Swim with whale sharks from Cabo San Lucas: the La Paz day trip

What happens when you swim with whale sharks from Cabo San Lucas

The swimming happens in the Bahia de La Paz, roughly a 2-hour drive north of the cape, which is why this is a 10-hour day rather than a morning. From $259 per adult the tour includes hotel pickup and drop-off, the air-conditioned vehicle both ways, a wetsuit, use of snorkelling equipment, a professional guide, beverages and freshly prepared classic Baja-style fish tacos. Gratuities and towels are not included, and there is no towel on board, so pack one.

Whale sharks come into the bay to feed in plankton-rich water, and you enter from a local panga with the guide alongside you. Groups in the water are capped at five and the boats used for the activity are capped at 36 feet, so the time alongside a shark is shared and short. Ages run from child 8 to 11 and adult 12 and over.

This is not a whale-watching trip and should not be treated as one. Swimming with whales is illegal in Cabo, and the whale shark activity at La Paz has its own calendar: October through May for the activity overall, while the operator's listing gives the season as mid-November to mid-April. It has been suspended mid-season in the past, so confirm your date before you build a week around it.

Keep this day separate from your humpback trip. A 2-hour or 2.5-hour whale boat out of Cabo San Lucas or San Jose del Cabo on another morning works much better than trying to stack both into one day, since pickup here is about 1 hour before the stated start time and you are back late.

The day step by step

1. Los Cabos
   Pickup at your hotel, then the air-conditioned vehicle leaves Los Cabos for the 2-hour drive to La Paz. The road runs within sight of the Pacific; humpbacks breach offshore during the winter months, so watch the water on the way up.
2. Malecon 300 min
   At the La Paz boardwalk you meet the guide and the local boat captains and are fitted with snorkel gear. A panga takes you into the main bay, the whale sharks' winter feeding ground, where krill and plankton hold them. Once the boat is alongside, you slip into the water with the guide, who directs the group through each pass. Back at the malecon it is a short walk to a local seafood restaurant, where regional dishes, soft drinks and water are included.
3. Los Cabos
   The vehicle takes you back along the same road to Los Cabos, with drop-off at your hotel.

What is included

Meeting point, pickup and cancellation

• Pickup: approximately 1 hour before the tour start time, followed by the 2-hour drive from Cabo to La Paz. The pickup time and location are confirmed within 24 hours of booking and appear in the chat with the tour operator. Look for a white van or bus at the pickup point. Round-trip transportation is included. If your hotel is not listed, type its name in the search bar of the dropdown to check whether it comes up.
• Cancellation: For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
• Ages: child 8–11, adult 12+

The La Paz whale shark swim compared with snorkelling at Cabo San Lucas

The three alternatives below stay in Cabo San Lucas water and take 4 hours, 2 hours and 3.5 hours, from $215, $70 and $80. None of them involves whale sharks, because that only happens in the Bahia de La Paz; take one of them if you want reef snorkelling near the marina and the rest of your day intact, and take the 10-hour La Paz day if the whale sharks are the point.

Tour details from the operator's listing, checked 4 November 2026. Prices and times can change; the booking page has the current ones.

More ways to plan your visit

Whale sharks in Baja California Sur

The whale watching season at Cabo

What to bring on the boat