Los Cabos is a popular vacation destination. But its most popular getaways, cape cities Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo, are also gateways to other regional destinations via two of the most exciting words in the English language: road trip. This magical phrase conjures colorful adventures and miles of scenic vistas, opportunities for which are abundant in Los Cabos and the adjacent La Paz municipality.
Fortunately, renting a car in Mexico is easy: all you need is a credit card and a driver’s license. The U.S. and Canadian versions are acceptable too.
Todos Santos
This Pacific Coast Pueblo Mágico is only one hour by car from Cabo San Lucas. It’s thus a popular day trip destination, the day trip being the shorter variation of the road trip for those who’ve booked accommodations for the length of their stay. Those with a little more freedom in their itineraries can instead opt for “the loop,” the preferred road trip route that takes Highway 19 up from Cabo San Lucas through Todos Santos to La Paz — Baja California Sur’s capital city — with a return via Highway 1 through El Triunfo, Los Barriles and Santiago to San José del Cabo. Alternatively, one can leave the highway south of Los Barriles near La Ribera, and take the coast road with a stop at scuba diving village Cabo Pulmo.
This spectacular route can be done overnight style, or at one’s leisure, with multiple hotel stays along the way. However you choose to do it, Todos Santos should definitely be prominently featured on the itinerary. This charming coastal town was a sugarcane capital during the 19th century — the origin of its many striking brick buildings — but since the mid-1980s, it has been better known for its arts scene. There are art galleries aplenty, plus great food and drink options. And for outdoor types, there’s excellent surfing off Playas Cerritos, San Pedrito and La Pastora.
Todos Santos is a beautiful place. Artists rave about the quality of its light. But the entire town is picturesque, with extraordinary landscapes a specialty at its many boutique hotels, the oldest and most famous of which is the Hotel California.
La Paz
Any visit to La Paz should start at its Malecón, the three-mile-long seaside promenade beloved by locals and visitors. The road that parallels it, Paseo Álvaro Obregón, also leads out of town to the northeast, where visitors will find some of the most beautiful beaches in all of Mexico, including Playas La Balandra and El Tecolote. Or you can stay downtown and bask in the colorful mix of cultural sites — the cathedral of Nuestra Señora de La Paz is a must. Make sure to check out La Paz’s arts and crafts shops and seafood restaurants too, the benchmark being El Bismarkcito. Or go snorkeling, dive wrecks, explore uninhabited offshore islands or swim with whale sharks from October through May.
El Triunfo
Highway 1 to El Triunfo winds through the Sierra de la Laguna — the mountain range that forms the spine of Baja California between La Paz and Los Cabos — and is one of the most scenic drives you’ll ever take. The town, situated at just over 1,500 feet above sea level, is a must for road trippers. In 1862, 13 years after the San Francisco gold rush, more than 10,000 prospectors descended on El Triunfo and nearby San Antonio to mine for gold and silver.
Before the mines closed in the 1920s, El Triunfo was among the wealthiest places on the peninsula. Today, it has great museums, a beautiful church and a possibly-genuine Gustave Eiffel construction. In 1890, one year after he finished his masterpiece in Paris, Eiffel is said to have built the 47-meter-high foundry chimney known as “La Ramona,” which still towers over El Triunfo.
Los Barriles
The locals, many of whom are retirees from the United States, tool around town on ATVs, and everybody eventually ends up at the beach… or at least the Lazy Daze Beach Bar. Fishing put Los Barriles on the map in the 1950s, a fact celebrated at old-school lodgings like the Los Barriles Hotel, where a marlin is painted on the bottom of the swimming pool. During the winter, wind sports are also big off the town’s sizeable beach, thanks to the El Norte winds that provide perfect conditions for kiteboarders and windsurfers.
Santiago and Miraflores
The first stop in Santiago should be the Palomar, a one-time haunt of Bing Crosby and John Wayne, who would fly in for the white-winged dove hunting. Nowadays, people mainly come here for the great seafood and directions to the Mirador Santiago de Yola, a rickety lookout platform featuring stunning views of the town’s palm groves, lagoons and surrounding mountains. The Catholic church built in the 1950s, is also worth a visit, and features a plaque honoring Jesuit Lorenzo Carranco, killed in 1734 when the old mission was overrun during the Indigenous revolt known as the Pericú Rebellion.
The Monumento a la Madre — one of the first statues in Mexico erected in honor of motherhood in 1929 — is the highlight in nearby Miraflores. This small organic farming community provides much of the produce to Los Cabos restaurants but is also famed for its annual pitahaya festival held each July. However, between Santiago and Miraflores lies another attraction: the Tropic of Cancer Monument. A globe-shaped statue sits beside the highway near kilometer 81 at the Plaza Turística y Artesanal Trópico de Cáncer for those who’d like to grab a photo of the representation of the invisible latitudinal line that encircles Earth at 23.4394 degrees north of the equator, or who want to check out the gift shops for regional specialties.
Cabo Pulmo
The offshore marine sanctuary at Cabo Pulmo National Park is a bucket list attraction for visiting scuba divers, an undersea fantasia of living coral reefs with the highest concentration of marine life found anywhere in the Sea of Cortés. This remarkable fact is part of a conservation story that dates back to 1995 when Cabo Pulmo and its 27 square miles of land and sea first gained official protection.
The diving here is world-class and includes potential glimpses of sharks, dolphins, sea lions, eels, leaping mobula rays, endangered sea turtles and schools of bigeye jacks so dense they defy description. Eco-bungalows offer accommodation options for those who’d like to stay overnight and Tacos and Beer promises plenty of both its namesakes, plus Sea of Cortés vistas.
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.
