The Low-Down on Cabo's 3 Great Luxury Hotels

Farther down the coastline, a trip to Las Ventanas al Paraiso usually begins with a pickup at the airport courtesy of the hotel's fleet of specially blinged-out Mercedes G-Class SUVs. Visitors arrive at a dramatic, all-white court graced with cactus, a calm backdrop for staff hurrying about with luggage and silver trays of champagne or aqua fresca. An open-air reception with Dorothy Churchill-Johnson artwork and a mural by native artist Fernando Andriacci -- as well as glimpses of a brilliant blue ocean -- gives a Mexican Riviera feel. The native furnishings have a sophisticated feel without losing an inherent Mexican charm. The property is owned by Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner, who also owns the Four Seasons Hotel New York and Biltmore Santa Barbara, and managed by Dallas-based Rosewood Hotels, founded by Caroline Rose Hunt, who also operates New York's Carlyle and new Rosewood Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen.

Las Ventanas is all about service. It offers some of the best one-off amenities known in the hotel business. The free-form pool area facing one of the area's more swimmable beaches (though swimming is still not advised) looks like an architectural watercolor, but what caps the glittering sunbathing scene are the pool butlers serving the latest tabloid with frozen-chocolate sorbet cups and lemongrass popsicles. If that's too much interaction, hammocks on the sand offer private siestas; sleeper are awoken at a set time by the light rattle of a teponaztli drum once used by Aztecs. For even more privacy, the hotel has its own three-yacht fleet for private excusions a la James Bond.

Slightly larger than Esperanza, Las Ventanas' 71 rooms feature an Aegean-meets-Sea of Cortez feel with mostly white living and sleeping areas inlaid with intricate mosaic stone detailing, rafter ceilings and wood-burning fireplaces facing the occasional outdoor plunge pool or rooftop Jacuzzi.

One&Only Palmilla Resort's Cortez Suite is most frequented by Hollywood actors and biz execs.

Farther from Cabo San Lucas is the resort most frequented by Hollywood's celebrity circuit. One&Only Palmilla dazzles at the original location of the famous Palmilla Resort that hosted luminaries Jean Harlow, Bing Crosby and Ernest Hemingway back in the day -- and, more recently, Tom Cruise, Oprah and John Travolta. Visitors arrive to a compound built for privacy, including incredible security gates that open to a promenade driveway of majestic king palms usually seen from from the window of the in-house Hummer. A triple-arch porte-cochere leads to the main lobby. The hotel's original infinity edge pool also still exists, seen from a reception area overlooking a private beach with waterfalls and a swim-up bar.

The Spanish Colonial details of the historic resort have not been lost on ever-posh One&Only, which uses sexy ad campaigns to attract the world's rich under-40 luminaries. It also plays up recognizable names, which are common at Palmilla. There's an outpost of Market restaurant, the first foray south of the border by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Vongerichten also oversees the Suviche Restaurant and Lounge, which specializes in sushi and ceviches by Japan-plucked prodigee Nobuo Iwaseya.

Rooms at Palmilla are the priciest of the three hotels mentioned. Beachfront rooms offer a 24-hour butler in rustic contemporary spaces with infinity pools and Lady Primrose bath amenities, which seem to be the norm in these parts. Style mavens will want to splurge on Villa Cortez -- the price of a used luxury car on a per-night basis, but fit for a rock star with private kitchen, outdoor entertaining area with firepit and rain showers, and even a sound studio. So will anyone looking for the best high-roller suite in Cabo.

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