Itineraries

5-Day Cabo Itinerary: How I'd Spend Each Day

By Cabo Wander

A 5-day Cabo itinerary usually starts life as a list of about fifteen things and a question about what order to do them in. My answer is to do three.

A five-day trip to Cabo has three full days in it. The first day goes to the flight, the baggage carousel and the ride in from the airport, and the last one goes to getting back there. What you really have is an arrival afternoon, three real days and a departure morning.

I'd give one morning to a boat, one to swimming at Chileno Bay with an evening in San José del Cabo afterward, and one day to a rental car and the drive up to Todos Santos. Each of those starts before 10am, because nearly everything good here is short and at its best early. Every afternoon is left empty on purpose. The only things I'd book before flying are the airport ride, the whale boat and two dinners.

This plan is for a first trip, for a couple or a few friends, staying near Médano Beach in Cabo San Lucas with no car except for one day. If you're staying in San José or at a Corridor resort, there's a section for you further down.

It also leaves a lot out. There's no La Paz, no ATV morning, no zipline park, no dinner boat and no rental car for the week. You'll see five-day plans that put Todos Santos, La Paz and Cabo Pulmo on three days in a row. That's something like ten or eleven hours in a car across the middle of your trip, and I explain in my La Paz day trip post why that one works so much better as an overnight. If you'd like to see everything I weighed up before cutting it down to three, the whole ranking is in things to do in Cabo.

The day of the week you land changes this plan more than the month does. The gallery night in San José only happens on Thursdays, the free hike never runs on a Saturday, and the public beaches fill up on Sundays. I've written the days below for a Tuesday arrival in whale season, and there's a table after them that reorders everything for the other six.

Before You Go

Where to Base Yourself

Stay on Médano Beach, in the middle. It's the one place where a beach you can swim at, the boats and dinner are all a walk from your room, and this plan leans on that every single day. From the middle of the beach the marina is five to fifteen minutes on foot. From the big resorts at the far east end I'd take a short cab, which is about US$10 to $15, or an Uber for less. The other areas, and who they suit, are in where to stay in Cabo.

What to Book Ahead

It's a short list, and I'd do it in this order.

• The airport ride, round trip. Book a private car before you fly and screenshot the confirmation.
• The whale boat, if you're here in season. An 8am trip on a small covered boat, booked on the company's own website. For January and February I book a week or two ahead, and earlier than that for Christmas week and Presidents' Day weekend.
• One big dinner, if you want one. El Farallón is the reservation I'd make as soon as the flights are booked for any trip from December to April.
• A table in San José for your evening there. I'd give it about a week for a Thursday in Art Walk season, and a couple of weeks for a prime-time farm dinner in winter.
• Metate. A few days ahead most of the year, and a week or more from December to April.
• The one-day rental car. A few days ahead.

If your trip falls between about December 20 and January 2, or over Easter, book all of it as early as you can.

What to Leave Unbooked

Pretty much everything else, and I mean that as a plan. The water taxi to the Arch is a walk-up. Chileno is a public beach. The hike is a matter of showing up. Las Tres Islas doesn't take reservations, and neither do the taco places. Beach clubs on Médano are fine to decide on that morning.

I'd also keep the arrival evening, the departure morning and all three afternoons completely clear. That's where the rest is, and it's also your slack if a boat gets moved.

The One Car Day

You only need a car for one day of this trip, and it's the Todos Santos day. I wouldn't rent for the Chileno morning, because an Uber does that round trip for about US$30 to $40. I wouldn't rent for the San José evening either, since you'll have had wine and the ride home is 40 minutes in the dark. And a car rented for the whole trip from a Médano hotel spends four of its five days in a parking lot you're paying for.

For one day in a small car I'd budget roughly US$60 to $100 all in, plus gas. Treat that as a ballpark, because the number that matters is the one with liability insurance included, and the few-dollars-a-day quotes online leave it out. I go through which coverage you need in renting a car in Cabo. Look for a company with an office in Cabo San Lucas itself, so nobody spends half a day riding back to the airport to collect it.

Everything else is on foot or by Uber. Taxis, Uber and the bus between the towns are compared in getting around Cabo.

Day 1: Land, Swim, Walk to Dinner

Arrival day has one job, and it's getting you into the ocean before the sun goes down.

After customs, walk straight through the rooms of friendly people in polo shirts until you're outside, where your driver is. The ride to Cabo San Lucas is 45 minutes to an hour. If you land at 1pm on a weekday, you'll be at the hotel around 2:30 or 3. On a Saturday with checked bags, plan on 3:30 or 4, because the carousel is slow on changeover day. The whole sequence, door by door, is in my Cabo airport guide.

Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If your room isn't ready, leave your bags at the desk and go to the beach anyway.

Then swim. Médano is flat and calm with a gentle slope in, and the Arch sits right across the bay while you float. After a travel day it's the right amount of activity. Which stretch of sand to pick is in my Médano Beach guide.

For dinner, walk. Mariscos Las Tres Islas is a few blocks inland from the marina, it doesn't take reservations, and garlic shrimp or a whole fish with a drink runs about US$25 to $35 a head. It's loud and cheerful and it asks nothing of you, which is what I want on night one. My other picks, with what to order at each, are in the best restaurants in Cabo.

The one thing I wouldn't do today is book anything with a start time. That means no sunset cruise and no dinner with a deposit. A delayed flight or a slow carousel takes it, and you'll spend your first evening annoyed.

Go to bed early. Tomorrow's check-in is at 7:30.

Day 2: The Whale Morning

The "guarantee" every company offers is a free second trip, which is only worth something if you have days left to use it, and that's why the boat goes on your first full morning. The same goes for a morning when wind closes the port. Early in the trip you can rebook, and on the last day you can't.

This is the whale season version, which runs from mid-December. The licensed season goes through the end of April, and most companies stop selling and guaranteeing trips around mid-April. Outside those months, the Arch takes this slot, and I cover that further down.

Walk to the marina for a 7:30 check-in. There's a waiver, a wristband and a bathroom you should use. At the dock gate you'll pay a few dollars each in cash that nobody mentioned when you booked, so have small bills. The boat leaves at 8, passes the sea lions and the Arch for photos, and then heads out to find humpbacks. It's cold out there at that hour, so bring a windproof layer.

You're back on the dock around 10:30, just as the cruise ship tenders are unloading. That timing is my favorite thing about the 8am boat. You were out on the water while the marina was quiet, and now you get to walk away from it as it fills up. On any day with a ship in the bay, my rule is to be off the marina by mid-morning.

For two people walking from a Médano hotel, the morning comes to a little over US$200 with the dock fee and tip. Boats, companies and what to ask are in my post on whale watching in Cabo.

After that, find a real breakfast or an early lunch a few blocks inland, and then do nothing. Go to Médano, in the middle, or to your hotel pool. A beach club day pass or minimum runs about US$45 to $150 a head and most of it comes back as food and drink credit, so for roughly the price of lunch you get a lounger and a bathroom.

For dinner, here are the two I'd choose between:

• Metate. A short Uber to El Tezal, on a stone patio behind a beer store, for the best cooking for the money in town. About US$50 to $75 a head. Dinner starts at 7, and the kitchen is closed between 5 and 7, which is right when you'll be hungry after a beach afternoon, so have a snack.
• El Farallón. The splurge, on the cliff at the Waldorf Astoria. Two people will spend US$450 to $600 with wine, and I think about half of that is for the setting. Book a table for 45 minutes before sunset. It faces the open Pacific, which is where the whales are in winter, so keep an eye on the water. Before you book, read is El Farallón worth it.

If your flight lands late on Day 1, say after 8pm, be kind to yourself and move the whales to Day 3. And if you see nothing at all, or the port is closed, rebook for the next morning the company has and swap today for Chileno if the beach flags allow it. If they don't, it's a pool day.

Day 3: Chileno Bay, a Long Lunch, San José in the Evening

These two halves belong on the same day because they share a road. Chileno is a morning that's over by noon, San José is an evening that starts at 4, and the gap between them is your rest.

The Morning at Chileno

Take an Uber at 7:45. It's 20 to 25 minutes and roughly US$15 to $20 each way. At that hour the water is flat, the lifeguard is setting up and there are about a dozen cars in the lot. Swim inside the ropes, and take your mask out along the rocks on the right-hand side, where the fish are.

Pack water, snacks, your own mask and toilet paper. Nothing you can count on is sold on the beach, and the guard at the entrance will check your cooler for glass.

By about 10:30 the tour catamarans are anchored outside the buoys. Leave around 11. Walk back up to the parking lot, where the phone signal is better, and call your car from there. You'll be driving out as the lot fills. The full rundown is in my Chileno Bay guide.

Don't make this morning a Sunday. I'll show you how to dodge that in the weekday table.

The Afternoon

Lunch back in town, then two or three hours of nothing. I know it feels strange to schedule a nap on a five-day trip. You'll be glad of it at 9pm in San José.

The Evening in San José

Leave by about 4. An Uber is about 600 pesos, and at that hour I'd allow about 45 minutes to an hour for the ride.

Start at Plaza Mijares by the mission church and wander the gallery streets behind it. If it's a Thursday between November and the end of June, it's Art Walk night. The main gallery street is closed to cars from 5pm to 9pm, some of the galleries pour you a drink, and the whole town is out. It's my favorite evening in Los Cabos, and I've planned it out in my post on the San José Art Walk. On any other night the old town is still a lovely place for a walk and a dinner. You just go for the plaza and the meal and skip the idea of gallery hopping.

Have dinner around 7:30, at a table you booked. My two picks are both a short walk from the plaza:

• Don Sanchez is the dressed-up one, and the best dinner you can walk to in the old town. Plan on US$100 to $150 a head.
• La Lupita is the fun one, with tacos, mezcal and live music in a courtyard, for a lot less. Check its hours if your night here is a Monday.

Sort out the ride home before you order dessert. The bus between the towns stops running around 10pm. I'd open Uber first, since it's less than half the taxi fare, but I can't promise how fast a car turns up for a ride to the other town late in the evening. So have a sure thing lined up. That's either a taxi from the old town, which runs US$40 to $70, or a driver your hotel arranged before you left. Agree on the taxi price before you get in.

If It's Not a Thursday: A Farm Dinner

On a non-Thursday, or any time from July to October when the Art Walk is off, I'd think about spending this evening at one of the farm restaurants outside San José. Acre is the one I'd book for dinner.

Go straight there and skip the old town. Leave Cabo San Lucas around 4 and allow about 45 minutes to an hour, with the last stretch on a dirt road, so you arrive around 5 or 5:30 and see the place in daylight. Dinner at Acre runs about US$120 to $165 a head. From Cabo San Lucas, a taxi for the round trip can add US$150 to $180, so treat this as the splurge evening of the trip.

Getting out there by Uber is easy. For the way back, don't count on the app. There's a taxi stand next to Flora Farms. At Acre, ask the restaurant to call you a taxi before you order dessert. Arrange it before you sit down, and treat an Uber showing up as a bonus.

I'd pick one or the other for the evening, the old town or a farm. If you're stuck between the three farms, I compare them in Flora Farms vs Acre vs Los Tamarindos.

Day 4: Todos Santos and Cerritos by Car

This is your one day out of town, and the most important instruction is when to stop driving. Be back in Cabo San Lucas before dark. Cows lie down on the highway at night because the road is still warm, and I don't drive it after sunset. In winter, when it gets dark early, that means starting back by mid-afternoon.

Pick up the car around 8. Read the total on the contract twice, and take photos of the whole car before you leave the lot.

The drive is easy. It's a free four-lane highway up the Pacific coast, about an hour each way and a little more door to door.

Go to Todos Santos first. The tour vans don't reach town until mid-morning, so the streets are quiet if you're there by 9:30. Park, see the church and the plaza, do a loop of the gallery streets, and have a long lunch in town. Pick the lunch spot the day before and check it's open, because places here close on different days. You'll walk past the Hotel California, and it's fine for a photo, but it has nothing to do with the song.

Then stop at Cerritos on the way home. It comes 10 or 15 minutes after you leave town, and it's a wide Pacific beach where beginners take surf lessons. A lesson booked at the beach is about US$60 to $85, and if a lesson is the point of your day, flip the order and do the beach first, because mornings are calmer. If you want to get in the water, do it in the corner under the rocky point, in front of the lifeguards. Watch where the surfers paddle out and stay away from that spot, because they're riding the rip current to get out.

This day splits people. I love it for the shade, the old buildings and the slower pace. If galleries and old streets do nothing for you, this is the anchor to trade, and I've listed the trades below. The full route is in my Todos Santos day trip post.

Why a car and not a tour? Two people in a one-day rental come out about even with two seats on a small-group tour, which runs roughly US$100 to $150 a person, and some of the tours give you as little as an hour in town on their schedule. With the car, the whole day is on your own clock.

Drop the car back when you get in, and keep the evening easy and on foot. Las Tres Islas works again, or tacos, and my list for those is in the best tacos in Cabo. If you'd like something nicer without getting back in a vehicle, Nicksan is a few steps off the marina boardwalk. It's Japanese food with Mexican ingredients, the fish is very fresh, and it'll cost you US$90 to $150 a head.

If You Don't Drive, or Don't Feel Like It

• Take a small-group tour. It's a six to eight hour day or longer. Ask how many minutes of free time you get in town before you book, because on some it's only an hour.
• Or skip Todos Santos and stay close. Do a second swim morning, then a sunset sail on a small boat for about US$100 to $140 a head. Santa María is the cove to try, before 9am, and it's better for snorkeling than for lounging because the sand is pebbly. Playa Empacadora is the calm little beach you can walk to from the marina. Both are in my ranking of the best swimmable beaches in Cabo, and the boats are compared in my Cabo sunset cruise post.

I wouldn't try to do the drive and a sunset sail on the same day. You'd be racing back for the boat, and this is meant to be the slow day.

Day 5: The Departure Morning

How much of a morning you get depends on your flight, so work backward from it. I leave three hours for a midday flight on a weekend in high season and two on a quiet weekday, plus 40 to 50 minutes on the road.

• A flight around 11am: you're leaving the hotel about 8. Have breakfast and call it a trip.
• A flight around 2pm: you're leaving between about 10:15 and 11. One early thing fits if you packed the night before.
• A flight at 4pm or later: you're leaving around noon. You've got time for a hike or a swim, a shower and an early lunch.

With an afternoon flight, the one early thing I'd do is the Mt Solmar hike. It's the best view in Cabo San Lucas, with the marina, Médano and both seas in front of you at once, and it's free apart from a tip for the guide. The hill is private land, so the only way up is with him. He takes a group up at 8am from his dog training camp on the marina boulevard, and you just show up about fifteen minutes early. It takes under two hours, and it's steep and loose near the top.

It never runs on a Saturday. I've also seen his schedule given both with and without Sundays, so confirm the day the week you're there. In the hot months it goes earlier.

If your last morning is a Saturday, or steep and loose isn't for your knees, take the water taxi to the Arch at 8. The whale boat showed you the Arch from the water, but it didn't land, and an hour on Lover's Beach is the part you haven't done. It's about US$20 a person plus a few dollars in fees, and whether boats can land is decided that day, so ask before you pay. Or just go for one last flat swim at Médano before 10.

Hotel checkout is usually late morning. If you didn't book a round trip with your transfer company, an Uber to the airport is about US$35 to $55.

And eat before you leave. The food past security is expensive and not good.

If You Land on a Different Day

Here's the same plan reordered for each arrival day. Three rules drive it. The boat goes as early as possible. The San José evening lands on a Thursday whenever your trip has one on a full day. And Chileno never falls on a Sunday.

Only Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday arrivals get an Art Walk on a full day. If you land on any of the other four, please don't feel like you've missed the trip. The old town is still worth the evening, and a farm dinner is a great trade. For a Thursday arrival, I'd let the Art Walk go unless you're at your hotel by early afternoon and still have the energy for another hour in a car.

Mondays are the day to double check. Flora Farms serves dinner only on Mondays, with no brunch, and a few of the smaller places I like take the day off. Lolita Café, my breakfast pick in San José, is one of them.

Saturday is the busiest day at the airport in both directions, between about 11am and mid-afternoon.

If you have a free hand with flights, I'd land on a Tuesday. The airport is quiet, Thursday falls on Day 3, and nothing in the plan runs into a Monday closure. What you give up is the hike, because you leave on a Saturday.

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

The three anchors stay the same. What changes is which ones cost you a ride.

Based in San José's Historic Center

You get three things San Lucas guests don't. The airport is 15 to 30 minutes away, dinner is on foot every night, and your first evening is a real one, because you're in your room while everyone else is still on the highway. If you land on a Thursday in season, the Art Walk is right outside your door that night. The catch is that every boat is in the other town, which is the trade I go through in Cabo San Lucas vs San José del Cabo.

Day 2 becomes your one Cabo San Lucas day. Leave around 6:30, do the 8am whale boat, have lunch inland, spend the afternoon on Médano, and stay for a sunset drink or dinner at El Farallón before you ride home. That's one round trip between the towns covering everything San Lucas has that you need. There is also a whale boat that leaves from the Puerto Los Cabos marina on the San José side, which saves the ride, but it doesn't go past the Arch.

The mistake I'd steer you away from is booking three separate marina mornings. Each one is about an hour and a half of extra driving and around 1,200 pesos in Ubers.

Day 3 is a swim and a farm. Palmilla is ten minutes away and has the calmest sandy swim in Los Cabos. I'd skip it on a Sunday afternoon, when it fills up. Then book lunch or dinner at one of the farms, which are only 10 to 15 minutes from the center. If it's a Thursday, do the old town instead.

Day 4, the car day, is a closer call from here. Todos Santos is about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half, and Cabo Pulmo is about an hour and three quarters. In winter I'd still pick Todos Santos, because Cabo Pulmo is cold and windy then. In October and November I'd pick Cabo Pulmo.

Day 5 is a proper half day. Have breakfast at Lolita Café, any day but Monday, take a flat swim at La Playita, and the airport is a short ride away.

The rest of the town is in my San José del Cabo guide.

Based at a Corridor Resort

Five days on the Corridor usually goes like this. Nothing is walkable, every outing starts with a fare of US$20 to $50 each way by taxi, and by midweek most people have stopped leaving the resort. Uber is about half the taxi price and usually meets you at the gate.

So plan on two outings and one car day. Make one of them a Cabo San Lucas morning, with the boat and then lunch, and the other a San José evening. From the middle of the Corridor you're 20 to 25 minutes from either town, which means the 8am whale boat is a 6:30 start from the lobby. Don't prepay for more than that.

For the swim day, only five hotels on this stretch sit on water you can get into. If yours isn't one of them, Chileno is a ride away.

This is also where a rental car makes the most sense. Two or three days of rental can cost less than two taxi round trips into town. If you rent, keep the car for the middle three days and use it for Todos Santos, the Cabo San Lucas morning and the San José evening, with one of you skipping the wine.

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

The plan holds up all year. Day 2 is the piece that changes most, and I go through every month in the best time to visit Cabo.

From Mid-April to Mid-December: The Arch Takes Day 2

I treat the second half of April as out of season, because it's stragglers by then. From there until whale tours start again in mid-December, your boat morning is the water taxi to the Arch.

Be at the marina by 8 or 8:30. It's about US$20 a person round trip with an hour on Lover's Beach, plus a few dollars at the dock gate and a tip. Before any money changes hands, ask "can we get off at the beach today?" Then pay half, look at the name on the side of your boat, and pay the rest when it comes back for you. You'll be back on land by about 10:30. Everything else is in my guide to El Arco and Lover's Beach.

If you're fit and comfortable on the water, a guided kayak or paddleboard trip out there early in the morning is the upgrade, at about US$80 to $105 a person.

With the Arch done on Day 2, your last morning is free for the hike with no clash.

The Warm-Water Months

From July to November the ocean is 78 to 85°F, and snorkeling moves up the list. The water is clearest from September through November. In October and November, Chileno becomes the best morning of the whole trip, and I'd seriously think about swapping the Todos Santos day for a Cabo Pulmo day trip if you love being in the water. It's a LONG day, more than two hours each way with a dirt road at the end, so it replaces Todos Santos. Don't try to do both in five days. Month by month, the water is in my post on snorkeling in Cabo.

If you miss having whales at dusk, a small-boat sunset sail is the evening I'd add.

July to September: Beat the Heat

Highs are in the mid 90s and it's humid, so the rule gets stricter. Everything outdoors is finished by 10:30. Go to Chileno at 7:30. The hike leaves earlier in the hot months.

Todos Santos turns into a morning. Leave at 7:30, walk the town while it's cool, spend the hot hours at Cerritos and be home by 3. Or drop it.

The San José evening shrinks too. There's no Art Walk from July through October, the old town is very quiet in August and September, and it's worth checking the farm restaurants' hours before you go. Check each restaurant's own website the week you go. I'd pick a farm dinner at dusk over walking the old town at 5pm in August. And book Metate late, because it's an open patio.

When the Port Closes

This is mostly a September and early October problem, and it's the one that can take out the whole plan at once. A storm far offshore sends swell, the port closes to small boats, and the swimming beaches get black flags on the same day. The whale boats, the water taxis, the sunset sails and Chileno all go together. The flags can stay up for two days or more after the sky clears.

What still works is everything on dry land. That means the pool, Todos Santos town (though not a swim at Cerritos), San José's old town and every dinner in this post.

So I'd move the car day into the gap, because Todos Santos is the one anchor that needs neither the port nor a flag. Then take the boat on whichever morning the port reopens. Nobody posts the port's status in one handy place, so ask at your hotel or at the dock that morning.

If you're coming in September or early October, put the boat on Day 2, keep anything boat-shaped off your last morning, don't prepay, and make your peace ahead of time with the idea that it might not happen at all.

In whale season, closures are rarer and shorter. It's usually winter wind, for a few hours or a day.

A Few Smaller Adjustments

• December to February: it gets dark early, so start back from Todos Santos by mid-afternoon. It's cold on the 8am boat, and the ocean is in the low to mid 70s, so Chileno is a brisk swim.
• March: spring break takes over the marina end of Médano, so walk east past the clubs to the middle. Over Easter week every public beach is packed. Be at Chileno when it opens or skip it that week.
• Late October: the big fishing tournaments fill the marina every afternoon. The weigh-in is a free show, and it's worth an hour.
• November: the best month for this exact plan, minus the whales. The water is warm, the Art Walk is back, and storm season is basically over.

Three, Four or Seven Days

If You Have Four Days (Three Nights)

Cut the car day. Of the three anchors, Todos Santos is the one a first-timer misses least. Keep the boat on Day 2 and Chileno with San José on Day 3.

If the only Thursday you've got is Day 2, do the boat in the morning and San José that evening, and move Chileno to Day 3.

If You Have Three Days (Two Nights)

You have one full day. Take the boat at 8, whales in season and the Arch otherwise. Have lunch a few blocks inland, spend the afternoon on Médano, and book one good dinner. On the last morning, swim, or do the hike if your flight is in the afternoon.

I'd cut San José unless you're staying there. And on a trip this short, it's a fair question whether to stay there. The airport ride to San Lucas costs you an extra half hour and US$20 to $30 each way, and from San José the Arch needs a ride. So with three days you're picking between the Arch and an easy airport. Either way, don't take the shared shuttle on a trip this short. My 3-day Cabo itinerary covers the long weekend in full, with three nights as the main plan and two nights as the fallback.

If You Have Seven Days

Add these, in this order:

1. A day with nothing in it. Put it right after the car day.
2. A farm meal as its own outing. Brunch, on a different day from your San José evening.
3. A small-boat sunset sail.
4. A second swim morning. Santa María before 9am, or Palmilla.
5. Cabo Pulmo, if you snorkel and it's fall. Not the day after Todos Santos. Keep the car across both days so you only rent once.
6. A fishing charter or a round of golf, if either one is your thing.

If you're really keen on Todos Santos or La Paz, a night away in place of two of those is the way to do it.

Even with seven days, I still wouldn't add La Paz as a day trip, ATVs to fill a morning, or the dinner boat.

A Rough Budget

This is my own rough estimate for two people, and it only covers activities, food and getting around. Your room and your flights are separate. So are shopping, travel insurance and the state visitor fee of about US$25 a person.

• Mid-range: about US$1,200 to $2,000 for two
• High end: about US$3,000 to $5,000 for two

At the mid-range, that's a private car to and from the airport, Ubers for Chileno and San José, the one-day rental, a small-group whale boat, and a mix of taco lunches, a seafood dinner, Metate and one nicer night in San José. About a quarter of it goes to rides, a fifth to activities, and a little over half to food and drink.

What moves you from the bottom of that range to the top is mostly drinks, and how many of your dinners are the sit-down kind. Two rounds of cocktails can cost more than the food.

The high end is the same five days with taxis in place of Ubers, a private whale boat, a private driver to Todos Santos, a sunset sail, a daybed, and El Farallón. That one dinner is 10 to 15% of the whole budget. The private whale boat is the number I'd trust least, so get it confirmed as per boat or per person before you add it up.

A few adjustments:

• Outside whale season, take about US$150 to $200 off, unless a sunset sail takes the whale boat's place.
• Based in San José, add roughly US$65 to $140 for each boat day in San Lucas, and take about US$50 off the airport rides.
• Based on the Corridor, add US$40 to $100 in taxis for every outing.

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

The Verdict

Five days in Cabo is three days, so pick three things, do each one early, and protect your afternoons. I'd rather you came home having done a whale morning, a Chileno morning with a San José evening, and a day in Todos Santos properly than having rushed through twelve things you saw from a van.

I wish the Art Walk worked for everybody. It's the best evening here, and four of the seven arrival days miss it. If you can pick your flights, land on a Tuesday.

Here's how I'd adjust it for you:

• Families with kids under about eight: a whale catamaran in place of the small boat, Palmilla in place of Chileno if they're under five, no Mt Solmar, and brunch at Flora Farms in place of a late dinner in San José.
• Couples coming for the food: stay in San José's historic center and use that version.
• Snorkelers in October and November: swap Todos Santos for Cabo Pulmo.
• Anglers: the fishing charter takes the place of the car day.
• Non-drivers: take the small-group tour to Todos Santos, or trade it for a second swim morning and a sunset sail.
• Corridor resort guests: two outings and one car day, and enjoy the resort you paid for.

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.

And for the friend with the list of fifteen things, my reply goes like this: stay mid-Médano. Day 1, swim and walk to dinner, book nothing. Day 2, whales at 8am (or the Arch if it's not winter). Day 3, Chileno by Uber at 7:45, nap, San José for dinner, line up your ride home first. Day 4, rent a car for the day, Todos Santos then Cerritos, home before dark. Last morning, the hike if it's not Saturday and you fly after lunch. Afternoons are for doing nothing.

Quick Answers

Is five days enough for Cabo? Yes, for a first trip. It gives you three full days, which covers a whale trip or the Arch, one proper swim, an evening in San José and one day trip. It isn't enough for La Paz, or for both Todos Santos and Cabo Pulmo.

Do I need a rental car for five days in Cabo? Only for one day, the Todos Santos and Cerritos day. Everything else in this plan is on foot or by Uber from a hotel on Médano.

What do I need to book before I go? The airport ride, the whale boat if you're here in season, and a couple of dinners, with El Farallón first if you want it. Leave the Arch, Chileno, the hike and every afternoon unbooked.

Which day should I do the whale watching? Your first full morning, at 8am. If the port closes or you see nothing, you still have days left to go again.

Can I do La Paz as a day trip from Cabo? You can, and I wouldn't on a five-day trip. It's about two and a half hours each way before you've done anything, so save it for an overnight.