The Journal 8 min read
The Best Day Trips From Cabo: Todos Santos, La Paz, Cabo Pulmo, the East Cape and Balandra
Eight day trips that fit a Los Cabos week — who each one suits, real drive times, how to do it (tour vs rental car), and what the tours cost.
By The One Happy Aruba Team · Updated Sep 30, 2026 · How we know
Most people should take two day trips from Cabo: Todos Santos, because it's an hour away and costs about $120 for a six-hour tour, and Cabo Pulmo, because it's the best snorkeling in Baja and nothing near the resorts comes close. La Paz — Balandra, the Espíritu Santo sea lions, whale sharks in season — is the one that deserves an overnight rather than a twelve-hour bus day. Everything else on this list is a good use of a spare day for the right person, and a waste of one for everyone else.
The eight, at a glance
Drive times are from Cabo San Lucas; add 30–40 minutes from San José del Cabo for anything west or north, and subtract the same for anything on the East Cape. Prices are the Viator medians across all tours on file for that trip, with the range in the sections below.
| Trip | Drive from Cabo | Hours you need | Best for | Typical tour price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Todos Santos | about 1h | 5–6 | Culture, galleries, families | $125 median (44 tours) |
| Cerritos Beach | about 1h 15m | 4–6 | Surfers, a swimmable Pacific beach | Usually DIY or folded into Todos Santos tours |
| La Paz and Balandra | 2–2.5h | 10–12, or overnight | Beach perfectionists | $168 median (139 tours) |
| Espíritu Santo sea lions | 2–2.5h to La Paz, then boat | Full day or overnight | Snorkelers, anyone who likes animals | $214 median (18 tours) |
| Whale sharks (Oct–Apr) | 2–2.5h to La Paz, then boat | Full day or overnight | Bucket-listers | $191 median (26 tours) |
| Cabo Pulmo | about 2h, last stretch unpaved | 8–10 | Serious snorkelers and divers | $150 median (11 tours) |
| East Cape and Los Frailes | 1.5–2.5h, dirt roads | Full day | Solitude, 4x4 fans, fishing | $210 median (25 tours) |
| Santiago waterfalls and Miraflores | about 1h 15m from San José | 5–6 | Hikers, a freshwater swim | $260 median (5 tours) |
| San José del Cabo art walk | 30–40 min | 3–4, evenings | Couples, anyone staying in Cabo San Lucas | $99 |
Todos Santos
The default day trip, and rightly so. Highway 19 takes you over the hills to a Pueblo Mágico of galleries, a mission church, the Hotel California and good lunch, and you're back by mid-afternoon. It suits families, first-timers and anyone who doesn't want to give up the whole day. The Magical Todos Santos Tour with Camel Ranch, Lunch, and Tequila is the crowd favorite at $119 (4.9, 847 reviews); the plain Todos Santos Day Trip from Cabo San Lucas is $130 (4.7, 601), and Todos Santos Eco Adventures holds a perfect 5.0 across 399 reviews at $150 for seven hours. The Hotel California day trip is the cheapest at $99 and the lowest-rated at 4.3. With a rental car, this needs no tour at all. More in the Todos Santos day trips hub and the Todos Santos area guide.
Cerritos Beach
Fifteen minutes south of Todos Santos, Playa Los Cerritos is the swimmable surf beach on a coast where almost nothing else is swimmable — the Pacific side near Cabo has rip currents that kill people every year. Cerritos has beginner-friendly waves, board rentals and a couple of beach bars. It's a car day: drive up, surf or swim in the morning, lunch in Todos Santos on the way back. Some Todos Santos tours make a short stop here, but if the beach is the point, don't rely on a 30-minute drive-by. The Migrino Beach UTV Tour ($100, 2h, 4.9 across 683 reviews) covers the desert-to-Pacific stretch closer to Cabo if you want the scenery without the drive.
La Paz and Balandra
Balandra is the beach everyone's photo is of: a shallow turquoise bay with a mushroom-shaped rock, protected and capacity-limited. The malecón in La Paz is a proper waterfront town. The catch is distance — the from-Cabo tours run 8 to 12 hours, and four to five of those are in a van. The Day Trip to La Paz & Balandra Beach is $130 for 11 hours (4.7, 303 reviews); the World Class Snorkeling in Balandra's Hidden Beaches is $219 for eight hours and spends far more of the day on the water (4.9, 697). If you can, sleep in La Paz and book from the marina: City Tour & Beaches from La Paz is $118, and the three-hour La Paz street food tour at $79 is a great evening. We compare the two towns head-to-head in Todos Santos vs La Paz.
Espíritu Santo and the sea lions
The island off La Paz is a UNESCO-listed reserve, and the sea lion colony at its north end is the best in-the-water animal encounter in Baja that runs year-round. Pups swim up to your mask. From La Paz, the Espiritu Santo Island Tour with Sea Lion Snorkeling is $124 for 6.5 hours with a 5.0 across 93 reviews, and the Balandra Boat Adventure: Sea Lions, Kayak, and Hike at $130 folds Balandra in (5.0, 360). From Cabo, the Espiritu Santo Island Snorkel & Sea Lion Adventure is $150 for seven hours (4.7, 181). Bring a rash guard; the water is cooler than the Corridor.
Whale sharks in La Paz
October through April, whale sharks feed in the bay off La Paz and permitted boats take small groups to float alongside them. Outside those months the tours don't run. The from-Cabo standard is the La Paz Whale Shark Snorkeling Tour and Lunch: $259, ten hours, 4.9 across 1,141 reviews. From the La Paz marina, the Small Group tour with a Marine Biologist is $182 for three hours (4.9, 649) and the Intimate Eco-Friendly encounter is $302 with a near-perfect 4.99 across 422. The Snorkel Tour with Whale Shark in La Paz at $125 is a solid mid-price option (4.9, 77), and the whale sharks, sea lions and Balandra combo at $239 does all three in six hours from La Paz. The $110 Whale Shark Swim Adventure is the cheapest and the weakest-rated at 4.4. Everything is on the La Paz whale sharks and sea lions hub.
Cabo Pulmo
The only hard-coral reef on the west coast of North America, a marine park since the '90s, and the reason divers come to Baja. Fish life is dense enough that snorkelers see it too. It's about two hours from Cabo San Lucas, and the last stretch is washboard dirt; a tour or a high-clearance rental is the way in. The Pulmo National Park Snorkel Expedition from Cabo San Lucas is $279 for ten hours (4.7, 140 reviews). Divers should look at Cabo Pulmo Diving, $150 for a four-hour two-tank trip (4.9, 98). Groups with money can take the Private Cabo Pulmo Jeep Tour and Snorkel, $650 for 6.5 hours (5.0, 93). Conditions matter: the park closes to boats when the wind is up, so book early in your week so you can reschedule. See the Cabo Pulmo diving hub.
The East Cape and Los Frailes
North of San José the pavement gives out and the coast turns into empty beaches, small fishing towns and a few off-grid hotels. Los Frailes is the bay just south of Cabo Pulmo, with snorkeling off the rocks and a sea lion haul-out. This is a day for people who want nobody else on the beach and don't mind dust; it's also where the East Cape fishing happens from the shore. East Cape tours on file run a $210 median across 25 listings and about eight hours, mostly 4x4 and fishing-oriented. With a rental, be honest about your insurance terms before taking a compact on the dirt road.
Santiago waterfalls, Sol de Mayo and Miraflores
Inland from the East Cape road, the Sierra de la Laguna drops freshwater pools into the desert. The Sol de Mayo ranch near Santiago has a waterfall and swimming hole you reach on a short trail; it's the only place in Los Cabos where you'll swim in cold fresh water. Tours are thin — five on file, $165 to $1,499, median $260, around six hours — so this is really a rental-car day. Stop in Miraflores, a small farming town on the way, if you want to see what the region looked like before the resorts; we have no tour data for it and don't need any, it's a drive-through and a bakery.
San José del Cabo art walk
The one day trip you can do after dinner. San José del Cabo has a colonial-era plaza and a gallery district that opens late on Thursday evenings in season, with wine and street music. If you're staying in Cabo San Lucas or on the Corridor, it's 30 to 40 minutes by taxi. The San Jose del Cabo Art Walk tour is $99 for four hours (4.8, 177 reviews) and adds a guide and a meal; going on your own costs a taxi.
Rental car vs. tour
Do the math for your group. Todos Santos tours are $99–$160 a seat; two people are $240 and four are $480, which pays for several days of a rental. Cabo Pulmo and the East Cape need a vehicle that can handle dirt, and the tours there include the boat or the dive, which is the expensive part, so a tour is closer to fair. La Paz splits the difference: a car makes the overnight possible, and the overnight is what makes La Paz good. Our getting around guide covers rental insurance, which is the thing that trips people up at the counter.
Driving notes, with the caveat that we have no community reports on police stops for Cabo specifically: keep your license, contract and insurance card together, never hand over originals, and if you're stopped, ask for a written ticket rather than paying roadside. The only toll road you'll meet is the Los Cabos Corridor bypass toward the airport; Highway 19 to Todos Santos and Highway 1 to La Paz are free. Fill up before leaving the Corridor; stations thin out fast.
Not sure which of these fits your dates? The planner sizes a week around your travel month — which matters here, since the whale sharks are only in La Paz from October to April.