Medano Beach is the main safe
swimming beach in Cabo San Lucas and the most popluar. It begins at the east side of the harbor and extends along Cabo
San Lucas Bay all the way to Villa del Palmar!
Entering the town
of Cabo San Lucas, the graceful sweep of Playa El Médano (Medano Beach), the historical
name of the beach, extends through the main beachfront hotel zone, and abounds with beach activity. Bahía
San Lucas, once packed with anchored yachts and fishing boats, is relatively quiet since the inner harbor marina was
built. These days the bay is alive with watercraft, catamarans, sea kayaks and parasailors. On El
Medano, Cabo's main beach, you'll find it easy to rent the water toy of your choice, from high-powered wave runners,
to quiet self-powered sea kayaks. For the serious beach runner, El Medano is the place.
Stretching for two miles away from town, the sloped soft sand beach provides all the challenge the serious runner wants. Access
to this beach is available at Km. 1 near Club Cascadas de Baja or near the harbor entrance at the Plaza Las Glorias Beach
Club or through any of the hotels and restaurants along this long stretch of beach.
Playa El Médano
(The Dune Beach) encompasses several miles of safe swimming beach beginning at the east side of the harbor entrance
all the way to Villa del Palmar on the east end of the bay. Close to town, Playa El Médano
(Medano Beach) is the main and most popular Cabo San Lucas Beach. Here, hotels, bars and restaurants compete for space,
offering all the goodies most people come to expect from a prime tourist destination. Whether you choose an activity
such as swimming, jet skiing, kayaking, waterskiing, banana boating, parasailing and volleyball or just want to hang out and
enjoy the beach parties, you’re sure to have a good time here.
El Medano
beach, nearest to town, is also prime sales territory for the ubiquitous vendors who will continuously
interrupt your siesta with offerings of everything from Chicklets to blankets, sombreros, temporary tattoos, hair braiding,
and silver jewelry. Don’t misunderstand me, Playa El Médano (Medano Beach) is a blast
- it’s where the action is and is close to downtown Cabo San Lucas - a true destination beach for the young at heart.
It's the place to see and be seen, where the party continues all day and into the night.
Medano does not necessarily offer the tranquility of Santa Maria or Palmilla Beach but that’s what
makes the beaches of Los Cabos so unique - there is a special place for everyone. Play volleyball, throw a frisbee with
friends, or build a sandcastle with the kids - enjoy.
Lover's Beach, Land's End  Cabo San Lucas:
Once known as Playa de Doña
Chepa, Lover's Beach is another must, but to get to this hidden cove you'll need some kind of floating transportation.
Easiest is to hire a water taxi at the marina. The captain will take you on an informative tour of the diving areas
around the arch (El Arco), point out Lover's Beach, then go around the popular point for a wonderful
view of the dramatic area where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean. I suggest you pack a lunch of your choice
and plan on spending the better part of the day enjoying Lover's Beach and the striking wind and water shaped rock formations
- then ask your skipper to come back for you at a pre-determined time - all for one price. Be most careful here, the
powerful waves and currents of the Pacific make swimming quite dangerous. Swim and snorkel only
on the Sea of Cortez side of Lover's Beach.
Playa del Amor is the photogenic
marvel hidden behind Land's End and is seen in many of the travel ads for Cabo San Lucas and Los Cabos. Ironically,
it's delightfully small and difficult to get to on foot. Getting there is easy by water taxi; much harder (and not suggested)
is to climb the rocks from Playa Solmar. Once on Love Beach, you are surrounded by smooth,
towering rocks and water on two sides. In 1940, the population of Cabo San Lucas could practically be counted on both
hands, yet John Steinbeck's description of what was then known as Playa Doña Chepa is still apt
and thought provoking more than half a century later:
"The tip of the Cape at San Lucas,
with the huge gray Friars standing up on the end, has behind the rocks a little beach which is a small boy's dream of pirates -
and this little beach must so have appealed to earlier men, for the names of pirates are still in the rock, and the pirate
ships did dart out of here and did come back."
Like the pirates of long ago,
you'll dart in and back by boat from the front of Plaza Las Glorias or El Medano
beach across the bay. Kayaks and other watersports equipment are also available at El Medano. Make sure you make
return arrangements, boats are scarce after four or five p.m. Love Beach (or Lover's Beach as it's also known) has no services
and swimming near the arch or the Pacific side of the beach is very dangerous. Stick to the bay side where schools of
multi-colored fish are plentiful and the water is calmer and clearer.
~ Divorce Beach ~
This
stretch of clean white sand is located on the Pacific side a short walk from Lover's Beach. Divorce Beach
is great for sunbathing and relaaxing, but It is very dangerous to swim on this beach. There are strong currents, crashing
waves and rips there. Stay out of the water along this beach. Swimming is much better on the bay side of Lover's
Beach.
~ Playa Solmar, TerraSol,
Finisterra Beaches ~
This wide stretch of white
sand beach faces the Pacific Ocean and runs from the rocks at Land's End to the base of Pedregal to the West.
Along this stretch of beach you'll find Solmar Suites, TerraSol Beach Resort, Hotel Finisterra and the new Playa Grande Resort.
The currents and waves are very strong and swimming is dangerous. Access to this beach is through the Solmar Suites Hotel
or TerraSol Resort, at the end of Avenida Solmar.
~ Playa El Faro Viejo
(Old Lighthouse Beach) ~
El Faro Viejo, The Old
Lighthouse, is somewhat inaccessible, but worth the effort. Four wheel (ATV's) All Terrain Vehicles
for the trip are no longer permitted for outings to this impressive spot. Decades ago a mechanized light house replaced
the venerable structure. Towering sand dunes built by often powerful winds off the Pacific Ocean offer sweeping vistas.
It is now possible to drive a normal rental car most of the way to the old light house. Stop at the top of the
hill, the view is spectacular. Do not try to proceed any further as the sand is soft and the dunes very steep.
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