Chileno Beach(Playa Chileno, Playa el Chileno)

Located to the northeast of Cabo San Lucas, Chileno Beach – also known as Chileno Bay Beach, Chileno Bay, and Playa el Chileno – is a popular beach with light brown sand, some rocky parts, and a nearby reef.  This beach is located within a tourist area named the Los Cabos Tourist Corridor.  

The Foundation for Environmental Education has awarded this beach a Blue Flag because of its cleanliness – it is widely considered to be one of the cleanest beaches in Mexico.  The travel magazine TravelAge West listed this beach as one of the 5 best swimmable Los Cabos beaches.  In addition, Fodors also listed this beach as one of the best beaches in Los Cabos, and it is a favorite of Randall Kaplan, the world’s foremost beach expert who is known as Mr. Beach.  TripAdvisor also listed this beach as one of the best beaches in Mexico in 2024 as part of its annual Travellers’ Choice awards.

Chileno Beach Cabo offers lifeguards, and also offers many other amenities including portable toilets, nearby water sporting equipment rentals, trash disposal stations, showers, and palapas.

Chileno Beach offers many fun activities including sunbathing, beachcombing, fishing, swimming, kitesurfing, paddleboarding, tidepooling, windsurfing, kayaking, canoeing, bodysurfing, kayaking, canoeing, surf-skiing, and wildlife watching.  

The water here has gentle waves, making it ideal for beginner swimmers, paddleboarders, and canoers.  Scuba diving and snorkeling in Chileno Bay are also popular activities – you can see many kinds of tropical fish, octopus, and sea turtles while snorkeling and scuba diving in the calm waters here.  You can also book a snorkel tour of this beach – there are many private boat charters based in the nearby Cabo San Lucas marina that offer snorkeling tours of this beach, including La Isla Tour  Cabo and Cabo Adventures.

However, if you plan to swim, kayak, or paddleboard here, we recommend being careful because the water here is known to have unpredictable rip currents.  In addition, motorized water sports are also prohibited here.  If you like tidepooling, you can explore interesting tidepools at the eastern end of this beach.

If you want to explore another popular nearby beach, you can also visit Medano Beach, which is also called Playa El Medano.

The beach has a wheelchair-friendly access path for visitors with disabilities.

Getting to Chileno Beach is easy – from the city of Cabo San Lucas, you need to drive on a highway named Carretera Transpeninsular, which is also called Mexican Federal Highway 1 or Carretera Federal.  The access to the beach is located near the “kilometer 14.5” of Mexican Federal Highway 1.  The sign marking the entrance for Chileno Beach is easily visible from the highway.  There is also a free parking lot near the beach.  Once you park here, you can easily walk to the beach. 

If you want to travel here by boat, you can also charter a boat trip to the beach from the marina in the nearby city of Cabo San Lucas – some of the charters offering boat trips to the beach include La Isla Cabo and Tours Los Cabos.  

You can also visit this beach by bus from the cities of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo – the bus stop for this beach is located along the Carretera Transpeninsular.  Once you get off the bus at this station, you can easily walk to Chileno Beach within 10 minutes. 

If you want to have a quiet beach experience, we recommend visiting this beach on weekdays because there are fewer visitors here during this time.

As an interesting fact, the beach’s main Spanish name – Playa el Chileno – loosely means “Chilean Beach” in English – the beach gets its name because the beach and its surrounding areas were used as a base of operations by Chilean pirates during the 17th and 16th centuries.  These pirates would often prey upon Colonial Spanish treasure ships.  

There are many attractions near Chileno Beach within a 20-minute drive.   Museum of Natural History in Cabo San Lucas – also called Museo de Historia Natural de Cabo San Lucas – has exhibits on paleontology, geology, paleobiology, biology, palaeoanthropology, and history – its collection includes animal remains, nautical instruments, remains of a Native American Pericu woman, and marine animal-themed exhibits.  If you like golf, Cabo Real Golf Course by Questro Golf is a nearby Chileno Bay golf and beach club that has a multi-themed golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.  This course offers a fun golf experience.  Iglesia de San Lucas is a church that was built in 1730 in Colonial Spanish architecture – you can also observe the interesting local religious practices, which are conducted in Spanish and offer an insight into the local culture.  Wild Canyon Adventures is an adventure park that offers many fun activities including bungee jumping, zip lining, utility terrain vehicles tours, all-terrain vehicle tours, camel rides, and horseback rides.  The park also offers water play areas and an animal sanctuary that has camels, crocodiles, turtles, snakes, and birds.  If you are looking for another attraction near the beach, Mt. Solmar – also known as Solmar Mountain – is a mountain that offers a strenuous yet challenging and fun hiking experience, along with amazing Instagram-worthy views of the Baja California Sur shoreline and the Sea of Cortez.

If you get hungry, there are many great restaurants near Chileno Beach within a 20 minute-drive.  COMAL is an oceanfront restaurant with a hip yet rosy ambiance that offers amazing traditional Mexican dishes infused with modern culinary influences – the restaurant has also been listed by USA Today as one of the best restaurants in Mexico in 2019.  Pitahayas is an upscale restaurant with a modern decor and offers excellent fusion dishes exhibiting influences from Asian and Mexican cuisines – it has also received many awards including the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences’ Five Star Diamond award and Wine Spectator magazine’s Award Of Excellence.  Bella California Restaurant has a relaxing ambiance and it serves excellent dishes with Italian and local Mexican-Californian influences including ceviche, pizzas, salmon frittatas, and roast chicken.  Metate Cabo is a Mexican restaurant that offers amazing dishes for lunch, breakfast, and dinner including tacos, chilaquiles, enchiladas, and tlayudas.  If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby restaurant, Taco Bar is known for serving excellent tacos, along with great quesadillas and hamburgers.

If you are looking for a hotel near Chileno Beach, there are many great nearby options.  The 5-Star Chileno Bay Resort & Residences, Auberge Resorts Collection offers many amenities including multiple restaurants, an infinity pool,  gym, a bar, a spa, and a kids’ club.  As another upscale hotel, the 4.5-Star Hilton Los Cabos Beach & Golf Resort offers many amenities including three bars, a cafe, multiple restaurants, two pools, a hot tub, tennis courts, and a spa.  Another 4-Star hotel is the Hacienda del Mar Los Cabos offers many amenities including multiple restaurants and bars, multiple pools, car rental facilities, a sundries shop, a gym, a spa, and a kids’ club.  A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Sunrock Condo Hotel Los Cabos that offers many amenities including complimentary shuttle service between hotel buildings, fitness rooms, a cafeteria, massage service, and seven pools.  If you are looking for another good and affordable nearby hotel, the 3-Star Los Patios Hotel offers many amenities including a pool, a hot tub, a restaurant, a bar, a terrace, and complimentary breakfast.