10 Best Snorkeling Spots in Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay

The water in front of your resort is not where the fish are. Ten snorkeling spots in Banderas Bay — from the Marietas Islands to coves you can only reach by boat — plus the two months a year when visibility is genuinely bad and nobody tells you.

Here is the thing nobody mentions when you book an all-inclusive on a long sandy beach: long sandy beaches are terrible for snorkeling. Sand does not hold fish. What holds fish is rock, and the rock in Banderas Bay is at the two ends and around the islands — not in front of the resort strip in Nuevo Vallarta.

The good news is that the bay is genuinely excellent for snorkeling if you go to the right places, and most of them are a boat ride rather than an expedition.

The two things that decide your day

Season. Visibility is best from roughly November to May, when the rains have stopped and the rivers are not pushing sediment into the bay. From July to October, run-off after a storm can drop visibility to a couple of metres for days. Water is warmest — around 28–29°C — from August to October, and coolest, around 22–24°C, in February and March, when a shorty wetsuit is welcome.

Time of day. Morning. The bay is glassy early and the afternoon sea breeze picks up from about 1pm most of the year, which puts chop on the surface and stirs the shallows. Every boat operator who knows what they are doing leaves before nine.

The ten spots

1. Islas Marietas

The famous one, and it earns it. A protected archipelago off Punta de Mita with clear water, big schools and enormous seabird colonies overhead. Access is capped and requires a permit — the number of daily visitors is legally limited to protect the reef, which is exactly why it is still worth seeing. Only go with an authorised operator, and book ahead. The Hidden Beach inside the collapsed crater has its own separate, much stricter, quota.

2. Los Arcos

The granite arches off the South Shore, a national marine park, and the most reliable snorkeling near the city. Sheer walls dropping into deep water, tunnels through the rock, and dense fish life within minutes of the boat. Twenty minutes from town by panga.

3. Playa Las Ánimas

A beach village on the south shore reachable only by water taxi from Boca de Tomatlán. Rocky headlands at both ends of the cove, restaurants on the sand, and a whole day's worth of doing very little.

4. Playa Colomitos

The smallest beach in the bay, in a rock-framed cove — a 25-minute jungle hike from Boca de Tomatlán or a five-minute boat ride. Clear water right off the sand.

5. Majahuitas

Further along the south shore, quieter than Las Ánimas and with better rock structure. Usually a stop on catamaran day trips.

6. Quimixto

Another boat-only village, with a waterfall hike inland and decent snorkeling off the point.

7. Playa Careyeros — Punta de Mita

Shore snorkeling that actually works, with rocky sections at either end and calm water inside the headland.

8. Conchas Chinas

The closest good snorkeling to town that you can reach on foot. Rock pools and boulders at low tide, right below the South Shore resorts.

9. Playa Anclote reef — Punta de Mita

Shallow, calm and forgiving, which makes it the best place in the bay to put a nervous child or a first-timer in the water.

10. Isla Cangrejo / La Corbeteña — for the ambitious

Offshore pinnacles a long way out. Mostly a dive destination, but on a flat day the surface snorkeling over the top of them is extraordinary. This is a full-day boat trip.

Booking a trip from your resort

You have three routes, and they are not equivalent.

• The resort tour desk. Easiest, most expensive, and usually a large catamaran with eighty people on it and a lot of tequila. Fine if the boat is the point.
• A specialist operator. Smaller boats, smaller groups, earlier departures, actual guides. Marketplaces such as Fish and Tours and Tours Vallarta list the local operators, so you can compare boat size and departure time rather than just price.
• The water taxi at Boca de Tomatlán. The cheapest and most independent option: turn up, pay a few hundred pesos, get dropped at Las Ánimas or Colomitos, arrange your pick-up time. Bring your own gear.

Gear, and why you should bring your own mask

Rental masks on a busy boat are usually the wrong size and often leak, which ruins a day that cost real money. A mask is small, cheap and packs flat. Fins and snorkel you can rent without complaint.

Also bring: reef-safe sunscreen (oxybenzone-based products are banned in the marine parks and enforced at the Marietas), a rash guard — your back is at the surface for two hours and it will burn through anything — and a dry bag for your phone.

Rules in the marine parks

Los Arcos and the Marietas are protected areas. Do not stand on, touch or take anything. Do not feed the fish. Do not chase turtles — swimming alongside is fine, pursuing is not. Operators can lose their permits over this, which is why a good guide will brief you properly before you get in.

Which zone to stay in for water time

South Shore resorts are closest to Los Arcos and to Boca de Tomatlán, where the water taxis leave. Punta de Mita is closest to the Marietas and has the clearest water in the bay. Marina Vallarta is where most of the larger boats depart from. Compare the trade-offs in our directory.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best snorkeling in Puerto Vallarta?

Los Arcos for reliability and proximity to the city; the Marietas Islands for the best single day in the water, if you book a permitted operator far enough ahead.

Can I snorkel straight from the beach?

At Conchas Chinas, Careyeros and Anclote, yes. In front of the long resort beaches of Nuevo Vallarta and Flamingos, there is nothing to see — it is sand.

When is the water clearest?

November to May. Avoid the days immediately after heavy rain between July and October, when river run-off cuts visibility sharply.

Do I need to be a strong swimmer?

You need to be comfortable in deep water with a life vest on — every reputable operator provides one and most require it. Non-swimmers can snorkel in a vest, and the calm shallow spots are the place to start.

How much do the Marietas cost, and why the permit?

Trips include a national park fee. The permit system exists because the islands were being loved to death; access is now capped daily. Prices change, so check with operators directly — but be suspicious of anyone offering the Hidden Beach without mentioning quotas.

Will I see turtles or whales?

Sea turtles are around all year and common on the south shore. Humpback whales are in the bay roughly December to March, and you will often see them from the boat on the way to snorkel. Whale watching is a separate, regulated activity with minimum distances.