Located between the states of Nayarit and Jalisco, this bay is the largest in the country. The Ameca rivers flow into it, which are the starting point of the Nayarit riviera.
With its back to the development of the roads that were integrating the country, the Mexican Pacific survived for many years thanks to a string of ports and a long history of discoveries that began very shortly after the arrival of the Spanish. And as in the rosary, after many Hail Marys there are larger beads on this coast, which is where the mysteries change.
Nayarit has one of these accounts in San Blas, which in 1884 began its journey to Tepic by a railway line that would eventually continue to Guadalajara. In addition, at the southern end of its coastline there is a bay rich in natural resources and unexplored landscapes that only in the sixties were ceasing to be a secret and privilege of the initiates.
It is Bahía de Banderas, where the Ameca rivers flow, which marks the division between the states of Nayarit and Jalisco, and further south the Cuale, El Tuito and others that on their way form marshes, lakes and waterfalls. Because of its 42 km of extension, which is the distance between Punta Mita and Cabo Corrientes, this is the largest bay in the country, and because of the way in which it has been equipped with the infrastructure and the necessary amenities to serve the most popular tourism. demanding, respecting the exuberant natural environment, it is part of the exclusive “Club of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World”, based in France.
This year it will be 40 years since the filmmaker John Houston filmed "The Night of the Iguana", a film that made Puerto Vallarta known worldwide, only declared a city in 1968. A decade later, the "flower generation" discovered even more remote beaches and hidden in the jungle, like that of Yelapa, where a considerable colony of foreigners still lives today and which is best reached by boat.
The urban area of Vallarta has spread to Nayarit, where the residential nautical subdivision of Nuevo Vallarta is currently growing, with 10 km of navigable channels and 5 of beach. Today it is one more of the largest accounts of this rosary, to which others that follow the contour of the bay have been added, such as Bucerías, Cruz de Huanacaxtla and Playa Ancleote, small fishing villages that alternate with luxurious hotels, such as the ones we find in Punta Mita.
Out to sea, the journey continues in the ecological reserve of the Marietas Islands, a sanctuary for marine birds such as boobies, pelicans and golden-billed gulls.
On land we have the opportunity to practice bird and plant observation, and there are routes that cross streams, go into the tropical jungle and take us to refreshing waterfalls and springs either on foot, on horseback, by mountain bike or by Guided tours aboard comfortable jeeps. For those who enjoy this type of adventure, the novelty is the canopy, near Boca de Tomatlán, where there is a network of more than two kilometers of cables arranged between the treetops, which offer us the closest thing to the point of view of Tarzan. Now that if you want an even more aerial perspective, you can hire the balloon or plane rides.
As for its natural beauties, the most unique spectacle that Bahía de Banderas offers us is the annual visit of the humpback whales that come from the Arctic to give birth and remain here between December and March, playing with their young, but equally exciting It is seeing the dolphins and sea turtles that arrive in the summer and leave in the fall.
IF YOU GO TO BAHÍA DE BANDERAS YOU CAN ALSO VISIT
- In Teopa an ecotourism program is carried out for the protection of sea turtles. This event takes place approximately between the months of November and January.
- In the vicinity of Bahía de Bucerías there is a town that has all kinds of tourist services. This is located at kilometer 13 along federal highway number 200.
- Another good option to visit is Sayulita, in Nayarit. To get there, take the coastal highway that goes from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, to Tepic, Nayarit, and 80 kilometers later you will find the deviation to Sayulita.
WHERE TO SLEEP
Punta Monterrey (pet-friendly)
Carr. Intl. Tepic-Vallarta Km 113, Las Lomas, Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit.
Tel. 01 33 3677 8922.
www.puntamonterrey.com
