A Bay on the Sea of Cortez: Montage Los Cabos

The light comes up over the Sea of Cortez early, and it comes up gold. From a terrace at Montage Los Cabos the bay below is still flat and pale, the rocks at the edge of the bay are just catching the sun, and the only sound is the water. A dog lying on that terrace, nose on its paws, watching the water, has found the best seat in Baja. Montage Los Cabos holds the A+ rank in the Roch Dog assessment, the top grade we give, and the first morning here shows why. The dog is not an afterthought on this coast. It is one of the guests.

The Setting

The resort spans 39 acres along Santa Maria Bay, on the coast outside Cabo San Lucas, about eighteen minutes from the town and seventeen miles from Los Cabos International Airport, with San José del Cabo close by, according to the hotel's own resort information. This is where the Baja desert runs down to the sea. Behind the resort the land is scrub and mountain; in front of it is a calm, clear bay made for swimming.

Santa Maria Bay is a protected marine sanctuary, and the hotel calls it Baja's most pristine and swimmable coastline, with dolphin pods and, in season, whales. Santa Maria Beach has held international Blue Flag certification for six consecutive years and carries Mexico's Playa Platino designation, and the Twin Dolphin community around the resort is restoring the bay's coral reefs with native species. The setting is not borrowed scenery. The people who run it are looking after it.

Getting a dog here from the United States takes one piece of paper more than it used to. Since 3 August 2026, Mexico has asked for a New World screwworm inspection certificate for every pet dog, signed by a USDA accredited vet no more than five days before you arrive, and on landing the dog is checked by a SENASICA official at the airport's inspection office. The dog travels in a clean carrier with no bedding or toys, and only the day's food. The full rules, including what the dog needs to come home again, are on the USDA APHIS Mexico page.

The Hotel Itself

Montage Los Cabos has 122 guestrooms, suites and casas, plus 52 private Montage Residences, and every one of them has a private balcony or terrace and an outdoor shower. Many face the ocean, a few of the suites have their own plunge pool, and the Casas are private villas with a full kitchen, a private pool and a dedicated butler. Our assessment found that most rooms in the house take dogs, so getting the right room for you and your dog is rarely the problem it is elsewhere.

The resort's centrepiece is Spa Montage, forty thousand square feet given over to wellness, with twelve treatment rooms, garden relaxation lounges, steam rooms, hot and cold plunge pools and an adults only Serenity Pool. Its treatments draw on the plants of the Baja desert and on the Mexican folklore of the Tree of Life, and the Mezcal Renewal massage, a classical Mexican friega with locally made heated herbal poultices, ends with a taste of Clase Azul. Beyond the spa there are the family pool and the adults only infinity pool above the ocean, beach beds and cabanas on the sand, and Compass, the resort's adventure centre, which runs dive trips, UTV trails and days out to a waterfall in the hills. The sunrise kayak across the bay and the sunset charter to Land's End are on the resort's own list of things to do, and the Twin Dolphin Club, a Fred Couples course looking out over the Pacific, is nearby.

The Welcome

The welcome for a dog here is the kind that lets you leave half the kit at home. Our assessment found that the hotel lays on a proper dog bed, food and water bowls and poop bags, and keeps a pet menu, so the dog's dinner can be ordered alongside yours. The hotel welcomes well mannered dogs, and cats too, for a fee of $250 for the whole stay, with no deposit on top, and two can share your room. The Concierge handles the arrangements, so it is worth writing to them when you book.

Outside the room, the resort is the dog's to enjoy. Dogs are welcome across the outdoor areas of the resort on a lead, which means the gardens, the walkways between the buildings and the lawn below the Mezcal patio, all of it looking out over the bay. Our assessment also found a garden on site for a run around, and a hotel that puts on dog friendly activities and events and supports pet charities. Best of all, the hotel offers a dog walking service and can arrange a dog sitter, so the morning you spend on the reef or the afternoon in the spa is covered, and the dog is in good hands while you are away.

Dinner on the Terrace

The signature evening at Montage Los Cabos, for anyone travelling with a dog, is dinner at home. The resort's in-room dining runs around the clock, with menus for breakfast, all day, late night and a full wine list, and every room has a balcony or terrace to eat it on. Order dinner to the room, ask for the pet menu for the dog, and eat outside as the sun goes down over Santa Maria Bay. It is hard to think of a better table on the coast, and the dog is under it.

On the nights you want to go out, the hotel's dog sitters make it easy. Mezcal, the resort's signature restaurant of generations old Mexican family recipes and regional mezcals, serves dinner every evening with live music and a patio with a fire pit, and its bar pours tequila, mezcal and sotol, with guided agave tastings before dinner. Marea by Night is the open air beachfront room for aged meats and the day's catch, with the sunset in front of you, and Talay takes its cue from the Thai food truck, cooked over fire.

A Day Here With Your Dog

Start early, before the heat, with a slow walk on the lead through the gardens and along the lawn as the bay turns from grey to turquoise. Breakfast comes to the terrace. Then hand the dog to the hotel's walkers or sitters and take the morning on the water: the resort's own suggestion is a guided sunrise kayak across the bay, where dolphins are a likely sight, or a snorkel over the reef that the community is bringing back to life.

Lunch can be a light one from Paletas, the all day café and marketplace, with baked goods, sandwiches and the signature Mexican paletas, carried back to the terrace for a long Baja afternoon in the shade. When the day cools, take the dog out again across the grounds, and if you want the sea from the water, the VanDutch sunset cruise to Land's End leaves the dog with its sitter while you take a glass of champagne out to the Arch. The evening is the terrace, dinner from the kitchen, and a dog asleep on its own bed with the window open to the sound of the bay.

Why It Matters

Plenty of resorts on this coast will tell you they take dogs. Montage Los Cabos has thought about what a dog actually needs on a beach holiday in the Mexican sun: a bed, a menu, room to walk in the cool of the morning, and someone to look after it while you do the things a dog cannot. It gives all of that, in one of the finest settings in Baja, with most of its rooms open to dogs. For anyone who has ever left the dog at home to go somewhere beautiful, this is the resort that means you do not have to. Book it, take a room with an ocean view terrace, and plan your mornings around the bay.

Good to Know

Montage welcomes dogs and cats under 40 pounds, and a dog stays on a lead no longer than six feet everywhere outside the room. Dogs are never left alone in the room or in public areas, which is what the hotel's sitters are for. The pools, the restaurants, the spa and the fitness centre are kept for people, and room service takes care of that.

Read the official Roch Dog review or visit the hotel's website.