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San Jose del Cabo History

San Josè del Cabo today.

In San Jose, there's an easygoing quality to daily life. Things may take a little longer to happen, and stores may close for siesta, but that's part of its charm.

Be sure to visit the twin-spire church and the main square, they form the hub of the downtown historic area, known as El Centro. The place for romantic courtyard dining, art galleries, and specialty boutiques, the compact downtown makes exploring the many colonial buildings a breeze. Afterwards, take a break in the main square, perfect for people watching.

If doing nothing but relaxing sounds good to you, San Jose del Cabo is the place. On weekends, the main square comes alive with festivals, live music and entertainment, celebrations and good cheer. Known for its small intimate inns, distinctive restaurants, and few discos or crowds, San Jose del Cabo is the quiet side of Los Cabos, where you ll step back into another time.  Set a mile inland from the beach and hidden by low hills from the main highway, many visitors miss this treasure and that s a shame.

A mile south, San Jose del Cabo  beachfront hotel zone features accommodations to suit every taste, from high-end resorts to small colonial-style inns. Today's hotel zone thrives near the San Jose estuary, close to where the first mission was founded. This freshwater lagoon also attracted early commerce, as Spanish galleons, privateers, coastal schooners, and whalers anchored offshore to take on water and provisions.

There s a lot to do around San Jose del Cabo. Every type of watersport is available nearby, or rent a car and visit the East Cape or the Sierra de la Laguna foothills. Exploring the desert, horseback riding and walking the beach are all blissfully serene.

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Galeon.jpgIn the late 1600s and the 1700s the Manila galleons stopped at San Jose del Cabo to obtain water and fresh provisions, en route to Acapulco. A Jesuit mission founded in 1730, but epidemics quickly killed most of Indians. In 1822 English sea lord Thomas Cochrane attackea the town, and in 1847 the US frigate Portsmouth landed a company of marines to occupy the town. Mexican patriots, besieged them for several months, almost wiping them , until reinforcements arrived. Today's Avenue Antonio Mijares is named for a Mexican lieutenant killed in an attack The mission church was destroyed in the battle, and the present one (1) was built in the 1940s.


In recent years there has been a great deal of new construction, including a number of fine hotels and many condomiurns, and San Jose del Cabo is one of the most beautiful towns in Baja.

The mouth of the Rio San Jose is blocked by a sandbar most of the year, and there is a large lagoon harboring more than 180 species of birds.
A long stretch of sand beach, known as the Costa AzuL one of the most magnificent in Baja, sweeps past the town providing fine swimming and loafing. However, the water immediately offshore is very deep, and when swells are present, especially in summer, a booming surf renders activities difficult. Although some individual combination of bottom contour and wave direction permit surfing along the Costa Azul, the waves sometimes go from top to bottom in six seconds or less, and most surfers head east for the Punta, Gorda or Shipwrecks areas, or for "Zippers," "The Rock "Old Man" and points west.