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Visiting Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with Kids

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico boasts almost 350 days of sunshine and beautiful beaches making it a perfect year-round getaway.  It is one of the top tourist destinations in the world for good reason.  We visited last November during our 7-day Mexican cruise and these are some of the sights, attractions and photos of Cabo San Lucas that made this seaport a memorable one.

cabo san lucas parasailing at the arches

This was our third visit to this picturesque seaport and the number of all-inclusive resorts and luxury hotels along Playa Medano keeps increasing during each visit.  This is usually one of our first sightings from the ship.

Cabo San Lucas medano beach hotels

This stretch of beach area was dotted with many beachside properties that have always made us wish for a land vacation here.

cabo San Lucas medano beach resorts

There were three ships docked in town that day which made for a busy day of activities on land and sea.   Ships usually anchor offshore and passengers are taken into the town in tender boats since their marina isn’t equipped to handle the large cruise ships.

cabo san lucas cruise ships

We were greeted with this huge Mexico sign flanked by its famous Corona beer, of course.

Mexico sign at cabo san lucas

Like many tourist areas, the area was filled with souvenir shops and restaurants.  I love buying souvenirs and Mexico doesn’t disappoint with its variety of colorful ceramics, pottery and cheap trinkets or what my husband calls “clutter”.

Mexican souvenirs at cabo san lucas

Giant sombreros and maracas are always a big hit with the kids.

Cabo san lucas giant hat

We felt a little safer after seeing these police officers on Segways. Apparently, Cabo’s police officers have a bigger budget than many of their US counterparts since I don’t see my local cops patrolling in these high-tech toys.

Cabo San lucas police on segway

We saw a few of these interesting and bizarre cartoon characters posted outside many drug stores or “pharmacias” on the three Mexican ports we visited. Many tourists visit Mexican pharmacies to buy inexpensive medicine.

Of course, my kids wondered what these characters were. In our best straight face, we told them they were “medicine men”, left it at that and proceeded to distract them. We’re not ready for that discussion yet, and we’re hoping they don’t remember to Google it one of these days.

Cabo san lucas Viagra signs

One of the things we like to do is walk along the marina to go into the town.  Sights like below makes you momentarily forget you’re actually in Mexico and not a Southern California town.

Cabo san lucas marina

Water activities are the primary draw to Cabo San Lucas. Our scheduled port activity for the day was snorkeling at one of the beaches. The snorkeling tour company dropped us off at Pelican Beach for over an hour of snorkeling and provided us with all the gear.  Cabo Pelican Beach

Though the water temperature was warm and comfortable, the waves were pretty strong. This was also a pretty crowded snorkeling area but my husband was able to capture a couple of these underwater shots with no distractions.

The kids enjoyed seeing the variety of tropical fish although they didn’t see as many fish as they wanted compared to their experience in Cozumel last year. I think this had more to do with this specific area since the Sea of Cortes has been dubbed as the “Aquarium of the World” for its diverse marine life.Snorkeling in Cabo San Lucas

Pelican Beach was also a popular area for relaxing on the beach with these huge rock formations as dramatic backdrops. We found this nice, quiet area for the kids to play and climb the rocks. cabo san lucas Pelican Beach

After snorkeling, our tour boat took us to Cabo’s most famous attraction – El Arco de Cabo San Lucas, Los Arcos or Land’s End.  Los Arcos is a distinctive rock formation located on Baja Peninsula’s southern tip where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortes.

El Arco de Cabo San Lucas or Land's End

We saw plenty of sea lions nearby sunbathing on the rocks.  It was a bit noisy and smelly here, as expected, but we loved seeing so many of them in their natural environment.

Cabo San Lucas sea lions

Los Arcos has been nicknamed Land’s End due to its location but was also used by pirates to hide behind and rob Spanish galleons loaded with treasures when this area used to be an important trade route in the 1500s.

El Arco de Cabo San Lucas or Land's End los arcos

Cabo San Lucas has always been one of our favorite ports for the myriad of activities it offers for people of all ages with varying interests.  While we’ve visited it as cruise ports, we hope to return for an extended land vacation soon and enjoy this tropical paradise.

Tips for Visiting Cabo San Lucas 

  • There are plenty of water-related activities from diving, snorkeling,kayaking, jet-skiing, parasailing and glass bottom boat tours to choose from with many tour operators around the marina area ready to bargain.
  • Water taxis were plentiful and cheap to take visitors to the arches or to Playa Medano.
  • Some of the Playa Medano resorts accept day passes from cruise ship passengers.
  • The town isn’t very big but very easy to walk around with a lot of stores and restaurants.
  • A large, enclosed craft market is a great place to buy souvenirs and bargain. Our favorite buy is a large hammock.
  • High tourist season and the best weather is from December to May.

Cabo San Lucas ship lighthouse

 *Have you visited Cabo San Lucas? Is Cabo on your travel list?

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Cabo San Lucas with kids

52 thoughts on “Visiting Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with Kids”

  1. Seeing the boat at the bottom of the rocks at Lands End made be realize just how big
    they are. I happen to love Marinas and enjoy walking around them wherever they.
    I loved the local colour of the Mexican hat and the Viagra sign.

  2. Cabo is one of the few places in Mexico that I’d like to go back to. We didn’t do any of the tours that were offered, but even just walking around the town was a lot of fun. Such a beautiful place to look at too. I’m going to have to side with your husband though. It’s “clutter” for sure.

  3. I remember sailing into Cabo San Lucas: very pretty, especially the rocks. My youngest remembers the animals – there were lion cubs there (on tour for a fundraising effort), and iguanas and best of all dolphins to swim with.

  4. Cabo does look beautiful. I can’t imagine what it must have been like with 3 ships in port at the same time. Glad you were able to find a quiet beach. Those rocks and sea lions are amazing.

    1. It was pretty crowded with three mega ships in town which I’m sure you know when it docks in Jamaica. We got lucky with the beach and yes, those sea lions were such a wonderful sight to see.

  5. I haven’t visited Cabo – but it’s a place I’d like to see. I have been to Loreto – north of La Paz three times for sea kayaking. The Baja is truly one of my favourite places to visit. I could watch teh birds all day and the sea life while kayaking was superb.

  6. eileen at FamiliesGo!

    Cabo is more built up than I expected. More like Acapulco, which wasn’t my favorite Mexican beach. we much prefer Ixtapa or the Mayan Riviera. Stil the Arco is certainly very tempting…

  7. I have never been to Cabo but now that I have seen these pictures, I might add it to my list. What kind of camera did you use to capture the underwater pictures? They are great.

    1. Thanks Jen! Cabo is one of our favorite ports and some areas have that Southern CA feel to it. My husband used the GoPro hero2 with a dive housing. He tried out the regular housing and didn’t like it. He’s saying that the GoPro Hero3 is even better. Not sure if that’s true or he just wants another toy to play with :)

  8. Beautiful photos, Mary! Cabo is the one place in Mexico that I have always wanted to visit – we are definitely going to have to take a Mexican Riviera cruise some time so that I can get there. I particularly love the photo of the Land’s End rocks – what a spectacular sight! My husband wouldn’t want anything to do with the shopping either! :)

    1. Thanks Lisa! You;d love the nature and beach appeal of Cabo. Yes, visit this side of Mexico for a different perspective. I think it’s a universal rule husbands aren’t allowed to enjoy shopping, :)

    1. I think a lot of men feel its “clutter” with a lot of things the wives buy :) My husband used the GoPro hero2 with a dive housing. He tried out the regular housing and didn’t like it. Of course, now he’s eyeing the GoPro Hero3 which he says is even better. Good luck with your search!

  9. Debbie Beardsley @ European Travelista

    I’ve not been to Cabo and didn’t realize the water was so beautiful! Thats making me think about visiting.

  10. I’m not sure what I was expecting from Cabo, but this is not what I was expecting at all. I think I imagine Cabo to be more of a party place and not to have so much natural beauty. Thanks for chanigni my mind!

  11. I love Cabo – we have been twice, staying at a resort outside of town – the pool was where I was at the majority of the trip as the beaches were not recommended down where we were because the rocks and tides. My husband loves golf there and we always take a deep sea fishing trip. It is gorgeous!!

    Thanks so much for linking up!!

  12. Perfect timing because we have friends with a house in Cabo and we are hoping to make it there later this year..bookmarking this post in anticipation of that! Thank you!

  13. And to think we traveled all the way to Portugal last summer to see beautiful rock formations like that on the beach! They look very similar to the ones we saw in Lagos, Portugal. Your snorkeling photos look beautiful – that’s something I’d like to do a little more of with my kids.

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