The famous rock is a federal matter. El Arco and Playa del Amor lie inside the Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna Cabo San Lucas, a protected area decreed in 1973 that covers 3,996 hectares, of which 3,788 are sea. The Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP) charges MXN 125 per person per day for access, the area is open every day of the year, and the only way onto the sand under the Arch is a boat, a water taxi or a kayak from the Cabo San Lucas marina. A commercial shoot with more than one technician supporting the camera operator falls under the federal rule for filming in protected areas, so crews there are kept small and asked about in advance.
The water decides the rest. The Los Cabos tourism board counts 43% of the destination’s beaches as swimmable, which means most of the coast is not, and the sheltered coves of the Corridor — Playa El Chileno and Bahía Santa María — are where in-water and family sessions go. Mexican beaches are public by federal law, including those in front of resorts, but a beach set-up with an arch, chairs or a closed-off area is handled through the Dirección Municipal de Gobierno at the Palacio Municipal in San José del Cabo, and the lifeguard flag on the day overrides any plan.
Two logistics trip people up. Baja California Sur runs on Mexico’s Pacific Zone, UTC−7 all year with no daylight saving, two hours behind Cancún. And Cabo San Lucas has its own airport on the mesa north-west of town, so most of the town and El Médano sit inside the 9.2 km drone exclusion ring before anybody has asked a resort about its outside-vendor rules — which vary by property and are confirmed with the hotel before a date is fixed.
