Litibú Beach
Beach in Banderas Bay on Banderas Bay
A Pacific-facing beach on the north shore of the Punta de Mita peninsula, reached by boat around the point from the Banderas Bay marinas.
Near Litibú Beach
- Surfing
- Fishing
Punta de Mita
The headland that closes Banderas Bay to the north, in the Mexican state of Nayarit.
- Snorkeling
- Scuba diving
- Surfing
- Fishing
- and 1 more: Whale watching
Sayulita
A surf and fishing town on the Nayarit coast just north of Banderas Bay, and a long day out by boat from the bay's marinas.
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
A fishing village on the northern shore of Banderas Bay, in the municipality of Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, about 25 km from Puerto Vallarta.
San Pancho
A small town on the open Pacific coast of Nayarit, north of Sayulita and outside Banderas Bay. Yachts reach it on longer coastal trips from the north-shore marinas, roughly 22 nautical miles by sea from La Cruz.
- Snorkeling
- Swimming
- Scuba diving
Marietas Islands
Two small islands at the western mouth of Banderas Bay, reached only by boat, with seabirds to watch and water to snorkel and dive.
Bucerías
A beach town of about 16,000 people on the north shore of Banderas Bay, in Nayarit. Yacht days along its shore start from Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz, about 2.3 nautical miles away.
Wild Dolphins of Banderas Bay
Wild dolphins share Banderas Bay with the boats that cross it, and a morning spent looking for them is one of the quieter ways to see the bay. It is a search on open water, so a sighting is never certain.
Banderas Bay
The Pacific bay itself, closed by Punta Mita to the north and Cabo Corrientes to the south, with Puerto Vallarta on its shore. Its islands, rocks and dive sites sit in this water.
Maps © OpenStreetMap
About Litibú Beach
The beach
The bay curves gently for more than 2 km (1.2 mi) of sand, by the travel guide we rely on, with a headland at each end, one of them wooded. Unlike the beaches inside Banderas Bay, it looks straight out over the open ocean. Evenings here are for watching the sun set over the open sea. Beachfront resorts and a golf course take up much of the land behind the sand, and beach sellers come by with hats, jewellery and souvenirs for sale.
Guests swim from the beach, and the same guide also names surfing. We have no source on the wave itself, so we give no detail on it.
The village behind it
The small settlement of Litibú had 36 residents at the 2020 census, and the neighbouring locality INEGI lists as Haixa (Litibú) had 41. Higuera Blanca, the nearest village, is some 2 km from the sand. By road the beach is about 45 km from Puerto Vallarta, some 40 minutes, and Sayulita is 13 to 17 km away.
Getting there by boat
The nearest listed boarding point is Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz. The route runs west along the north shore of the bay, rounds the point of Punta de Mita and turns back east to the beach: about 16 nautical miles, close to 50 minutes at an assumed 20 knots. From Marina Nuevo Vallarta and Paradise Village the same route is about 22 nautical miles, a little over an hour, and from Marina Vallarta and Opequimar about 24.5, around 1 hour 15 minutes. These are estimates from charted positions, not timed runs, and the weather on the day can lengthen them.
What to know
We'll confirm whether your boat can lie off the beach and put guests ashore before you book, because no source we have describes an anchorage, a landing or the swell here. On this coast the warmest months are June to August and the wettest July to September; the guide recommends March to May and November. For the village and the rest of the headland, see Punta de Mita, and for another beach along this shore, La Lancha.