In a land known for its inexpensive travel destinations, Los Cabos is one of the priciest. Los Cabos, located in Mexico, is also one of the most popular, as travelers are willing to pay handsomely for what Los Cabos has to offer: fine beaches, world-class restaurants, sumptuous resorts, excellent golf courses, lively nightlife and some of the best sportfishing in the world. Los Cabos has also become a place for frequent celebrity sightings. Among the celebrities recently spotted there are pop-singer Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Aniston, George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, Brad Pitt and Justin Timberlake.
Los Cabos (the Capes) is not actually a town: It's the name Mexican tourism officials bestowed upon two once-remote Baja California communities—Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo—and the stretch of coast, known as the Corredor Turistico (Tourist Corridor), that connects them.
Los Cabos' atmosphere is quite different from other parts of Mexico. Visitors from the U.S. will find Los Cabos more familiar and perhaps comforting: English is common—it even appears on signs—and the streets and buildings have been spruced up.
Los Cabos is set apart from other resort destinations such as Cancun or Puerto Vallarta by its climate, geography and terrain. Visitors to Los Cabos are lured by its sandy beaches, dramatic rock formations and desert landscapes. Los Cabos visitors come not only to bask in the temperate climate but to be active: to play golf, to go deep-sea fishing or whale-watching, and to explore Baja off-road.
Sights—Romantic sunsets over Land's End and El Arco, where the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez meet; San Jose del Cabo's pleasant main square.
Memorable Meals—Fresh seafood at Damiana, an 18th-century colonial house in San Jose del Cabo; traditional Mexican fare and creative tequila drinks at the colorful La Casa del Pozo in the heart of Cabo San Lucas.
Late Night—Dancing the night away at frenetic Squid Roe or The Giggling Marlin; soothing jazz at the Sancho Panza Wine Bistro.
Walks—Boulevard Mijares in San Jose del Cabo, with its outdoor cafes, galleries and craft boutiques; the uncrowded beaches of San Jose del Cabo; golf on the Cabo del Sol Ocean Course.
Especially for Kids—Whale-watching, swimming with dolphins, glass-bottomed boats, snorkeling and other activities organized by child-friendly resorts.
Known as Los Cabos, the region is made up of the towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, as well as a 20-mi/32-km stretch of shoreline called the Corredor Turistico (Tourist Corridor) that connects these two towns. The four-lane highway traversing the Corridor parallels the coast and is lined with upscale resort developments and golf courses. Los Cabos lies at the southern end of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula in the state of Baja California Sur. The dramatic juxtaposition of desert against the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez is striking. The Baja Peninsula is bounded to the west by the Pacific Ocean and to the east by the Sea of Cortez, which is also sometimes called the Gulf of California. Los Cabos' most distinctive geographic feature is El Arco, a wave-cut arch and headland jutting out into the sea at Land's End, the tip of the Baja Peninsula.
Note: Some businesses in Los Cabos are located on unnumbered streets and labeled as "s/n," or sin numero (without number).
Seafarers have long been attracted to the shores of what is now Los Cabos. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, legend has it that notorious English seafarers such as Sir Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish concealed themselves in the bays and coves along the southern coast of the Baja Peninsula, slipping out to ambush passing Spanish galleons. Later, Spanish missionaries attempted to convert the Guaycura and Pericu natives, but by the early 1800s, European diseases had decimated the indigenous population.
After the missionaries moved on, the rocky spires and arches that characterize the southern tip of Baja went pretty much unnoticed until after World War II. That's when private planes began flying in celebrities—Bing Crosby and John Wayne among them—to go deep-sea fishing. Because the area was remote and difficult to reach, it remained the private hideaway of a few well-heeled travelers until the 1970s, when the Mexican government completed the Transpeninsular Highway. The highway gave Californians a straight, 800-mi-/1,300-km-long shot to the tip of Baja. This improved access and the area's beautiful setting made it a natural pick when the Mexican government went scouting for resort sites, and construction has been going on in earnest since 1976. Today, Los Cabos is an internationally renowned tourist destination that attracts more than 300,000 visitors per year. All this development has brought prosperity to the region, as well as crowding and environmental concerns.
John Steinbeck wrote
The Log From the Sea of Cortez about a boat trek he made with his good friend Ed Ricketts down the Pacific coast and into the Sea of Cortez in 1940.
The wealthiest landowners in the region trace their family fortunes back to the first major businesses in Los Cabos: fish canneries.
San Jose del Cabo dates to the 17th century when, it was a stopover for Spanish galleons en route between Acapulco and the Philippines.
The estuary near the InterContinental Hotel was once a place where pirates lurked; today it is a bird sanctuary.
Many people consider Los Cabos as the world's capital for marlin and billfish fishing; the water around Los Cabos is said to have 850 species of fish.
The herb damiana, which grows wild in the desert, is said to be an aphrodisiac, and is used in a liqueur of the same name.
Each winter, more than 10,000 gray whales migrate from their Arctic feeding grounds to the waters surrounding the Baja Peninsula, a journey of 5,000 mi/8,000 km.
Recent celebrity visitors to Los Cabos include Gwyneth Paltrow and the cast of MTV's Laguna Beach, seen at Casa del Mar. Nick Lachey is sometimes spotted deep-sea fishing, and Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria celebrated her 30th birthday at the One&Only Palmilla. Other notables include Paris Hilton, Brad Pitt, Anna Kournikova, Kevin Costner and Mariah Carey.
