Cabo airport transportation: 5 Best and cheapest transfers

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You’ve booked your hotel for a beach break in Cabo. Now you want to know about your Cabo airport transportation options.

Specifically, what’s the best way to get from the Cabo airport to your hotel or resort?

You’ve come to the right place. We travel often to Cabo and have used many different Los Cabos airport transportation services.

Best Cabo airport transportation?

The fastest, most convenient and best-value way to get to your Los Cabos hotel is to book one of the Cabo San Lucas airport shuttle services in advance – a semi-private or private transfer with a reputable company.

Your transfer company driver will be waiting for you outside the airport terminal, with a welcome sign with your name on it. (Note that you must pass by all the timeshare vendors inside the airport first.)

Semi-private transfers:

Semi-private transportation is usually in a nine-person van; you may have to share with another couple or group.

Private transfers:

Private Los Cabos airport transportation is usually in a Suburban or other large SUV or van.

Recommended reading: See our complete Los Cabos travel guide! Find tips on best restaurants, local buses, fun activities and more…

Reviews of Los Cabos airport shuttles

1) Cabo Transfers

Cabo Transfers offers a professional, quality transfer service within Los Cabos – on our many visits to this desert-meets-the-sea resort destination, we’ve used Cabo Transfers several times.

Sometimes we’ve been the only clients and enjoyed a private shuttle for the shared shuttle price!

Vehicles for the private transfers are a Suburban or Expedition (up to six passengers), Toyota Hiace (up to 10 passengers) or Ford Transit (up to 16 passengers). They come with free WiFi and TV screens in the seat backs if you want to watch a video.

All vehicles are air-conditioned and have working seatbelts.

They’re clean, comfortable and stocked with ice-cold bottled water, beer and soft drinks (extra cost, depending on the service). Drivers are courteous and polite (and enjoy practising their English on you).

As well as airport transfers, Cabo Transfers offer other driving services; we used them to transfer from the Grand Velas Los Cabos to another resort.

2) TransCabo

One of the first companies to get into the business of driving guests around in the area, TransCabo offers a premium Cabo airport transportation shuttle service.

They have a fleet of over 50 recent models in different sizes (all clean and air-conditioned).

TransCabo representatives are easy to spot. When you leave the airport, just look for their bright orange shirts.

For the shared Los Cabos airport shuttle, no more than 10 people per van are booked, with no more than 3 stops. And you could luck out and end up having the vehicle to yourself (in effect a private transfer for the shared shuttle cost)!

3) Cielito Lindo

Cielito Lindo is a great option if you’re traveling as a single person or a couple and you want private car services from the airport to Cabo.

As with all agencies here, reservations must be booked in advance (Cielito Lindo requires three days’ notice for individuals and seven days’ notice for groups).

Again, you’ll receive email notification about how to meet the driver, who’ll be waiting for you outside the airport terminal.

It’s used by select luxury resorts like Grand Velas Los Cabos to transfer their guests. (The Grand Velas used Blue Dreams to pick us up from the airport for our stay at the all-inclusive resort.)

Expect to be welcomed with a chilled facecloth and cold bottle of water, followed by a very comfortable ride.

5) Cabo Airport Shuttle

Cabo Airport Shuttle is another good low-cost transportation company (like Cabo Transfers, #1 above) – offering both shared shuttle and private transfers from the Cabo airport.

Book online through their easy-to-use website, over the phone or via email. Satisfied customers say the company is extremely prompt in responding.

Drivers are courteous, and the Cabo Airport Shuttle vehicles are clean.

(Oh, and the drivers are super helpful too. One customer reports that after he accidentally left his phone in the vehicle, the driver quickly brought it to him at his hotel.)

For the shared shuttle, vans are usually used, but the type of vehicle depends on the number of passengers that will be sharing the vehicle.

For private transfers, you’ll find complimentary chilled beer and water waiting for you in a cooler.

Please bear in mind that the Los Cabos airport transfer companies noted in this post may change their costs at any time.

Taxi from airport to Cabo San Lucas

Taxis in Los Cabos are large blue or turquoise (occasionally white) vans that seat eight to 10 people. But, gulp, Cabo taxi fares are steep.

A taxi from the airport to Cabo San Lucas will cost you a minimum of $85+ USD. If you’re traveling as a couple, that will be about double the price of a shared airport shuttle.

Los Cabos Express

Shuttle buses are operated by Los Cabos Express, which sells seats on large buses ($16 p.p.). You often have to wait for the bus to fill up, which stops at many resorts along the way.

The good news is that if you’ve forgotten to pre-book a transfer, and you don’t want to fork out for a taxi, you can buy tickets for the shuttle bus inside the airport when you arrive.

The first time we visited Cabo, this is how we got to our resort.

We don’t recommend this option, however, because it takes much longer than one of the pre-booked (shared) Cabo San Lucas airport shuttles in a smaller vehicle – which only cost a little more per person.

Cabo airport bus: Ruta del Desierto

We’ve ridden the bus in Cabo many times – for example, to go snorkeling at Santa Maria Beach and to travel between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. It’s cheap and perfectly safe.

(We’ve also taken the bus between several colonial Mexican cities – and that service was like flying business class. Really!)

Traveling within Mexico? Check out our post on the excellent long-distance Mexico buses

Ruta Del Desierto bus

The Ruta del Desierto bus is the inexpensive public Cabo airport bus.

You can take this bus from both Terminal 1 (domestic terminal) and Terminal 2 (international terminal) right into Cabo San Lucas. The bus isn’t fancy. But it’s air-conditioned, reasonably comfortable and very easy on the wallet :-).

The bus makes several stops.

Depending on traffic, it takes from about an hour to 75 minutes to reach Cabo town from the airport.

If you’re going to the airport from Cabo, budget about 90 minutes to be safe.

Bus from Cabo airport:

If coming in on an international flight (arriving in Terminal 2), you need to go up one floor to the Departures Level.

There’s an escalator that goes upstairs (look to the left after passing the timeshare sales vendors). Up top, exit the doors and go outside, and you’ll see the bus stop by the curb to the right, at the far end of the terminal.

If flying into the domestic terminal (Terminal 1), there’s a bus stop right outside.

Bus to Cabo airport:

If you’re returning home from Cabo and going back to the airport, you can catch the bus at the stop in front of the Puerto Paraiso Mall.

Cost of this Cabo airport bus?

The cost is 80 pesos (a little more than $4 USD). If you need Mexican pesos, there’s a Banamex ATM machine on the Arrivals Level of Terminal 2, just after customs.

We haven’t personally taken the bus to or from the airport. So we’ve relied on reader input and comments, combined with other research, to give you the scoop on Cabo airport transfers by public bus.

Uber in Cabo San Lucas

We’ll have to wait and see if Uber will be allowed to continue, however.

The taxi union is very strong in Los Cabos; they are unhappy about this development and will likely do all they can to prevent Uber from gaining a foothold in Los Cabos.

Map and Cabo airport location

Where’s your hotel or resort located?

You’ll see that Cabo San Lucas is the furthest away from the airport.

This explains why the transportation or shuttle from the Cabo airport to your hotel is more expensive than, say, to a Corridor or San Jose del Cabo hotel.

Where to stay? Read our reviews on the best hotels in Los Cabos (from boutique places to popular all-inclusives)

Where’s the airport?

There are two airports serving Los Cabos.

The Los Cabos International Airport (SJD) is Cabo’s main airport and the airport you’re likely to fly into; the Los Cabos airport code for this airport is SJD.

The Cabo international airport is about 28 miles from Cabo San Lucas (a 40- to 45-minute drive) and eight miles from San Jose del Cabo (20-minute drive).

There’s also a much smaller airport closer to Cabo San Lucas for very small aircraft; the Cabo San Lucas International Airport code is CSL.

Hey, where are good places to eat? We think these are the best Italian restaurants in Cabo

Beware the sales people selling Los Cabos timeshares!

After you’ve collected your baggage at the Los Cabos airport, you must pass by a slew of timeshare vendors before you exit.

Don’t get waylaid by them – unless you want a free taxi ride (and a tour or other incentive) in exchange for giving up a half-day of your precious vacation time in Cabo to attend a timeshare presentation.

Just outside the terminal doors, you’ll see all the transfer company drivers holding signs for their passengers.

Locate your driver, and soon you’ll be on your way to a sunny Cabo holiday!

Recommended reading: Want to know how to bargain in Mexico the right way?

What cool things will you do in Cabo? See our epic list of things to do Cabo San Lucas!