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5-Nights Secrets® Puerto Los Cabos Golf & Spa Resort

Price: Please call for rates - # of Days: 5 days

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3-Nights Casa Maat at JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa

Price: $1,224 - # of Days: 3 days
Enjoy awe-inspiring views of the Sea of Cortez at the Casa Maat at JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort and Spa. This beautiful beachfront property, with designs by Jim Olson, is a slice of paradise. Calm your mind and spirit by getting a relaxing massage or facial at the Jasha Spa and Salon which fea...

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3-Nights The Residences at Solaz, a Luxury Collection Resort, Los Cabos

Price: $5,672 - # of Days: 3 days
Enjoy beautiful ocean views at this beachfront property. Stop by La Deriva for authentic Italian cuisine or enjoy some delicious Mexican cuisine at El Cardón. Soak up the sun by the pool, get in a workout at the 24-hour fitness center, or rejuvenate at the spa that features massages, facials,...

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10-night Baja California Discovery: Exploring Mexico’s Gulf of California Cruise

Price: $10,128 - # of Days: 10 days

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10-night Northern Gulf of California: Whales, Birds & Sealife Adventure Cruise

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Overview

Introduction

As part of Los Cabos—a name bestowed by Mexican tourism officials upon the once-remote Baja California communities—San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas frequently are considered to be the same type of place. However, party-hearty Cabo San Lucas is strictly a resort, while 200-year-old San Jose del Cabo is a bona fide—although small—Mexican town with a shady plaza and pastel pink and blue houses.

Visitors from abroad often find San Jose del Cabo one of the most Americanized resorts in Mexico with English as common as Spanish on signs, many expatriates running businesses, and prices on restaurant menus, in shops and bars, and on tours given in U.S. dollars instead of Mexican pesos. You can get a sense of the natural beauty surrounding Los Cabos, though, from the lookout point above Costa Azul, a popular surfing beach just south of San Jose.

San Jose del Cabo stands apart from other resort destinations in Mexico such as Cancun or Puerto Vallarta because of its climate, geography, terrain and its former life as the last frontier on the Baja Peninsula. Visitors to San Jose del Cabo are lured by its deep-blue sea, coves and beaches, dramatic rock formations and desert landscapes; however, in addition to basking in the temperate climate, they also play golf, go deep-sea fishing, scuba diving and snorkeling, whale-watch and explore Baja off-road.

Must See or Do

Sights—Plaza Mijares, the pleasant main square; the drive along the Eastern Cape Road; isolated beaches.

Memorable Meals—Tacos on the patio of El Ahorcado; exquisite Mexican cuisine at Mi Cocina; sushi at Nick-San.

Walks—Boulevard Mijares, with its outdoor cafes, galleries and craft boutiques; the long beaches.

Especially for Kids—Whale-watching, swimming with dolphins, fishing, riding glass-bottomed boats, snorkeling and other activities organized by child-friendly resorts.

Geography

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 them.

The four-lane highway traversing the Corridor parallels the coast and is lined with upscale resort developments and golf courses. Cabo San Lucas lies at the extreme southern end of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula in the state of Baja California Sur. San Jose del Cabo lies to the north along the eastern seaboard, and the international airport is located nearby.

Boulevard Mijares, the main street through San Jose del Cabo, has been designated a tourist zone. It's lined with small shops and cafes that are interspersed with small grocery stores and private homes. A block east on Avenida Zaragoza is the pleasant zocalo (main plaza), with its tree-shaded gazebo and wrought-iron benches. Facing the square, La Iglesia de San Jose, the parish church on the zocalo, bears a tile mural depicting the death of Padre Nicolas Tamaral.

The center of San Jose is undergoing considerable change. Entrepreneurs have converted old adobe homes into classy shops and restaurants, beautifying the town and attracting tourists. Among the conversions are a series of art galleries that have remade San Jose into an art destination with collections of local and famous Mexican painters.

Most of San Jose's resort-style hotels are located along the beach south of town, where Boulevard Mijares intersects Paseo San Jose. The beaches around the resorts are great for walking or horseback riding, but the water isn't recommended for swimming because of its strong surf.

At the end of the hotel zone is the Estero San Jose, an estuary that used to shelter more than 200 species of birds until it was all but destroyed by Hurricane Juliette in 2001. Hikers can walk on the beach to the estuary.

History

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 traveling from Acapulco to the Philippines.

The first settlers in San Jose del Cabo were Jesuit missionaries sent from Spain, who built a mission in 1730 after being drawn to the area by an estuary, which produced the lush landscape still found today. The fresh water of the estuary tumbles down from the nearby sierra where heavy rainfalls are prevalent. At first, the evangelization of the Guaycura and Pericu natives went well, but eventually they rebelled and burned down the mission. (Padre Nicolas Tamaral, a Jesuit priest and founder of the town, was killed and dragged through the desert during an uprising against the missionaries in 1734.) By the early 1800s, however, European diseases had decimated the indigenous population.

Then came periods of mining and farming by new immigrants, who built a community and produced sugarcane and leather goods that they traded at the Mexican mainland across the Sea of Cortes. For a brief period during the Mexican-American War of 1846-48, U.S. marines occupied San Jose. They left after peace was declared, and San Jose 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, 1,060-mi-/1,705-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.

The first golf course in Los Cabos was a nine-hole green constructed in San Jose del Cabo, and it still attracts players although it's been eclipsed by newer and grander golf courses along the Tourist Corridor. Farming still plays a big part in the economy as tracts of land are being converted to organic farms producing avocados, oranges, tomatoes and other staples for the area hotels and restaurants.

Today, San Jose del Cabo is an internationally renowned tourist destination that, along with Cabo San Lucas, attracts more than three million visitors each year. All this growth, which has been slower in San Jose (for which city officials are grateful) has brought prosperity and a greater purpose in conserving the town's historic downtown.

Potpourri

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 Holiday Inn Resort Los Cabos was once a place where pirates lurked; today it is a bird sanctuary.

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.

Location

San Jose del Cabo is a 35-minute drive from the Marina Cabo San Lucas, where the cruise ships call. Cruise ships anchor offshore, and passengers are tendered to the dock at Muelle Principal (main dock), next to the modern, full-service Marina Cabo San Lucas.

The marina itself has restaurants, bars, tour and fishing operators, a state-of-the-art cinema, an Internet cafe, pay phones, restrooms, duty-free shops and a modern shopping mall. Phone the Marina at 143-1251. http://www.igy-cabosanlucas.com.

Tour operators have stands at the marina and will beckon you to take a glass-bottomed-boat ride, dive or snorkel tours, or an all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) or horseback ride. Timeshare salespeople are prevalent. Taxis and tour buses await passengers in the marina's parking lot, but many visitors take advantage of the facilities right in front of them.

Shore Excursions

Consider signing up for the excursions offered by your ship. They may not be the least expensive way to see the area, but you won't have to waste your limited time making arrangements yourself—and you won't have to worry about missing the ship, which often does not stay a whole day in port. Some cruise ships remain in port 8 am-6 pm, others 6 am-1:30 pm; still others have different schedules.

Typical shore excursions are a tour of the artists' colony of Todos Santos, a lunch or dinner yacht cruise, a ride in an ATV over the dunes, horseback riding or snorkeling off the coast. Check with your ship's shore-excursion staff or your travel agent for additional information.

If your ship is staying a half-day or longer in port (few actually do), consider booking a rental car for your day ashore before even embarking on your cruise. A prearranged set of wheels will allow you to explore destinations such as the artists' colony of Todos Santos, on the Pacific side, or just hop around to beaches, shops and restaurants in San Jose, the Corridor and Cabo San Lucas without paying a fortune in cab fare.