Decisions
Los Cabos, head to head
Four direct comparisons for the choices most visitors actually have to make: which boat trip, which desert tour, which town to sleep in, and which of the two best beaches to drive to. Each one ends with a bottom line rather than a shrug.
Sunset cruise or snorkel cruise: which should you book in Cabo?
Book the snorkel cruise if you want to do something and the sunset cruise if you want to look at something. The snorkel trip is longer at three to four hours, costs $60–$120 and gets you in the water at Santa María; the sunset cruise is two hours, costs $45–$110 and passes the Arch on the way to open water.
Snorkel cruise for a first boat trip. Sunset cruise as a second one, or as an evening rather than a day. If the budget only stretches to one and you are here in the warm half of the year, the water wins.
ATV or camel ride: which is better in Los Cabos?
Both run on the same Pacific beach at Migriño and cost roughly the same, but the ATV gives you two to three hours of riding and the camel gives you twenty to thirty minutes on an animal plus lunch. Take the ATV unless you are travelling with young children, in which case the camel wins easily.
ATV for adults, camel for children under about twelve, and the combination tour at $120–$180 if you want the whole half-day and cannot choose. All three leave from the same stretch of Pacific beach.
Cabo San Lucas or San José del Cabo: where should you stay?
Stay in Cabo San Lucas for nightlife, boat departures and a swimmable town beach; stay in San José del Cabo for food, galleries, quiet and a fifteen-minute airport transfer. They are 30 miles and 45 minutes apart, and Cabo San Lucas runs $40 a night more on average.
Cabo San Lucas if nightlife and boats are the trip. San José del Cabo for everyone else, and definitely in March. If a swimmable beach outside your door is the priority, neither — book the Tourist Corridor.
Chileno Bay or Santa María Cove: which beach should you go to?
Go to Chileno Bay if you want facilities and easy parking, and Santa María Cove if snorkelling is the point. They are two minutes apart on Highway 1 in the Tourist Corridor, both free, both protected, and both fill their car parks by about 10am in high season.
Chileno for a day at the beach, Santa María for an hour of snorkelling, and both if you get up early. Neither costs anything and both are signposted off Highway 1 between Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo.