Itineraries

3-Day Cabo Itinerary: How I'd Spend a Long Weekend

By Cabo Wander

"We've got three days in Cabo, what can we fit in?" is a text I get a lot, and my answer is always the same. Pick two things, do each one before 10am, and save the long drives for a longer trip.

People use "three days" for two different trips. This plan is for three nights, which is what most long weekends are: an arrival afternoon, two full days and a departure morning. Your flights can stretch or shrink the first afternoon and the last morning. They can't touch the middle, so you get two real mornings whatever you book. If you only have two nights you get one, and there's a short section for you further down.

Here's how I'd spend them. The first morning goes to a boat from the marina, which is a small whale boat at 8am in season and the water taxi to the Arch the rest of the year. The second goes to Chileno Bay, in the water early and gone before 11. Both afternoons stay empty, dinner is close by, and the only things I'd book ahead are the airport ride, the boat and one dinner.

It leaves a lot out, and that's deliberate. There's no Todos Santos, no Cabo Pulmo, no La Paz, no evening in San José, no farm dinner and no second boat. I like every one of those. Each would also take half of a trip this size, so they live in my 5-day Cabo itinerary, which is the roomier version of this plan.

I've written it for a first trip, based on Médano Beach in Cabo San Lucas, with no rental car.

Before You Fly

Where to Stay

Stay in the middle of Médano Beach. With only two mornings, you can't afford a commute before an 8am boat, and from the middle of the beach the marina is a five to fifteen minute walk. You can swim out front, and dinner is on foot. The other areas are in where to stay in Cabo, and I'd rule out the Pacific side and the East Cape for three nights, because too much of the trip goes to getting there.

San José's historic center is the other good answer, in three cases. Your flights are awkward, meaning a late arrival or a late-morning departure. The trip is mostly about dinner. Or you land on a Thursday between November and June, when the gallery night is on. The airport is closer from there, but every boat is in the other town, 35 to 45 minutes away, so once there's a boat in your plan the driving comes out about even. I go through that trade in Cabo San Lucas vs San José del Cabo.

If you still have a choice of flights, they matter more than the hotel. Most flights from the US land between late morning and early afternoon, and departures to the US start in the late morning. Take the earliest one in and the latest sensible one out. By my count the worst flight pattern leaves about four usable half-days and the best about six and a half, for the same money.

The Three Things to Book

• The airport ride, round trip, in a private car. It's about US$200 for two with the tip. I wouldn't take the shared shuttle on this trip. With the wait and the hotel stops it can run an hour and a half, and that's your arrival swim.
• The whale boat, if you're here in season. A small covered boat at 8am, booked on the company's own website, for your first full morning. I'd give it a week or two in January and February, and longer for Christmas week and Presidents' Day weekend.
• One dinner. El Farallón gets booked as soon as the flights are, for any trip from December to April. Metate needs a few days, and a week or more in winter.

What to Leave Open

Everything else. The water taxi to the Arch is a walk-up, Chileno is a public beach, the hike is a matter of showing up, and the seafood hall and the taco places don't take reservations. Keep the arrival evening, the last morning and both afternoons clear too. That's your rest, and it's your slack if the boat gets moved.

You don't need a rental car for any of it.

And please don't give a morning to a timeshare presentation. Somebody at the airport or on the marina boardwalk will offer you a free boat trip for sitting through one. It takes three to four hours, which on this trip is half of what you came for. The full math is in my post on the Cabo timeshare presentation.

The Arrival Afternoon

Nothing today has a start time, and I'd keep it that way.

After customs, walk straight through the rooms of friendly salespeople until you're outdoors, where your driver is. The ride to Cabo San Lucas is 45 minutes to an hour, and the rest of the arrival is in my Cabo airport guide. Hotel check-in is usually mid-afternoon and most hotels will hold your bags, so if the room isn't ready, hand them over and head for the sand.

Then get in the ocean. Walk east past the beach clubs, about ten minutes along the sand, and swim in the middle of the beach, inside the buoys. The first stretch you step onto is the loud one, and it's short. Which part suits you is in my Médano Beach guide. In winter it's dark by about 6.

Dinner is a walk. Mariscos Las Tres Islas is a few blocks inland from the marina, and the garlic shrimp or a whole fish with a drink runs US$25 to $35 a head. It's loud, it doesn't take reservations, and the plainly cooked seafood is really good for about a third of what the marina charges. If you'd rather stay near the beach, La Lupita has a branch by Médano with good tacos and a long mezcal list. It's priced like a restaurant and it's closed Mondays. The rest of my list is in the best restaurants in Cabo.

Don't book a sunset cruise or a dinner with a deposit for today, because a late flight or a slow baggage carousel will take it. If you land late, it's dinner and bed, and you haven't lost anything. Tomorrow's boat still goes at 8.

First Full Day: The Boat Morning

The boat goes first because the "guarantee" every whale company offers is a free second trip, and it's only worth something if you have a morning left to use it. Same thing if wind closes the port. Today you can move the boat to tomorrow, and tomorrow there's nowhere left to move it.

In whale season, walk to the marina for check-in at about 7:30. Whale tours start in mid-December. The licensed season runs through the end of April, and most companies stop selling and guaranteeing trips around mid-April. Bring small bills for the dock fee, which is a few dollars each in cash at the gate, and a windproof layer, because it's cold out there at that hour. The boat passes the sea lions and the Arch for photos and then heads out to find humpbacks. For two people it comes to a little over US$200 with the dock fee and tip, and I think it's the best morning you can buy here. Which boat and which company are in my post on whale watching in Cabo.

The rest of the year, it's the water taxi to the Arch. Be at the marina by 8 or 8:30. The fair price is about US$20 a person round trip with an hour on Lover's Beach, plus a few dollars at the dock and a tip. Before you pay, ask "can we get off at the beach today?", because landing is decided each morning. Then pay half and settle up when your boat comes back for you. The whole routine is in my guide to El Arco and Lover's Beach.

Either way you're back on the dock around 10:30, right as the cruise ship passengers are coming ashore. Leave the marina to them.

Lunch is a few blocks inland. Los Claros is my pick, for the battered fish taco and the smoked marlin, and the others are in the best tacos in Cabo.

Then do nothing, on purpose. Go back to the middle of Médano or to your hotel pool. If you want a lounger and a bathroom, Corazón's day pass is about 800 pesos a head, roughly US$45, and it comes back as food and drink credit. I rank the options in the best beach clubs in Cabo.

Tonight is the big dinner, and I'd pick one of these two:

• Metate. The best cooking for the money in town, on a patio in El Tezal, a short Uber away. Plan on US$50 to $75 a head and order the grilled bone marrow. The kitchen is closed from 5 to 7, right when a beach afternoon makes you hungry, so eat something first.
• El Farallón. The one-big-night option, cut into the cliff above the Pacific. Two people spend about US$450 to $600 with wine. The fish is good and simply grilled, and a lot of that check is for where you're sitting. Book a table for 45 minutes before sunset. In winter the whales are on that side, so watch the water.

If the port was closed this morning, or you saw no whale at all, rebook for tomorrow at 8 and do Chileno today if the beach flags allow it. If they don't, it's a pool day.

Second Full Day: Chileno Bay

Chileno gets your other morning because it's the one hour of the trip when you're in clear water with fish around you. Médano is a nice swim, but there's nothing to look at through a mask.

Take an Uber at 7:45. It's 20 to 25 minutes, and I'd budget roughly US$15 to $20 each way as a ballpark. Walk to the right-hand end of the sand as you face the water and snorkel along the rocks, then float in the roped area in the middle.

Pack like there's nothing there, because there mostly isn't. Bring your own mask, water, snacks and toilet paper, and nothing in glass. There's no food and no free shade. An umbrella and two chairs rent for around US$30, and I'd ask the price before sitting down. For a two-hour morning I just wear a hat.

The first tour boats anchor around 10. Be dry and walking up the path before 11, and request your car from the parking lot, where the signal is better. From February to April the water is around 71°F, so it'll be a short swim. The full rundown is in my Chileno Bay guide.

Have lunch back in town and keep the afternoon empty again. If you're hiking tomorrow, pack tonight.

For dinner, have whichever of last night's two you didn't choose, or keep it easy. Tacos Gardenias, between the marina and the beach, still does a good battered fish and shrimp taco. It isn't the bargain it used to be, it's closed Mondays, and I say "en pesos, por favor" when I order.

The optional evening is a sunset sail on a small boat, fourteen people or fewer, for about US$100 to $140 a head. In winter it leaves around 4:30 or 5 and you're back by about 7. It's snacks on board, so plan dinner for afterward. It covers the same water as the whale boat, which is why I call it optional and why it's on a different day. It's worth more outside whale season, when your boat morning was a 45-minute water taxi. The boats are compared in my Cabo sunset cruise post.

What I'd skip from here is the evening in San José. I love the old town. From Médano it's an Uber of about 600 pesos each way and well over an hour in a car, on a trip with three evenings, and one of those was arrival night. A farm dinner out past San José is a longer ride still, in the dark. If you want San José anyway, leave by about 4, book the table ahead, and sort out your ride home before you order.

The Departure Morning

Work backward from your flight. I leave three hours for a midday flight on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday in high season and two on a quiet weekday, plus 40 to 50 minutes on the road. Checkout is usually late morning.

With a flight after about 2pm, ONE early thing fits, and I'd make it the Mt Solmar hike. From the top you can see the marina, Médano and both sides of the cape at once, and I think it's the best view in town. It's free apart from a tip of US$5 to $10 each for the guide, who takes a group up at 8am from his dog training camp on the marina boulevard. Show up fifteen minutes early. It takes under two hours, and the top is steep with loose footing.

It never runs on a Saturday. Sunday is a maybe, so confirm it the week you're there.

If the hike is off, or steep isn't your thing, take one last swim at Médano before the vendors start at about 10. With a late-morning flight, have breakfast and call it a trip.

If you didn't book a round trip, an Uber to the airport is about US$35 to $55. Eat before you go, because the food past security is expensive and not good.

If You Only Have Two Nights

You have one full day, so you get one morning, and I'd give it to the boat, which means whales at 8 in season and the Arch otherwise. Then it's lunch inland, an afternoon on Médano and one good dinner. On the last morning, swim, or do the hike if you fly in the afternoon and it isn't a Saturday.

That means no Chileno and no San José. I know it sounds thin, but it's a nice 48 hours, and it's a lot better than the version where you spend one of them in a van.

Which Long Weekend Are You On?

The days of the week change this plan more than you'd expect. Chileno is at its busiest on Sundays, the hike takes Saturdays off, and Saturday around midday is the worst time to land.

No long weekend puts a Thursday on a full day. The San José Art Walk is Thursdays from 5pm to 9pm, November through June, and it's my favorite evening in Los Cabos... and this trip is built to miss it. If you land on a Thursday in season and the Art Walk matters to you, that's the case for staying in San José, where it's outside your door on arrival night.

Friday to Monday is the only one that needs a workaround. I'd keep the boat first and just be strict about leaving Chileno early.

Saturday to Tuesday has the best two full days and the hardest arrival. On Monday night, Metate, Las Tres Islas and El Farallón are all open.

And on any day from November to April, assume there's a cruise ship in the bay. The marina is at its most crowded from about 10am to 3:30pm. Both mornings in this plan already steer around that.

If You're Staying in San José or on the Corridor

Based in San José's Historic Center

You get a short airport ride, dinner on foot every night and a proper first evening. What you give up is the boats, which are all in the other town. It's the right base for people who'd rather eat than swim.

So stack everything San Lucas into one day. Leave around 6:30, take the 8am boat, have lunch inland, spend the afternoon on Médano, stay for a sunset drink or El Farallón, and ride home. That's one round trip at about 600 pesos each way. The mistake is booking two marina mornings. Each one costs about an hour and a half in a car, and two of them is your whole trip.

Your second day is a swim at Palmilla, ten minutes away, and then a farm meal in daylight. The farms are 10 to 15 minutes from the center, and I'd arrange the ride home before sitting down. Your last morning is a real one, with breakfast at Lolita Café on any day but Monday.

Based at a Corridor Resort

Three nights on the Corridor is one outing. Nothing is walkable, and from the middle a taxi to either town is US$25 to $50 each way. Uber is about half that where the gate lets it in, so ask your hotel whether one can pick you up at the lobby.

I'd make the outing the boat morning with lunch afterward, which is a 6:30 start from the lobby, or one dinner in town. For the swim, only a handful of Corridor hotels sit on water you can get into. From the rest, Chileno is 5 to 15 minutes away by ride.

If It's Not Whale Season, or the Weather Turns

The shape of the plan holds all year. Here's what moves.

Mid-April to mid-December. The Arch takes the boat morning, and the sunset sail becomes a better use of an evening.

July to September. It's hot and humid, so everything outdoors is finished by 10:30. Go to Chileno at 7:30. The hike leaves earlier in these months.

Late August to about the third week of October. This is the one that can take out the whole trip. A storm far offshore sends swell, the port closes to small boats and the swimming beaches go to black flags on the same day, sometimes for days under a blue sky. Both of your mornings disappear together. Put the boat first, book things you can cancel, and don't prepay. With no car, what's left is the pool, a long lunch and the big dinner. It's also the one time I'd put a Todos Santos day trip on a long weekend, on a small-group tour at roughly US$100 to $150 a person, because the town needs neither the port nor a flag.

Late October and November. Chileno is warm and at its clearest, and I'd call that morning the best of the trip. There are no whale tours until mid-December.

December to March. The ocean is in the low to mid 70s and it's dark early, so bring a layer for the boat and for dinner.

Holiday weekends have their own patterns. Presidents' Day weekend lands at the peak of whale season, so book the boat earlier. Labor Day sits in the worst storm month, and it's the long weekend most likely to lose both mornings. In March, spring break takes over Médano's club strip from about noon to five, and the middle of the beach barely notices. Over Easter week, be at Chileno when the day starts or skip it. And between Christmas and New Year's the top hotels set minimum stays, so a three-night trip may not be bookable at that level.

Every month is in the best time to visit Cabo.

One Trade for Each Kind of Traveler

You get two mornings, so each of these swaps one thing for another and adds nothing.

• Anglers: a half-day charter in the morning replaces the boat morning. You pass the Arch on the way out and you still get your afternoon. A full day would take one of your two days whole. Boats and what they really cost are in sport fishing in Cabo.
• Divers and keen snorkelers: a morning dive at Land's End replaces the boat. Snorkelers can ask the water taxi captain for a drop at Pelican Rock, early, with their own mask. Cabo Pulmo is the real thing, and it doesn't fit on this trip.
• Couples who came for the restaurants: stay in San José and use that version. From Médano, the closest thing is Metate one night and El Farallón the other.
• A group that came to party: trade the 8am boat for a party catamaran at sunset, about US$85 to $125 a head all in, and start your mornings late. On the beach, ask for a menu with prices before you order. Keep Chileno as your one clear-headed morning, or be honest and drop it.
• Families with small kids: book a whale catamaran in place of the small boat. With under-fives, swap Chileno for the west corner of Médano before 10am, where the water is calmest and shallowest. Skip the hike. No taxi or Uber carries a car seat, and a private transfer will bring one free if you ask when you book.

A Rough Budget

This is my own arithmetic for two people for three nights in whale season, and it only covers activities, food and getting around. The room and the flights are extra, and so is the state visitor fee of about US$25 a person.

• Mid-range: about US$900 to $1,600 for two
• High end: about US$2,400 to $4,100 for two

The mid-range number is a private car to and from the airport, an Uber to Chileno, the small-group whale boat, taco and seafood lunches, one beach club afternoon and three dinners, with Metate as the nice one.

What takes you to the high end is mostly four things: a private whale boat, El Farallón, a sunset sail and a daybed. El Farallón alone is about 15% of that total. The private boat is the number I trust least, so get it confirmed as per boat or per person before you add it up.

Outside whale season the Arch replaces the whale boat, and the mid-range comes down to about US$750 to $1,400. For two nights I'd guess about US$650 to $1,150.

The full budget, room included, is in how much Cabo costs.

The Verdict

A long weekend in Cabo is two mornings. Spend one on a boat and one in the water at Chileno, be done with both by mid-morning, and let everything else be a beach, a pool and three good dinners.

The one thing I'd change if I could is the Art Walk. It's the best evening here and not one of the three long weekends gets a real shot at it from Cabo San Lucas. That's a reason to come back for five days, and I wouldn't bend this trip around it.

Some of you should use a different plan. If dinner is the whole point, stay in San José. If you're at a Corridor resort, plan one outing and enjoy the hotel. And if you're coming over Labor Day, book everything refundable.

If you have longer, or you're still booking, these help: my 7-day Cabo itinerary, the Cabo first-timer mistakes I'd avoid and the best hotels on Médano Beach.

So when that "three days in Cabo" text comes in, this is what I send back: stay mid-Médano, book a private airport car, skip the rental. First afternoon, swim and walk to dinner, book nothing. Next morning, whales at 8 (the Arch if it's not winter), then lunch inland and a lazy afternoon, Metate or Farallón that night. Morning after, Uber to Chileno at 7:45, out before 11. Last morning, the hike if it's not Saturday and you fly after lunch. That's it... two things, both early.

Quick Answers

Is three days enough for Cabo? Yes, for a whale trip or the Arch, one proper swim, two beach afternoons and a couple of good dinners. It isn't enough for Todos Santos, Cabo Pulmo, La Paz or both towns.

Where should I stay for three days in Cabo? The middle of Médano Beach, so the boat, a swim and dinner are all on foot. Pick San José's historic center if you land late, leave in the late morning or came mainly to eat.

What should I book before I fly? The airport ride, the whale boat if you're here in season, and one dinner. Leave the Arch, Chileno, the hike and both afternoons unbooked.

Can I fit in Todos Santos or the San José Art Walk? Todos Santos would take one of your two full days, so I'd leave it out. The Art Walk is Thursdays only, November through June, and no long weekend has a Thursday on a full day.

Do I need a rental car for a long weekend in Cabo? No. Everything in this plan is on foot or by Uber from a hotel on Médano.