In short
Cabo San Lucas sits at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, where the Sonoran Desert meets the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez. The landscape is arid and rocky, without the tropical vegetation of Mexico's other coasts — and that is what sets it apart.
The area reads in three parts. Cabo San Lucas is the lively resort town, with its marina, its bars and the rock Arch at the end of the point. San José del Cabo, thirty kilometres away, is the old colonial town, quieter, with its gallery district. The corridor between them lines the coast with large resort complexes.
Arriving and getting around
Los Cabos international airport (SJD) is about an hour's drive from Cabo San Lucas and twenty minutes from San José del Cabo. It is one of the Mexican airports best served by direct flights from the United States, which explains the make-up of its visitors.
On the ground there is no public transport a visitor can build a trip around: a local bus runs between the two towns, but cars and taxis dominate. Taxis are not metered — agree the fare before getting in.
What it really costs
This is one of the most expensive destinations in Mexico, and prices are often displayed in US dollars rather than pesos. Paying in pesos, by card or in cash, generally costs less than accepting the conversion offered.
The gap between the hotel corridor and the residential districts of the two towns is considerable. Eating and sleeping outside the tourist zones brings the budget back to the level of the rest of the country.
When to come
November to April: dry, sunny, between twenty-five and thirty degrees. It is also grey and humpback whale season, from January to March.
From July to October it is very hot and it is the eastern Pacific hurricane season. Rates fall accordingly.
What nobody tells you
Lovers' Beach, by the Arch, is reached only by boat from the marina. And the beach next to it on the Pacific side — Divorce Beach — is not swimmable: the currents are violent and drownings occur there.
More broadly, many beaches at the point are unsuitable for swimming because of the Pacific swell. The flag system should be taken seriously, and the safe beaches are those on the Sea of Cortez side, to the east.
Los Cabos has no cenotes, no Mayan ruins and no jungle. Anyone coming for the Mexico of the Yucatán has the wrong coast by two thousand kilometres.