Plan Your Trip

Cabo Cruise Port: What I'd Do With One Day Off the Ship

By Cabo Wander

The first thing to know about the Cabo San Lucas cruise port is that there's no pier. Your ship anchors out in the bay and a small boat called a tender carries you in to a dock inside the marina, and that boat ride quietly takes about an hour off each end of your day.

So when a friend tells me their cruise stops in Cabo and asks what they should do, I give them a small plan on purpose. Stay within about a ten-minute walk of the tender dock. Take a shared water taxi out to the Arch for about US$20 a person, pick one beach, eat lunch a few blocks inland, and be back in the tender line 60 to 90 minutes before the last boat. San José, Todos Santos and Flora Farms can wait for a trip with a hotel.

I've never arrived in Cabo by ship. I've spent a lot of mornings on the other side of it, on the marina boardwalk when the tenders start unloading, and from there the pattern is pretty easy to see. The people who have a good day stay close and move early. The ones who have a bad day tried to fit a road trip into five hours.

Cabo is honestly one of the easier ports to do on your own, because the tender drops you in the middle of town and the famous sight is a ten-minute boat ride from where you step off. I'll go through it in the order you'll meet it.

Your Day Is Shorter Than the Itinerary Says

Take the hours printed on your itinerary and knock an hour off each end. That's the number to plan with.

The tender ride itself is only 10 to 15 minutes. The rest of the hour is the wait. The ship anchors, gets cleared by the port, and then starts sending people ashore in a set order. Ship excursion groups go first, then suites and the top loyalty tiers, then everybody else by tender ticket or group number. Once that line clears, it turns into open tendering and you can just walk on. From anchor down to standing on the dock, I'd plan on 45 minutes to an hour and a quarter on a normal day, and longer when there are three ships in the bay, which happens several times a month in winter.

Here's roughly what that leaves you:

• A seven-hour morning call: about four hours ashore
• An eight-hour call: about five hours ashore
• A ten-hour call: about seven hours ashore

A ship excursion or a suite gets you 30 to 45 minutes of that back at the start.

How you get a tender ticket depends on the cruise line. On some you book a slot in the app the day before, and on others you stand in a line that can start forming a couple of hours before the ship arrives. Ask guest services the night before how yours works, because a late ticket can cost you an hour of a five-hour day.

Three more things to check on board:

• Your own arrival time. Most calls now arrive in the late morning and leave in the evening, some come in at dawn and are gone by early afternoon, and a few stay overnight. Advice written for one of those is wrong for the others, including the clock times in a lot of Cabo guides.
• Which clock the ship is on. Cabo is on Mountain time all year, which is an hour ahead of California in winter. Most ships change their clocks and some keep ship time. Anything you book ashore runs on Cabo time.
• The last tender. It leaves before the printed sailing time, and how long before is your ship's call. It's in the daily program and on a sign at the gangway. Take a picture of the sign.

The tender is free, and so is getting off. Mexico does charge a fee per cruise passenger, but it's already inside the taxes and port fees on your fare, and nobody collects anything at the dock.

One nice thing about all this is that the ship comes around Land's End on its way in. Be on deck for it, because that's a great view of the Arch and it costs nothing.

If you're sailing in late summer or fall, know that Cabo is the port that gets dropped. A tender port closes for swell sooner than a pier does, and when the harbor shuts to small boats the ship simply goes somewhere else. I talk about the odds by month in my post on Cabo hurricane season. For those sailings I'd only pre-book a tour with a company that refunds you if the ship doesn't make port, and I'd ask them that question in writing.

The Tender Dock and the Gate

The dock is on the south arm of the marina, right in town. The ride in is the pleasant part. I've watched sea lions lounging on the back of fishing boats and pelicans lined up along the water while the tenders unload, and all of that is before anyone has tried to sell you anything.

Then you go through the security gate, and everyone talks to you at once. The Arch, whales, fishing, taxis, a man with an iguana. They're persistent and they're polite, and a single "no, gracias" works on each one. It just doesn't work on the next one. My advice is to decide what you're doing before you get off the tender, and keep walking until you're past the first crowd, because the first price you hear at the gate is the highest price in town.

The one I'd really steer you around is the friendly person in a polo shirt with a "Tourist Information" lanyard and a free map. That's a timeshare desk. The discounted boat trip they offer is a voucher you redeem after a sales presentation at a resort, which takes most of a morning you don't have. If you're curious how that trade works on a longer trip, I've written up what a Cabo timeshare presentation really costs.

A few practical things about the dock:

• Use the restroom here. There isn't one worth the name at either of the beaches I'm about to send you to. The toilet paper has been on the wall outside the stalls, so grab some on your way in.
• The flea market by the dock sells T-shirts, jewelry, trinkets and, for reasons I've never figured out, vanilla. It's fine for a browse on your way back. Haggle, pay cash, and skip the pills, the "Cuban" cigars and the silver.
• The bars at the dock will happily sell you a drink for more than it costs on the ship. Ten minutes' walk gets you lunch at local prices.
• Bring water from the ship. Shade is thin once you leave the dock shelter.

People ask me if it's okay to wander off on their own, and yes, it is. The marina, downtown and Médano are busy by day, and I've always felt fine walking all three. What I'd watch here is your wallet, the ocean and the clock, and I go through all of it in is Cabo safe.

The Arch, on the $20 Boat

This is the thing to do, and it's the closest thing to the gangway. The water taxis load at the gate and the next dock along, a minute or two from where you land. It's a little funny, honestly. The ship anchors right in front of the Arch, tenders you away from it, and then a man at the gate offers to take you back for forty dollars.

The fair price is about US$20 a person, round trip, on a shared boat. The opening quote is usually US$40 to $60, and higher at midday with several ships in. Say "twenty each, round trip" and keep walking if he won't get there. On a busy ship day I'd settle at US$25 and not lose sleep over it. With the dock fee and a tip, plan on US$25 to $30 a person, in small bills.

The loop takes about 45 minutes, and with the wait for the boat to fill I'd allow an hour to an hour and a half from the dock and back. I think it's absolutely worth it. The rocks are bigger than they look from the ship, you get close to the sea lions, and the captain takes your picture in front of the Arch. Everything about the ride itself, including exactly what I say to the boatman, is in my post on El Arco and Lover's Beach.

When to go depends on your ship:

• If you arrive early in the morning, go straight from the tender to a boat. You're the only cruise passengers who get the Arch the way I like it, with flat water and nobody else out there.
• If you arrive around noon, I'd flip the day. Walk past the gate, eat lunch inland while the first wave of your ship is haggling, and do the Arch mid-afternoon. It's the busier, windier end of the day for it, and I won't pretend otherwise. It's still a good ride.

Getting off at Lover's Beach is the part I'd think hard about on a port day. Whether boats can land at all is the harbor master's decision each morning. If they can, you step off the bow into knee-deep water and your boat comes back for you at an agreed time. Off a ship, I'd either skip the landing or keep it to half an hour, and I'd set the pickup so there are two hours between it and the time I need to be in the tender line. Pay half up front and the rest when he comes back, and take a picture of the name on the boat. With little kids, or in any kind of swell, stay on the boat.

In winter, the boat pushes around the point into the Pacific for a few minutes, and from January to March a spout or a distant breach out there is a pretty common bonus.

Pick One Beach

You have two beaches within reach, and on most calls I'd only do one of them.

Playa Empacadora

Almost nobody off a ship finds this one, and it's about a ten-minute walk. Head south from the gate along the marina road, away from the boardwalk and past the old cannery, and you come out on a small beach with calm water, a lifeguard tower and local families. Nobody is selling anything. It's free, you don't need a boat, and you're ten minutes from the tender line when you're done.

There's nothing to buy and nowhere to rent a chair, so bring a towel and water from the ship. If you can't stand being sold to, or you've only got about four hours, this is your beach.

Médano Beach

Médano is the famous one, with the beach clubs, the loungers and the view of Land's End from your chair. I like it a lot for a swim and a drink. The tender just happens to land you on the wrong side of the harbor for it.

You'll read that Médano is a ten-minute walk from the cruise dock. It's a ten-minute walk from the mall side of the marina. From the tender dock it's about a mile and a quarter around the whole harbor, which is 25 to 35 minutes in the sun. Take a water taxi straight across. It's five minutes on the water, you'll be asked US$10 to $15 a person, and US$5 to $7 is fair. You land by wading in to about your knees.

A lot of boatmen will also sell you the Arch loop with a drop at Médano at the end, which is the smart way to do both. Agree on the price, and that it ends at Médano, before you get in.

The boats land near the party clubs, where there's an MC on a microphone from about midday. Walk ten minutes east along the sand and it's a normal beach again. If you want one place to sit all afternoon, book a lounger at Corazón (about US$45 a person) or SUR (about US$100) before you sail, since both minimums come back as food and drink, and ask for a menu with prices anywhere you open a tab. I've ranked them in the best beach clubs in Cabo, and the full walk along the sand is in my Médano Beach guide.

For the trip back, I'd walk it. The path behind the mall and the boardwalk around the marina take about 25 to 30 minutes, it's flat, and that walk is most of the sightseeing in town anyway. Just count it as part of your time.

One thing I'd leave for another trip is the jet ski. People have been badly hurt on rented ones in this bay, and a port day is the wrong day for an argument over a scratch on the machine.

If you come back to Cabo with a hotel and a car, there are better swims than either of these, and they're in the best swimmable beaches in Cabo.

Lunch a Few Blocks Inland

Eat away from the water. The same plate of garlic shrimp is about US$25 a few blocks inland and US$50 to $60 on the boardwalk.

These are all walkable from the dock, heading around the top of the marina and into downtown:

• Tacos Guss, about 15 minutes. The al pastor is what I order, and two people eat well for US$20 to $35. It's cash and pesos. The service can be hit or miss, so go for the tacos.
• Los Claros, about 15 to 20 minutes. Battered fish and shrimp tacos and smoked marlin, in a room with air conditioning. After a midday tender, it's the one I'd pick.
• Tacos Gardenias, about 20 minutes, on the way to or from Médano. Simple, cheap, really good fish and shrimp tacos. It's the natural lunch if you're walking back from the beach. It's closed on Mondays, and I'd say "en pesos" when the check comes.
• Mama's Royal Café, about 10 minutes. For an early ship, this is the breakfast I'd walk to, for the stuffed French toast or the chilaquiles. It closes in the early afternoon, so it's no use to a noon arrival.
• Mariscos Las Tres Islas, a good 20 to 25 minutes on foot. This is the lunch I'd send you to if you have the time. Get the whole fried snapper or the garlic shrimp, and plan on US$50 to $100 for two. I'd take a taxi for US$10 to $15 and save my legs. There's a band, and they'll expect a tip.

Taquerías want pesos, and a couple of them are cash only. Where a place does take dollars for a peso check, the exchange rate is poor. More of my favorites are in the best tacos in Cabo, and the sit-down places are in where to eat in Cabo San Lucas.

What Fits in 4, 6 and 8 Hours

These are hours on land, after the tender has taken its share.

About 4 Hours Ashore

That's the dawn-to-lunchtime call, or a short afternoon one.

Do the Arch loop from the dock, with no landing or a quick one. Then pick one more thing. That's either breakfast or lunch downtown, or an hour or so at Playa Empacadora.

I'd leave Médano out. The crossing, the wade ashore and the walk back eat the time you'd have spent on the sand.

The early version of this is the best port day Cabo offers, even though it's the shortest. You're on shore while the marina is still empty, the water is flat, and you're eating breakfast by eight.

About 5 to 6 Hours Ashore

Most eight-hour calls land here, and it's enough for the full day I'd want a first-timer to have.

• The Arch, ending with a drop at Médano (or back to the dock and a water taxi across)
• Two hours on the beach, either ten minutes east of the clubs or on a lounger you booked
• The walk back around the marina, with tacos on the way

If you arrive around noon, start with lunch inland, then the Arch, then the beach or a rooftop for the end of the afternoon.

About 7 to 8 Hours Ashore

With a ten-hour call you can do all of that at a walk and add one more thing:

• A snorkel at Chileno Bay. It's about 20 to 25 minutes each way and US$15 to $20 by Uber, and I'd allow three hours door to door. Bring a mask from the ship. You'll need data on your phone for the ride back, and I'd walk out to the street before requesting a car. If you get there around noon you'll be sharing it with the tour boats. The other options are in snorkeling in Cabo.
• A long lunch at Las Tres Islas, by taxi.
• The Mt Solmar hike, if you're off one of the first tenders. It's a free guided walk that leaves at 8am from a gate about ten minutes from the dock, and it doesn't run on Saturdays.

In Whale Season

From mid-December to mid-April, and especially from mid-January through February, I'd swap the Arch and the beach for one small-boat whale trip and lunch. The boats pass the Arch on the way out, so you don't lose it.

A small covered boat runs about US$80 to $110 a person for two to two and a half hours, and the offices are on the marina within about ten minutes of the dock. Book it yourself before you sail, and match the departure to when you'll really be on land. The good morning boat leaves at 8am, so if your ship arrives at ten, that one's gone. For a noon arrival it's the afternoon boat, which is windier and choppier. Don't let a "whale guarantee" sway you either way, because the guarantee is a free second trip and you'll be at sea.

The ship's whale excursion is usually a big catamaran. It's stable and it has a bathroom and a bar, which makes it the right boat for a toddler or a bad back. For a close look, I'd take the small boat. How to choose between them is in whale watching in Cabo.

If Your Ship Stays Overnight

A few ships do, and it's the best version of a Cabo port call. Use the evening for dinner inland and the next morning for the water.

For the evening, I'd have a drink on the Baja Brewing rooftop over Médano at sunset, then dinner at Los Tres Gallos, Salvatore G's or Las Tres Islas. Cabo Wabo has a band from about 8:30. Tenders run into the night on an overnight call, but ask your ship when the last one leaves the dock. Where I'd go after dinner is in my guide to Cabo nightlife.

The next morning, get on the first tender and go straight to the Arch. Then cross to the west corner of Médano before ten, while the water is flat and the vendors haven't started. I wouldn't try to make both days beach days.

What Doesn't Fit

Everything on this list is a road trip, and each one is the whole call.

• San José del Cabo. It's 35 to 45 minutes each way, and a taxi is US$50 to $70 each way. You can technically do it on a long call. That's an hour and a half in a car to look at a plaza, and I wouldn't spend the day that way.
• Flora Farms and the other farm restaurants. They're beyond San José on a dirt road, close to an hour out, with a reservation and a two-hour meal. I'd only think about it on an overnight call, and it would be your whole evening.
• Todos Santos. About an hour each way, door to door. The ship sells it as a coach tour, and on a five-hour day that's two hours on a highway.
• Cabo Pulmo and La Paz. Two to three hours each way. No.
• ATVs and camels. These do fit, but only as the single thing you do, at four to five hours door to door. This is the one case where I'd book the ship's version, because it's out of town and the ship waits for its own tours. What you get for the money is in my post on Cabo ATV and camel tours.

I know it's tempting to see more of the place, and all of those are worth doing. They just belong to a trip where you sleep here. My 3-day Cabo itinerary is how I'd come back and do them properly, and the full ranked list is in things to do in Cabo.

Ship Excursion, Booking Ahead, or Walking Up

What you're charged in Cabo depends on how far you are from the gangway. The same 45-minute ride to the Arch is about US$50 to $60 on the ship, US$40 to $60 as an opening quote at the gate, and US$20 a few steps past it.

So here's the real trade.

The ship's excursion buys you three things. You get off the ship first. The ship waits if your tour runs late. And if the call gets canceled, the refund is the cruise line's problem to sort out. What it doesn't buy is a better boat or fewer people. The ship's Arch tour is a catamaran full of your own shipmates, and it doesn't land at Lover's Beach. If you book it expecting to stand on the sand, you'll be disappointed.

Booking direct ahead of time makes sense for anything with a fixed departure, which mostly means whale watching and snorkel boats. A booked Arch tour is about US$30 to $50 if you'd rather not haggle. Give the company your ship's name and your real time ashore, and ask what happens if the ship skips the port. I can't point you to an independent operator that will promise to get you back to your ship, so I'd treat that as your own job and leave a big cushion.

Walking up is right for the Arch, the boat across to Médano, a beach chair and lunch. It's all close, there are boats all day, and it's about a third of the ship's price. The one thing I wouldn't buy at the gate is a cheap whale trip on a small open boat, because the cheap ones tend to be unlicensed.

The risk in going on your own is the tender line at the end of the day, more than anything a boatman does. Nobody can tell you how long that line will be with three ships in the bay, which is why I keep saying 60 to 90 minutes.

For anyone fit and unhurried, I'd skip the ship's tours for everything in town. If you need the first tender, you're nervous about time, or you're going out of town by road, pay the ship and enjoy your day.

If Getting Around Is Hard

The tender is the obstacle here, more than anything on land. Boarding means stepping across a gap between two moving platforms. A folding wheelchair can get ashore when the sea is calm and the person can manage a step or two. Power chairs and scooters are often refused. Ask your ship's access desk before the cruise, in writing, and not on the morning.

On shore, the dock and the marina boardwalk are flat, with curb cuts at most crossings. Downtown sidewalks are narrow and broken. For the Arch, the ship's catamaran is the one that tends to work with a folding chair, and I'd confirm that with your line. Water taxis and the wade onto Médano aren't practical.

And if it turns out to be a day to stay aboard, the ship is anchored facing Land's End. That's a pretty good seat.

What It Costs

Per person, for the day I'd plan:

• Tender and getting off the ship: free
• Arch by shared water taxi: about US$20, or US$25 to $30 with the dock fee and tip
• Water taxi across to Médano: US$5 to $7 each way
• Tacos for lunch: about US$10 to $20
• A seafood lunch at Las Tres Islas: about US$25 to $50, plus the taxi
• A rented beach chair: US$10 to $25, or a club lounger from about US$45
• A taxi inside town: US$10 to $15 for the car, sometimes quoted higher on ship days

That's a full day for about US$45 to $60 a person. The ship's four-hour version of the same day, with the Arch, a beach, shopping time and a taco lunch, runs well over US$100.

For money, I'd bring US$60 to $100 each in ones, fives and twenties. Boatmen, taxis and vendors all quote in dollars, and nobody has change. Then pay for one sit-down lunch by card, in pesos, and say no when the card machine offers to convert it to dollars for you. If you want pesos for a taquería and need an ATM, use one inside a bank or a big store. Agree on every taxi fare before you get in, since there are no meters, and my post on getting around Cabo has what the rides should cost. What everything else runs on a longer trip is in how much Cabo costs.

The Traps, and How to Walk Past Them

• Planning with the printed hours. Take an hour off each end.
• Getting a late tender ticket. Find out the night before how your ship hands them out.
• Reading the wrong clock. Check whether the ship is on Cabo time.
• Heading back for the sailing time. The last tender is earlier. Be in line 60 to 90 minutes before it.
• Stopping for the first man at the gate. Keep walking, then say "twenty, round trip."
• Taking the free map. It comes with a sales presentation.
• Walking to Médano because a guide said ten minutes. Take the boat across.
• Paying the water taxi in full before he comes back for you. Half now, half at pickup.
• A late pickup from Lover's Beach. Leave two hours of cushion, or stay on the boat.
• Booking the ship's Arch catamaran for the beach. It doesn't land.
• Booking an 8am whale boat on a mid-morning arrival. Match the boat to when you're on land.
• Eating at the dock. Ten minutes inland is about half the price or less.
• Tacos Gardenias on a Monday, or Mama's in the afternoon. Both will be closed.
• Only twenties, or only a card. Small bills.
• A beach club tab with no priced menu. Ask first.
• Saving the restroom for the beach. Use the one at the dock.

The Verdict

Cabo is a great port day if you keep it small. The day you get is about two hours shorter than the one on the itinerary, and the best things to do with it are all a short walk or a short boat ride from where the tender lands.

Here's who I'd send where:

• First time in Cabo, six hours or more: the Arch by water taxi, the boat across to Médano, tacos on the walk back.
• An early arrival: straight to the Arch. Don't sleep in, because you've got the best hours of the day.
• A noon arrival: lunch inland first, the Arch mid-afternoon, Médano or a rooftop for sunset.
• A short morning call: the Arch loop and breakfast, and that's plenty.
• Overnight: dinner and a band the first night, the Arch and the beach early the next morning.
• Winter: a small-boat whale trip in place of everything else.
• Small kids: the ship's catamaran or a booked boat for the Arch, then Empacadora or the calm west corner of Médano.
• You hate being sold to: walk south to Empacadora and skip the boardwalk.
• You've been before: one really good lunch at Las Tres Islas... or enjoy a quiet ship.

What I wish were different is the timing. The Arch and Médano are both at their best early in the morning, and most ships now deliver you around lunchtime. It's still a good day, and I'd still get off the ship. If it makes you want to see the rest, that's what a week here is for. The best time to visit Cabo will help you pick the month, and my Cabo San Lucas guide covers the town you just walked through.

And here's how I'd text it to a friend: take an hour off each end of your port time. Walk past the gate, twenty bucks each for the Arch, pay half. Boat across to Médano for five to seven, or walk ten minutes south to the quiet beach. Tacos inland, in pesos. Back in the tender line 60 to 90 minutes before the last boat. Skip anything that needs a highway.

Quick Answers

Does Cabo San Lucas have a cruise port or dock? No. There's no pier and none is being built. Ships anchor in the bay and tender passengers to a dock inside the marina, in the middle of town.

How long does the tender take in Cabo? The ride is 10 to 15 minutes. With the wait, plan on 45 minutes to an hour and a quarter each way, and more when several ships are in.

Can you walk to Médano Beach from the cruise ship? You can, but it's 25 to 35 minutes around the whole harbor in the sun. A water taxi straight across takes five minutes, and US$5 to $7 a person is fair.

How much is the boat to the Arch from the cruise dock? About US$20 a person round trip on a shared water taxi, after an opening quote of US$40 to $60. The ship sells a similar 45-minute loop for about US$50 to $60.

Should I book the ship's excursion or go on my own? On your own for the Arch, the beach and lunch, since it's all close and far cheaper. Book the ship's tour for anything that leaves town by road, or if you need the first tender off.