Los Cabos · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
The most expensive corner of Mexico's Pacific, but the desert, the buses and the beaches stay cheap.
San José del Cabo centre
Beds are cheaper and the town calmer in San José than in Cabo San Lucas, with the art district and the estuary both walkable.
What a day costs
Budget 800–1,400 pesos, roughly $45–80 — Cabo runs dearer than the mainland. Dorms 400–650, taquería meals 200–350, corridor buses 100 or so.
The corridor buses
Ruta del Desierto coaches run the thirty kilometres between the two Cabos every twenty minutes for a fraction of a taxi fare, calling at the beach turn-offs.
Free by day
Playa El Médano, birdwatching in the San José estuary, and the Thursday-night art walk in San José from November to June are all free.
Playa El Médano
The swimmable beach on the marina side of Cabo San Lucas, lined with cheap beer stalls; the boat touts and backpackers share the same stretch.