Mexico · Baja California Sur
Cabo San Lucas
The end of the Baja peninsula: a granite arch, humpbacks in the bay and some of Mexico's loudest nights.
The town at the very tip of the Baja peninsula, where the desert ends in a granite arch and the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific. El Arco at Land's End is the image everyone comes for, and the marina below it runs the boats: whale watching, snorkelling, sport fishing and sunset cruises. Onshore it is a resort town built for a good time, with a loud nightlife strip, a swimmable beach on the bay and a corridor of big resorts heading east.
Suggested stay
3–6 days
Language
Spanish
Currency
MXN
Timezone
UTC-7
Why you'll love Cabo San Lucas
Land's End El Arco and the granite stacks at the tip of the peninsula, with sea lions on the rocks and a beach you can only reach by boat.
The whales through winter and early spring humpbacks breach in sight of the beaches, and the boats leave from the marina minutes away.
Two seas a calm, swimmable bay on the Sea of Cortez side and the raw Pacific a short walk over the rocks.
The nights a compact downtown and marina where the bars and clubs run late, which is exactly why many people choose it.
Best time to visit
Nov-May
Mild, whales · 24-30° days
22.890° N, 109.917° W
UTC-7 · America/Mazatlan
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Weather & when to go to Cabo San Lucas
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Nov-May
Diving prime Jun-Nov
Surfing prime May-Oct
Activity seasons none fair good prime
Conditions Jan-Feb Mild, whales · Mar Warm, whales · Apr-May Warm & dry · Jun Hot & dry · Jul Hot · Aug Hot, humid · Sep Hot, hurricane · Oct Warm, hurricane · Nov Warm & dry · Dec Mild, whales start
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk · Aug extreme heat risk
Cards tinted by verified verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Cabo San Lucas
August and September are the hardest months, hot and humid at the height of the hurricane season, and a storm can close the port. The calm, dry stretch from late autumn into spring is also humpback season and peak price and crowd season, with spring break packing the bars around March.
Top things to do in Cabo San Lucas
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El Arco and Land's End - the boat to the tip of Baja
scenic nature wildlife 👍 PopularGlass-bottom boats and water taxis leave the marina and Medano Beach for the arch, the sea lion colony on the rocks and Pelican Rock. Most drop you at Lover's Beach if you ask, and pick you up later.
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Playa del Amor - Lover's Beach at Land's End
scenic nature wildlife ⭐ Highly recommendedA strip of sand pinned between the granite stacks, with the calm Sea of Cortez on one side and the Pacific's Divorce Beach on the other. Swim only on the bay side: the Pacific side has a heavy shorebreak and rips.
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Humpback whale watching from the marina
nature wildlife ⭐ Highly recommendedHumpbacks winter off the cape from roughly December into April, breaching, tail-slapping and calving within sight of the shore. Boats range from big catamarans to small inflatables that sit lower and closer to the water; grey whales also pass offshore.
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Medano Beach - the bay's swimming beach
scenic nightlife music 👍 PopularThe long, calm beach facing El Arco across the bay, lined with hotels and beach clubs, busy with paddleboards, jet skis and vendors. It is the one town beach where swimming is normal, and it gets lively by the afternoon.
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Sport fishing - the marlin boats out of the marina
adventure nature wildlife 👍 PopularCabo calls itself the marlin capital of the world, and the charter fleet has been its backbone since the 1950s. Striped and blue marlin, tuna, dorado and wahoo all run here, with autumn the classic big-game stretch; catch-and-release is the norm for billfish.
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Santa Maria and Chileno bays - snorkelling on the Corridor
diving nature wildlifeTwo sheltered coves off the Corridor highway, both protected, with reef fish, rays and clear water close to the sand. Chileno has more facilities; Santa Maria's horseshoe bay is the better snorkel. Both are reached by car, bus or snorkel boat.
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Diving Pelican Rock, Neptune's Finger and the sand falls
diving adventureShort boat rides from the marina reach walls and pinnacles inside the protected Land's End area, and the sand falls, a submarine canyon where sand spills over the edge into deep water. Visibility and temperature are best from summer into autumn.
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The marina and downtown after dark
nightlife music foodThe boardwalk round the marina and the streets just inland hold the town's bars, clubs and seafood places, and the party keeps going well past midnight. Expect a spring-break crowd around March and big tables of groups year-round.
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Monuments and the Corridor breaks - surfing the cape
adventureMonuments, a reef left at the east end of Medano Beach, works in winter swells. The Corridor towards San Jose holds Zippers, La Roca and Costa Azul, which light up on summer south swells. Beginners do better at Cerritos up the Pacific coast.
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Fish tacos and Baja seafood
foodBattered fish and shrimp tacos with cabbage and crema, aguachile, ceviche and smoked marlin are the local staples. The cheaper, better taco stands sit a few streets back from the marina, away from the waterfront menus.
Best areas to stay in Cabo San Lucas
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Medano Beach
First-time visitors $$$Lively beach hotels facing El Arco
Explore hotels in Medano Beach →
Marina and downtown
Nightlife and groups $$Bars, boats and busy streets
Explore hotels in Marina and downtown →
Pedregal
Villas and privacy $$$Gated hillside villas over the Pacific
Explore hotels in Pedregal →
The Tourist Corridor
Resort stays $$$Large resorts and golf on clifftops
Explore hotels in The Tourist Corridor →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Cabo San Lucas
Getting to & around Cabo San Lucas
Getting there
Fly into SJD near San Jose del Cabo, then about 45 min west along the Corridor highway to Cabo San Lucas.
Flight
Los Cabos International (SJD)
The airport sits inland from San Jose del Cabo, roughly 45 min from Cabo San Lucas by the highway. Most arrivals pre-book a shared shuttle or private transfer; taxis from the terminal are expensive, and the hire-car desks are there.
Cruise
Cabo San Lucas marina
Cruise ships anchor in the bay and tender passengers into the marina, a short walk from downtown
Coach
Cabo San Lucas bus station
Long-distance buses come down from La Paz, either via Todos Santos on the Pacific side or over the sierra, roughly two to three hours
Drive
Highway 19 runs down the Pacific coast from La Paz through Todos Santos, about two hours; the Transpeninsular Highway arrives from the north via San Jose
Getting around
Walking
Downtown, the marina and Medano Beach are close together and easy on foot
Free
Water taxi
Small boats from the marina and Medano run to Lover's Beach and around El Arco
TBC
Taxis
Plentiful but expensive and unmetered, so agree the fare before you get in
TBC
Corridor buses
Public buses run the highway between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose, stopping near the Corridor beaches
TBC
Hire car
Worth it for the Corridor beaches, Todos Santos and Cabo Pulmo
TBC
Day trips from Cabo San Lucas
San Jose del Cabo
Half dayColonial town
The older, quieter of the two Cabos, built around a mission church and a plaza, with an art district of galleries that opens late for weekly art-walk evenings in the cooler season. It feels like a Mexican town rather than a resort.
Getting there
car | bus
30-40 min by car or bus along the Corridor
Todos Santos
Full dayPueblo Magico
A palm-shaded mission town of galleries and restored adobes on the Pacific side, with the surf beach at Cerritos on the way. Combine the two; Cerritos is the one stretch of this coast where beginners can learn to surf.
Getting there
car | bus | tour
About 1 hr by car or bus up the Pacific coast
Cabo Pulmo
Full dayMarine reserve
A protected bay holding the only hard-coral reef in the Sea of Cortez, famous for how strongly its fish came back after fishing stopped. Schools of jacks, rays and sea lions make it the serious divers' day out from the cape; the last stretch is dirt road.
Getting there
car | tour
2-2.5 hr by car or tour up the East Cape
The Corridor bays
Half daySnorkel beaches
Santa Maria and Chileno, two sheltered protected bays off the highway with reef fish close to shore. Go in the morning before the snorkel boats arrive, and bring your own shade.
Getting there
car | bus | tour
15-25 min by car, bus or boat
A little history of Cabo San Lucas
The Pericu lived on this coast for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived. Through the late 1500s and 1600s the cape was the first landfall for the Manila galleons sailing home across the Pacific, which made its sheltered bay a favourite ambush point for English privateers: Thomas Cavendish took the Santa Ana here in 1587, and Woodes Rogers seized another galleon off the cape in 1709. The Jesuits founded the mission at San Jose del Cabo in 1730, and the Pericu revolt broke out four years later; epidemics had all but ended the Pericu by the end of the century.
For most of the twentieth century Cabo San Lucas was a remote fishing village built around a tuna cannery. Fly-in sport fishing lodges in the 1950s gave it a name among wealthy anglers, and the Transpeninsular Highway in 1973 and federal resort planning in the decade after turned the cape into one of Mexico's main resort areas. Hurricane Odile hit it directly in 2014, and the resorts rebuilt.
The Pericu fish and gather along the cape
Thomas Cavendish captures the Manila galleon Santa Ana off the cape
Woodes Rogers seizes a Manila galleon off Cabo San Lucas
Jesuits found the mission of San Jose del Cabo
The Pericu revolt against the southern missions
Fly-in sport fishing lodges put the cape on the anglers' map
The Transpeninsular Highway links the cape to the rest of Mexico by road
Baja California Sur becomes a state
Hurricane Odile makes landfall at the cape
Know before you go
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type A / B
127 V, 60 Hz
Dialing
+52
Cyclones & hurricanes risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
Extreme heat risk in this window; check current conditions before you go.
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
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FAQs about Cabo San Lucas
▸ When is whale watching season in Cabo San Lucas?
Humpbacks are off the cape from roughly December into April, with the middle of winter the most reliable for breaching and mothers with calves. Grey whales pass offshore in the same stretch, though their calving lagoons are further up the Pacific coast. Outside those months, boat trips are about the arch and the sea lions.
▸ Can you swim at the beaches in Cabo San Lucas?
Only on the Sea of Cortez side. Medano Beach, the bay side of Lover's Beach and the Corridor coves at Santa Maria and Chileno are the swimming spots. The Pacific-facing beaches, including Divorce Beach, have a steep, heavy shorebreak and strong currents, and drownings happen there; look, don't swim.
▸ Cabo San Lucas or San Jose del Cabo?
Cabo San Lucas is the marina, the arch, the boats and the nightlife. San Jose del Cabo, half an hour east, is quieter, older and closer to the airport, with a plaza, galleries and more of a town feel. The Corridor resorts sit between them, and many people stay in one and visit the other.
▸ Is Cabo San Lucas expensive?
Yes, by Mexican standards it is one of the dearest places in the country, priced for a resort market: hotels, boat trips, taxis and waterfront dining all cost more than on the mainland. Eating a few streets back from the marina and using the Corridor buses brings it down noticeably.
▸ Do you need a car in Cabo San Lucas?
Not if you stay downtown or on Medano Beach, where the marina, beach and bars are walkable and boat trips leave from the dock. A car makes sense from a Corridor resort, and for Todos Santos, Cerritos or Cabo Pulmo on your own schedule.
▸ Is Cabo San Lucas safe for visitors?
The tourist zone, the marina, downtown and the resorts are busy and heavily visited, and most trips pass without trouble. Usual resort sense applies: watch drinks and belongings on nights out, use official taxis, and treat the Pacific surf as the real hazard. Check your government's current advice, which is issued state by state for Mexico.
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