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Golf in Mexico is not as popular among travellers as simply lying on the beach. In some places, like the overbuilt beach developments at Cancun on the Gulf of Mexico, "guests” (we use the term lightly) are usually American college students who only get off their backsides for beer and sex. A tip to dedicated golf travellers: when exploring your options in Mexico, focus on the Pacific Coast. Stay as far from the American student hoard as possible. The Baja California Peninsula, the longest peninsula in the world, and once so dry and seemingly lifeless it was all but ignored by the rest of the world, is now a hot destination for golf. Or should we declare it "cool¬” The temperature rarely drops below 25 degrees Celsius, but it‘s hot because it‘s cool. Go figure. The Cabo de Sol Beach and Golf Resort at Los Cobos ("the Capes”) has, together with a handful of other fivestar hotels there, surpassed the famed Mexican Riviera (think Acapulco) as the place to play in Mexico. The Cabo de Sol is a Premier Resorts property with two courses, one by Jack Nicklaus, the other a Tom Weiskopf invention, that play over a rocky, dry coastal landscape where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. Experts rank the resort among the top 100 in the world, not only for the golf but also for its elegant and fashionable hotel, with ocean views, a high quality of service, and other activities, too. Scuba divers and deepsea fishermen love it here. The Hilton Los Cabos is, as you might guess, given the brand, one of the most luxurious options for this region. It has golf packages that include play at more than half a dozen stunning courses close by (the shuttle is free), including the noteworthy Cabo Real Golf Club with its five oceanfront holes and five lake holes. It may be a Hilton but the packages, typically for three nights and four days with two rounds of golf and breakfast included, can be had at certain times of the year at a reasonable rate. Caribbean Cruise Lines is one of the cruise companies that has developed a cruiseandplay approach that‘s perfectly suited to the numerous terrific resort golf courses found up and down Mexico‘s Pacific Coast. It‘s certainly a better way to reach the famed Mexican Riviera than driving down. The company‘s golf packages stop in the hub of resort activity in that region: Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta and Acapulco, where resort living and golf go handinglove (no pun intended), with everything you always wanted to do at the beach and more. Of course, the famed cliff divers of Acapulco are a mustsee, along with the Elvis Presley film shot there. Still, cruisingand golf... who‘d ever thought¬ | 
