If there’s one thing Los Cabos has no shortage of, it’s beautiful beaches. If you visited a new one every day for a year, you’d still have plenty of sandy new vistas left to discover for sunning, swimming, snorkeling, surfing, and other summertime pleasures.
But since most visitors stay for only a week or two, we’ll make it easy with a guide to the best of the best of local beaches for your summer vacation, using blue flag certification status as a measure of quality.
What is a Blue Flag Beach?
It’s a beach recognized by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) for meeting and maintaining high standards of cleanliness, water quality, safety, services (like restrooms and showers), and sustainability. The non-profit organization started in Europe in the 1980s and its certification program has now spread to more than 60 member countries around the globe.
We mentioned Los Cabos has a lot of beaches? It also has a lot of blue flag beaches, from Cabo San Lucas to San Jose del Cabo and beyond. In fact, Los Cabos has more blue flag beaches than any other destination in Mexico, and it’s not even really close.
For some context, Mexico as a country boasts 63 blue flag beaches, 10 of which were only recently announced in June 2020. It’s an impressive number, 63, and one that puts Mexico in 13th place worldwide (first in the Americas).
These 63 beaches span the country, from Cancun and the Riviera Maya to Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta. But no beachfront resort destination has been honored so much as Los Cabos.
Baja California Sur has more blue flag beaches than any other single state with 23, an astounding 22 of which are in Los Cabos. That means Los Cabos alone accounts for 35% of the blue flag beaches in Mexico.
Blue Flag Beaches in Los Cabos
Los Cabos’ blue flag supremacy is a rather new phenomenon. As recently as 2016, the municipality had only three beaches that had earned FEE’s blue flag stamp of approval: Playas Chileno, Santa Maria and Palmilla. The stunning growth of the program since then is a credit to the community at large, which has recognized how important beaches are to the tourism industry and has made a commitment to keep the local sands both beautiful and sustainable.
Now, in 2020, blue flag beaches can be found in virtually every corner of Los Cabos, from popular city based locales to lesser known gems like La Ribera, an East Cape playa where a new Four Seasons resort has recently opened.
In fact, two of the three new blue flag beaches announced for Los Cabos are, like La Ribera, on the East Cape of Los Cabos. There is La Gaviota, the picturesque new blue flag beach in Buenavista, a locale perhaps best known for hosting Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore fishing tournament; and El Surgidero, a golden oasis found not far from Playa La Ribera.
The other blue flag beach, Playa Monumentos (or Monuments Beach), has already been famous for decades thanks to its world-class surfing conditions and magnificent views of the half-mile Land’s End headland that extends to the southernmost point of the Baja California peninsula in Cabo San Lucas.
Monumentos’ tricky left-hand surf break is not for beginners, but you don’t have to surf to enjoy this gorgeous bit of Sea of Cortez facing coastline. Like many of Los Cabos’ blue flag beaches, it’s also a dream spot for photographers (yes, selfies count!).
So if you’re going to be in paradise for a few weeks this summer, why not visit them all? We’ll include a checklist below, so you can track your progress.
Acapulquito
El Chileno
El Corsario
El Surgidero
La Gaviota
La Ribera
Las Viudas
Medano Breathless
Medano Casa Dorada
Medano Club Cascadas de Baja
Medano Hacienda
Medano ME Cabo
Medano Pueblo Bonito Los Cabos
Medano Pueblo Bonito Rose
Medano Riu Palace Los Cabos
Medano Riu Santa Fe
Medano Villa Del Palmar
Medano Villa El Arco
Medano Villa La Estancia
Monumentos
Palmilla
Santa Maria
Just don’t forget to bring sunscreen!
For more information about events, activities and villa rentals in Los Cabos, call us TOLL FREE at 1-888-655-4548, visit www.LosCabosVillas.com, or email us at Info@LosCabosVillas.com.
Photo credit: Four Seasons Resort Los Cabos at Costa Palmas
Upcoming Events Calendar
August
Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore Fishing Tournament – Aug. 4 – 8
East Cape Gold Cup Wahoo Jackpot Fishing Tournament – Aug. 22
September
Mexican Independence Day – Sep. 16
October
Los Cabos Billfish Tournament – Oct. 11 – 15
Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore Fishing Tournament – Oct. 15 – 18
Bisbee’s Black & Blue Fishing Tournament – Oct. 20 – 24
November
Day of the Dead – Nov. 2
WON Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot – Nov. 4 – 7
Los Cabos Film Festival – Nov. 11 – 15
Gastrovino Baja Food and Wine Festival – Nov. 13 – 15
53rd Annual SCORE Baja 1000 – Nov. 16 – 21
Revolution Day – Nov. 20
December
Feast Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe – Dec. 12
Las Posadas – Dec. 16 – 24
Nochebuena – Dec. 24
Navidad – Dec. 25
Nochevieja – Dec. 31
