[1] The area was remote and rural until the latter 20th century, when the Mexican government began to develop Cabo San Lucas for tourism, which then spread east to the municipal seat.

The main draw is the climate and geography, where desert meets the sea, along with sport fishing, resorts and golf.

[3][4] There are still cobblestone streets, adobe houses, jacaranda trees and a central square in front of a church that dates from the 18th century, where people gather in the evening when it is cooler.

[3][4][5] A number of the large houses in the center date from the 19th century, and most of these have been converted into restaurants, art galleries and shops selling everything from fine handcrafts, silver, local gemstones and souvenirs.

[7][9] The facade is marked with a tile mural depicting the martyrdom of founder Nicolás Tamaral, killed by the local Pericu people .

Occasions like these are marked with traditional dance in dress styles known as “Flor de Pitaya” and the “La Cuera.”[2][9] Other important landmarks in the town include the municipal hall (palacio municipal), which dates from 1981 and the cultural centre or Casa de Cultura, housed in a 19th-century building.

[10] San Jose del Cabo is the seat and the government for the communities found in a 3,451.51 km2 area, located in the extreme south of the state of Baja California Sur.

[2][11] The municipality borders that of La Paz to the north, with the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California surrounding it in the other directions.

[11] Historical landmarks are relatively few but include the municipal hall, the Casa de Cultura in San Jose del Cabo, the Faro Viejo and the San Jose del Cabo and Santiago de las Coras missions.

Despite its success, high rise construction has been kept limited, focusing on resorts and sand-top restaurants in the beach area.

[2] Los Cabos hosts a culinary event called Ritmos, Colores y Sabores, which attracts chefs from the United States and Europe.

[17] The basement rock underlying Los Cabos formed even earlier, approximately 115 million years ago.

The semi flat areas are located between the coast and the mountain ranges, mostly of sedimentary rock and account for sixty percent of the territory.

Major beaches include Los Frailes, Buena Vista, Agua Caliente, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Chileno and Punta Colorada, often promoted together as the Costa de Oro (Golden Coast).

As it is on the edge of the desert that covers most of the Baja California peninsula, it is one of the sunniest locations in the world, with an average of 320 days of sunshine per year.

[17][8] The climate is characterized as hot and dry to the north of the town of San José del Cabo, hot and semi moist in San José and along the southern coast and temperate and dry in the highest elevations, because of cyclones that hit this area.

[2] The Río San José stops just shy of the ocean, with a one km long sand bar creating an estuary, the third largest in Mexico.

It was declared a state environmental reserve, but pollution and excessive water extraction has caused it to degenerate, leading to a complaint by Greenpeace.

[17] Wildlife is varied and includes mammals such as badgers, skunks, coyotes, foxes, pumas and other wild cats, deer, raccoons, rabbits, bats and various rodents.

Pirate Thomas Cavendish called Cabo San Lucas “Safe Port” as he hid there from Spanish authorities.

[2] When the Spanish arrived the main indigenous group in the area was the Pericus, a hunter-gather culture with Stone Age tools.

[2] While colonization was slow, the area was important as a way station for the Manila Galleon and other ships, which stopped here for fresh water, as well as fruits and vegetables.

[12] The first pirate in the area was Francis Drake in 1578, followed shortly after by Thomas Cavendish, both after the treasures from Spain's Asia trade.

One major attack was that on the Santa Ana Galleon, whose looting caused the Spanish colonial government to explore and map the area around Cabo San Lucas at the very beginning of the 17th century.

[17] After Independence, the Baja Peninsula was part of the California province, but Cabo San Lucas was named head of a municipality.

[2] The major political players during the Mexican Revolution were Manuel Gonzalez and Pedro Orozco, along with Félix Ortega.

In 1915, Ildefonso Green Ceseña, head of forces loyal to Venustiano Carranza, drove out those of Francisco Villa out of the southern part of the peninsula.

In 1927, the Compañía de Productos Marinas based its operations in Cabo San Lucas and helped develop the port to make it open to tourism later.

[17] For the most part, the area remained rural and undeveloped until the latter 20th century, when the federal agency Fonatur began to develop a tourism industry here.

[2] Mayor Armida de Jesús Castro Guzmán quit MORENA on March 1, 2021, because of sexism by the party's state leader, Alberto Rentería Santana, and because he did not support her reelection.