Top Experiences

Top Experiences

Catch & Release a Marlin

Let's start with the sport that originally put Los Cabos on the map, and keeps it there—fishing! Even for someone who has never been fishing, a day upon Cabos' indigo seas viewing the stunning scenery from a new perspective, makes for a novel day. Boats from 23 to 110 feet long are available, and you can pay from $250 to $5,000 for the experience. Everyone, even the non-fisherperson, will get excited when the line goes screaming out behind a jumping marlin, as it "greyhounds" off into the ocean. Catch (and, of course, release) all billfish, e.g. marlin and sailfish, but enjoy telling your tales about the one that didn't get away when a restaurant cooks the fish you caught that night.

Go Whale-Watching

The giant gray whales are snowbirds, too. Thousands of these mammoth cetaceans make their lengthy migrations between December and April, swimming more than 9,660 km (6,000 mi) from Alaska and Canada to mate and give birth in Baja's warm(ish), west-coast lagoons; making the trip without even stopping to eat, they're in such a rush to get to Mexico. Once the whales arrive they cavort, spy-hop (poking their heads straight out of the water), and generally enjoy the seas of Baja, just like their human counterparts. A number of whale-watching tours are available, most of them centered around Scammon's Lagoon, San Ignacio Lagoon, and Magdalena Bay, where tourists go in pangas (tiny boats) out into the lagoons. Oftentimes, the whales and their new babies will approach the boat, rubbing against it, and looking with their sweet brown eyes at the people inside.

Off-Road Cabo-Style

After seeing the Baja desert from a distance, you might just want to jump into a Humvee or onto the back of a UniMog and drive right into the heart of it. There are two top tours that get you onto the back roads, and up close and personal with the desert. Terramar offers the Cabo Outback experience with a fleet of four-wheel drive Humvees that take on rough desert roads to get you into the unexpected beauty of the Cabo outback. On these tours, the twist is that you commander your own vehicle, joining with others to create a Humvee caravan, lead by a guide whose voice is piped in to every car. A slightly different approach is taken by Cabo Adventures : on their fun tours they drive on UniMogs, Swiss World War II all-terrain vehicles. They also offer insightful experiences along the road, with a visit to an out-of-the-way rancho, worked by a local family.

Enjoy a Maya Temazcal

We've already given you the Los Cabos spa buzz, where giving yourself up to utter pampering and exotic treatments is just another day's vacation, but we haven't yet told you about the temazcal. This Maya sweat lodge experience, at the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Retreat, is spiritual in nature, working over your psyche as much as your physical body. Lead by a temazcalero, this ritual is a group experience, within a traditional enclosure, and incorporates bathing, steam at high temperatures, medicinal plants, and requires an almost meditative-like commitment because extreme emotions often surface, as was meant, in these conditions. Your reward? A feeling of having been completely cleansed and renewed.

Art & Wine in San José del Cabo

Art lovers unite, on Thursday evenings in San José del Cabo, where the Art District Association is behind the Thursday Night Art Walk. With at least 15 varied and impressive art galleries to visit in several square blocks, the district is located directly behind the town's centuries-old cathedral. Art Night takes place from 5 to 9 PM, November through May. The informal, unguided tour makes for a fun opportunity to drink (free) wine, and be amazed by all forms and variations of art, from amber jewelry, photography, and Huichol beadwork, to $50,000 sculptures from top Mexican artists.

Hit the Surf

It's during the hot summer months, when tropical storms hundreds of miles south of the Baja are kicking up the giant waves which delight surfers, that you'll find the best surf watching. If so inspired to learn to surf, there are a number of tour operators that offer lessons. By far, though, the easiest way to make this happen is to book a room at the boutique Cabo Surf Hotel,with perhaps the most prime Los Cabos surf location. Right out in front of the hotel are three top breaks, Old Man's, La Roca, and Acapulquito, all gentle, forgiving, feathering waves. The Mike Doyle Surf School has taken up residence in the hotel, and has 60 boards of all sizes, shapes, lengths, and compositions to encourage the beginner as well as outfit more-advanced surfers.

Tequila Tasting

What better place to enjoy and learn about tequila than in festive Los Cabos? Whether it's tossing down a couple of 70¢ shots of Cuervo, ordering $2.80 shots of Don Julio with your lobster omelet at the open-air Crazy Lobster restaurant, taking a tequila class at Pancho's Restaurant & Tequila Museum from a certified "Tequila Ambassador," or enjoying the world's finest tequilas in the exclusive ambiance of the Las Ventanas al Paraíso resort, this is the place to put tequila to the test. Without a doubt, every bar and restaurant in Los Cabos offers a great selection; and there are at least four "local" Cabo tequilas. Of course they're not grown or bottled in Baja but on Mexico's mainland, and then given company labels. Cabo Wabo has its famed line of tequilas, the Cabo Surf Hotel announced its own namesake entry into the tequila world, as has the Hotel California in Todos Santos, and Las Varitas, a popular Cabo dance club located near ME Cabo Hotel by Meliá also slapped its name on the stuff.