Nuevo Vallarta snorkeling tours
City in Banderas Bay on Banderas Bay
A planned resort town on the north shore of Banderas Bay, built around canals, golf and a long white-sand beach.
Marinas
- Marina Nuevo Vallarta
- Paradise Village Marina
- Paradise Village Public Pier
Yacht rentals from La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
25 min by road
Yacht rentals from Puerto Vallarta
20 min by road
Near Nuevo Vallarta
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.
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.
- Fishing
Puerto Vallarta
A resort city on the Jalisco shore of Banderas Bay, and a base for boat days to Los Arcos, Yelapa and the Marietas Islands.
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.
- Whale watching
Banderas Bay Whale Grounds
The open water of Banderas Bay, where humpback whales spend the winter, a short run from Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta and La Cruz. It is an area, not a spot: the whales move every day, and 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.
- Scuba diving
Princesa Vallarta Wreck
A sunken boat on the floor of Banderas Bay, a little under 200 metres off the Las Gemelas beaches south of Puerto Vallarta. It is a deep dive for certified divers, about 6 nautical miles by boat from the Puerto Vallarta marinas.
- Snorkeling
- Swimming
- Paddleboarding
- Scuba diving
Los Arcos de Mismaloya
Five granite islets just off Mismaloya, about 12 km south of Puerto Vallarta in Banderas Bay, with arches cut through the larger rocks and reef walls below.
Maps © OpenStreetMap
About Nuevo Vallarta
Where it is
Nuevo Vallarta sits on the north shore of Banderas Bay, in the municipality of Bahía de Banderas in the state of Nayarit, a short way up the coast from Puerto Vallarta. By car it is about fifteen minutes north of the Puerto Vallarta international airport. In July 2022 the Nayarit state government renamed the town Nuevo Nayarit; both names are in use, and this page keeps the older one.
A town laid out around water
Mexico's federal tourism development agency, FONATUR, planned the town from scratch, with canals, a marina, residential estates and golf courses designed together. Many homes back straight onto the water, with gardens running down to a landing for a boat. There are two golf courses with views toward the sea. The sand runs for more than 5 miles (about 8 km), and in winter sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs on it.
Getting out on the water
Two of the bay's boarding points, Marina Nuevo Vallarta and the marina at Paradise Village, both lie within a nautical mile of the town centre and about 0.2 nautical miles from each other. Measured in a straight line from Marina Nuevo Vallarta, Marina Vallarta is about 2.6 nautical miles away, Bucerías about 4.9, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle about 6.4, Punta de Mita about 13.7 and the Marietas Islands about 16.5. At an assumed cruising speed of 8 knots, the islands are a little over two hours out and La Cruz under an hour.
Visitors here snorkel, dive, go deep-sea fishing, windsurf, and head out on catamaran and yacht trips across the bay.
When to come
The Banderas Bay Regatta, a cruiser regatta that has run for more than 30 years, is an event for the whole bay rather than for this town, and its next edition is set for 17 to 20 March 2027. The 33rd edition was held in Riviera Nayarit from 17 to 21 March 2026.
What to know
A trip that continues to the Marietas Islands enters a national park with its own rules and fees, set out on the park's page. For the wider bay, its seasons and its other stops, start from Banderas Bay.