When Los Cabos was carved out of the existing municipality of La Paz in 1981, it took its name from the word shared by its two primary tourist destinations: Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo. These two cities continue to account for the vast majority of the population in Los Cabos and are the obvious locales in which to find a hotel or resort for your vacation. As of 2024, Cabo San Lucas alone has more than 8,600 hotel rooms, 40 percent of the total regional supply.
However, it’s worth noting that San Lucas and San José aren’t the only communities in a municipality encompassing nearly 1,500 square miles. There are over a dozen, including East Cape towns like Buenavista, La Ribera and Cabo Pulmo. The East Cape has always been a favorite of longtime visitors, as its sparse population and uncrowded beaches are more reminiscent of “the old Cabo.” But it’s becoming increasingly popular with younger travelers, too, thanks to a growing inventory of excellent accommodation options to accompany its perfect conditions for outdoor activities like diving, fishing, surfing and windsports.
The “Tourist Corridor,” the 20-mile stretch of coastline connecting the cape cities, should also be of interest, as it is home to more world-class luxury resorts than any other area of Los Cabos.
Why the location of your resort matters
Just as the time of year you choose to travel to Los Cabos affects the cost of accommodations so too does where one’s lodging of choice is located. According to the Los Cabos Tourism Board (Fiturca), the average daily room rate for a hotel or resort in Cabo San Lucas this June, as the slow season kicked off, was US $214. In San José del Cabo it was $286. Meanwhile, in the Tourist Corridor, it was $633 — more than double the cost of a room in either of the cape cities.
These differences also hold true during the high season, even as accommodation costs are higher across the municipality. Why? Because each of these areas, by and large, specializes in certain types of lodgings. The Tourist Corridor, as mentioned, is a hub of beachfront luxury resorts. Cabo San Lucas, by contrast, offers far more budget-friendly alternatives in its city center, with a raft of all-inclusive resorts fronting its miles-long Médano Beach shoreline. All-inclusive properties are likewise common along the Playa Hotelera in San José del Cabo, with more boutique hotels available in its historic downtown district.
So location impacts cost. It also influences the quality of your vacation. That’s because all these areas, although similar in some ways — all, for instance, boast gorgeous beaches — also have unique charms and offer certain distinctive attractions that add value to a vacation.
Reasons to choose a resort in Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas not only has the cheapest accommodations in Los Cabos, on average, it’s also home to the biggest and most popular beach — two-miles-long Playa El Médano — and a series of picturesque beaches and evocative rock formations at Land’s End, which are gateways to great snorkeling and diving. Cabo San Lucas is also famous for its fishing. Its marina is the biggest in the area: meaning there are plenty of charter boats and sunset sails to choose from.
But the one thing Cabo San Lucas has that you won’t find anywhere else in Los Cabos is great nightlife. Sure, it’s not as rowdy as it used to be. But there’s still Cabo Wabo Cantina and El Squid Roe, two legendary nightspots — and colorful bars and lounges proliferate throughout the Land’s End city.
The Tourist Corridor and its luxury resorts
Not every resort in the Tourist Corridor is luxurious. But this golden stretch is the setting for many of the best resorts in Los Cabos, including One&Only Palmilla, Las Ventanas al Paraíso, Esperanza and Chileno Bay (both Auberge Resorts), Montage Los Cabos and Grand Velas Los Cabos. The latter is a luxury all-inclusive, and one thing most resorts in the Tourist Corridor have in common is that you don’t need to leave the resort to have an incredible vacation. Great dining, drinking, swimming pools and beaches are available on-site.
However, it’s worth pointing out that great shopping and dining are also available offsite along the Tourist Corridor: notably, at Shoppes at Palmilla and El Merkado. As for beaches, there are several Blue Flag beaches in the Tourist Corridor, including traditional favorites like Playa Chileno, Playa Santa María and Playa Palmilla.
The benefits of staying in San José del Cabo
San José del Cabo is the seat of local government and the cultural capital of Los Cabos. The city is renowned for its historic downtown Gallery District. It also boasts the best dining scene in the region, highlighted by the farm-to-table restaurants found just outside the city proper in Ánimas Bajas. The marina at Puerto Los Cabos facilitates many outdoor activities options, and Puerto Los Cabos is also home to world-class golf, as is Club Campestre.
Why Los Cabos’ East Cape is an underrated vacation destination
No average room rate data is available for East Cape lodgings, likely since there are far fewer hotels here than in Cabo San Lucas, San José del Cabo or their connecting corridor. However, that’s likely to change as continued growth pushes development further up the coast. One major recent development on the East Cape, Costa Palmas, is home to a luxury Four Seasons property, with another from Amanvari scheduled to open in 2025.
Aside from this luxury development, East Cape hotels are generally smaller and more affordable than those elsewhere in Los Cabos. Since the communities on the East Cape are also more sparsely populated and see fewer tourists, visitors can get away from more crowded areas of Los Cabos and experience one of the great destinations in the world for outdoor activities.
Thanks to its living reef and protected status, Cabo Pulmo is an amazing scuba diving destination. From November to March, Los Barriles is a mecca for windsports like kiteboarding. During the summer, beaches along the East Cape like Shipwrecks and Nine Palms offer superb surfing. And then there’s the world-class fishing that originally brought tourists to Buenavista and Los Barriles in the 1950s and still brings them, notably for Bisbee’s lucrative East Cape Offshore tournament.
Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook, and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.
