Map of Puerto Vallarta Beaches: the Coast from North to South

Most people arrive in Puerto Vallarta with a list of beach names and no idea how those names relate to each other in space. Is Conchas Chinas near the Malecón? Can you walk to Yelapa? Why does one beach have a kilometer of flat sand and another is a rocky pocket the size of a tennis court? The answer is geography. So instead of a chart, let’s take the drive together — north to south, in four stretches, watching the shoreline change as we go.

First, the shape of the bay

Puerto Vallarta sits on Banderas Bay, one of the largest bays in Mexico. Picture a huge open arc facing west into the Pacific: the northern tip is Punta de Mita, in Nayarit, and the southern tip is Cabo Corrientes, in Jalisco. The city sits roughly in the crook of that arc, where the Ameca River valley opens out to the sea.

That single fact explains almost everything about the beaches. In the north, where the land is a broad river plain, the coast is flat, the sand runs for kilometers, and the water shelves gently. Moving south, the Sierra Madre Occidental comes down to meet the water — not gradually, but steeply — and the shoreline breaks apart into headlands, rock and small pocket coves. The northern beaches were made by a river; the southern ones by a mountain range.

One more thing before you set out: in Mexico every beach is public. The federal maritime-terrestrial zone — the walkable strip of about 20 meters from the high-tide line — is common property. A hotel may hold a concession for chairs or a palapa, but a concession is a temporary, revocable permit, not ownership. A 2020 reform to the federal law on national assets made it explicit: access cannot be inhibited, restricted, obstructed or made conditional. That is general information rather than legal advice, but it means no beach on this drive is off-limits.

Stretch one: the Marina and the northern hotel zone

Start at the northern edge of the municipality, where the airport, the cruise terminal and the Marina sit almost shoulder to shoulder. This is the flattest and most built-up part of the coast: behind you the delta of the Ameca River, ahead a beach that runs almost unbroken, backed by high-rise hotels, condo towers and golf greens.

The beaches here — Playa de Oro, Las Glorias, Los Tules, Playa Camarones as you approach town — are one continuous ribbon of sand subdivided by whichever hotel sits behind it. That is the giveaway of a river-plain coast: no headlands to break the sand into natural units, so the names come from the buildings.

Practically, the north is where you go for space: the sand is wide enough to walk for an hour without turning around. The water is open rather than sheltered, so there is more chop and more wind than in the southern coves, and the afternoon breeze is reliable enough that you will see sails, kites and paddleboards. Open water also means real currents. If you are chasing waves rather than calm water, the region’s surf culture sits further around the bay, and the specialists at Vallarta Surf know where and when it breaks.

Keep driving north past the Marina and you cross the Ameca River into Nayarit, where Nuevo Vallarta begins. Officially renamed Nuevo Nayarit in 2022, it still answers to both names. It is a different state and municipality (Bahía de Banderas), though the old traveler’s trap of a one-hour time difference is long gone — the clocks aligned in 2010.

Blue Flag certification also lives mostly in this stretch, and the distinction is re-earned every season, so the list changes. For 2025-2026 Puerto Vallarta holds four: three hotel beaches — Marriott Puerto Vallarta, The Westin and Sheraton Buganvilias — plus Playa Camarones as a public beach. Palmares was the first in Jalisco to earn it, in 2014, but does not hold it today. And no, Los Muertos does not have one, despite what you may read.

Stretch two: downtown, the Malecón and the Zona Romántica

Keep going south and the towers thin out, the streets narrow, and you arrive where the city meets the water directly. This is urban beach: sand with a boardwalk on it, sculptures, buskers, restaurants opening straight onto the sea.

The Malecón is the seam. North of it, Playa Camarones; at its southern end the Cuale River comes down out of the mountains and splits the old town in two, with Isla Cuale in the middle. Cross the river into the Zona Romántica and the beach becomes Playa Los Muertos — the busiest, most social stretch of sand in the city, lined end to end with beach clubs and palapa restaurants, with the Los Muertos Pier reaching out at its southern end.

The character change is abrupt. In the north you walk to be alone; here you walk to see people. The sand is narrower, the slope into the water steeper, and the whole thing is closer to a plaza than to a wilderness. It is also where the food is, and if you want a proper sit-down evening rather than a beach snack, places like Barcelona Tapas are a short walk uphill. Our guides to seaside restaurants and romantic restaurants cover the neighborhood in detail.

One honest caveat about urban beaches at river mouths. COFEPRIS, the federal health regulator, tests seawater before each major season. Ahead of summer 2026, 284 of 289 beaches nationwide came back suitable — and Playa del Cuale, right at the river mouth, was one of the few that did not, exceeding the enterococci threshold. That is one beach at one moment, and it reflects what river mouths do after rain rather than the state of the bay. Check current results if you plan to swim where a river empties.

Stretch three: Highway 200 south, where the mountains arrive

South of the Los Muertos Pier the road climbs and within minutes everything changes. This is Highway 200 heading toward Barra de Navidad, the most scenic driving on the coast: the Sierra Madre now comes right down to the waterline, the road cut into the slope above the sea, the water dropping off blue and deep almost immediately.

The first thing you meet is Conchas Chinas, a neighborhood of villas stacked on the hillside above a shoreline of rounded rock formations with small sandy pockets between them; at low tide the rocks form natural tide pools. It is the clearest illustration of the shift: the same coast that offered a kilometer of uninterrupted sand twenty minutes ago now offers thirty meters at a time, framed by boulders.

Continuing south you pass a chain of these coves. Around kilometer 6 is Playa Garza Blanca, which has its own public pedestrian access beside the resort entrance — you do not need to go through the resort, which took its name from the place. Further along, Playa Esmeralda is a roughly 200-meter beach on the Jalisco south coast, reached on foot down a passage through the vegetation, with almost no surf and no services. Bring water; there is nowhere to buy it.

Then comes Mismaloya, a proper cove at a river mouth with a village behind it, and offshore the granite islands of Los Arcos. A point people often get wrong: Los Arcos is legally a refuge zone for the protection of marine flora and fauna, established in 1975 — not a decreed national park, though almost everyone calls it one. The protection is real either way, and it is why the snorkeling is as good as it is; see our guide to snorkeling spots.

For beach purposes the paved road ends at Boca de Tomatlán, the mouth of the Horcones River, a small fishing village in a steep green bowl. Getting here is easy and cheap: southbound city buses run along Highway 200 from downtown and the Zona Romántica all the way to Boca, and taxis take the same route. See our transportation page for how the local buses work.

Stretch four: the deep south, where the road gives up

At Boca de Tomatlán the mountains win. There is no coastal highway beyond this point because there is nowhere to put one. The last stretch of the bay, running toward Cabo Corrientes, is reachable only by boat or on foot along a cliff trail.

This is where the water taxis come in. Pangas leave from the small beach at Boca and run south along the shore, stopping at the beaches strung along it: Colomitos, tiny and jungle-framed; Las Ánimas, with a village and palapa restaurants; Quimixto, with a waterfall a short walk inland; Majahuitas; and Yelapa at the far end, the largest of the southern settlements. A second water taxi service leaves from the Los Muertos Pier in town and serves the same beaches on a longer run — convenient if you are staying in the Zona Romántica and would rather not bus down to Boca first. Schedules and fares change, so ask locally the day before.

Colomitos and Las Ánimas are also reachable on foot: a well-used trail leaves Boca and follows the coast south, in and out of coves, with some genuine scrambling and little shade. Our hiking trails guide has details; many visitors walk one way and take a water taxi back.

Down here you get the opposite of stretch one in every respect: no road, no cars, no straight lines. Small crescents of sand between rock headlands, water that goes deep quickly and stays calm because the headlands block the swell, and jungle running down to the sand. It is also the best snorkeling and boat-tour territory in the bay — see boat tours and diving schools.

Putting the map together

Flat and long in the north, urban in the middle, rocky once Highway 200 climbs, boat-only in the deep south — and the whole coast a bus or boat ride from wherever you land. Browse our beaches guide and our tours listings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where exactly are the beaches in Puerto Vallarta?

Along the eastern shore of Banderas Bay, in four zones: the flat northern beaches around the Marina and hotel zone, the urban beaches of downtown and the Zona Romántica, the rocky coves along Highway 200 south, and the boat-only beaches south of Boca de Tomatlán.

Which beaches can I reach without a car?

Nearly all. City buses run north to the Marina and south along Highway 200 to Boca de Tomatlán, and water taxis from Boca or the Los Muertos Pier serve the southern beaches.

Why are the northern beaches so different from the southern ones?

The north sits on the flat alluvial plain of the Ameca River, which produces long, gently sloping sand. In the south the Sierra Madre drops straight into the sea, breaking the coast into rocky headlands with small coves between them.

Are any beaches in Puerto Vallarta private?

No. All Mexican beaches are public within the federal maritime-terrestrial zone, about 20 meters from the high-tide line. Hotels may hold concessions for chairs and services, but a concession is a temporary permit, not ownership, and access cannot legally be blocked. General information, not legal advice.

Which beaches have Blue Flag certification?

It is renewed each season, so the list changes. For 2025-2026 Puerto Vallarta holds four: the Marriott Puerto Vallarta, The Westin and Sheraton Buganvilias hotel beaches, plus Playa Camarones.