16 Best Nightlife in Cabo San Lucas, Los Cabos

Miami meets Cabo at this restaurant, bar, and club with an over-the-top feeling of luxury. White gauze canopies shade plush sunbeds and lounge chairs around multiple swimming pools, while DJs spin until 6 pm daily. Their sushi menu pairs well with a fruity cocktail and will help keep the buzz under control.

Slim's calls itself "the world's smallest bar," and you'll be lucky to get a seat at this kitschy four-seat space that plays honky-tonk music and serves $3 beers and tequila shots. Signed dollar bills line the walls and ceiling, and a buzzing, standing crowd loiters out the door and onto the Boulevard Marina sidewalk each evening, vibing off its energy.

The Cabo San Lucas branch of the microbrewery in San José del Cabo shares the same menu and selection of beers on tap. Yet the open space atop a seaside hotel lends a decidedly different, relaxed vibe. Perfect after a day at the beach, "BBC" has pub fare and fresh local seafood, as well as the beer samplers and terrific views. Live music is offered most weekends.

The once boisterous Billygan's Island on Médano Beach is now one of the more tame spots on the sand. The bikini dance contests may be a thing of the past, but you can still get great deals on margaritas and buckets of beer, as well as seafood favorites like coconut shrimp and octopus.

Depending on when you visit Cabo Wabo, you might just witness a jam session with owner Sammy Hagar and some of his legendary musician friends, who stop by a few times throughout the year. Plan way in advance to attend Hagar's Birthday Bash Week—usually the second week in October—as tickets sell out. The bar's design—high cavernous ceilings, zebra stipes, and psychedelic neon patterns—was re-created for the set of Hagar's Red Voodoo tour.

Make dinner reservations to avoid the long lines to get in the club.

Lunch and dinner are served with extensive menus, and a taco grill cooks up tasty munchies outside if you wish to cool off after dancing. Shops on-site or at the international airport sell Cabo Wabo souvenir clothing.

Caborey offers a nightly 2½-hour sunset-dinner cruise on a three-deck catamaran. The cost is $129 and includes a full prix-fixe dinner with your choice of one of six main courses, an open bar for domestic beverages, and a Las Vegas–style show of Mexican music. Departure time is 5 or 6 pm, depending on the timeof year. Check online for discount tickets.

Anything goes at this four-story party spot, including lots of dancing, Jell-O shots, beer-chugging contests, and dancers undulating in a makeshift penitentiary. During spring break or high season, more than 3,000 revelers come here on any given night—and many stay until sunrise. Feeling out of place? Head for one of the balconies on the third and fourth floors (which can be reached by elevator) where the scene is a bit less lurid. Around the corner stands the bar's souvenir shop with humorous T-shirts. El Squid Roe also has a full menu, serving pastas, steaks, and salads.

Giggling Marlin predates Cabo's tourism explosion, though its gimmicks remain popular. Watch brave (and inebriated) souls be hoisted upside down at the mock fish-weighing scale, or join in an impromptu moonwalk between tables. Many fun (albeit risqué) floor shows relax people's inhibitions. The age of the clientele varies, as does the music, but the dance floor is usually jammed. Daily two-for-one drink specials pack 'em in 9 am–5 pm.

After an absence for several years, Hard Rock Cafe is back in Cabo San Lucas, barely a stone’s throw from the old location on Av. Lázaro Cárdenas. The new iteration of the global chain is a bit sleeker, and there's now an alfresco dining terrace, but otherwise the focus remains much the same: plenty of comfort food and cocktails, an on-site souvenir store, and walls chock-a-block with rock-and-roll memorabilia, from glitzy stage outfits to custom, rock star–wielded guitars. The Original Legendary Burger with applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion ring is the must-try menu item, while signature cocktails like the Hurricane and Classic Caribbean Mojito come with their own collectible glasses. Check the website calendar for live music and other upcoming events.