Safe Driving to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Our travels to Mexico have been focused on the Baja California Sur region where we have visited Cabo San Lucas, San Jose del Cabo, Todos Santos, La Paz and Loreto. We have had good experiences with safe driving to and from Cabo. access to multiple timeshare resorts in the Los Cabos area and also in Loreto. Our favorite places to stay are in San Jose del Cabo, principally at the Cabo Azul Resort or the Hilton Hotel at Cabo Real, and at the Villa del Palmar Loreto which is essentially the only place to stay in Loreto. See our Lodging post for more information.

Safe Driving to Cabo

“Cabo”, as Cabo San Lucas is usually called, is one of Mexico’s top tourist destinations. It is located at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, and together with San Jose del Cabo forms the Los Cabos metropolitan area. The number one tourist attraction in Cabo is “El Arco de Cabo San Lucas” which is shown below. Cabo has a wild nightlife led by its infamous Cabo Wabo Cantina. San Jose del Cabo is a lot less wild, so we prefer to stay at that end of the area. A more sophisticated, albeit expensive restaurant is “Sunset Mona Lisa”, also pictured below. The scenic views are incredible, especially at Sunset when conch-blowing, drums are bonged and opera singers entertain the guests.

Safe Driving to San Jose del Cabo

The first time we came to Cabo, we stumbled upon San Jose del Cabo. We found it to be a real Hidden Gem. Whereas Cabo San Lucas really caters to the tourist, San Jose del Cabo has an authentic traditional Mexican feeling. It has fantastic restaurants, and very nice art galleries. Every Thursday night they close down the streets to only pedestrian traffic and have an art walk. The restaurant scene focuses on “Farm to Table” offerings to support the local farmers and fishermen. Please see Our Favorite Restaurants post for more information about the San Jose del Cabo food scene.

Todos Santos

Todos Santos is about an hour drive north of Los Cabos on the Pacific Coast. Well, if Saint Luke (Lucas) and Saint Joesph (Jose) are celebrated in Los Cabos, then Todo Santos celebrates all the Saints. November first must be a real party. It looks like they are already celebrating with all the flags. By the way, this is not the real Hotel California, but it sure plays the part.

Driving to Loreto, Mexico

When we visited Loreto for the first time in October 2022, we decided to fly in and out of Los Cabos. This required us to make the roundtrip to Loreto by car. The drive up from Los Cabos to Loreto is a 5 1/2 to 6-hour trek. The road is really good until the last hour when you need to cross the mountains to get to Loreto. This makes the trip particularly grueling (but beautiful for the rider). We stopped for brunch in La Paz on the way which is one of the few towns you will see on the trip. Fortunately, we found the return trip to be less taxing, and we stopped for lunch in Todos Santos at Oystera. See Our Favorite Restaurants for more restaurant suggestions.

We visited Loreto for a second time in November 2023 and did it the same way we it a round trip, driving from Los Cabos. We found an interesting new fun restaurant in Loreto called Zapata. Here are some great pictures from the restaurant.

We took a different route on our second trip returning from Loreto and stayed on Route One the whole way. This is a slower route and you don’t go through Todos Santos. Instead we followed the eastern route south of La Paz and visited the small beach town of Los Barriles. We had lunch at a very friendly place called Rice and Beans. They had a great guacamole.

Safe Driving – Animals are Free Range

Driving in Mexico is an adventure, as the rules of the road are slightly different from what you might think. This is particularly true as the left blinker signal is used to tell someone that it is ok for them to pass. Not like in the US, with the signal meaning that they are going to pass. The other issue is that you never know when you might find a speed bump; they are everywhere even on the highways. Oh, and red lights and ALTO signs (Stop) generally just mean slow down. Other than that, we got the hang of it by the return trip, but you never knew what you might find crossing the road. Cows are everywhere and if you hit one you own it.

Loreto, Mexico

Loreto is a one-horse town. Actually, one resort and we stayed at it, the Villa del Palmar Loreto. The best part is the TPC golf course which is spectacular–a mountain/desert/ocean course. Here is a picture of Cos on the 17th hole. But you can check out more about the course on DIY Travel for Golf.

The second-best part was the dinner we had at Canipole – Arte en Comida, which is actually the chef Sophia’s home. The food was incredibly good as was the personal service. The corn soup was to die for.

More on Restaurants in Mexico

If you wish to read more about our favorite restaurants in Cabo, please check out on post Ten Most Romantic Restaurants in Cabo.