Tours in San José del Cabo

Walk into the old centre of San José del Cabo in the evening and you will notice that everyone drifts the same way, toward the plaza by the mission church. Families, couples, kids on scooters. The streets around it are low and quiet compared with the resort strip down the coast, and the galleries keep their doors open late. Sit under the trees for a while before you decide where to eat.

This is the calmer side of Los Cabos. Bougainvillea spills over courtyard walls, restaurants set tables out under strings of lights, and a lot of the morning goes on coffee. Walk down toward the estuary and the palms and birdlife make it feel like another town altogether. Beyond it, the beaches are long and open, and the Sea of Cortez is right there at the end of the road.

The surf is a good reason to come. Costa Azul, a short drive along the coast, is where people who care about waves head, and it has a way of making beginners feel they have joined something. You can watch from the sand with a cold drink, or get in the water with an instructor and spend a morning paddling, falling off and trying again. It suits a first-timer as well as someone who wants to sharpen their timing.

Not everything you might want here is on our list yet. If you are after the mission church, a gallery walk, a tasting evening or a day out in the desert hills, ask. A local guide can take the request and shape a day around it.