Cabo's own summit: a short, rocky scramble from behind a beach hotel to a granite top above Land's End, with the arch, the marina and the Pacific rollers spread out below and frigatebirds hanging in the wind beside you.
At the very tip of the Baja peninsula, a granite ridge runs out into the sea and ends in El Arco, where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific. Mount Solmar is the high point of that ridge.
The informal trail starts behind the Solmar hotel above Cabo's marina and gains 120 metres in under a kilometre, up loose gravel and granite slabs with a few hands-on moves. From the summit you look down on the arch, the harbour full of yachts and pangas, and the Pacific breakers pounding Playa Solmar, with frigatebirds soaring at eye level.
Go early: the rock is hot and shadeless by nine, and the light on the arch is best at dawn. Ask at the hotel gate first, as the trail is occasionally closed. The locals' sunrise walk.
Short but steep; take your time on the loose sections.
Walk to the Solmar hotel before dawn and check with security that the trail is open.
Climb the loose gravel gully behind the hotel, using the boulders as handholds.
Cross granite slabs and short rocky steps along the ridge.
The Pacific appears on one side and the marina on the other as you top the ridge.
Watch the sun rise over the Sea of Cortez and light the arch below, then descend carefully.
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The trail is informal and crosses hotel land; access depends on the hotel, so be polite at the gate and respect closures.
Walk or take a taxi from downtown Cabo to the Solmar, at the end of the road past the marina.
Water taxis from the marina run out to the arch and Lovers' Beach afterwards.
Los Cabos practical notes →Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their licences.
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