CABO SAN LUCAS, MX
Now onto Cabo San Lucas. I was oddly excited to write about my least favorite part of the peninsula, and maybe Mexico as a whole. It was an exciting place for me to get to when I was driving down the Baja Peninsula. For absolutely no reason other than it is the southern tip of the Peninsula. We had made it, we had gotten to the bottom. Outside of this, there is very little about this part of the State I find redeeming. That's probably a bit harsh. There are some beautiful aspects of Cabo. If you removed all of the human beings, the fake tattoos, corn rows, cruise ships, headbands with profanity, neon tank tops, spring breaking Americans and overweight Texans, it would be a beautiful part of the world. But other than that it is the definition of over-tourism and the evacuation of charm due to the influx of wealth, overbuilding, and modern-day colonialism. These comments go specifically for the town of Cabo San Lucas. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that anyone go here. I have been a few times though. Mainly when I was in my late teens and early 20's. It was fun then I guess, and I will recount some of the things that I did there here in this summary. My most recent visit however I spent no more than 20 minutes in town. I took a photo with my brother as a commemorative "we did it", and we pushed on to the significantly superior and authentic San Jose del Cabo. Nevertheless, a few things about this place will be mentioned below. Some restaurants and the nightlife options. Which if anything, is the only redeeming quality of this general hell-hole. Even though that's what probably made it a hell-hole to begin with. If you go to Cabo San Lucas I would say just enjoy it for what it is. It's a trashy, touristy, gringo hot spot. Lean in and you can have fun. Go there with other expectations and you will likely be let down.
Cabo San Lucas. Typically just referred to as Cabo by everyone (those who go there), ignoring the fact that this part of the peninsula is called "Los Cabos". — Los Cabos meaning: 'the cabos'. For Cabo San Lucas and San Jose Del Cabo. San Jose del Cabo being something that I am actually a large fan of. But anyways, Cabo San Lucas is at the bottom of the peninsula of Baja.
When you get here you will be at the southern tip of it all. The end of Baja. You made it all the way down. For better or for worse, the journey down is over. Unless you are turning around, then you are a lucky bastard. You get to do all that magic again.
Cabo San Lucas, along with being located where it is located, is the location for the largest amount of tourism in the entire peninsula. An amount of tourism that has altered the face of the place and likely stripped all of the original culture from it, whilst admittedly creating its own unique and entirely distinct culture at the same time. It's not my cup of tea, but it's certainly a lot of people's, — typically those from the US. There is so much tourism from the US here it is shocking. English is more common than Spanish, and when you travel the majority of Baja for months and find yourself here you shockingly find yourself in the midst of culture shock.
There's an airport here, that's why everyone comes, and how they come. It really is beautiful. There are some amazing beaches — blue water. But it all gets a little ruined if you ask me. There's a Walmart, to pick up all your essentials on the way to your villa or your Airbnb. That's how it goes here. The culture gets lost. But it only happens in this town. It's a great place to get lost, and just do whatever you want. When people say that you can just party and nothing matters in Mexico, this is what they are talking about. Do it here, but please remember, there are a few places where that happens, and don't do it in the other ones.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
Accommodation options in Cabo are realistically endless. I mean the majority of the city is some form of short-term accommodation. The beach is littered with all-inclusive resorts and hotels about as far as the eye can see, or at least as far as the beach goes in each direction. These will vary in level of luxury, with some of them being extremely nice, and with that, expensive. Others are cheaper. With the all-inclusive options it's exactly what it sounds like. But it will run you back a lot, and the value you are getting for the food (which is pretty terrible quality) is not worth it if you ask me.
The best option here if you are going to be going on vacation I would say is to rent a villa. There is a part of town called 'Pedregal' — there are beautiful villas that overlook the ocean. If you pack enough people into these things it's not outrageously expensive. Compared to a hostel it is insane, but if you're just in it for vacation then you will probably have the budget to afford it.
I won't get into any of the hotel scene here in Cabo. I also won't get into any of the hostels. There are a few here though. Cabo isn't known for its backpacker's scene, and I just feel like there are so many places — especially in Mexico — with so much more worth visiting than this place.
EATS
The eating in Cabo San Lucas is unique to the peninsula I would say. Typically the options here will not be local or street-style food, which is to be found all over other parts of Mexico. Given the extreme reliance on foreign tourists, the restaurants cater to just that.
Restaurants will be sit-down, expensive, and priced to tourists — a lot of options will be chef-driven and luxurious. I would say the eating scene here primarily caters to western tourists. If you stay here a while, you'll find out where the local options are, but I have no interest in staying here long enough to figure it out. As a result, no insight from me here.
NIGHTLIFE
Bars and Clubs
Now here is a section that I will actually get into about Cabo San Lucas. This place has a nightlife that is famous, and rightfully so. It's wild, it's sloppy, it's lawless, and it's all day long, — 7 days a week. This is the 'Las Vegas of Mexico'. You can party all day and all night long, 7 days of the week here. There's a few places that are famous and I will admit, very fun, if you know what you are getting into. It's going to be gringo tourists everywhere getting wasted on tequila. Participating in wet t-shirt contests. Getting henna tattoos, paying to pose with iguanas, taking tequila shots out of fake penises etc. You get the drill.
If you are unlucky enough to be there during March or April, you will also probably run into the US spring break crowd. This in itself is another form of tourism — to watch these late teens university students make fools of themselves in a seemingly consequence-free environment.
I will outline below a few of the infamous nightlife locations here in Cabo. If you find yourself in Cabo, go have a sloppy night. You're already here — might as well.
This spot on the beach in the middle of the tourist-zone is where the most action is during the day. There are tables on the sand, it's usually packed, — with servers coming up to your table to pour tequila in your mouth. There's wet t-shirt contests, and all that kind of stuff going on here.
This is a nightclub spot on the nightlife strip in downtown Cabo. It was oddly founded by Sammy Hagar — a member of 'Van Halen', in the 1990s. It's an establishment in Cabo, and will be full of people late into the night, almost every night.
This is both a restaurant and a bar with a clever name. It's right on the beach, and will be higher priced and tamer than its neighbor 'Mango Deck'. It's a good place to sit and have lunch and start the day off. You'll spend a bunch of money, but if you're on vacation, this is one of the better places.
Probably the most famous nightclub in town. It's wild and rowdy, and was my favorite place to go out. It's a 2-story hotbox, but it's pretty great. Not to miss on a night out.
This is another club on the strip. It's one of the nicer ones, — with bottle service, and all of that stuff. If you are looking into doing something a little nicer, more exclusive, this is where you come.
A famous little spot in the marina. It's a small bar, but it gets pretty rowdy. People will start their nights here, and then go to the nightclubs.
SIGHTS
Certainly the most popular thing to do from a sightseeing perspective. There's a pretty amazing arch out at the southwest end of the bay. It's the most southern part of the entire peninsula I believe. You can kind of see it from the main beach, but a lot of people go out and take boats to tour it closer. Here you can see a picture of some tourists, and the famous arch.
Everything to do here had been 'touristified' to an incomprehensible extent. There are a few things to go and see. You will have to pay for a tour or something like that. A few are highlighted below.
Lover's Beach is a smaller and somewhat more remote beach in the bay. To say it's remote is not remotely accurate. There are lots of boats taking people out there all day, but it is a nice and somewhat secluded little beach. You have to take a boat here, so there are far fewer people than on the main beach for that reason alone.
SURFING
There is surfing around this part of the peninsula. I wouldn't necessarily say any of it is in actual Cabo San Lucas. I won't cover any surfing here. To the north they will be in the Todos Santos page, and to the east where there are great waves they will be in some of those guides. So no surfing recommendations from me here.