The average nightly hotel rate in La Paz has jumped from 2,300 pesos (about $115 USD) in 2020 to 4,640 pesos (about $232 USD) today, a 101.7 percent increase in six years. The price surge tracks with a broader transformation: La Paz hotel rates now place the state capital closer to Los Cabos pricing territory than to the budget destination it was a decade ago. The numbers come from Agustín Olachea, president of Emprhotur, the Hotel and Tourism Business Association of La Paz.
La Paz Added 76 Percent More Hotels Since 2019
The rate increase did not happen in isolation. Total tourist arrivals to La Paz more than doubled, from roughly 500,000 in 2019 to just over 1.2 million in 2025. The city’s hotel inventory grew to match: La Paz now counts 215 hotels and 5,236 rooms, up 76 percent and 50 percent respectively since 2019. Those figures come from FITUPAZ, the La Paz Tourism Trust, a public body that manages destination promotion funding.
Several factors drove this growth. La Paz’s international airport has expanded its route map, with Calafia Airlines and Volaris both adding seasonal connections in recent years. The Malecón waterfront, long popular with Mexican families, has attracted a growing number of boutique hotels and upscale restaurants. And the UNESCO-recognized waters surrounding Isla Espíritu Santo continue to draw divers, kayakers, and whale shark tour operators who market to international visitors.
The city also benefited from a pandemic-era shift. When Los Cabos hotels filled quickly during Mexico’s early reopening in late 2020 and 2021, some travelers discovered La Paz as an alternative. Many returned. The city’s smaller scale, walkable downtown, and proximity to desert and marine ecosystems made it appealing to remote workers and retirees exploring options outside the Los Cabos corridor.
La Paz Room Rates Approach Los Cabos Midrange Pricing
To put the 4,640-peso average in perspective, consider Los Cabos. A 2024 report from the Los Cabos Hotel Association placed the average daily rate in that corridor at roughly 6,800 pesos ($340 USD) across all categories. Budget and midrange properties in San José del Cabo often list at 3,500 to 5,500 pesos per night during high season. La Paz’s average now sits squarely in that range.
For visitors paying in U.S. dollars, the exchange rate has softened some of the blow. The peso weakened from roughly 17 per dollar in mid-2023 to around 20 per dollar by early 2025. So a room that costs 4,640 pesos today runs about $232 USD, while the same rate at the stronger 2023 exchange would have cost closer to $273 USD. But for peso-earning Mexican tourists, the doubling is felt fully.
The question is whether La Paz can sustain premium pricing without the large-scale resort infrastructure that Los Cabos offers. La Paz has no mega-resorts, no 36-hole golf complexes, and limited direct international flights compared to San José del Cabo International Airport, which handled over 7 million passengers in 2024. What La Paz sells is precisely the absence of those things: low density, authenticity, and a slower pace.
Olachea framed this as intentional. “Tourists increasingly value what the destination offers and are willing to pay better rates,” he said. “La Paz should continue with the same growth that has proven successful in markets where the destination offers low population density, a warm atmosphere, and a well-organized community.” He also stressed that mass hotel construction is not part of the plan, calling orderly growth and community involvement two of the city’s key advantages.
Mid-Range Travelers Face Fewer Options
Still, the pricing trend has practical consequences. Budget travelers and long-stay visitors who once rented downtown hotel rooms for $60 to $80 USD per night now face rates of $120 or more at comparable properties. Airbnb and vacation rental listings in the Centro Histórico and El Mogote areas have also risen, with one-bedroom apartments averaging $90 to $130 USD per night during the winter high season on major platforms.
Some long-term expats have shifted to monthly rental apartments rather than hotels, a pattern visible in La Paz Facebook groups where requests for furnished one-bedrooms regularly appear. The Emprhotur data does not cover this informal sector, so the full picture of visitor accommodation costs is likely more nuanced than the hotel average suggests.
SETUE, the state Ministry of Tourism and Economy, is expected to release its full 2025 visitor data later this year. That report should clarify whether the growth in arrivals has held across all spending categories or concentrated in the higher-end segment. The original data was reported by El Sudcaliforniano.