Plan Your Perfect Los Cabos Itinerary: 6-9 Days of Paradise

We provide a six-day itinerary for Los Cabos that brings you to the highlights of this vacation paradise. It is perfect for first-time visitors as it allows them to discover the highlights of Los Cabos. But it is also recommended for people that have been to Los Cabos in the past, but want to discover other beautiful beaches or more places to see.

If you can spend more time in paradise, please check out the three add-ons below for an even better Los Cabos experience.

Even if you are one of the visitors who just booked a resort with the plan to stay there for the whole time, we recommend taking at least one day to explore other things Los Cabos has to offer. Who knows, you may like what you see and then one day of exploring becomes two days, or three days, or more.

Here is the itinerary:

Day 1: Arriving in Los Cabos

Today you will arrive at the airport in Los Cabos. We will tell you what to do and where to do your first shopping for snacks and other necessities.

Arriving at Los Cabos International Airport (SJD)

Most visitors arrive at Los Cabos International Airport (SJD) north of San Jose del Cabo.

The airport has invested in modern technology for customs and immigration, and unless you need a visa, you can walk through the fully automated gates that scan your passport, take a photo of you, and then admit you into the country. And all that with no or almost no waiting in line.

You can check if you need a visa here.

There are ATM machines and currency exchange counters in the airport. My advice is to get money from an ATM machine in the secure area of the airport, as it reduces the chance that someone has tampered with it. We have found that it is usually best to decline the conversion rate and let your bank determine the exchange rate.
If you are sure that you have a data signal, then you can even lock your ATM card before the trip - many cards allow that nowadays – and unlock it via your banking app before you use it at the ATM machine. Once you have your cash, you can lock your card again with your banking app.
Alternatively, you can go to a currency exchange counter. Just be advised that the exchange fee is likely going to be higher than the fee that you pay at an ATM machine.

When you have your luggage and exit the airport, you will need to walk through a room with timeshare and other salespeople. Some may ask you for your car or hotel reservation, pretending to be an official representative. And they may tell you that your hotel, tour, or rental car was cancelled, and that they can help you. Luckily, those people are not as aggressive as e.g. in Cancun and they leave most tourists alone these days, but still: Don’t talk to these people – just exit the airport or go wherever you were planning to go!

If you have a rental car reservation, find the shuttle bus that brings you to the rental car center of the company you booked with.
Most agents at the rental car center of the big international companies will speak English.
Make sure to obey the speed limit. Unfortunately, Mexican traffic police are often not paid well, so some police officers will target supposedly rich gringos on ridiculous charges hoping to extort money out of them.
Also, be aware that local roads, and sometimes even highways in urban areas, have speed bumps (tope). Some of them can damage your car if you don’t slow down.

Go Shopping in Los Cabos

If you stay in an Airbnb or hotel with kitchen or kitchenette, then you will probably want to stock up on groceries. Or maybe you just want to buy drinking water, other drinks, or snacks.
Since you will probably have a rental car, you can go to a big supermarket to buy anything you need.
We typically go either to Walmart, Costco (yes, your US membership allows you in but you will likely need to pay cash, and you cannot gas up at their pumps), or Chedraui.
Chedraui is like a Mexican version of Walmart and Target.
You can easily find directions to these stores on google maps.

In this Backpack and Snorkel Los Cabos Purple Travel Guide, we provide you with a six-day itinerary for Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo (Los Cabos) that focuses on the best things to see and do in one of our favorite travel destinations.

Here at Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guides, we typically promote self-guided walking tours.
But we realize that not everybody likes to walk by themselves in a foreign city. So, just in case that you rather go with ab guide: NO PROBLEM! Please see the Viator tours below.

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Author: Rudy at Backpack and Snorkel

Bio: Owner of Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guides. We create in-depth guides to help you plan unforgettable vacations around the world.

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