Los Cabos, Mexico

Laiva Hotel by Tasman

Laiva Hotel by Tasman Photos

Style

Rose-tinted spectacle

Setting

Cultured downtown Cabo

Explore

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Laiva Hotel by Tasman is a design-focused stay cutting a dusky-pink, modernist figure in San José del Cabo’s historic center. Explore the neighborhood’s cobblestoned trove of galleries and taquerías, before being lured back for dinner at the hotel’s contemporary Baja restaurant, or to eye the skyline over palomas by the rooftop pool. There are beach clubs in reach, but really, this is a place to dive under the surface of the city — and hang out high above it.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A Continental breakfast and early check-in (subject to availability)

Facilities

Photos Laiva Hotel by Tasman facilities

Need to know

Rooms

19, including four suites.

Check–Out

11am, and check-in is at 3pm. You’ll get early check-in included with your Smith stay, subject to availability.

Also

There's elevator access to all floors and communal areas, as well as a wheelchair-friendly entrance via the carpark. However, none of the rooms at Laiva Hotel have been specially adapted and the swimming pool only has staired access.

At the hotel

Boutique and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, air-conditioning, Nespresso coffee machine, minibar, bathrobes, slippers and Loredana bath products.

Our favourite rooms

You'll have a front-row seat to the sunset from the Pitahaya Room’s downtown-gazing balcony. Damiana Rooms face the hotel’s interior courtyard, so don’t catch quite so much natural light. If you're sharing with friends, consider the Cardón, Torote and Olivo Suites, which each have two queen- or king-size beds and a bath tub.

Poolside

The hotel’s rooftop pool (open year-round, 8am to 9pm) promises sun-hazed views of the city, plus a steady supply of tacos, tequila and laidback beats. Snag a cactus-framed sofa or sunlounger and admire the mountains rising beyond the skyline.

Spa

There’s no spa, but you don’t have to go un-pampered — the hotel partners with a local spa a few blocks away, so you’ll get 10 per cent off treatments there.

Packing tips

There are plenty of scenes worth breaking out a sketchbook for here, from the light playing in the angular passageways to the peaks rising behind the city.

Also

Although this is a city rather than coastal stay, the hotel has partnerships with two beach clubs (Veleros and SanJo), where a private cabana can be sorted for a toes-in-the-sand kind of day.

Pet‐friendly

Up to one dog is welcome in each room for MX$1,500 a stay. They'll also be allowed everywhere in the hotel, as long as they're leashed, closely supervised and well-behaved. See more pet-friendly hotels in Los Cabos.

Children

All ages are welcome. The Mezquite Room, Torote Suite and Olivo Suite sleep up to four people, and the pool is open to kids.

Food and Drink

Photos Laiva Hotel by Tasman food and drink

Top Table

The covered terrace at Mestizal, with its mind-bending symmetry and sharp right angles, is a particularly good spot to admire the hotel’s design.

Dress Code

Laidback linen sets and cotton sundresses will suit at Mestizal — although if there’s an all-pink look you’ve been waiting to debut, now’s the time.

Hotel restaurant

Baja California's desert and sea underpin the contemporary Mexican menu at Mestizal, the hotel’s earthy, intimate restaurant. Chef Edgar Román sources seasonal, regional ingredients for his smoky burritos, zingy fish crudo and rich adobada tacos — and each dish can be ordered as a full plate or bite-size, so you can sample as many as you like. At Laiva Café, pick up a flat white or warming cacao to fuel your wanderings around downtown, or sit under the mirror ball in the hotel’s striking central courtyard.

Hotel bar

Laiva Roof pairs sweeping city views with craft cocktails, moreish bar snacks and live DJ sets. Sunset up here calls for arrachera steak tacos and a round of the house specialty tipple — a prettily pink blend of gin, rosé, prosecco and berries, to match the hotel’s signature hue. For an intimate evening of live jazz music, signature tipples and sapid sharing plates from Mestizal's head chef, take to hotel's Fifties-inspired Ceniza Bar.

Last orders

Mestizal is open from 1pm to 10pm. Laiva Roof pours from 10am to 8pm (till 9pm, Thursday to Saturday). Laiva Café is open from 8am to 8pm.

Location

Photos Laiva Hotel by Tasman location
Address
Laiva Hotel by Tasman
Calle Manuel Doblado 10 Centro
San José del Cabo
23400
Mexico

You’ll find Laiva Hotel by Tasman in downtown San José del Cabo, a historic district filled with colonial-era buildings, cobbled streets and art galleries.

Planes

Los Cabos International Airport is under an hour’s drive away. The hotel can arrange airport transfers with at least two days' notice for around MX$1,130 each way.

Automobiles

If you’re sticking to San José’s center you shouldn’t need a car; but if you are bringing wheels, there’s free private parking at the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

The hotel is right on the cusp of the gallery district, a criss-cross of cobbled streets strung with colorful papel picado banners and home to countless fine art exhibitions. The art walk, which takes place every Thursday evening from November to June, is a beloved local tradition — people gather to stroll the district together, meeting artists, celebrating exhibition launches and lingering at the district’s bars. The rest of downtown makes for a pleasant stroll, too, with its pretty, colonial-era architecture. When the coast calls, the hotel can book you a cabana at a beach club (around a 15-minute drive away). Biologist-led nature walks are on the cards, too; otherwise, ask about the best mountain- and ocean-hugging trails for self-guided hikes — wildlife reserve Estero San José has some spectacular ones. And if it’s thrills you’re after, surf, scuba and free-diving lessons can all be arranged.

Local restaurants

The gallery district is also home to a vibrant gastronomic scene, and happily, it’s right on your doorstep. At low-lit and coolly industrial spot Lumbre, you’ll find a creative menu fueled by the region’s fishers, ranchers and farmers — start off strong with bread and bone marrow butter, before moving onto flame-cooked seafood or carne asada. Los Tres Gallos is a locally loved institution, where hearty Mexican dishes like mole con pollo and enchiladas verdes are served in a spacious, cheerfully decorated courtyard. Head to Nao for elevated Mediterranean and Persian cuisine often influenced by Baja ingredients, as is evident in the cacio e pepe tortellini with blue shrimp, and the Maghreb chicken with pickled California chillis.

Local cafés

Set in a sweet Forties casita, Ruba’s Bakery is the answer to all your brunch prayers. Choose between homemade pastries, corn pancakes and poached eggs in salsa roja — or come at the weekend for the roast lamb chilaquiles, with fresh-baked bolillo bread to soak up the broth.

Local bars

Fermento is a speakeasy-style cocktail bar with a dancefloor and drinks zesty enough to get you out on it.

Reviews

Photos Laiva Hotel by Tasman reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this pretty-in-pink hotel in Mexico and unpacked their art prints and papel picado banners, a full account of their modernist break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Laiva Hotel by Tasman in Los Cabos… 

Blush-pink brutalism is perhaps not the first image that springs to mind when you think ‘Cabo’ — it’s a place more likely to conjure a coastal resort than a design-led urban stay. But the city of San José del Cabo has a rich art scene and rugged landscape well worth exploring — and Laiva Hotel by Tasman is the perfect boutique base from which to get acquainted.

A steaming cacao from the hotel’s café in hand, step out to roam downtown’s colorful, cobbled streets, racking up new favorite artists and taco spots as you go. Beyond the city, desert, mountains and sea meet, inspiring the hotel’s southern Baja restaurant and forming a cinematic backdrop for hikes and dives. But even do-nothing days here are still spectacular — at the rooftop pool and bar, ceviche and cocktails come with a bird’s-eye view of the city. The architecture might be all sharp edges, but really, it’s a soft life at Laiva.

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