Things to Do in Cabo: My 10 Best, and What I'd Skip

By Cabo Wander

The list of things to do in Cabo that your hotel hands you is about forty tours long. Mine is a lot shorter. The best things to do here are the cheap, close, short ones, done early in the morning: a US$20 water taxi to the Arch, a free morning in the water at Chileno Bay, a small-boat whale trip if you're here in winter, and a Thursday evening in San José.

It took me a few trips to figure out that in Cabo, the price of an activity mostly tells you how much organizing somebody did for you. It tells you very little about how good the thing is. The Arch is the same rock whether you pay a boatman twenty dollars or a hotel desk a hundred and fifty. So most of my top ten has no middleman at all, and most of what I'd skip comes with a hotel pickup, a "park fee" at check-in and a photographer.

The other thing to know is that the season changes the list. My number one only exists for about fourteen weeks a year. If you're coming outside of whale season, just move everything else up a spot. I go through the whole calendar in the best time to visit Cabo.

I ranked these the way I'd rank them for a friend on a first trip with no special hobby. If you fish, dive, golf or surf, there's a section for you after the ten.

1. Whale Watching on a Small Boat

From about Christmas to late March, this is the best thing you can do in Cabo, and for most of the rest of the year it doesn't exist. Licensed tours only run from mid-December through April, with most operators stopping around mid-April, and the best of it is late January and February.

You leave from the Cabo San Lucas marina, pass the Arch, and about ten minutes later the boats spread out and the radios start talking. Then you scan. There are long quiet stretches, and I'd rather you know that going in. Then somebody spots a blow, and you've got humpbacks breaching about a mile from the marina. Two hours goes by fast when the whales are up and slowly when they aren't.

The boat is the whole decision. I book the small ones, the kind that take about a dozen people, because you sit lower and get a closer look. The best ones put a marine biologist on board, cut the engine and drop a hydrophone in the water, and I've heard the humpbacks singing through it. Small boats are bouncy though. If you get seasick, or you've got little kids, take a catamaran, and check its minimum age first. It's steadier, it has a bathroom and a bar, and it stays farther back.

Here's what I'd budget, per person, once the dock fee and tip are in:

Small boat: about US$90 to $140
Catamaran with breakfast and a bar: about US$105 to $165

A few things I wish I'd known the first time. The "guarantee" is a free second trip, so it only helps if you have another free morning. The pages that promise "humpbacks and grays" mean humpbacks. It's cold on the ride back in February, so bring a layer. And some boats crowd the mothers and calves way too closely. Pick an operator that's licensed and talks about keeping its distance, and don't pick by the lowest price.

In January through March I'd book about a week ahead to be safe, and earlier around the holidays. Boats, operators and what to ask are all in my post on whale watching in Cabo.

2. The Arch by Water Taxi, Early

Everybody should do this one, in any month, and it costs less than lunch. It's also the best example of the price thing I mentioned up top.

Walk down to the marina by about 8:30. A man with a laminated card will quote you US$40 a head, or more. I say twenty, round trip, with an hour on the beach, and that's what I've paid. There are a couple of small fees on top, a few dollars at the dock gate and sometimes a park wristband, plus a tip. The same ride through a hotel desk or a cruise excursion runs US$80 to $150, on the same kind of boat.

The ride takes you past Pelican Rock and the sea lions, then to the Arch, where the captain idles and everybody trades phones. Then you go around the point into the Pacific swell for a look at Divorce Beach, and back to Lover's Beach if you're getting off.

The "glass bottom" is two rectangular panels in the floor, and the water is often cloudy. The captain throws bread, and the fish come right up to the surface, where you'd have seen them over the side anyway. Think of it as a cheap, fun boat ride to the Arch and you'll be happy.

My tips, because this is where it goes wrong for people:

Ask before you pay: "Can we get off at the beach today?" Landing at Lover's Beach depends on the sea and the sand that day, and some days the answer is no.
Go back on the same boat. Agree on a pickup time and remember the boat's name. If you hop on a different water taxi, you pay again.
It's a wet landing. You step off the bow into knee-deep water with your bag held up.
Bring water and a hat. There's no shade and no bathroom on the beach.
Don't swim at Divorce Beach. It's a short walk through the rocks to the Pacific side, and it's for looking only.

An hour on the sand is plenty. Done this way, you're back at breakfast by 10:30, right about when the first cruise ship passengers are stepping onto the dock. On ship days the marina is at its worst from 10am to mid-afternoon, and after a big south swell the boats may not be able to land at all.

There's more in my guide to El Arco and Lover's Beach.

3. A Morning at Chileno Bay, on Your Own

This is my favorite free thing in Los Cabos. Chileno is a protected cove on the Corridor with a lifeguard, bathrooms, showers and a roped swim area, and you can snorkel right off the sand.

I take an Uber at 8, and I've never had trouble getting one back. If you're driving, parking is free, and the lot is usually full by 10. A paved path runs down from the lot. At that hour the water is flat and there are a handful of people. Swim to the right, toward the rocks, where the fish are.

By about 10:30 the tour catamarans are anchored just outside the buoys and their snorkelers come in wearing life vests, in a line. By noon the beach is full. So go early, and go any day but Sunday if you can.

A snorkel catamaran to these same bays costs about US$100 to $170 a person all-in, and most of that time is spent on the boat. It's a pleasant sail with a drink and lunch. I just wouldn't call it a snorkeling trip, and on a cold or windy day the snorkel stop can get cut altogether. If the sail and the open bar are what you're after, book it and enjoy it. If you want time in the water, do it yourself.

What to know before you go:

Nothing to eat or drink is sold on the beach that you can count on. Pack water and snacks, or you'll be leaving hungry at noon.
Bring your own mask. I wouldn't count on renting a good one there.
Shade is limited. Bring an umbrella or plan to pay for one.
Bring toilet paper. Trust me.
A taxi runs US$20 to $30 each way from San Lucas. Uber is cheaper, and I compare the two in getting around Cabo.

As for the water, expect a lot of fish over rock. It's not a Caribbean coral reef. October and November are the best months, warm and clear. From February to April the water is in the low 70s, and I've had mornings there with tons of fish and mornings when it was so cloudy I couldn't see more than a few feet. Month by month, it's all in my post on snorkeling in Cabo.

Santa María, a few minutes down the highway, is the other cove. It's a smaller horseshoe with coarser sand. I'd pick Chileno for a first visit and for kids. I've got a full guide to Chileno Bay, and both coves are in my ranking of the best swimmable beaches in Cabo.

4. A Thursday Evening in San José del Cabo

On Thursdays from November through the end of June, the galleries in San José stay open from 5pm to 9pm, the main gallery street closes to cars, and it's the best evening in Los Cabos. It's also free. From July to October it's off, so please check your dates before you plan around it.

You start at Plaza Mijares by the mission church and wander the gallery streets behind it, and some of the galleries will pour you a drink. Then you have dinner. I go for the walk and the meal, and I don't go expecting to buy art. It's the one night of the trip that feels like being in a town in Mexico and not at a resort.

If you're staying in Cabo San Lucas, it's 35 to 45 minutes each way. An Uber is about 600 pesos. The bus is a few dollars and I like it, but it stays on the highway a walk from the old town and stops running around 10pm, so on a Thursday I take an Uber both ways. That ride back is 40 minutes after wine, which is the only real downside.

Book your dinner table ahead on Art Walk nights, because they fill up.

On any other evening, in any month, the old town is still worth a dinner and a walk around the plaza. Just know that in August and September it gets very quiet and some restaurants close. The gallery night has its own post, the San José Art Walk, and the rest of the town is in my San José del Cabo guide. If you're sleeping on that side, I've ranked the things to do in San José del Cabo separately.

5. One Meal at a Farm Restaurant

Pick one of the three and make it your nice meal of the trip. They're all working farms just outside San José, the last stretch of the drive is a dirt road, and the setting is unlike anything else I've eaten at in a resort town.

Flora Farms is the famous one and the biggest production. I'd pick it for the setting.
Acre is the one I'd pick for the food and the design. It has treehouse rooms and a cocktail bar.
Los Tamarindos is the least fuss of the three, on an old sugar cane hacienda, and it runs cooking classes built around a four-course meal.

Flora is the one where I've watched people arrive disappointed. It's a restaurant in a garden with shops, a grocery and a spa around it. If you're picturing fields and a tractor, you'll wonder where the farm went. There are free farm tours, but you have to reserve one. The food isn't Mexican, either. It was good, though, and the cocktails and the burrata are what I'd order again. It's also pricey for what lands on the plate, and I once paid around US$40 for a pizza that was a lot smaller than I expected. Give it two hours, and think of it as an outing with a meal in the middle.

Budget US$55 to $165 a person with drinks and tip, depending on which farm you pick and whether it's brunch or dinner, plus the ride. Uber will get you out there, but for the ride home after dinner I'd plan on the taxi stand at Flora, or ask Acre or Los Tamarindos to call you a taxi, and treat an Uber as a bonus.

Book well ahead in high season, Flora especially, and especially for Sunday brunch and Art Walk Thursdays. Hours change by day of the week, so check before you pick a Monday. And hours can change in late summer, so check before you go any time from July to October.

If you're stuck between them, I compare all three in Flora Farms vs Acre vs Los Tamarindos, and I go deeper on the famous one in is Flora Farms worth it.

6. Todos Santos and Cerritos Beach by Car

If you want one day out of town, make it this one. It's an easy drive of about an hour up a four-lane highway from Cabo San Lucas, and the town has things Cabo doesn't, like shade, old buildings and a slower pace.

Leave San Lucas around 8 and go to Todos Santos first, while the streets are still quiet, for the church, the plaza, a loop of the gallery streets and a long lunch. Then stop at Cerritos on the way home, a wide Pacific beach 10 or 15 minutes south of town. It's where beginners take surf lessons, and it's one of the few places on the Pacific side where people get in the water. It's still open ocean with rip currents, so don't treat it like a cove. Be on the road home by about 4:30 in winter.

Don't drive back after dark. Cows lie down on the road at night because the pavement is still warm.

This one splits people. It's been a favorite day of mine, and I also understand how somebody could be bored in half an hour. There are real galleries, and there are also a lot of shops selling the same things you saw at the Cabo marina. If you go for the Hotel California, you'll be let down. It has nothing to do with the Eagles song. Go for the town and the beach.

I'd do it with a rental car, which is roughly US$60 to $100 for the day once the insurance is in. I explain the insurance part in renting a car in Cabo. A tour is about US$100 to $150 a person, and the big coach versions give you as little as an hour on the same three streets. From San José, add half an hour each way.

The full route is in my Todos Santos day trip post.

7. The Mt Solmar Hike

The best view in Cabo San Lucas is free. From the top you can see the marina, Médano Beach, the rocks at Land's End and both seas at the same time.

You can't hike it whenever you want, though. The hill is private land behind a locked gate, and the only way up is with the guide, a local dog trainer who has led this walk a couple of thousand times. He takes a group up at 8am, Sunday through Friday, never on Saturdays, and earlier in the summer heat. You just show up at his dog training camp on the marina boulevard about fifteen minutes early. Please confirm it's running the week you're there, because it's one man's schedule.

It takes under two hours. It's free, and you tip.

It's steep and loose near the top, and I needed my hands for the last part. I wouldn't bring small kids or bad knees. In high season the group can be twenty or thirty people, so you'll be going up in a line. I still think it's worth it for that view.

8. A Day on Médano Beach

You're going to end up here anyway, so you may as well do it right. Médano is the one place in Los Cabos where you can swim, eat, have a drink and get on a boat without needing a ride.

It's two beaches in one. The end by the marina is beach clubs with MCs and contests, jet skis and a steady stream of vendors. The middle and the east end are calmer, with roped swim areas in front of the resorts. Groups looking for a party should head west. Everyone else, walk east to the middle. I'd stop before the far east end by the Riu resorts, where the sand is steeper and the water rougher.

The sand is free and public. The lounge chairs are a different story. I tried the trick you'll read about online, where you sit on a resort's loungers because "the beach is public", and security was standing next to me in about a minute and a half. To get a chair you either order at a beach club or buy a day pass. Passes and minimums run from about US$45 a head up to US$150 or so, and most of it usually comes back as food and drink credit. For roughly the price of lunch you get a lounger, a bathroom and a rope between you and the vendors. I rank them in the best beach clubs in Cabo.

Get in the water before 10am, when it's flat and quiet. I'd avoid the marina end in March, when it's spring break, and on cruise ship days. And some of the best-known beach restaurants take a break for part of every September.

Bottom line: it's a good beach day more than a great one, and I'd give it one of your days. Picking your spot is covered in my Médano Beach guide.

9. A Day Trip to Cabo Pulmo

If you're a snorkeler or a diver, move this up to number two. It's a protected reef on the East Cape that has had years to recover, and nothing near the resorts compares to it. Sea lions, turtles and big schools of jacks, all from a small boat.

For everyone else it's a LONG day, and that's why it's down here. It's 2 to 2.5 hours each way from Cabo San Lucas, a bit less from San José, and the last stretch is washboard dirt. I leave at 6:30. The boats launch right off the beach, pushed into the water by a truck, around 9. You make three or four stops with a life jacket on, which is required. Then it's fish tacos in the village and the rattle back out to the pavement, and I'm home around 5, crusted in salt and very happy.

There are two ways to do it:

Drive yourself and book a village boat. About US$80 to $100 a person for the boat, with gear, a guide and the park fee included.
Take a tour from Cabo. Roughly US$200 to $300 a person. Check the minimum age if you have kids, because some tours don't take children under ten.

If you drive, read your rental contract about dirt roads first. Book the boat directly with an operator in the village, a few days ahead, longer around the holidays, and ask for a morning slot. The number of boats allowed on each site is capped.

October and November are the best months to go. From January to March the water is cold, and north winds make the afternoons choppy and sometimes cancel the boats. That hurts after a two-hour drive, so check the wind before you leave.

10. A Sunset Sail on a Small Boat

From the Pacific side at golden hour you get the sun going into the sea and the far face of the Arch lit up, which you can't get from inside the bay.

The thing to know is that "sunset cruise" covers several very different boats. There are small sailboats and small catamarans that take around fourteen people, party catamarans with a DJ, and big dinner boats with a band and a buffet. The listings blur them together, so read for the passenger count. Ask how many people the boat takes, because the number matters more than anything else on the listing.

I take the small sail, and the ones I've been on had attentive crews and felt like the right size. The party boat is a fine pick for a group. I skip the dinner boat, because it's a buffet on a large boat and the small one gets you the same sunset.

Budget about US$100 to $140 a person all-in for a small sail, and a little less for a party catamaran. "Open bar" means domestic beer and well drinks.

The Pacific side has swell, and this is the trip where people get seasick, so plan for that if it's you. Bring a jacket in winter. I'd book a few days ahead in season. The different boats are compared in my Cabo sunset cruise post.

Worth It If This Is Your Thing

These four don't belong in a general top ten, but if one of them is your hobby, it may be the whole reason you came.

Sport Fishing

If you fish, this goes in your top three. Cabo built its name on it, and it's one of the few places where a first-timer can hook a marlin within sight of land, though most days bring dorado or tuna. Something is biting all year.

If you don't fish, skip it. It's hours of trolling, and it's a poor sightseeing trip for the friend who came along to be nice.

You charter the whole boat. A small panga for two or three people is roughly US$250 to $420 for a half day. A 28 to 32 foot cruiser for a full day is roughly US$750 to $1,350, and four people fish comfortably on it. That quote is just the start. Add a fishing license of about US$20 per person per day, bait, your own food and drinks on a lot of boats, and a cash tip of 15 to 20%. Boats leave around 6 or 7am.

Don't buy a cut-price charter from someone on the dock. It's the same bait and switch as the cut-price Arch trips. And for the tournament weeks in late October, book months ahead. Everything else is in sport fishing in Cabo.

Scuba Diving

For certified divers, this is high on the list, especially from September through November when the water is warm and clear. Sea lions and a canyon of falling sand, about ten minutes by boat from the marina, is not something you get in many places.

A local two-tank dive is about US$110 to $180 all-in. Go on an early boat, because the traffic around Land's End is heavy by mid-morning. Gordo Banks, the seamount off San José, is for advanced divers only. It's deep, there's current, it costs quite a bit more, and it has a hit-or-miss reputation. I can't promise you hammerheads and neither can anyone else. Which of the four dive days is worth a vacation day is in scuba diving in Cabo.

From late winter into early summer the water is colder and greener.

Golf

For golfers, the courses are a reason to come. The ocean holes here would cost more in Hawaii or California.

The catch is access. Some of the most famous courses aren't open to visitors. Quivira is for Pueblo Bonito guests and residents, and Diamante's courses are private, so you get onto those by booking the right hotel. Courses that do take visitors include Puerto Los Cabos, Cabo Real and Club Campestre in San José. Several of the famous ones have gone private or are tied to staying there, so check before you plan a trip around a round. I rank the ones you can book, and say which hotel gets you onto the others, in the best golf courses in Cabo.

November to May is the season, and I'd book tee times a week or more ahead. Summer is about a third cheaper and brutal after 11am.

Surfing

A lesson is a good half day for a beginner. Cerritos, on the Pacific near Todos Santos, works most of the year and is where most lessons happen. It's about US$60 to $85 at the beach, and a lot more if you add transportation from Cabo. Costa Azul, by San José, is the summer spot. It's flat in winter and rocky at low tide.

Neither one is a swimming beach, so don't plan the family beach day around the surfer's lesson.

The Ones That Didn't Make It

Some of these are fine, and a couple I'd talk you out of.

La Paz as a day trip. The wildlife up there is fantastic. Whale sharks, sea lions and Balandra Bay are all real reasons to go. But it's about two and a half hours each way, a whale shark tour from Cabo is a ten to twelve hour day at around US$260 to $300, and four or five of those hours are in a van. Stay a night or two up there, or save it for another trip. I lay out both ways in my La Paz day trip post.

ATV tours. It's about a dusty hour of driving in single file behind a guide, with stops where the photographer happens to be waiting. The advertised price of about US$55 to $75 turns into US$110 to $140 once the park fee and the insurance are added at check-in. I was also told to leave my phone in a locker unless I paid extra to carry it, and then I was offered the photo album for well over a hundred dollars. If your group really wants to do it, book the side-by-side UTV with a roll cage and seat belts. The sit-on ATVs do roll over and people do get hurt, and private hospitals here want payment up front, so carry travel medical insurance. The details are in Cabo ATV and camel tours.

Camel rides. It's a led walk on the beach, bundled with a buffet and a tequila tasting, for about US$100 to $150. Camels aren't native to Baja. The biggest operator says its herd is welfare certified, with rest days and a vet on call. I can't tell you what standards the others keep, and how the camels are treated is a concern for some travelers. I skip it.

Dolphin swims. I skip these too. The dolphins are captive animals, and that's just not where I want to spend my money. You'll make your own call on that one.

Wild Canyon. It's ziplines, a bungee jump and a park pass on the Corridor. Figure about US$175 to $280 a person by the time the entry fee is paid at check-in. That's a theme park day at theme park prices. Teenagers will love it. I'd rather be in the water.

The sunset dinner boat. See number ten. Take the small sail.

The pirate ship. It's an old wooden boat with actors, a buffet and an open bar. If you have kids between about four and ten, go, and they'll have a great time. If you don't, take the sailboat.

Snorkel catamarans in winter and spring. The water is at its coldest and the trip is mostly boat time. See number three.

Jet skis, parasailing and banana boats. Fine, and the same as on any beach anywhere. If somebody in your group wants a turn, buy it on the sand that day, in the morning when it's calmer.

The bar strip. It's why a lot of people come to Cabo, and for everybody else it's one night. El Squid Roe is tame until 11pm and gets going after midnight. It's loud, it's very American, and the drinks are priced that way. If you want a night out that isn't that, my picks are in Cabo nightlife.

The marina boardwalk. It's a nice free walk before 9am or after 5pm, and I'd do it on your way to a boat. It's also where the timeshare salespeople work. They wear polo shirts and lanyards that say things like "Tourist Information", and they open with "Did you get your map?" There's no map. The half-price tour is how you end up at a Cabo timeshare presentation. And please don't hand over cash on the dock for a half-price whale or Arch trip that's "right now or you lose it".

The glass factory and the city tours. These are shopping stops built for cruise passengers with six hours to fill. The glass workshop is free to watch and it exists to sell. I wouldn't take a taxi there. If you are off a ship, what I'd do with those hours is in my Cabo cruise port guide.

The Verdict

The best of Cabo is close to town, takes a couple of hours and happens before 10am. Almost none of it needs a tour desk.

If you only have time for one thing, make it a small-boat whale trip in season, and the Arch by water taxi first thing in the morning in every other month.

For a first trip of four or five days, staying in Cabo San Lucas with no car, here's what I'd pick:

Day 1: Land, swim at Médano, walk to dinner.
Day 2: The Arch by water taxi at 8:30, with an hour on Lover's Beach if the boats are landing. Médano in the afternoon. In whale season, do a morning whale trip, which passes the Arch anyway.
Day 3: Chileno by 8:30 with your own mask, and back for lunch. If it's a Thursday between November and June, go to San José for the Art Walk and dinner. If it isn't, book a farm restaurant.
Day 4: One big thing, by taste. Todos Santos and Cerritos with a one-day rental car, a fishing charter, or Cabo Pulmo if you love snorkeling and it's fall.
Day 5, if you have one: Mt Solmar at 8am, the pool, and a small-boat sunset sail.

I'd leave out La Paz, the ATVs, Wild Canyon, the dinner boat, and anything that's sold to you with a free breakfast. I've put the timing and the rides together in my 5-day Cabo itinerary.

A few adjustments for who you are:

Families with kids under ten: the middle of Médano, Chileno, a whale boat that takes their age and the pirate ship. Skip the bouncy small whale boats and Mt Solmar.
Couples staying in San José: the old town, a farm restaurant, a swim at Palmilla, one day trip by car, and one boat day in San Lucas.
Snorkelers and divers: Cabo Pulmo and the dives at Land's End, in October or November if you can.
Groups: the marina end of Médano, a party catamaran at sunset and the bar strip.
Repeat visitors: Cabo Pulmo, and a night or two in Todos Santos or La Paz. You've seen the Arch.

If you're coming in September or early October, put your boat days at the start of the trip and keep a spare day, because when the port closes for swell, every boat is canceled at once.

For the planning around all this, see Cabo with kids, the Cabo first-timer mistakes I'd avoid, my 7-day Cabo itinerary and Cabo vs Cancún.

The whole list fits in a text. Arch by water taxi at 8:30, twenty bucks, ask if you can land. Chileno by Uber before 9, bring a mask and snacks. Whales on a small boat if it's winter. Thursday night in San José. One farm dinner. Skip anything with a pickup and a photographer... you won't miss it.

Quick Answers

What is the number one thing to do in Cabo? From about Christmas to late March, a small-boat whale watching trip. The rest of the year, the Arch by water taxi early in the morning, followed by a swim.

How much does the boat to the Arch cost? About US$20 a person round trip if you deal directly with a water taxi at the marina or on Médano, plus a few dollars in dock and park fees and a tip. The same ride sold through a hotel or cruise desk runs US$80 to $150.

Can you get off the boat at Lover's Beach? Usually, but it depends on the sea and the sand that day. Ask the boatman whether he can land before you pay.

Can you snorkel in Cabo without a tour? Yes. Chileno and Santa María are public coves on the Corridor, and an Uber gets you to Chileno and back. Bring your own mask, go before 10am, and pack water, because nothing you can count on is sold on the beach.

Are the ATV tours worth it? Only if your group really wants one. Plan on US$110 to $140 a person for an ATV once the fees at check-in are added, or about US$200 a person for a UTV, and pick the UTV with a roll cage over the sit-on ATV.