shows up on the plate in a way that makes you quietly realize how much resort dining usually doesn’t taste like this.
Everything Else
A Robert Trent Jones II championship golf course with Sea of Cortez views. An Adventure Concierge who handles everything from ATV tours to waterfall hikes so you don’t have to spend your vacation researching your vacation. Complimentary beach cruisers, on-demand golf carts, and the general sense that the resort anticipated your next move before you made it.
The Oasis Spa
I’ve been to a lot of spas. The Oasis Spa might just be *the* best I’ve experienced — and I’m already planning a return trip specifically for more time in the aqua therapy rooms.
Named among Vogue’s 100 Best Spas in the World for two consecutive years, The Oasis Spa boasts 16,000 square feet. Ten standalone treatment rooms, two deluxe spa suites with private plunge pools, outdoor showers, and post-treatment dining areas stocked with complimentary bites and drinks. The wet areas — saunas, steam rooms, hydrotherapy pools, cold plunge — are available to all resort guests, treatment or not. I spent more time here than I’ll admit.
I booked the 90-minute Elevating Yoga Facial by Tata Harper. Pre-treatment foot bath, sound bowl opening, aromatherapy ritual, customized cleansing and masking, and an energetic yogic face massage that left my skin plumped and glowing. If you’re a fan of face massages, this is the treatment for you. The Tata Harper products are pregnancy friendly, which meant zero guesswork about what was going on my skin while pregnant. My therapist also adjusted the treatment bed to accommodate my pregnant belly, which made the whole treatment that much more comfortable.
The Fitness Center
I had absolutely zero intention of working out on this trip. But the gym was so genuinely beautiful that I walked through it a few times just to look at it. Celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak designed the 67,000-square-foot Sports Club — state-of-the-art equipment, ocean-view cardio machines, group fitness, pregnancy-friendly yoga. Outside: a 25-meter lap pool, full-size basketball court, tennis, pickleball, and a splash pad for the kids.
Dining
Nine venues total. Here’s where we actually spent our time.
Mozza Baja
Stunning setting right on the water — the kind of table you photograph before you touch anything on it. Dinner was cut short when our toddler had some strong feelings about the direction of the evening. Without missing a beat, the staff packaged everything beautifully to go. The food was exceptional and the service under pressure was impeccable.
Limón
Our favorite dinner of the trip — farm-to-table using produce straight from the resort’s 18-acre organic farm, and you can taste every bit of it. We ordered widely across the menu and didn’t hit a single miss. One practical note: it is outside and on gravel. Wear shoes you can actually walk in.
Casa de Brasa
Casual poolside, Latin American grilling, and the correct answer to ‘where should we eat when nobody wants to change out of a swimsuit.’ Our go-to for lunch and a glass of wine (for the hubby) before we clocked out for the night.
Delphine Beach Club
Delphine was created by LA-based chef Ludo Lefebvre and it has this effortless European beach club energy — yellow umbrellas, sandy loungers, daily entertainment, the whole thing. My husband and I kept looking at each other like, are we actually in Baja right now? It’s pricier than the other venues and absolutely worth it. Pro tip: arrange the babysitter first so you can actually stay long enough to enjoy it.
For the pregnant or sober traveler: Every venue we dined at had creative, thoughtful non-alcoholic options. I never felt like an afterthought at any of them. This sounds like a small thing – but when you’re sick of having fruit juice disguised as “mocktails,” more extensive options are a genuine treat.
Hiring a Babysitter at the Four Seasons
I was deeply resistant to this idea. Hiring a babysitter in a foreign country for a child who is extremely attached to exactly two people on earth sounded like a setup for a terrible evening for everyone involved.
What changed my mind: at the resort, I happened to meet another SoCal mom — also pregnant, also had a daughter right around our son’s age, and also owned a Four Seasons property at Costa Palmas. I asked her what she actually thought about the babysitters. She laughed and told me she trusted them more than her nanny at home.
We booked our vetted babysitter through the concierge. The sitter arrived and even brought a toy for our son. She connected with him immediately, and took him to the kids club where he played while my husband and I had a real, uninterrupted afternoon at Delphine. Cost: approximately $60–80 for three to four hours.
Would we do it again? Yes – in a heartbeat. If you’re curious about Four Seasons babysitters, don’t hesitate on this one.
How We Saved Hundreds: Amex Platinum Fine Hotels + Resorts
This section is worth reading slowly if you’re considering this trip.
We booked through the Amex Platinum Fine Hotels + Resorts program — same nightly rate as booking directly with Four Seasons, but with a meaningful stack of added perks:
- $100 property credit
- Daily breakfast for two adults (~$80/day value)
- Suite upgrade on arrival
- Early check-in and late checkout
- Complimentary round-trip airport transfers in a luxury SUV
Over four nights: breakfast alone was worth $320. Add the $100 property credit and you’re already at $420 before counting the upgrade or transfers. The round-trip transfers were worth roughly another $300 at least. Total tangible value from one booking tweak: approximately $750. Same room. Same price. Just booked smarter.
How to book:
You need an Amex Platinum or Centurion card. Book through the Amex Travel portal — not directly with the hotel. Benefits confirm at check-in; the property credit posts after checkout. The annual fee is $895, and a single trip like this will get you most of the way there.
Kids Amenities + Kids Club
The Roadrunners Kids for All Seasons program offers complimentary access for ages 4 to 12, running daily from 9am to 5pm — with fun, rotating seasonal activities that are actually engaging, not just supervised chaos with a resort logo on it.
Our son was 18 months, so the formal program was off the table for this trip. But here’s what I’ll tell every parent of a younger child: the staff is so warm and the space is so welcoming that as long as a parent or babysitter is present with your little one, they’re happy to have you use the room. We popped in a couple of times with our babysitter and our son was obsessed. Worth asking at the concierge — they’ll make it work.
The resort also comes stocked with every child amenity you could possibly need: cribs, Pack and Plays, high chairs, bottle warmers, bottle sterilizers, white noise machines, nursing pillows, childproofing items, even Little Swimmers diapers for the pools. It’s the kind of list that makes you realize you overpacked by about half. And it’s complimentary.
We’re already planning the next trip with both kids specifically around the Kids Club. That’s the highest endorsement I can give.
A Note on the September Heat
Let’s be honest about something: September in Baja is hot. Not “oh it’s a little warm” hot — scorching, sun-at-full-volume, think-twice-before-crossing-the-pool-deck hot. It’s the off-season for a reason, and the lower prices reflect that. For us it was worth the trade-off, but it’s worth knowing before you go.
Traveling with a toddler in that heat added a layer of complexity we hadn’t fully anticipated. Extended time outdoors during peak sun hours just wasn’t realistic. What saved us entirely was our covered terrace and plunge pool — we practically lived out there during the hottest parts of the day, and honestly it became one of our favorite parts of the trip.
One very real warning: the pool deck will burn your feet. I learned this the hard way. Wear sandals every single time you leave your lounger, no exceptions. Beyond that, the resort handles the heat well — plenty of umbrellas, poolside service that won’t keep you waiting, and a steady supply of complimentary chilled filtered water that I genuinely cannot overstate the value of when it’s 100 degrees and you’re seven months pregnant.
The Verdict
Four Seasons Costa Palmas is the answer to a specific question: where do you go when you want Cabo’s climate and proximity without the “party Cabo” energy? When you have a toddler who needs calm water and room to run, and you also need to feel like a person who has nice things? When pregnancy or postpartum recovery means you need the resort to genuinely work for you — not just tolerate you?
The swimmable beach alone justifies the trip. Everything else — the service, the spa, the farm-fresh food, the marina, the room — is the kind of thing that makes you realize you’ve been settling for less and cheerfully calling it a vacation.
We’re already planning the return trip. This time with two kids, which either says everything about how good this place is, or everything about our commitment to optimism. Probably both.
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FAQ: Four Seasons Costa Palmas Review
No — food, spa, and activities are à la carte. What’s included: beach amenities, fitness center access, the Kids for All Seasons program (ages 4–12), WiFi, and the complimentary water taxi to Marina Village.
Yes — emphatically. This is the thing that sets Costa Palmas apart from most of Cabo. The Sea of Cortez has calm, clear, gentle water. Safe for toddlers, pregnant women, and anyone who just wants to be in the ocean without the anxiety of a serious shorebreak.
About 60 minutes from Los Cabos International (SJD), driving northeast on Highway 1 to the East Cape.
October through May for the best weather. We went in September — hot, but uncrowded and meaningfully better rates. Peak pricing runs December through March. Best value windows: June, July, September, and October.
One of the best family resorts we’ve experienced. Calm swimmable beach, multiple pools, complimentary Kids for All Seasons program (ages 4–12), qualified babysitters through the concierge, and staff who genuinely love children and show it. Far less party-focused than Cabo San Lucas in every way.
Yes — the Adventure Concierge can arrange snorkeling at Cabo Pulmo, waterfall hikes, ATV tours, fishing, and more. San José del Cabo is about 45 minutes away. We stayed on property the entire trip by choice. There was simply no reason to leave.
Excellent. Pregnancy-safe activities throughout, a spa that actually knows how to treat a pregnant body, thoughtful mocktails at every venue, calm water for swimming, and resort infrastructure that makes relaxation the default rather than something you have to fight for. Second trimester is ideal; we went at 28 weeks and it was completely manageable and genuinely wonderful.
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