CABO SAN LUCAS · MEXICO
Where the desert runs into two seas.
El Arco and Land’s End, sunset cruises and the marlin grounds, the Baja desert by ATV and day trips up the cape to Todos Santos and La Paz. Every good day in Cabo, on the water and off it.
Only here
Three days that are pure Cabo.
Beach clubs and boat trips you can find up and down any coast. Sailing through the Arch at Land’s End, fighting a marlin off the marina and a whale breaching beside the panga belong to this one.
Where two seas meet
El Arco & Land’s End
The granite arch at the very tip of a thousand-mile peninsula, where the Pacific swell runs headlong into the calm of the Sea of Cortez. A water-taxi or a kayak slips you between the rocks to Lover’s Beach on the bay side and the wild surf of Divorce Beach on the other. There is one Land’s End, and this is it.
- 1 Los Cabos Arch and Playa del Amor Tour by Glass Bottom Kayak
- 2 Land’s End Experience – Arch, Beaches & Marine Life
- 3 Kayak Expedition to the Arch of Cabo San Lucas, Lovers Beach & Snorkel
Marlin Capital of the World
Sport Fishing the Cortez
Cabo built its name on the striped marlin that run where the shelf drops away minutes from the harbour mouth. Boats clear the marina at dawn, past the sea lions on the rocks at Land’s End, and have lines in deep blue water before the day-trippers have finished breakfast. Few places put big game this close to the dock.
- 1 Private Fishing Trip “All Inclusive” in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
- 2 Pacifictime Sports Fishing in Cabos san lucas
- 3 Private Half-Day Sport Fishing in Los Cabos
The world’s aquarium
The Sea of Cortez
Cousteau called it the world’s aquarium, and from December to April it fills with gray and humpback whales breaching within sight of the beach. The rest of the year it is mobula rays leaping by the hundred, sea lions hauled out on the rocks and clear water over the reef at Pelican Rock. No other resort coast has a sea this alive.
- 1 Luxury Catamaran Whale Watching Cabo San Lucas
- 2 Whale Watching Cabo-Women crew-Sightings Guaranteed & Free Photos
- 3 SMALL GROUP Whale Watch | Cabo San Lucas | Biologist | FREE Pics
Start here
The one almost everyone books first.
More Cabo trips start with this day out than anything else on the list. If you only book one, this is the safe bet.
Where most people start
Cabo’s Most Popular Tours
El Arco, the sunset cruises, the whales and the desert ATV runs. The days most travellers fly into Cabo for.
Where to begin
The trips a Cabo week is built around.
El Arco and Lover’s Beach, the sunset cruises, the whales, the snorkel coves, the desert by ATV and the tequila trail. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The one everyone asks
How to see El Arco.
You cannot walk to the Arch: it is only reachable by water, so the how is the whole question. Three ways out to Land’s End from the marina, depending on the time you have and what you want from it.
Tacos & tequila
The best plate in Cabo costs three dollars.
Past the marina’s steak houses, downtown San Lucas eats like Mexico: marlin tacos and aguachile, a cantina pour of reposado, birria stalls that only open at night. The good food tours skip the resort strip and walk you through the taquerías the locals actually queue at, tequila flight included.
Read the guide: the best food & taco tours in Cabo →Once the sun is down
Cabo only gets louder after dark.
When the heat backs off, the marina lights up. A sunset booze cruise with the open bar running, a pirate-ship dinner show under sail, mariachi spilling out of the cantinas and the famous Cabo party strip that does not slow down until the small hours.
See the evening experiences →Land’s End
Where the Pacific runs into the Cortez.
This is the last point of a thousand-mile peninsula. On one side, the open Pacific drives surf onto Divorce Beach; a hundred metres away, the Sea of Cortez lies flat and warm at Lover’s Beach. Two oceans, one wall of granite, sea lions on the rocks and El Arco standing in the gap between them. There is nowhere else quite like it.
Cruises & boat trips to the Arch →Day trip up the Pacific
An hour north, the pace changes completely.
Todos Santos is a Pueblo Mágico of adobe galleries, surf breaks and mango orchards on the cooler Pacific side of the cape, an hour up the road from the marina. Wander the old mission town, find the bar that claims to be the “Hotel California,” and watch the sunset off a near-empty beach. Most trips fold in a tequila or organic-farm stop on the way.
- 1 Todos Santos Day Trip from Cabo San Lucas
- 2 CityTour La Paz, Balandra beach and the Magic Town of Todos Santos
- 3 Todos Santos tour & Hotel California
Plan by distance
Pick how far up the cape you want to go.
Cabo San Lucas is the hub. Stay by the marina for the afternoon, run the Corridor to San José and back, or give a full day to Todos Santos or La Paz.
In town
Stay in Cabo San Lucas.The marina and the beach clubs along Médano, a water-taxi out to the Arch, downtown tacos and the bars running till late. Days you never leave town.
Down the Corridor
Along the Corridor.The resort beaches strung between the two towns and the galleries of San José del Cabo’s old quarter. Twenty minutes by road, back in time for sunset.
A full day up the Baja
Up the peninsula.Todos Santos and its Pueblo Mágico on the Pacific, or La Paz and the swimmable calm of Balandra. The big days that want an early start.
Into the desert
Behind Cabo, the Baja runs wild.
Five minutes inland the resorts give way to cardon cactus, dry arroyos and dunes that drop straight to the Pacific. ATVs, side-by-side UTVs and camel trains run the back country off Migriño beach, usually with a tequila tasting and a Mexican buffet built into the afternoon. Dusty, fast and pure Baja.
See all 127 desert & off-road tours →By place
The cape, town by town.
Cabo San Lucas for the marina and the nightlife. Land’s End for the Arch. San José del Cabo for the old town. The Corridor for the beaches. Todos Santos for the Pacific. La Paz for Balandra.
By activity
Pick what kind of day you want.
A boat if you want the Arch and the open water. A mask if you want the reef. A panga if you want the whales. An ATV if you want the desert. A bottle of reposado if you want the slow afternoon.
Plan it
Three days that cover the essentials.
First time in Cabo? Here is how three days plays out without a wasted hour.
Just added