It’s easy to date the moment Cabo San Lucas arrived as a nightlife destination. On April 16, 1990, Van Halen, then one of the biggest rock bands in the world, performed live at the club they had jointly opened, Cabo Wabo Cantina, with MTV promoting the event on U.S. television by running a contest in which 10 lucky winners got flown in for the Grand Opening, and showing highlights from the festivities.
Meanwhile, a year before this high-profile premiere, two other iconic nightlife spots opened: El Squid Roe and The Giggling Marlin. For the next 30-plus years, until Giggling Marlin was shuttered (at least until further notice) by a fire on June 15, 2024, these three were the titans of the local nightlife scene. But many more great bars and clubs joined the fun over the years. Some are gone now — RIP Love Shack and Cabo Lounge — but many more are still up and long-running.
Because here’s the thing: Cabo San Lucas is the only place locally that stays open late. You can find great bars in San José del Cabo, the East Cape, or Todos Santos, but by 11 p.m., you’ll be at your home or hotel. Cabo San Lucas was where the area’s party-hearty reputation was earned and defined, and over the decades it has birthed many a memorable story involving local characters and late-night taco stops.
However, over the last two years, the party has finally shown indications of winding down.
The steep decline in Cabo’ San Lucas nightlife in recent years
Business owners in Cabo San Lucas noticed a negative trend in nightlife sales in 2023, but in 2024, full-fledged panic set in, as sales plunged by more than 50%. Many reasons for this freefall have been given, most of which fall under the category of “urban image” problems.
“Right now the season has fallen again and we do not see any progress,” lamented the coordinator of the non-profit Grupo Madrugadores de Cabo San Lucas, Seth Vázquez Cuevas, in late 2024, per Tribuna de Mexico. “People are afraid to go downtown for many reasons: there is no infrastructure, the traffic is horrible, there is no electricity, and there are sewer spills all the time.”
This point of view is a popularly held one and reflects a sad political reality. Because San José del Cabo is the seat of local government, its downtown has received an amazing makeover in recent years while Cabo San Lucas’ downtown has been allowed to atrophy; aesthetically and in terms of badly needed infrastructure and services.
Support from numerous fronts could help rectify what is increasingly a problematic situation and it’s what local business leaders, who are the ones often responsible for local improvements, are calling for.
“The most important point and number one objective is the remodeling of Downtown Cabo San Lucas, with everything that this implies,” noted Gustave Laborde, head of the Los Cabos Business Association. “We know that this is going to be a great effort. But we want to fully involve all the associations, the College of Architects, the Hotel Association, Fiturca, the Coordinating Council of Los Cabos, and mainly all the businessmen of El Centro who need to be united and manage to work on a common front that is the remodeling of El Centro.”
Can Spring Break revive flagging nightlife fortunes?
Whether that help comes, there is a rainbow on the immediate horizon in the form of Spring Break. Los Cabos is one of the most popular international destinations for U.S. and Canadian college students during the annual Spring vacation break. For example, in 2024, over 45,000 students flocked to Los Cabos for Spring Break, and despite the terrible year for Cabo San Lucas nightlife overall, local bars and clubs were packed during March.
This year is expected to be even better, with reservations for 50,000 Spring Breakers already confirmed. This increase is notable, not only in light of CSL’s flagging fortunes but also because Spring Break numbers are expected to be slightly down in other popular Mexican destinations like Cancún and Puerto Vallarta. Cancún, which in the past has drawn 100,000 or more Spring Breakers, is expecting only 35,000 this year.
Much of the 40 million dollars expected to be injected into the Los Cabos economy will go to the hotels charging over $500 per night on average, but nightlife and local restaurants are also expected to reap major benefits.
Cabo San Lucas, already projecting a slight uptick (15%–20%) across the nightlife sector in 2025, could do even better courtesy of a strong Spring Break season. With this in mind, beautification efforts are already being ramped up for the students’ arrival during March.
What are the underlying causes of Cabo’s steep nightlife decline?
“Urban image” problems, the colloquial explanation for the decline of nightlife sales in Cabo San Lucas, are undoubtedly responsible for some of the steep dip experienced. But there may be another reason, too, one rooted in a demographic reality: Gen Z doesn’t drink as much as previous generations. For instance, they drink 20% less, on average, than their immediate predecessors, Millennials.
That’s a very significant number, and it links Cabo San Lucas to a larger trend that is now apparent across the U.S., where bar sales are also down.
As the Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, George F. Koob, pointed out in a recent statement, via Time: “It is becoming clear that for whatever reasons, today’s younger generations are just less interested in alcohol and are more likely than older generations to see it as risky for their health and to participate in periods of abstinence like Dry January.”
So even if Cabo San Lucas can achieve the downtown makeover all of us who live here want to see, there’s no guarantee it’ll be a quick fix for area bars and clubs. So in addition to hoping for a banner Spring Break, I guess we locals will just have to drink more to prop up the economy in the meantime. Cheers!
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.
