Travel Guide to the Beautiful Cabo San Lucas | Tisha's Veggie Eats

beach in cabo san lucas with mountain in the back

Let’s get started. Feel free to jump around!

Day 1

The Airport – So we had a 9:00 am CST flight out of Houston on a Sunday and reached Cabo around 10:30 am PST. This gave us PLENTY of time to explore and make use of our first day. Leaving the airport was easy breezy; however, we did have trouble figuring out how to get to our hotel. The International Airport is in San Jose del Cabo which is roughly 40 minutes from Cabo San Lucas. We had not previously arranged a taxi and Uber does not operate OUT of the airport. They have taxi services you can pay for right out of the airport gates. It was $17 per person which wasn’t super bad for a 40 minute drive. They loaded us into a shuttle with a few other people and we were on our way. We only had to make 3 other stops before we were dropped off at our hotel. Super easy and convenient.

The Hotel – Once at our hotel, we quickly settled in and got changed to head out to town for lunch. Fortunately, our hotel was SUPER close to EVERYTHING. It was amazing! So we walked out to a small fast-casual restaurant called Taco Loco.

mexican food in plate with rice and beans

Taco Loco – They had vegetarian options so it was a perfect for me! The food was good and reasonably priced. I got the vegetable quesadillas which came with rice and beans. They had a salad bar around the corner with a few veggies and sauces/salsas. Definitely recommend if you’re looking for some good vegetarian tacos! Then we felt EXHAUSTED from all the travelling, so we decided to go back to the hotel and take a little nap lol. After about an hour, we woke up and packed our things for the beach.

We took an Uber from our hotel to the beach and let me tell you, it was GREAT. The Uber cost around $2.40 for a 12 minute drive. HOW AMAZING! And the driver was really nice and gave us tips on the best beaches, etc. Definitely recommend using Uber around town rather than a taxi since they are a lot more expensive.

Medano Beach – So from all the research I did, it seemed like Medano Beach was a crazy jam-packed place with locals trying to sell you drugs lol. Well not sure if it was the time of the year we went or the time of the day (since it was pretty late, around 6:00 pm), but the beach was very pretty! It’s a pretty thin strip of sand as the water rises as it gets later in the day. But the sand was great and people were strolling by. There were locals selling bracelets, food, etc. and they came by often but weren’t aggressive or anything when you told them no. Overall, I think it was a great beach and there were lots of restaurants overlooking the water with the patios right on the beach. Which is where we went next for snacks and drinks.

Mango Deck – So this was a bit of an unruly place with an interesting crowd lol. They had a stage with a host and 5-6 girls who were competing for the best “sultry”/”seductive” dance. It definitely was interesting lol. We got margaritas which weren’t my favorite…We ordered guac and chips which they made table-side so that was cool to see. Guac was pretty good, just wish the drinks were better. They did have GREAT specials on a bucket of beer. They also had live music that started around 7:30 pm. So if you’re looking for some entertainment, this is a decent place with a great view.

Instead of taking an Uber back to our hotel, we decide to walk back and take in the views. It was roughly a 20-22 minute walk but we got to see the sun set as well as stopped to grab some dessert. Unfortunately, the sun doesn’t set behind the mountains/water but instead set on the opposite side. Still was a pretty view!

Great way to end our first day in Cabo!

Day 2

Waking up Monday morning, I was SUPER excited because we had an all-inclusive sailing & snorkeling excursion planned. But first, we needed BREAKFAST!

Breakfast – We woke up, got ready and headed out to a grocery store around the corner. It was a little overpriced but had all things organic & plant based! We picked up some Almond Milk, some cereal, a bottle of wine for later, and some kombucha. All the essentials I know…We went back to our hotel, quickly ate and then headed to the marina for our 9:45 am departure. Again, we walked which was SO convenient and we really LOVED the fresh air.

Sailing & Snorkeling Excursion – The excursion we booked was reasonably priced per person and would take us to all the spots we were wanting to see. Plus it had free food & booze so it was a no brain-er LOL. The crew was SO nice and helpful. They were funny and really let us enjoy the trip. The group on the boat was a calm enjoyable crowd which we really liked. We weren’t in a crazy “party” mood but just wanted to enjoy. The crew wasn’t rowdy either like some of the other reviews for excursions mentioned. They made drinks fast and they were STRONG lol, but good.

We jumped into snorkeling right off the bat and the water was FREEZING. Definitely a lot colder than I expected but we got to see lots of fishies and swam around for a bit. They have the swim-able area roped off for safety so we couldn’t stray too far. After about 15-20 minutes, I was freezing my butt off and ready to get back onto the boat.

They served sandwiches as well as chips and guac for lunch. They were even kind enough to make separate sandwiches for me which included butter, avocados, & tomatoes. It was DELISH. We chilled in place for a bit while everyone ate and drank while we listened to music.

After lunch, we were on our way to El Arco – aka one of the main attractions in Cabo. It was a BEAUTIFUL view! We cruised around the corner toward the Pacific Ocean and saw lots of sea lions! It was relaxing and a lot of fun. They let the sails down and we just cruised for another 20 minutes. Sadly, it was eventually time to go back.

The sun definitely WORE US OUT. So of course…after our excursion (which ended around 1:00 pm), we went back to the hotel to nap. This time we napped for a while LOL but after waking up, we were ready for some DINNER.

We took it pretty chill and decided to go to this cute restaurant by the marina. It was a far walk but we decided to do it and stop by all the little shops for some souvenir shopping. Got a magnet for my mom, a cute mini mug/shot glass, and a hand-painted utensil holder to keep by the stove.

La Chatita – We went to a place called La Chatita for dinner which had a super cute view. They were a little pricey but the food was delicious. I got the veggie fajita which was a HUGE amount. Got a big ‘ol bowl full of veggies soaked in a sauce. Super tasty and we got a margarita as well which was really tasty. Definitely recommend this place!

On our walk back to the hotel, we got roped into going to a bar to get bogo free drinks. We didn’t mind since it was still early and the music was bumpin’ LOL. So we chilled at the bar for a bit while sippin’ on another marg. Pretty slowly since we were still so full from dinner. After about 45ish minutes, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for our early morning.

Day 3

Definitely our most jam-packed & exhausting day of our trip. Everything we did was amazing though and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Mt. Solmar Hike – This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip! We woke up Tuesday morning and set off to meet Enrique for our hike bright an early at 9:30 am at this location. Enrique is a guide who takes you up the mountain as it is no longer legally allowed to go up there alone. He works for free (we tipped him at the end) and brings his sweet dogs along on the hike.

Let me start off by saying that it is more of a “climb” than a hike. It is tough and steep up to the top but the views are definitely worth it! It’s a short climb/hike to the top but you will definitely be huffing and puffing (or I’m just super out of shape…).

Once we got to the top, we chilled for a bit while everyone took pictures and moved around, looking at all the views. This vantage point above is called “Lands End” because when looking in this direction, the next land you hit is Antarctica! CRAZY. It was definitely a beautiful view. You have the Sea of Cortez on your left-hand side, and the Pacific Ocean on the right. It was insane but be careful as there are steep drop-offs! And bring LOTS and LOTS of water. I bought a super cheap hydration pack off of Amazon and it was the best purchase ever.

Playa Empacadora – We went pretty prepared to our hike and wore our bathing suits underneath the hiking clothes. This way, after our hike, we just had to walk 2 minutes further to the beach to relax. This beach was recommended by locals as it’s a lot calmer and smaller, as well as less crowded. Since we got there a little after 11, it was pretty empty and we were able to get a good spot. We set up our beach blanket and dipped our bodies into the cold water. It definitely felt refreshing after our exhausting hike!

After hanging out for about an hour, we decided to head out for lunch as we were starving and had an excursion booked at 2:30 pm. So we called an Uber and made our way to my favorite food spot TO DATE. It was a fully VEGAN/VEGETARIAN restaurant and guys…it was AMAZING.

Mako Veggan & Veggie Restaurant – We got to the restaurant around 12:40 pm, which apparently was 20 minutes before they opened. We had no idea. But some random local guy, bringing another couple towards us – super energetic, sees that it’s closed and tells us he will go inside and have them open for us. Just some random guy…doesn’t work there…We were in a time crunch due to our excursion but the restaurant manager told us we could come inside while they finish setting up and can get our orders going as soon as possible. Already, great service!

For a vegan/vegetarian restaurant, they had a TON of options! They had a lot of typical non-vegetarian meals made vegan which was so cool. We got the Mini Empanadas, Mexican Salad, the Mako Burger, and a Green Juice. ALL SO DELICIOUS. Omg I kid you not. I wish we had come back here during our trip for another meal because it was just so good.

After dinner, we rushed back to the hotel in an Uber. We had just enough time to take a quick 45 minute nap. So we took FULL advantage of it. We woke up and quickly got dress for our ATV excursion.

G-Force ATV Adventure – They provided us with transportation which arrived at our hotel by 2:30 pm. It was roughly a 30 minute drive to the location. Once there, we got our gear on, and after a quick run-down of the ATVs, we were off! I have never been on an ATV before and man it was a rush! It was so much fun and the excursion was so worth it. The track was really long and we went on a bunch of winding paths. It was so exciting and super bumpy LOL. After driving for 30-40 minutes, we made our way up a hill where we stopped to take pictures and drink some water (provided by them).

After about 15 minutes, we were back off, making our way to the Pacific Ocean! (Which you can see in the background of the image above). It took maybe another 20-30 minutes to get down there and again, such beautiful water! You definitely can NOT swim on majority of the beaches on the Pacific Ocean side but it was still an amazing view.

After some pictures again, we got back on our ATVs and made our way back to the G-Force building. We probably rode for another 10-15 minutes. Definitely worth the money and a lot of fun! Once back, they let us look through the pictures they took and offered us different $$. It was too expensive and not worth it, considering they also took pictures for us on our personal phones at our pit stops (we just didn’t have any actually riding on the bike but oh well…not paying $20 for one photo!). After spending a few minutes, we piled back into our van & they dropped us all off at our corresponding hotels.

Like I said, this was our busiest day yet! We were FULL of dirt so we needed to shower quickly before our 7:30 pm dinner reservations at this really nice restaurant. We got back, showered, and ordered our Uber. This restaurant was a bit further out (roughly 15 minute drive) but was known to have AMAZING views.

Sunset Point – This restaurant was super cute! The actual place consists of 3 venues, Sunset Point being one of them. There is a venue that is outside, right below Sunset Point but wayyyy pricier and mainly seafood. Sunset Point had more wine & pizza, still pricey, but more affordable. It was a small indoor venue with big windows looking out to the sea. In the distance, you could see the tip of Baja California. It was breathtaking! And the sun was slowly setting so the sky looked beautiful as well.

We split a margarita pizza and each got one white and one red wine. Food was pretty good! We then got the chocolate cake for dessert which was definitely interesting…it was good but also came with some unique things like some wine jello. Just when we though we were done, our server came out with a board of 3 more desserts, one sampling of the 3 things for each of us. We were surprised but tried them all and they were pretty good! So the free extra dessert was great. We packed up our extra pizza and headed back to the hotel for a long slumber after our busy day.

Day 4

Outback and Camel Ride Safari with Lunch and Tequila Tasting – Another bright and early day for us! We had a morning Camel with lunch excursion booked and had to meet up at 7:30 am. Fortunately, the place we were meeting up at, Cabo Adventures, was a 5 minute walk away. We waited for our group and were off to our bus transportation by 8 am. This drive took closer to 45-50 minutes. Once there, we split into two groups, an English speaking group and a Spanish speaking one. Our tour guide talked to us a bit, gave us some mint tea, and we took staged photos with a camel while the other group went on their ride. Once they got back, it was our turn. (I look real cute, I know).

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take our phones with us (they want us to shed $$$ on their professional photos -_-), so I don’t have many pictures of my own. I’m not sure what I was expecting…but the camels were cute af and ours kept giving it’s handler kisses LOL. It was 2 per camel and roughly 6-7 camels total. We literally just walked in a line, head to butt, around a pathway on the beach. A slow trot, no conversation, just enjoying the view. So it was a bit mundane I suppose but again, not sure what I was expecting.

It was pretty short, roughly 15 minutes and we were back to where we started. We dismounted and followed our guide through some flora and fauna where he taught us about some of the plants. It was pretty neat. Then we made our way towards the back where they had the lunch set up. Lunch was definitely DELICIOUS. It was a buffet and there was a plethora of options. Plenty of vegetarian things for me to eat. We sat at our table and enjoyed our food & the view. There were also churros & another mexican dish for dessert and they were superb. But now for the fun part…

The Tequila Tasting! Which yes, was also included in the excursion. Our tour guide had 4 different tequilas to try and taught us a little about their backgrounds. They went from mild to strong LOL. We were partying it up 10:30 am. JK. And then the guide offered us a 5th tasting of our choosing. So after we were all nice and liquored up, we were transported back to the front where we waited for our vans to take us back home.

We were pretty exhausted from all of our past days so after we got back home, we just napped and chilled for a few hours. We didn’t leave the house again until close to 6:30 pm. We walked around for a bit and then made our way back to the Cabo Adventures building, which was right off of the marina, to find a water taxi to take us to the beach by El Arco.

Water Taxi – Well since it was evening, I guess barely any water taxi’s operate. We ran into our guy offering to take us on his boat and that it was a great deal since no one else was going out there except for his boat. His boat driver was taking a family to El Arco and giving them an hour long tour. We told him that wasn’t what we wanted since we had already done that and only needed transportation to the beach. We wanted to get dropped off and chill for a bit. Finally, we were able to negotiate a deal and for $10 each, round trip, he agreed to drop us off by the beach as he continued to give the tour to the family. Then he would pick us back up on his way back to the marina. This was perfect because it was exactly what we wanted!

So we hopped in and made our way towards the beaches. The driver slowly took us and the family, giving a tour of some of the rock formations, towards the beach.

Lovers and Divorce Beach – These 2 beaches get their respective names from the water currents. Lovers Beach faces the Sea of Cortez and has calmer currents; whereas, Divorce Beach faces the Pacific Ocean and has more violent ocean waves. And they are both connected. The driver pulls up the taxi boat as close as he can to the beach bed and tells us to carefully hop off and quickly make our way to dry grounds before the current pulled back in. Can’t lie, it was a bit scary since the currents were pretty strong later in the day. We safely made it to shore and the driver left and continued his tour for the family. The beaches were deserted! I guess because most people visit during the day when majority of the water taxi’s operate. Which by the way is the ONLY way to get to the beaches.

On the left you have Lovers Beach and on the right, Divorce beach. An it was connected by more beach encompassed between the big rock formations like below.

So cool! And the sun was starting to set as well so everything was just glowing almost. We took lots of pictures, I almost got swept away by the Pacific and we tried to climb some rocks. All the while, keeping our eye out for our taxi driver to make his way back over.

Here is one of my absolute favorite shots:

We roamed around more and slowly made our way back to Lovers Beach where our taxi driver carefully boarded us back on. We slowly made our way back to the marina as the sun started to set. Please enjoy the first image below of me freaking the eff out when the water almost swept me away LOL.

Jacuzzi Time – We got back to our place, changed, and headed down to the jacuzzi with some wine. Super relaxing and we just chilled for a bit, listening to music on my portable speaker. It was nice because no one else was around and we had the jacuzzi all to our selves. After about an hour, we went back upstairs, showered, and got ready for our night out! We wanted to check out the nightlife.

Night Out – We headed back out towards the marina and checked out the bars. We first stopped at La Vaquita as they offered us a free drink. It was an interesting place with ginormous cow sculptures…LOL. The music wasn’t bad but they played a lot of old hits. After finishing our drinks, we decided to head to a different place. We saw a GREAT special at this bar called Harbard. They had something like 2 beers and 2 tequila shots for $5! It was insane. So we got the deal and chilled there for a bit longer. This was more of a sit down small bar.

Then, we headed next door to the nightclub called Mandala Los Cabos. This place had more dancing and so we spent the rest of our night here. The crowd was fun and the music was great! Do recommend if you’re into that kind of stuff. The drinks were reasonably priced too. These places are open pretty late…I believe till like 5 am! We definitely headed out a lot earlier and went back to the hotel to rest up for our flight back to Houston.

Day 5

Our last day pretty much just consisted of our travel back home. Our flight was around 1:30 pm and we had to check out of our hotel by 11:00 am. The drive to the airport was also roughly an hour so once we woke up, we packed, got ready, ate breakfast, and checked out on time. You CAN take an Uber TO the airport and they drop you off right at the entrance. So that is what we did and it cost us around $27 total. Just seemed like the easiest and quickest option rather than having to find a taxi on some random street. Once at the airport, we boarded, and then we were off 🙁

And just like that…our Cabo trip was over! It was definitely one of the best trips I have ever taken and I still miss it! The views were beautiful and I just loved the city itself and all it had to offer. I definitely recommend it. I know this was a lot but I hope this blog is able to help out anyone else looking to travel to the beautiful city of Cabo San Lucas!