It is one of the world’s most notable migrations. Each March, two million college students flock to select beach-friendly destinations in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean to engage in the rites of Spring.
The attractions of this largely alcohol-fueled rut are obvious for students, as are the benefits for their favored destinations. The state of Florida alone profits to the tune of US $2.7 billion annually.
Los Cabos isn’t on the same level as Florida hotspots like Panama City or even Cancún, which is traditionally the top Spring Break choice in Mexico. But it is a major destination — the second-largest in Mexico — with about 50,000 students confirmed for 2026, and expected to generate upwards of US $ 40 million in economic impact to local communities. The number of students could actually reach as high as 70,000 this year, depending on how many collegians shift travel plans from Puerto Vallarta to Los Cabos in the wake of recent insecurity in Jalisco.
In any case, it’ll be a lot. But it bears noting that it wasn’t always like this. Spring Break in Cabo is a relatively recent phenomenon.
The history of Spring Break
In 1935, a swim coach at Colgate University in New York named Sam Ingram brought his team to Florida to train over Christmas Break. Soon, other swim coaches were doing the same and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sensing an opportunity, hosted the first College Coaches’ Swim Forum in 1938. But not over Christmas Break. In March, instead.
By the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale had developed into the first true Spring Break destination, hosting as many as 20,000 college students annually for a week to 10 days of fun in the sun. Then, in 1960, the movie “Where the Boys Are” came out — a paean to Lauderdale’s annual debauch — and the numbers began rising inexorably … not just there, but also in Daytona Beach, which by the end of the 1960s, was attracting over 100,000 students each year.
For the next few decades, Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach remained the Spring Break capitals, and might have remained so had their city officials not tired of the mass drunkenness synonymous with Spring Break and the damage that it caused, and decided to pass stricter laws to curb the behavior of what were now hundreds of thousands of college students. Fort Lauderdale began cracking down in the mid-1980s, and Daytona Beach in the mid-1990s.
This paved the way for other destinations to emerge, including in places like Mexico and the Caribbean, where the drinking ages are lower — it’s 18 in Mexico, compared to 21 in the U.S. — and the atmospheres significantly more welcoming.
How Cabo San Lucas became a Spring Break destination
Spring Break in Cabo San Lucas effectively became a thing on April 16, 1990. That’s the date Sammy Hagar and his Van Halen bandmates officially opened the Cabo Wabo cantina in Cabo San Lucas, and MTV flew in 10 lucky winners to attend the band’s first performance there.
Throughout the 1990s, Spring Break slowly started to grow in Los Cabos. However, it wasn’t until a scene began to develop around Médano Beach in Cabo San Lucas — helped by beach bars like Mango Deck, which opened in 1998 — that students, mostly in Southern California, started to really take notice.
Then, in the early 2000s, MTV, a ceaseless promoter of all things Spring Break, did Los Cabos another favor. In 2003, the youth-oriented network started airing a show called “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,” in which privileged teens could constantly be heard name-checking their favorite Baja California Sur tourist destination, and going there for Spring Break. There were even episodes titled “What Happens in Cabo,” “Cabo, Cabo, Cabo” and “Only in Cabo.”
Suddenly, Los Cabos was on the radar of students across the U.S., most of whom, outside the West Coast, had never heard of it before. This newfound popularity, along with the rise of early student travel brands like STS Travel, StudentCity, and, locally at least, Spring Break Cabo, helped the destination evolve from a few thousand students a year for Spring Break to the 50,000-plus that currently visit.
How students experience Spring Break
Student travel-focused brands and the travel packages they offer not only provide students with curated experiences among their fellow collegians but also offer security and on-site staff to deal with any unforeseen issues with accommodations or events. LVIN and StudentCity are among the highest-profile brands offering 2026 packages for Los Cabos.
In 2025, for example, LVIN brought 12,000 students to Los Cabos from over 150 different campuses. This year, it’s offering tiered packages that include shared hotel rooms at properties such as Pueblo Bonito, ME Cabo, Hotel Tesoro, and RIU Santa Fe; open-bar parties and concerts with featured DJs rotating weekly in March, including Matroda, Cloonee, Disco Lines and Bunt. Optional add-ons to packages include airport transportation and bottle service at concerts.
Local security arrangements
In Los Cabos, local authorities are coordinating to ensure the safety of the expected 50,000 to 70,000 Spring Breakers in 2026, focusing their efforts on the three areas where students are apt to congregate: At select hotels, on Médano Beach and at downtown Cabo San Lucas nightspots.
“We have been in contact with business owners who bring young people to the area and with service providers so that they can work together to ensure, as much as possible, the safety of this tourist segment,” confirmed Francisco Cota Márquez, head of the Civil Protection office in Los Cabos, per El Sudcaliforniano.
How to avoid Spring Break in Los Cabos
Social anthropologists will likely find Spring Break in Los Cabos fascinating, but other visitors, well past college age, may wish to avoid it. Doing so is rather easy, as the Spring Break scene is overwhelmingly centered on Médano Beach in Cabo San Lucas, including the bars on the beach — specifically, Mango Deck — and the hotels and resorts where students stay. Downtown Cabo San Lucas nightclubs like El Squid Roe and Mandala are also popular spots with collegians.
A few students choose to stay in San José del Cabo or along La Ruta Escénica, but not very many. So if you’re really looking to avoid Spring Break or competition for resort reservations, those are great areas to stay, as is Los Cabos’ East Cape.
Chris Sands is a writer and editor for Mexico News Daily, and the former Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best and writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook. He’s a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise and Travel, and Cabo Living.
