1. Booking a beach you cannot swim at
The San José del Cabo hotel zone fronts open water with a steep shelf and a hard undertow. Much of the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas is the same. Plenty of visitors book beachfront, arrive, and find the beach is for looking at.
If getting into the sea from your own hotel matters, book the Tourist Corridor — Chileno, Santa María and Palmilla are the swimmable stretches — or Medano Beach in Cabo San Lucas.
2. Engaging with anyone in the arrivals hall
People wearing airline and resort branding will offer to help with your transport. They are selling timeshare presentations. Pre-book a transfer, decline everyone without stopping, and walk outside.
3. Paying in dollars
Dollars are accepted at a rate the business sets, typically 5–8% worse than the bank rate, and change comes back in pesos at that same rate. Withdraw pesos from a bank ATM and decline dynamic currency conversion every time it is offered.
4. Underestimating the geography
Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo are 30 miles and about 45 minutes apart, with taxis at $45–$70 between them. 'We will just pop over for dinner' is a $100 evening before you have eaten.
5. Swimming where you should not
Pacific-facing beaches have heavy shore break, strong rips and no lifeguards. Divorce Beach, thirty metres from a beach full of tourists, has a fatality record. The flag system is posted on measured conditions — treat red and black as absolute.
And one more: booking everything on arrival
In high season, the good small-boat whale tours, the better restaurants and the well-reviewed charters fill days out. Booking on the day means taking what is left, which in practice means the large catamaran and the tourist-menu restaurant.