Los Cabos
Mexico
Desert running into the Pacific at the tip of Baja, with grey whales in the bay every winter
Photo by Victoria Bragg on Unsplash
Photos by Greg Bulla, Stephanie De la torre, Roberto Nickson and Carlos Gilbert on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Mexico
November to April — and January to March for the whales
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 70mm in Sep
Where it is
22.89°N, 109.92°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Take a boat to the arch early, before the water gets busy
- Go whale watching between January and March
- Drive up to Todos Santos for the afternoon
- Dive or snorkel Cabo Pulmo, which is a conservation success story
- Swim only where the flags say you can, and believe them
Los Cabos travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Mexico
ExpensiveEverything here quotes in dollars and converts badly. Ask for the peso price and pay in pesos — the difference across a week is substantial. Cards are taken everywhere on the corridor.
ATMs & cards
Use machines inside Santander, BBVA or Banorte branches. The standalone ones in the marina and the hotel lobbies charge heavily and offer dollars at their own rate — decline both. Skimming is a known problem at unattended machines here.
Avoid these
- the machines in the marina and the hotel lobbies
Use these instead
- Santander
- BBVA
- Banorte, inside a branch
Everything quotes in dollars and converts badly — ask for the peso price and pay that. Skimming at unattended machines is a known problem here.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Mexico
SafeLos Cabos is among the safer parts of Mexico for visitors and the resort corridor is routine. The sea is the real danger and it is badly underestimated: the Pacific beaches around Cabo San Lucas, Solmar and Divorce Beach among them, have lethal undertow and are not swimmable at all — the red flags there are permanent, not seasonal. Swim at Médano or Chileno. Hurricane season peaks in September.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (8 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- swimming at Playa Solmar and the Pacific-facing beaches — the surf breaks directly onto the sand and drowns strong swimmers; the safe beaches are signed and few
- time-share touts at the airport and the marina — they intercept you before the taxi and the hour costs you the morning
- the unlit roads outside the resort strip late at night
- drug buying — again the one thing that connects visitors to the violence in the state
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Mexico visa rules
No visa neededup to 180 days
The officer writes the days granted on your entry record, and it is often far fewer than 180. Check what you were given before leaving the airport.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
Holders of a valid US, Canadian, UK, Japanese or Schengen visa can usually enter Mexico without a Mexican one.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Mexico
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies for rural or long stays
Getting treated
Private hospitals in Mexico City, Cancún and the resort areas are good and cost a fraction of US prices; public ones are variable. Resort clinics are notorious for aggressive billing, so call your insurer before agreeing to treatment where you can.
Do not drink the tap water. Dengue is present on both coasts. Altitude in Mexico City (2,240m) affects some people for the first day or two.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodBaja fish tacos — battered, fried, with cabbage and crema — were invented on this peninsula and the roadside stands do them better than the resorts. Chocolate clams from the Sea of Cortez, and the wine from Valle de Guadalupe, which almost nobody outside Mexico has heard of.
Nightlife
A marina strip of American bars and clubs at one end, and a quiet art town with wine bars at the other.
- the Cabo San Lucas marina — the strip, and everything that word implies
- Médano Beach — beach clubs from lunchtime onward
- the San José del Cabo art district — galleries, mezcal and no music you have to shout over
- Todos Santos — an hour up the coast, and a different evening entirely
Closing: Cabo’s clubs to 03:00; San José is finished by eleven.
A beer in a bar: MXN 60–150
Spring break in March turns Médano into something else; check the dates before booking.
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
DiDi usually the cheapest
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper than a street taxi, and safer — not hailing one off the street is the standing advice in the big cities.
At the resort airports the taxi unions keep the apps off the kerb; the pick-up is a walk away, or a transfer booked in advance.
Time zone and your working day
America/Mazatlan — 3 hours behind you
5 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 12:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–14:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 12:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 12:00–20:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Mexico
Why these are Mexico's numbers and not Los Cabos's
Home broadband — Good. Comfortable for two people working, streaming in the evening, large downloads. Broadband here runs at about the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 43% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Los Cabos, so these are medians for all of Mexico. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Mexico, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Spanish (Latin American)
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.
Religion
Catholic
Around 78% Catholic, blended with pre-Hispanic tradition in ways that are most visible at Día de Muertos. The Virgin of Guadalupe is a national symbol as much as a religious one.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet everyone on entering a small shop or waiting room — buenos días to the room
- Tip 10-15% at restaurants, and a few pesos for baggers and attendants
- Accept food when offered; refusing outright can feel like rejection
- Use usted with older people and anyone in authority
Don't
- Do not call yourself American as though Mexicans are not — say estadounidense
- Do not drink the tap water, and be wary of ice outside established places
- Do not make cartel jokes; for many people it is not abstract
- Do not be brusque — a request without a greeting first lands badly
Where to stay in Los Cabos
No Holistay rentals in Los Cabos yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Los Cabos on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Los Cabos SJD
40 minfrom the airport· 36 km as the crow flies
40 min to Cabo San Lucas.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
