Todos Santos Mexico Shore Excursion Review – Cruise Maven

Are you all-as well-common with chaotic Cabo San Lucas, Mexico?  Probably the allure of Señor Frog’s is not for you. 

If that is the case, then this Todos Santos shore excursion may possibly be the great remedy.

Go through on to uncover out what our shore excursion from Cabo San Lucas was like and if it was worthy of the time and expense.

Todos Santos Shore Tour Evaluate

Cabo San Lucas, where cruise ships dock, is situated in Mexico’s point out of Baja California Sur.  Cabo is a magnet for spring breakers, resort vacationers, and West Coast shorter breakers. 

Millions of tourists fill lodge rooms in Cabo for the duration of superior time, plus there’s cruise ship passengers on Mexican Riviera itineraries.  So if you want to prevent the chaos and throngs of travellers, head around to Todos Santos. 

What to Count on on a Todos Santos Shore Excursion 

Our tour of Todos Santos was a comprehensive-working day excursion.  We had precedence disembarkation early in the morning and a late return to the ship.

This is principally since the smaller city of Todos Santos, which implies “all saints,” is an hour absent from the dock in Cabo.

At $99 per man or woman, the tour lasted 5 hrs.  The tour integrated two several hours of vacation time and three hours of a guided stroll, lunch, and some cost-free time.

Heading from Cabo San Lucas to the Tour Bus

Initial, there was the cruise ship’s tender boat ride into Cabo San Lucas.  We had been met at the dock and led to our tour bus.

Our information, Betty, started out our tour as soon as we boarded our coach.  She extolled points about the area in which she was born, elevated, and now lives.

Pointing along her forearm, Betty drew a “map” of the extensive landmass of Baja California Sur.  She confirmed how the location juts into the Pacific Ocean, and marked off La Paz, the state’s capital, and other notable web sites. 

At the time we arrived in Todos Santos, we visited the cultural heart, the oldest developing in town.  It was after used for the army, then elementary faculty, then reopened by the neighborhood.

Our team toured the modest museum exactly where we realized that there are no historical buildings or pyramids in this part of Mexico.  Why? Simply because the indigenous tribes had been migratory and under no circumstances stayed in a single area lengthy.

Touring the grounds, we also observed a duplicate of a regional, traditional household. Planted close by were bushels of aloe, a plant considered to scare away poor spirits in Mexican culture.

Viewing Mexico Through Dia de Los Muertos Festival

Our take a look at in late Oct was during Mexico’s festive week of celebrating Dia de Los Muertos. On a small strolling tour by way of city, we strolled below colorful flags, papel picado, that direct us to the old Jesuit mission, also recognised as Pilar de la Paz.

Painted and restored many instances because it was established in 1733, the mission is even now luminous and open to the public.

We paused right here briefly to find out about the mission’s record, and its relic, an idol of the Virgin Mary after buried in La Paz for safekeeping.

Just all over the block is the Resort California (not that Resort California, but much more on that in a little bit). Lunch was served here for our tour team.  Incorporated was a sampling of distinctive local dishes, such as a burrito, tamale, and of training course rice and beans.

Refreshments were being integrated, but not alcoholic beverages. Right after an pleasurable break, it was absolutely free time to investigate right up until we boarded the coach to return to the ship.

The city is modest, and we felt like the 45 minutes or so was just ample to look through and get a swift souvenir.  There was however time to halt for a glowing cold brew espresso and a cookie at Taller 17, a area café.

Of class, there is by no means ample time to see it all, but you will get an thought of the spot and its surf-chic environment.

Why is Todos Santos Named “Magic City?”

Situated on the Tropic of Most cancers, it’s explained that Todos Santos has a magical sensation about it. So substantially so, it is been specified the designation of “pueblo magico” or magic town. 

Todos Santos is one particular of 36 towns in Mexico highlighted for its normal, cultural, and historic importance. 

This compact city of about 6,500 inhabitants, feels virtually like an artist commune. Galleries line the sandy streets, as nicely as craftspeople expertly carving wooden or performing leather-based.

Tied to Todos Santos, even though superficially, is the band The Eagles.  Hotel California is in the middle of downtown and has been in a single kind or another considering that 1950.

Even so, the band has verified that the name and the hotel’s site on a “dusty desert freeway,” is simply a coincidence, and not the inspiration for the music, “Hotel California.”

The actual tale driving the resort is even more exciting.  The hotel’s initial operator was a Chinese immigrant who designed the home and lived there with his loved ones in the ‘50s.

Nonetheless, a margarita at the hotel bar is a excellent thought. So a lot grows in the region — mangoes, papayas, pitaya, you title it — so tequila with the flavor of new fruit is always a possibility. 

Last Feelings: Todos Santos Shore Tour from Cabo

A working day out of city provides you a far better experience for the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, passing desert landscapes with the brilliant blue of the Pacific Ocean peeking out just from powering.

For the equivalent of $20 an hour, the excursion is a superior value considering that arranging your have transportation to and from the cruise port in Cabo San Lucas, about 50 miles away, could be a inconvenience.

Far more than that, traffic into Cabo could suggest a late arrival from Todos Santos. As we ended up booked as a result of the cruise line, the ship waited for us and we departed about an hour late.

Had we booked independently, there is a sturdy prospect we could have been left powering if we did not make on-ship time.

What to Know Prior to You Go

Todos Santos is becoming very well recognized for its regional artists, and you are going to want to browse the regional artwork galleries and workshops in the course of your pay a visit to.

Although credit history playing cards are greatly acknowledged, it is constantly a good notion to have some income on you, both in bucks or pesos a lot of institutions have credit history card minimums. 

The working day in Todos Santos was a awesome break from the crowds in Cabo.  The Todos Santos shore tour was a definitely superior probability to see distinctive landscapes, historic architecture and have an genuine meal.  Anything to look at for your future cruise to Cabo. 

Brittany Chrusciel

Brittany Chrusciel has protected the cruise industry for many yrs, previously as Cruise Critic’s Places Editor, and has been quoted in publications these kinds of as Skift, United states Nowadays, and the LA Times. She is a proud alumnus of Semester at Sea, wherever she circumnavigated the world when researching writing, Spanish, and political science. Her favored river cruise experiences so far have been viewing the Xmas markets with her German grandmother, and Portugal’s Douro River.