The Los Cabos area is home to dozens of great beaches - the rustic Santa Maria, secluded Solmar, the surfing Meccas of Cerritos and Acapulquito, the romantic Lover's Beach (and the larger and less romantic Divorce Beach that it borders) to name but a few. But in scale, popularity, glamor, and just sheer craziness, there is really only one Los Cabos beach you need to know: Medano.
Playa El Medano stretches for just over two miles along Bahia San Lucas, and is the bikini-clad locus of activity in Cabo, with a long line of large and luxurious resorts opening out onto sandy expanses of umbrellas, lounge chairs, and canopied daybeds, and dozens of palapa-topped cantinas and restaurants specializing in mariscos (seafood) and margaritas. Medano is busy year round, but really heats up after Christmas, when tourists and snowbirds flock to Los Cabos to escape frigid winter temperatures in the U.S. and Canada.
Unlike the Pacific Ocean side beaches of Cabo San Lucas, where strong rip currents and a lack of lifeguards make swimming perilous at the best of times, the calm waters off Playa El Medano offer safe swimming conditions throughout the year. And although most of the diving, fishing, sailing, and whale watching charters are based along the Malecon (marina boardwalk), Medano is the go-to spot for popular water-based rentals like kayaks and wave runners, and activities such as parasailing, stand up paddle surfing, and glass bottom boat trips to Lover's Beach and El Arco (Cabo San Lucas' signature landmark is an arching rock formation near Land's End, separating the Sea of Cortez from the Pacific Ocean).
Mango Deck is perhaps the most famous (or infamous) cantina on the beach, and is ground zero for collegiate revelers during the Spring Break months. Other beachside bar and grills of note include Baja Cantina, Medano Beach Club, Tabasco, and The Office, where they host an extremely popular Fiesta Mexicana on Thursday nights, complete with pre-Colombian folk dancing, waiter's shows, pinatas, and free tequila shooters.
