Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Cabo San Lucas: who it suits and who should stay elsewhere
Cabo San Lucas is the marina town at the southern tip of the peninsula, 45 minutes from Los Cabos International Airport, and it is where the nightlife, the boat fleet and the Arch are. Stay here if you want to walk to bars and boats; stay elsewhere if you want quiet. Hotels run roughly $180–$700 a night depending on season.
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Key facts
- Drive from SJD airport
- About 45 minutes
- Typical hotel rate
- $180–$700 per night
- Main beach
- Medano Beach — swimmable
- Walkable
- Yes, marina and downtown
Stay here if
You want nightlife, the marina, and to walk to everything
Stay elsewhere if
You want quiet, or you are here in March during spring break
Cabo San Lucas grew around a tuna cannery and then around a marina, and the marina still organises the town. Almost every boat trip in Los Cabos leaves from here, which is the practical reason to stay in town rather than the Corridor.
The downtown core is compact and walkable, with the bar strip on Boulevard Marina and the better restaurants scattered a few blocks inland. Medano Beach runs east from the marina and is the town's swimming beach.
In March the town is given over to spring break for roughly three weeks. If you are not there for that, stay in San José del Cabo and visit for the day.
Cabo San Lucas on the map
Cabo San Lucas
Loud, walkable, boat-centred. About 45 minutes from Los Cabos International Airport.
22.8905, -109.9167
What to do in Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas: common questions
Is Cabo San Lucas walkable?
The marina, downtown and Medano Beach are all walkable from each other, roughly a 20-minute walk end to end. Anything in the Tourist Corridor requires a car or taxi.
Can you swim in Cabo San Lucas?
At Medano Beach, yes — it is the town's protected swimming beach on the Sea of Cortez. The Pacific-facing beaches west of town are not safe for swimming.
Other areas
The Cabo brief
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