Taxis, Cabo San Lucas

Anyone arriving at the Cabo San Lucas International Airport should prepare themselves about the taxi service that runs on whatever and however the driver sizes you up. There are no meters to judge fares. It is how lost, drunk or naive you appear.....as I was. All hoteliers and restaurants tell you it's this much or that much and are happy to call you one. You jump in the whatever vehicle and the first thing you DO NOT SEE is a metering system! Therefore you get taken advantage of by the drivers judgment of you. We headed to several restaurants and we were given two different rates coming and going. Your sweet hotel consierge tells you that the fee is this but lets you hang out to dry. On the final departure from our Cabo Azul Hotel, the consierge said it was $23.00 USD( or 230 pesos) on the old road and $27.00 USD on the toll road. The smiling driver took us on the old road and we arrived easily. He wanted a full 300 pesos ($30.00 USD). A squabble ensued and it gained nothing, I paid up and figured the chaotic system is typical of a 3rd world environment. It is a bad blemish for anyone wishing to have return guest get fleeced by a corrupt and non-governed system. How the Mexican Government ever collects tax monies is beyond me. It would be more appealing to get an all inclusive trip making sure that these independent taxi drivers are squeezed out of existence. Any part of the Cabo region should have a shuttle system that puts their sorry system out of business unless it is properly regulated.

Saltcreek@yahoo.com

Unique Suggestions: Make sure you have a shuttle to and from the airport. This is the longest journey to take you to your wonderful resort. OR. Rent a car!

Cabo is fabled to be a fun, and cheap trip...HA! it's fun, but it is NOT cheap. Plan on spending a boat-load of deneros on taxi's. They charged us $90 dollars to get from the airport to our hotel. Needless to say, we did a lot of walking.

Taxis in Cabo are too expensive. This is a problem when you arrive on the airport and you don't have transportation to the centre.
There is a shuttle bus, but that will take you 2 hours, as they stop on every resort and with the taxi something about 30 minutes.
We where lucky that we met some people on the airplane who rented a car and brought us at our hotel for free. Well, I offered them some drinks and we where all happy.
If you really have no choices then take a taxi, but do not tip them. This is a general rule, even for the inhabitants...

When you get to the airport in Cabo San Luis, more than likely you will need transportation to Cabo San Lucas. After you go through customs you will get your luggage and go towards the exit to where the taxi vans are. When you go to pay they will tell you that you should buy your trip back ticket right now. They tell you that it will cost you 80 dollars to get a taxi back to the airport, this is not true. They will tell you that you will get all your money back and get a free breakfast to check out another resort. They also say it will only take 1 ½ hours, our friends that went were gone over 4 hours because of taxi time etc…. Anyway it’s not the way I want to spend my vacation. They only gave back ½ the money and they had to use it for the taxi ride back, so to me it wasn’t a good deal. Just a scam.

Unique Suggestions: Make sure you get it in writing that you will get all your money back and a free breakfast some also offer boat rides etc... Not bad if you have the extra time and do get what they promise.

Fun Alternatives: Make your deal for one way from the airport to your hotel, it should only be around 8 dollars per person. Most hotels have the same deal going back just let them know ahead of time and the airport taxi will come and pick you up and again only 8 dollars. Taxi's around inter-city Cobo are usualy 6 dollars total. They fit alot of people since there big vans usualy 6 to 10 people.