You’ve already got the suite booked. Bags are half-packed. And somewhere between the excitement and the packing list, a thought creeps in: should we actually do something this time?
Yes. Obviously yes.
But here’s what most people get wrong about active travel in Mexico, they think it has to be a choice. Adventure or relaxation. Busy days or slow ones. It doesn’t work like that. At every destination, the two aren’t competing. They’re literally scheduled back to back, and by the end of a week you’ll wonder how you ever vacationed any other way.
Here’s what that looks like at each destination right now.
Cabo San Lucas: The Water Does All the Work
June in Cabo is almost unfair. The Sea of Cortez, Jacques Cousteau called it “the world’s aquarium,” and he wasn’t wrong, is calm, warm, and clear in a way that makes you want to stay in it for hours. Which is, conveniently, exactly the plan.
From the beach at Villa del Palmar or Villa del Arco, kayak tours launch right off the sand. You paddle out toward El Arco as sea lions watch from the rocks, they will not move for you, and honestly that’s half the fun, and reach Land’s End with a view no picture does justice to. The snorkeling around the arch is something else: angelfish, parrotfish, water so clear it’s almost disorienting. Then you come back to shore, the resort activities schedule fills the rest of the morning: aqua aerobics, cooking demos, beach volleyball, and by noon you are horizontal and have fully earned it.
What’s nearby: Medano Beach stretches east of the resort toward a strip of beach restaurants, The Office being the most beloved: tables in the sand, cold drinks before you’ve even sat down. A quick water taxi from the beach gets you to Lover’s Beach, a beautiful crescent wedged between El Arco and the Pacific that you can only reach by water. And if you want a completely different side of Cabo altogether, San José del Cabo is 30 minutes away: colonial streets, art galleries, excellent restaurants, and on Thursday evenings, a weekly Art Walk that’s worth rearranging your dinner plans for.
Puerto Vallarta & Riviera Nayarit: Jungle in the Morning, Pool by Noon
Puerto Vallarta might be the best-designed vacation city on earth for the kind of trip we’re describing. The Sierra Madre mountains come right down to the bay, which means hiking trails that wind up through jungle canopy and open to views that stop you mid-step, and 20 minutes later you’re back at the resort with a cold drink in your hand. That is not an exaggeration.
For members at Villa del Palmar Flamingos or Villa La Estancia Riviera Nayarit, Banderas Bay itself is the activity. It’s enormous, ringed by mountains, and dead calm in the early morning before the wind picks up. Stand-up paddleboarding out here at sunrise, before anyone else is awake, with the water flat and the light low, is the kind of experience that becomes your go-to answer when someone asks what the best part of the trip was. And if the activity desk mentions whale shark tours are running while you’re there, say yes immediately. That one doesn’t need a longer explanation.
What’s nearby: The Malecón boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta is a short taxi ride and worth a full evening: sculptures, street performers, open-air restaurants, and the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe lit up at the far end. For a half-day out, Sayulita is 45 minutes north of Nuevo Vallarta: colorful streets, surf rentals, fish tacos on plastic chairs. Very good fish tacos.
Loreto: The One Most Members Haven’t Fully Discovered Yet
We’ll say it plainly: Loreto is one of the best-kept travel secrets in North America. The snorkeling around Coronado Island: a short boat ride from the resort marina, is world-class in a way that surprises people every single time. Calm, protected water. Sea turtles. Rays. More fish than you’ll have names for. And almost no one there.
Then there’s TPC Danzante Bay, Mexico’s only TPC-certified golf course, sitting on hillsides above the Sea of Cortez. Even members who don’t golf tend to end up there once. The views alone are worth the trip out. Right now, members can use up to 100% of their points toward golf here. That is not a small offer.
What’s nearby: Loreto town is ten minutes from the resort and one of the most genuinely charming colonial towns in all of Baja. The Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto: founded in 1697, the oldest mission in the Californias, sits right in the town plaza and is worth an hour of your time, not as a tourist box to check but as a quietly remarkable piece of living history. The Malecón is small and unhurried, with a few excellent restaurants facing the water. And for anyone who likes to hike: the Sierra de la Giganta mountain range behind town has canyon trails with sea views that almost no tourists have ever seen.
Cancun: Reefs, Ruins, and One Underground Experience You Won’t Forget
Cancun’s Mesoamerican Reef is the second-largest coral reef system in the world. It is essentially right outside your door. Snorkeling tours from the resort reach vibrant sections in under 30 minutes, brain corals the size of armchairs, parrotfish everywhere, the occasional sea turtle that moves like it has somewhere important to be. The colors are genuinely surreal.
And the cenotes. If you haven’t done a cenote yet: the ancient freshwater sinkholes found only in the Yucatan, this is the summer. We have a full feature on the Cenote Swim + Jungle Adventure this month. Read it. Then book it.
What’s nearby: Most members know the Hotel Zone well. Fewer explore past it. Isla Mujeres: small island, 30 minutes by ferry, is one of the most relaxed day trips in the Caribbean: rent a golf cart, circle the island in an hour, find a beach restaurant, snorkel the clear western shore in the afternoon. Perfect day, every time. For a bigger excursion, Chichen Itzá is three hours away and ranks among the actual wonders of the world, go early, hire a guide, bring water, don’t skip it. And Puerto Morelos, 30 minutes south, is a quiet fishing village with a reef right offshore and seafood restaurants on the beach at a fraction of Hotel Zone prices.
The Rule That Changes Everything
One active experience per day. Just one. Build the rest around it.
It sounds limiting. It’s the opposite. It gives the day a shape, a story, a thing you did, and it gives everything else on either side of it full permission to be as slow and indulgent as you want. The pool. The long lunch. The nap. The nightcap on the balcony.
This summer, don’t just arrive in Mexico. Move through it a little. You’ll come home having actually been somewhere.
