Los Cabos Beyond the Resort Fence

Los Cabos has a reputation problem. Many American golfers picture it as a spring break destination with golf bolted on — a place where the resort never ends and Mexico never really starts. Five years ago, that was partially true. Today, it's not even close.

The Food Revolution

The Baja cuisine movement has transformed San Jose del Cabo into one of Mexico's most exciting food destinations. Flora Farms — a working farm outside town — serves a multi-course dinner using ingredients grown fifty feet from your table. Acre, the restaurant and treehouse bar on a larger farm, has been drawing food press from New York and LA.

The fish tacos from a roadside stand in town cost $3 and are better than anything a resort kitchen produces. The craft cocktail bars on the San Jose art walk are run by people who left Mexico City's restaurant scene because they saw what Cabo was becoming. This is not resort food. This is a food scene with genuine ambition.

For golfers, this means your evenings are as good as your rounds. A $40 dinner in San Jose del Cabo — grilled mahi with mango salsa, a mezcal cocktail, a walk through the Thursday night art walk — is the kind of evening that makes the trip feel complete.

The Golf Nobody Talks About

Everyone knows Quivira, Diamante, and Cabo del Sol. The courses nobody mentions are often more interesting. Club Campestre San Jose is a Nicklaus design that locals play — less dramatic than the clifftop courses but a better test of golf at half the price. Palmilla, the original Cabo resort course, has been refurbished and plays better than its modest reputation suggests.

Puerto Los Cabos, in the development corridor between the two towns, has two courses (Norman and Nicklaus) that are underbooked compared to the headline acts. Play there mid-week and you'll practically have the course to yourself.

Beyond the Golf

The Pacific side of the cape has some of the best surfing in Mexico. The Sea of Cortez side has some of the best diving. Whale watching (December-March) puts you within yards of humpback whales — it's one of the great wildlife encounters in the Americas.

The drive north from Cabo to Todos Santos — a small art colony and surf town an hour up the Pacific coast — is worth a rest day. Galleries, cafes, a more bohemian energy than Cabo proper, and Hotel California (yes, that one — the Eagles' lawyers disagree, but the sign stays up).