Mexico

Nearby Cities: San Jose del Cabo and Todos Santos are each about 50 min to 1 hr away by car, and both are easy drives if you have a rental. Both are also offered as tours with local guides. We enjoyed Todos Santos more than San Jose del Cabo, but that’s just personal preference. La Paz is further up the coast along the Sea of Cortez, and although we’ve never been, it’s on our bucket list for the opportunity to swim with Whale Sharks! There are tours that offer trips from Cabo to La Paz, but they would be LONG days with at least 2 hours driving each way. Below are some photos from Todos Santos, including the Tropic of Cancer sign - just a few miles south of town.

Food: You can find good restaurants in Cabo, however in our opinion, many are overpriced for their value. On our last visit, our dinners out (at highly rated restaurants) cost at least $100pp and the food was average (though the margaritas were delicious!). If you opt for lower-end restaurants, you can still eat street tacos and chips & salsa for cheap. Water should not be assumed to be safe to drink unless confirmed as filtered, and even so, bottled water is highly recommended to avoid a case of Montezuma’s revenge (aka travelers diarrhea).

Golf: Golf is a popular activity (and one of our favorites!) in Cabo, however the nicest courses are limited to the guests of that specific resort (e.g. Quivira, Diamante, etc.). Since we were staying at a Pueblo Bonito resort where Quivira is located, we had the opportunity to play, and it had the most stunning and unique holes we’ve ever seen! A few other great courses (e.g. Puerto Los Cabos, Cabo Del Sol) are open to the public and also include wonderful “comfort stations” along the way with drinks and snacks (gratuity expected).

Safety: We’ve never had a safety issue while in Cabo, however we’ve always had either a private driver, or tour-provided transportation, if we weren’t driving ourselves. We rented a car on our last visit and drove without issue between the airport and Cabo, and up to Todos Santos and back. On past visits we had noted much more of a Federal Police presence, but on our most recent visit (2023), it was notably less. That said, venture a few blocks outside of your gated resort/neighborhood or the downtown tourist area, and the living conditions worsen quickly - not necessarily an indication of safety risk, but a stark reminder of how poor the local population is.

Loreto / Nopolo

Loreto is a small town which sits on the Eastern edge of the Baja Peninsula (on the Sea of Cortez). It has a charming little 4-5 block downtown area with a number of fun restaurants and shops. It is also enough of a tourist destination that there are guide operators available for activities like 4-Wheeling, Snorkeling, Scuba, Horseback rides, and Sightseeing. We were able to get a flight to Loreto and rent a car without issue. The town sits between the Sea of Cortez to the east, and the La Giganta Mountain Range to the west. It is FAR more low-key than Cabo (or even Todos Santos), without all the trinket salesmen and none of the nighttime club atmosphere.

We enjoyed just a couple meals in downtown Loreto, and booked 2 days of Scuba Diving with a dive shop that departed from the Loreto marina.

Our main purpose for visiting Loreto was to spend the Thanksgiving week with Kristina’s cousin and his wife, who had been living in/around the Sea of Cortez on their sailboat for the better part of 2 years. So, the majority of our time was spent in the little ex-pat community of Nopolo, where we rented a beautiful airbnb for the Thanksgiving holiday, just about 15 minutes south of Loreto. We also enjoyed spending time at the Marina Puerto Escondido, about 15 minutes further south of Nopolo where the sailboat was docked. The sailing in this part of the Sea of Cortez is phenomenal, with small islands just offshore creating natural havens for marine and land life.