"Resort town at Land's End" a Cabo San Lucas Travel Page by jjkent

...but not "all?" Even the guttiest backpacker or adventure traveler would appreciate the beauty and luxury that this resort at the tip of Baja California has to offer, if only for a day. I have to admit, I was pretty tired of the Cabo Experience at the end of day two, but this does not mean there weren't some great parts of our 4-day stay in this land of plenty - see below. There was also plenty to get tired of - see below!

First, the hotel experience was great. We stayed at the Hotel Finisterra. Everything about the hotel was wonderful - the helpful staff, the awesome pool with the swim-up bar (!), the beachfront location, the well-kept rooms. My only complaints, and they were minor, were the view we had of the ocean, for which we paid an extra $10 USD per night, was partially blocked, and the food and drink prices were a bit steep (but I expected nothing less and so should you).

The land there is rugged, beautiful, and suprisingly clean. You can easily charter a boat for an hour or a day - the choices are limitless, and all you have to do is ask. You can charter a water taxi to get to the beach, or else just walk, and spend a day playing in the calm Sea of Cortez, wakeboarding the heavy surf of the Pacific Ocean, or just relaxing on the beautiful white sand beaches!

There are a lot of activities available to vacationers in Cabo San Lucas. Some of these choices include: renting waverunners, parasailing, deep sea fishing, dinner cruise, renting a catamaran, snorkeling, scuba diving, renting 4-wheelers, day trip to La Paz or Los Cabos....the list is seemingly endless. Dream what you want to do and ask your hotel's concierge how you can do it! If your hotel doesn't have a concierge, go to any hotel that has one - most of the hotels have an independent activities broker that hooks people up with the activities they want to do. You don't have to be a guest at that hotel to sign up for an activity! (Be sure to bring enough cash and give yourself plenty of time to arrive at the meeting point of the activity)

The marina area is lively - one can always find a lively bar or restaurant without looking too hard. There are a lot of good restaurants - and a lot of ***-poor ones too (check out my restaurant tips), so ask around and find out from the locals which restaurants they like the best!

The most annoying thing was the constant assault of vendors in the marina area and on Medano Beach. These folks were mostly locals that were selling everything from water taxi and fishing expeditions to worthless trinkets and whistles. Most of these marketing efforts began with the generic greeting of "Amigo! Happy hour, two for one!" This was cute for a day or two but became really annoying. Our hotel was very close to the marina so we couldn't escape it whenever we wanted to leave the hotel.

Outside of the marina, the vendors were much less aggressive, but the time-share people were much more prevalent. They have a more polished marketing schtick and entice you with offers of free activities, free meals dinners, or even cash! The offers are real, and from what I understand most of them deliver on their promises, but you have to sit though a hard-sell time-share presentation first. If you can stomach this in order to get some free stuff, then all the more power to you. We didn't want the hassle. You have to ignore these folks on the street to get them to shut up.

Like Cancun, Cabo is a new resort area. As little as 30 years ago, nothing was there but a small fishing village. Everything in Cabo San Lucas is new construction. As such, you will experience none of the Mexican heritage and culture that you can see on the mainland. Unless you dive off the tourist area and into the congested, unattractive residential area of Cabo San Lucas, you will not find the real Mexican culture there.