Beaches in Los Cabos

Pick the coast first, then the beach

Los Cabos is not one shoreline. The Pacific side is dramatic and mostly unswimmable; the Sea of Cortez side, east of Land’s End, is where the calm water lives. Between Médano and Chileno the character of the water changes completely, and the drive between the far ends of this list runs well over two hours.

So this page is organised by area, not by a score. Start with the stretch closest to where you are staying, then use the water profile on each card to tell a swimming beach from a walking one. Every beach here is public: in Mexico the federal maritime zone belongs to everyone, even where the only way in runs past a resort.

Where the swimming beaches actually are

Six of the fifty-nine are calm enough to be called usually swimmable, and they are not spread evenly. In Cabo San Lucas the only one is Médano Beach, the long town beach inside the bay; ten of the other thirteen beaches in that municipality are marked not for swimming, including Divorce Beach on the Pacific side of the headland. The Tourist Corridor holds two of the best: Chileno Beach and Santa Maria Beach, the two protected coves that most Los Cabos snorkeling trips visit. In San José del Cabo the calm one is Palmilla Beach. The remaining two are up in La Paz: Balandra Beach, the shallow lagoon with the mushroom rock, and El Coromuel, a short drive from the city centre.

The Pacific side, and why it looks calmer than it is

Nine of the ten beaches we list around Todos Santos and El Pescadero are marked not for swimming. That stretch faces open ocean with no headland to break the swell, and the shore drops away quickly, so the water pulls hard even on a still-looking afternoon. It is the surfing coast rather than the swimming coast: Cerritos Beach is the one most visitors have heard of, and Playa Migriño, half an hour north of Cabo San Lucas, is where the horseback and camel rides run along the sand. Walk them, photograph them, surf them with a local instructor — but treat the water with respect.

East Cape, and beaches you need a plan to reach

All eight of the East Cape beaches on this page fall into the depends-on-the-day group, from Los Barriles down to Cabo Pulmo, the national marine park. Several of them, along with the beaches around La Paz, sit at the end of a dirt road or a boat ride rather than a signposted turnoff, so they reward a full day rather than a quick stop. If you are choosing between a morning swim and a long drive, the Tourist Corridor coves are the shortcut; the East Cape and Espiritu Santo side of the peninsula is the reward for planning ahead.

When to come, and what changes

Water temperature peaks between August and October and is at its coolest from January to March, which is also whale season and the busiest stretch on the sand. Between June and November the hurricane season shapes the swell more than the forecast does: a storm hundreds of kilometres offshore can close beaches here on a cloudless day. That is why no beach on this page carries a daily verdict — only a permanent profile, and the instruction to read the flag posted on the sand.