SAN JOSE DEL CABO, MX
San Jose del Cabo is a so often overlooked and skipped neighbor to the terrible Cabo San Lucas to the south. This town, or rather city, is so wrongly missed by many people who come to the area. I absolutely loved it here, and was both surprised and pleased at home much I enjoyed this cute little town. San Jose is a quaint and cute city with colorful streets, creative and trendy restaurants and bars, some beautiful beaches, great surf spots, and a remaining charm that no longer exists at all only 45 minutes to the south. It's interesting about this place — the international airport is located in San Jose, but so many people just go straight down to San Lucas. Actually, maybe I should stop right here and just tell people to keep on going down there. Let San Jose be. Let it keep its charm. That's probably best. Now to say it is undiscovered, is not the case whatsoever. There is a lot of tourism. But it's a better type of tourism. There are walking streets — colorfully adorned with traditional paper flags between the buildings, murals on the walls, old storefronts creatively repurposed, restaurants, mariachi bands in the streets, and artists selling things on the side of the road. It was a really nice place to spend some time. Outside of the town itself there are some nice beaches, that yes, will have a lot of people on them. But they are beautiful nonetheless. Also some really nice surf spots in the area. So you get more of an influence from surfer tourists which is a type of person that, in my not so humble opinion, is a much better type of crowd than what's going on in Cabo San Lucas.
San Jose del Cabo is located at the bottom of the Baja peninsula. It's also the location of the largest airport in the state (SJD). It's only a 15-minute drive or so from the airport to downtown San Jose, so you have access from all over the world. This brings with it a large share of tourism, but a lot of the tourism in the area heads down to Cabo San Lucas.
San Jose is located on highway 1. If you are driving, you can enter from either side. You can come up from Cabo San Lucas, or come down into it from the eastern side of the peninsula. The specific location of San Jose is where I would say that the "East Cape" begins. The East Cape being a stunning and relatively wild portion of the southern tip of Baja. The East Cape has its own section in the Bobi Book.
If you are heading up the 1 from San Lucas, when you pass San Jose, if you hug the coast and get off the 1, this is where the East Cape really starts. It's an important distinguishing point, in my opinion. Hugging the coast past San Jose, Baja gets wilder again.
This is a proper city though. It has everything you could want. Large grocery stores, a Costco and Walmart nearby, restaurants, accommodation all that. If you are heading up to the East Cape though, I would recommend stocking up on your supplies here.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
Small little surf-oriented hostel in San Jose. It's in kind of a random location but it's a cute little spot. One of only a few hostels here.
Accommodation options are good here —especially if you are looking for a hotel. However, if you are looking for a hostel, it's pretty slim-picking to be honest. There are a few, but there isn't much of a backpacking scene here. It's more people on vacation.
So for the most part you have hotels or Airbnbs. There's a lot of pretty good Airbnb options as well. You can find stuff here for as little $25. If you are passing through here, that's a pretty good option. — A couple options I know of below from a hotel/hostel perspective.
Cabo Surf Hotel is a nice spot right on the water. It's a cool place that a lot of my friends from California go down to stay at on surf trips in southern Baja. It is really expensive, but you are on the water and in front of a wave. If you're only around for a bit and have the budget, this would be the coolest hotel option. You're like 5 minutes from San Jose, and 20 from the nightlife in San Lucas.
Another little hostel located in San Jose. The location here is the best of the two hostels mentioned, but you will be paying for it. It's approaching $30 for a dorm bed for the night, which is very steep. But if you want to be in a hostel, this one has a good location.
EATS
There's food all over the place here in San Jose Del Cabo. It's a major tourist destination, and a lot of the food is going to be catered kind of in that direction. But still the food is really good. It's not going to be tourist-trappy kind of tourist restaurants for the most part, but the food will be elevated in price. Still really good though.
It's going to be a bit harder here to find cheap local spots. The food is nicer — more tailored to the western tourist given the proximity to the airport, ease of access, and all of that.
But there are a few recommendations that I have below. I would say just explore on your own if you have more time though.
Restaurants
Absolutely amazing and delicious fish and shrimp tacos. — Price is right in this little local nook. A must, if you want to get something cheap and better than anything you'll spend money on.
Really good tacos de pastor and other types of meats here in a very local setting. Good burritos, too.
Nicer place for tacos. Will have more gringos, and is a more modern place. Good tacos though, in a comfy setting.
I didn't really do any nightlife stuff here. There's a few spots that I went to — a brewery in town, and an absolutely awesome techno spot that I will go into below. There's lots of restaurants and stuff like that here so there will be a nightlife, but it'll be more on the mellow side for sure. If you want to get going then go 25 minutes to the south to San Lucas.
SIGHTS
Every Thursday night on the cobblestone streets of downtown, a really large selection of artists from the entire region line up selling paintings and photos and all sorts of different types of art. It's a really nice way to see some of the culture from the area and maybe buy a piece of art. The city in general is pretty alive on these evenings, so everything is nice and quaint from 5-9 every week on Thursday.
There are obviously some nice beaches in and around San Jose del Cabo. But that's pretty obvious. In front of San Jose del Cabo is pretty much one large beach called Cabo Azul.
It's nice, but there's a lot of houses and condos and stuff built on it, so for me it's just okay. There aren't too many really nice things to see here though. It's more of seeing the town.
So if you are into churches and missions, there is a nice one here in the main square of town. It's one of the oldest Jesuit missions on the peninsula of Baja, also the most southernmost on the peninsula.
SURFING
There are a few nice spots to surf around San Jose. For me the better surfing is around the other side of the cape over on The East Cape. The East Cape isn't too far away from here either. I will get more into the surfing there. There's a few spots in this area though that are worth getting wet for.
Well I guess Flora Farms is a restaurant, and a place to go out. But I think more than anything it's a place to see. Now this place isn't cheap. Not in the slightest. Flora Farms is a 25-acre working farm that has a restaurant, a bar, a shopping center, etc. It's a really cool thing to see, but if you are on a budget, skip it, or just sneak in and walk around.
