Punta de Mita

The northern tip of Banderas Bay: a gated luxury resort on one side, a fishing village with beach restaurants on the other, and the closest harbour to the Marietas.

By Sam Med · Last updated October 2026

Playa Litibú, a wide sandy beach near Punta de Mita — Playa Litibú, near Punta de Mita. Photo: Ferfive, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Punta de Mita, 42 km from Puerto Vallarta's airport, is really two places. Punta Mita is a private resort community of about 1,500 acres, set up in 1999, with the Four Seasons, the St. Regis and two Jack Nicklaus golf courses behind its gates. Punta de Mita, the village, has El Anclote beach, seafood restaurants on the sand and the boats to the Marietas Islands. Most visitors come for a day: lunch on El Anclote, a boat to the islands or a surf lesson.

At a glance

Where	The northern tip of Banderas Bay, in the Riviera Nayarit municipality of Bahía de Banderas, 17.5 km west of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
From the airport	42 km, about 45 to 60 minutes by car
Time zone	The same as Puerto Vallarta: by law, Bahía de Banderas keeps central time, unlike the rest of Nayarit
Beaches	Almost 10 km of them around the peninsula
Price level	Ultra-luxury inside the gates; casual and mid-range in the village

Two Punta de Mitas

The resort

The gated community covers most of the peninsula. Guard posts staffed around the clock admit only names on their lists. Inside are the Four Seasons, which opened in 1999, the St. Regis, opened in 2008 as the brand's first hotel in Latin America, and residential neighbourhoods and beach clubs. Its two par-72 Jack Nicklaus courses are the Pacifico, from 1999, and the Bahía, from 2009. The Pacifico's optional hole 3B, "Tail of the Whale", is a par 3 played to a natural island green of black rock. The courses are for resort guests and members.

The village

El Anclote, the public beach at the entrance to the peninsula, is about 500 metres of very shallow, calm water, lined with palapa restaurants serving fresh seafood. Licensed boats leave from the beach for the Marietas and for fishing trips. The village as it is today dates from the 1990s, when fishing families were moved from the point to make way for the resort.

Beaches and public access

Under Mexican law, beaches and the 20-metre federal strip behind them are public property. In practice, the gated layout means you can't simply walk in through the resort. The beaches with easy public access are:

El Anclote: the village beach, shallow and calm, with restaurants and parking.
Destiladeras: a long, flat beach that shelves gently, with its own exit on the Punta de Mita road. The access is by the "Nahui" sign, with a large car park that may charge at weekends.
La Lancha: a surf beach reached by a footpath from the Punta Mita road. A developer closed it in 2016, and the environment ministry, SEMARNAT, reopened it to the public in 2019.

Access is a live issue. After protests in 2026 at Las Cocinas beach, at the tip of the bay, the federal government guaranteed public access, and in July SEMARNAT halted the luxury project being built there.

Things to do

The Marietas Islands: about 8 km offshore, roughly 20 minutes by boat from Punta de Mita against about 45 from Puerto Vallarta. Visits to the Hidden Beach are capped at 116 people a day, through authorised operators only, with life jackets compulsory; check closing days when you book.
Surfing: El Anclote and Stinky's are long, gentle waves for learning; El Faro, La Lancha and Punta Burros are for more experienced surfers.
Whale watching from 8 December to 23 March. Boats must stay 1.5 km from the Marietas and out of a 2 km coastal strip running from Punta de Mita to the Ameca river, where mothers and calves gather.
Golf outside the resort: the Litibú course in nearby Higuera Blanca, designed by Greg Norman, opened in 2010.
Monkey Mountain: the hike up Cerro del Mono starts in Higuera Blanca, about 7 km return. See hikes and viewpoints.
Lunch on El Anclote: the simplest plan of all, with your feet in the sand.

Getting there

By car or transfer: Highway 200 north, then the four-lane Punta de Mita road, which opened in 2016. Allow 45 to 60 minutes from the airport, more from Old Town. Airport taxis charge zone fares, and the resorts are in one of the highest zones, so a pre-booked transfer is common; see the airport guide.
By bus: take a bus marked "Walmart" to the stop opposite the cruise port, then change to the bus marked "Punta Mita", which runs via Bucerías. See buses.

Who it suits

Stay inside the gates for a high-end resort holiday with golf and private beaches. For everyone else, Punta de Mita works best as a day out from Puerto Vallarta or Bucerías: the Marietas in the morning, lunch on El Anclote, then the drive back along the bay. For the bigger picture, see Banderas Bay and where to stay.