Todos Santos Mexico Shore Excursion Review – Cruise Maven

Are you all-too-acquainted with chaotic Cabo San Lucas, Mexico? It’s possible the attract of Señor Frog’s is not for you.
If which is the case, then this Todos Santos shore excursion might be the ideal alternative.
Browse on to uncover out what our shore excursion from Cabo San Lucas was like and if it was really worth the time and expense.
Todos Santos Shore Tour Overview
Cabo San Lucas, in which cruise ships dock, is located in Mexico’s point out of Baja California Sur. Cabo is a magnet for spring breakers, vacation resort vacationers, and West Coast brief breakers.
Tens of millions of vacationers fill hotel rooms in Cabo for the duration of substantial period, additionally there is cruise ship passengers on Mexican Riviera itineraries. So if you want to keep away from the chaos and throngs of vacationers, head about to Todos Santos.
What to Anticipate on a Todos Santos Shore Excursion
Our tour of Todos Santos was a total-day excursion. We experienced precedence disembarkation early in the morning and a late return to the ship.
This is mostly mainly because the little city of Todos Santos, which usually means “all saints,” is an hour absent from the dock in Cabo.
At $99 per individual, the excursion lasted five hours. The tour provided two hrs of journey time and three hrs of a guided wander, lunch, and some no cost time.
Heading from Cabo San Lucas to the Tour Bus
1st, there was the cruise ship’s tender boat ride into Cabo San Lucas. We were met at the dock and led to our tour bus.
Our information, Betty, started our tour as soon as we boarded our mentor. She extolled facts about the region in which she was born, elevated, and now lives.
Pointing together her forearm, Betty drew a “map” of the very long landmass of Baja California Sur. She showed how the place juts into the Pacific Ocean, and marked off La Paz, the state’s capital, and other notable web pages.
Once we arrived in Todos Santos, we visited the cultural middle, the oldest building in town. It was as soon as used for the navy, then elementary school, then reopened by the local community.
Our team toured the small museum where we realized that there are no historic buildings or pyramids in this component of Mexico. Why? Since the indigenous tribes ended up migratory and in no way stayed in a single put very long.
Touring the grounds, we also observed a duplicate of a community, conventional household. Planted close by have been bushels of aloe, a plant thought to scare away lousy spirits in Mexican society.
Checking out Mexico Throughout Dia de Los Muertos Festival
Our visit in late October was during Mexico’s festive week of celebrating Dia de Los Muertos. On a short strolling tour via town, we strolled beneath colorful flags, papel picado, that lead us to the old Jesuit mission, also regarded as Pilar de la Paz.
Painted and restored several situations considering the fact that it was established in 1733, the mission is continue to luminous and open up to the public.
We paused here briefly to understand about the mission’s history, and its relic, an idol of the Virgin Mary as soon as buried in La Paz for safekeeping.
Just all-around the block is the Resort California (not that Lodge California, but much more on that in a bit). Lunch was served listed here for our tour team. Involved was a sampling of distinct area dishes, which include a burrito, tamale, and of course rice and beans.
Refreshments were being incorporated, but not liquor. Soon after an fulfilling break, it was free of charge time to check out right until we boarded the mentor to return to the ship.
The city is tiny, and we felt like the 45 minutes or so was just adequate to look through and purchase a rapid memento. There was nonetheless time to prevent for a sparkling chilly brew espresso and a cookie at Taller 17, a neighborhood café.
Of training course, there’s hardly ever plenty of time to see it all, but you are going to get an idea of the spot and its surf-chic ambiance.
Why is Todos Santos Identified as “Magic City?”
Located on the Tropic of Most cancers, it is claimed that Todos Santos has a magical experience about it. So considerably so, it’s been provided the designation of “pueblo magico” or magic city.
Todos Santos is just one of 36 cities in Mexico highlighted for its all-natural, cultural, and historic significance.
This modest town of about 6,500 residents, feels just about like an artist commune. Galleries line the sandy streets, as effectively as craftspeople expertly carving wood or performing leather-based.
Tied to Todos Santos, though superficially, is the band The Eagles. Hotel California is in the center of downtown and has been in a person form or yet another since 1950.
However, the band has confirmed that the title and the hotel’s location on a “dusty desert highway,” is merely a coincidence, and not the inspiration for the tune, “Hotel California.”
The serious story powering the resort is even much more intriguing. The hotel’s unique operator was a Chinese immigrant who crafted the residence and lived there with his family members in the ‘50s.
Continue to, a margarita at the resort bar is a great idea. So substantially grows in the area — mangoes, papayas, pitaya, you name it — so tequila with the taste of contemporary fruit is constantly a risk.
Ultimate Views: Todos Santos Shore Tour from Cabo
A day out of town gives you a improved sense for the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, passing desert landscapes with the bright blue of the Pacific Ocean peeking out just from powering.
For the equivalent of $20 an hour, the tour is a great worth taking into consideration that arranging your have transportation to and from the cruise port in Cabo San Lucas, about 50 miles away, could be a inconvenience.
A lot more than that, traffic into Cabo could suggest a late arrival from Todos Santos. As we were being 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 powerful opportunity we could have been left at the rear of if we did not make on-ship time.
What to Know Prior to You Go
Todos Santos is turning out to be properly identified for its neighborhood artists, and you’ll want to look through the neighborhood artwork galleries and workshops in the course of your take a look at.
Whilst credit cards are broadly acknowledged, it is generally a wise notion to have some money on you, possibly in dollars or pesos several establishments have credit card minimums.
The working day in Todos Santos was a pleasant split from the crowds in Cabo. The Todos Santos shore tour was a definitely superior chance to see various landscapes, historic architecture and have an genuine food. A little something to contemplate for your following cruise to Cabo.

Brittany Chrusciel
Brittany Chrusciel has lined the cruise field for a lot of a long time, previously as Cruise Critic’s Destinations Editor, and has been quoted in publications these kinds of as Skift, United states Today, and the LA Times. She is a proud alumnus of Semester at Sea, the place she circumnavigated the globe even though finding out creating, Spanish, and political science. Her favourite river cruise activities so significantly have been browsing the Christmas marketplaces with her German grandmother, and Portugal’s Douro River.