Marietas Islands From Punta de Mita And La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

Punta de Mita is the closest launch point to the Marietas Islands anywhere on Banderas Bay. CONANP, the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas that runs the park, puts the distance at 9 km, or 4.85 nautical miles, and every tour on this site that departs from the northern end of the bay leaves from the piers at Punta de Mita or the adjoining village of Corral del Risco. That geography shapes the whole product mix here: the tours from this side are small boats, short itineraries, and Hidden Beach-focused trips, not the big catamaran days that leave from Puerto Vallarta, 34 km away.

This page answers the practical questions around departing from Punta de Mita and La Cruz de Huanacaxtle: which listings actually leave from these ports, what the shorter crossing buys you, how the park fee works on each boat, and where you stand if you are staying in La Cruz and hoping to board there.

Why Is Punta de Mita The Closest Departure Point To The Marietas Islands?

Punta de Mita is 9 km, or 4.85 nautical miles, from the Marietas Islands, the shortest distance CONANP lists for any departure town on Banderas Bay, ahead of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle at 11.84 nautical miles, Sayulita at 12.68, Nuevo Nayarit at 15.96, and Puerto Vallarta at 34 km, or 18 nautical miles. The figures come from the park's own official page, not from operators.

The reason is simple geography. Punta de Mita is the long northern tip of the bay, and the Marietas Islands sit just off it in the open Pacific. A boat leaving the Anclote beach pier or the Punta de Mita cooperative dock is already most of the way north before it turns toward the islands. That closeness is why the northern listings are built differently from the southern ones: three hours is a full tour here, while Puerto Vallarta operators sell six to nine hour days that budget most of that time for the crossing and stops at other beaches along the way.

Closeness does not change the park's rules. Access to the islands is by boat only, with authorized private tourism providers of Banderas Bay, and the CONANP page for the park is explicit on that point. Whether you leave from a pier 9 km away or a marina 34 km away, you arrive at the same protected area under the same conditions.

How Do I Get To Islas Marietas?

You get to Islas Marietas by booking a place on an authorized boat and reaching its listed departure point yourself. No tour here states that hotel pickup is offered, several state it is not included, and access to the park is by boat only with authorized providers. From the northern bay that means the Punta de Mita pier, the Punta de Mita tourism cooperative dock, or an office on Avenida Las Pangas in Corral del Risco.

The practical sequence looks like this. You book a listing, note the exact meeting point in the confirmation, and make your own way there by taxi or bus. Grimar Adventures Punta Mita, for example, gives its office address as Avenida Las Pangas number 18, one block before the pier in Punta de Mita. Shark's Tours gives its departure point as the Punta de Mita tourism cooperative in front of the small marina. The private snorkeling safari listing gives the cooperative on Avenida El Anclote as its meeting point. These are short distances apart in the same corner of the peninsula, but they are not interchangeable, so the meeting point on your listing is the one to plan around.

Once you are at the pier, the operator handles the park side of the trip. Some listings bundle the federal paperwork into the ticket: the two Eco Explorer Vallarta listings, the Punta de Mita exploring listing from Marieta Sport Fishing, and the private snorkeling safari all state that park or government fees are included. Others collect fees separately on the day, in pesos or dollars, and state so in their exclusions. The dedicated guide on this site, the Marietas park fee and conservation wristband explained, breaks down the MXN 125 per person per day entry fee, who is exempt, and how the wristband works, so it is worth a read before you decide whether a fee-included listing suits you.

One thing no listing can do is promise you the Hidden Beach. Entry to Playa del Amor depends on tide, sea state, the park's daily rules, and the operator's call on the day. Several titles on this side of the bay advertise entrance in the ticket, and those listings are covered below, but the decision always rests with conditions on the water.

Which Marietas Boat Trips Leave From Punta de Mita?

Ten tours on this site depart from Punta de Mita or Corral del Risco, among them three Shark's Tours listings, two Grimar Adventures Punta Mita listings, the Marieta Sport Fishing Hidden Beach trip, the Oceanus private safari, and the Marieta Tours private snorkeling safari. Firm prices on these run from $67 per person to $369 per group. All are small-boat products with listed caps of 8 or fewer travelers on the shared departures.

Here are the northern tours, with the firm prices and ratings each listing shows.

The two shortest options on this site both leave from here, and they represent the two basic formats. The Grimar collective boat from $67 per person is a 2 hours 30 minutes run with snorkel gear, life jackets, and non-alcoholic drinks included, food and the Hidden Beach landing extra. Shark's Tours' Private Snorkel is even briefer at 2 hours 20 minutes, listing snorkeling equipment as its main inclusion, with its price on the listing rather than published here.

For readers whose priority is the Hidden Beach rather than just reef time, the middle band of the table is where the decision sits. Three listings put Hidden Beach in the ticket or title: the Shark's Tours 3-hour trip from $157 per person, 4.8 from 161 reviews; the Grimar 3-hour trip from $157 per person, 4.8 from 117 reviews; and the Marieta Sport Fishing trip from $156 per person, 4.6 from 11 reviews, which also lists all fees and taxes as included. The landing still depends on tide, sea state, and park rules on the day, as every listing's fine print makes clear.

Can You Depart From La Cruz de Huanacaxtle To The Marietas Islands?

No tour on this site departs from La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. CONANP lists its distance to the islands as 11.84 nautical miles, but no listing on this site, among those that state a meeting point, names a La Cruz marina as a meeting point. If you are staying in La Cruz, the realistic options are Punta de Mita to the north or Nuevo Vallarta and Puerto Vallarta to the south.

This is worth stating plainly because La Cruz has a marina and a sailing community, and general travel write-ups sometimes imply you can board a Marietas trip there. The departure points are Punta de Mita and Corral del Risco in the north, Marina Vallarta and the Puerto Mágico terminal and Los Peines pier in Puerto Vallarta, and the Paradise Village public pier in Nuevo Vallarta. That is the complete list, and the guide to departing from Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerias, and Sayulita covers the middle options, including the fact that Sayulita and Bucerias also have no departures.

For a La Cruz base, Punta de Mita is the nearest departure point, a short taxi or drive around the head of the bay. From there the full northern selection above is open to you, from the $67 collective boat to the private safari at $369 per group. Going south instead, the Paradise Village pier in Nuevo Vallarta, 15.96 nautical miles from the islands per CONANP, hosts both the sailing trip from $99 per person and the Hidden Beach tour from Nuevo Vallarta from $168 per person, 4.6 from 81 reviews, the latter with the landing listed as included.

What Is The Boat Ride From Punta de Mita To The Marietas Islands Like?

The listings describe covered pangas and private boats carrying at most 8 travelers on the shared northern trips, with life jackets, snorkel gear, and non-alcoholic drinks aboard. A listing's stated duration, such as 3 hours for the Hidden Beach trips, covers the whole tour, not the crossing alone.

What the shorter distance changes is the shape of the day rather than the water itself. The northern trips are built as focused outings: two and a half to three and a half hours total, one destination, because there is no long crossing to fill.

Sea conditions, not distance, decide how any crossing feels, and tours can be cancelled for sea conditions. The park's own page recommends all-year visitation and notes that in the rainy season there can be days with poor sea conditions. For detail on comfort and motion, the site's blog post on whether the boat ride to the Marietas Islands is rough covers it, and the refresher is simple: no one can promise a calm day in any month.

Wildlife on the crossing is described by listings as possible rather than scheduled. Humpbacks pass through Banderas Bay in season, with the official federal window last running 8 December 2025 to 23 March 2026 and no later notice published, and the federal whale-watching notice restricts whale-watching activity within 1.5 km of the islands. The Campos & Moras small-group listing names whale watching as seasonal; the dedicated analysis lives in the site's guide to Marietas whale watching combos.

Which Punta de Mita Listing Should You Pick For Hidden Beach?

Pick by what the listing states about the landing and read only its own block: three northern listings include the Hidden Beach landing in the ticket, the collective boats list it as a paid extra or exclusion, and every one of them still depends on tide, sea state, and park rules on the day. The three landing-included trips run from $156 to $157 per person, within a couple of dollars of each other.

The per-listing picture on the landing, drawn straight from each listing's own terms, looks like this.

The word several of these listings use in their titles is a marketing claim, and this site does not repeat it, because no operator can promise the beach ahead of the day. One Ecotours Vallarta listing on the southern side says it plainly: operators cannot guarantee entrance to the Hidden Beach ahead of time, and they do their best on every visit. The rules behind that caution are the reopening rules CONANP set in 2016 and operators still describe: groups of at most 15, 30 minutes per group from leaving the boat, helmets and flotation vests compulsory, no fins, mask, or snorkel at the entrance, and at most 116 visitors a day, with boats carrying more than 15 passengers barred from entering. CONANP has published no update to those numbers, and the 2016 CONANP reopening notice remains the primary text.

Age and fitness limits also vary from tour to tour, so read the details for the trip you book. The Grimar Hidden Beach trip states minimum age 10 and maximum age 64. Shark's Tours' private Playa Escondida trip states it is not allowed for people over 65 or children under 10. The Grimar collective boat's notes state no age limits for the landing at all, because the landing is not part of that ticket. Generalizing any one of these to the park would be wrong. If you are traveling with children or a non-swimmer, the site's guide to the Marietas Islands with kids and non-swimmers works through the same per-listing method.

Do The Punta de Mita Listings Include The Park Fee?

Two northern listings state that park or government fees are included, the Marieta Sport Fishing Hidden Beach trip and the private snorkeling safari from Marieta Tours; the others either state fees separately or say nothing, and whether a ticket includes the MXN 125 per person per day fee is strictly a per-listing fact. The federal fee buys the conservation wristband and applies to every visitor who is not exempt.

This is where the two similarly priced Grimar and Shark's Tours Hidden Beach trips differ from the slightly cheaper-looking southern options. A Punta de Mita trip from $157 per person is not the same purchase as a Puerto Vallarta trip whose exclusions list a stack of cash fees, and the fair comparison is total day cost, not sticker price. The Vallarta Adventures 3 hours 30 minutes tour from Puerto Vallarta, for instance, is from $89 per person but lists a US$20 access fee, a MXN 180 government fee, and a MXN 40 port fee as not included. If the real cost gap has you second-guessing where to base yourself, our comparison of Punta de Mita and Puerto Vallarta as launch points covers the crossing distances and the character of each town.

Exemptions and discounts on the fee itself are federal, not operator policy: older adults, pensioners and retirees, people with disabilities, and children under 12 are exempt; students and teachers with a valid credential pay 25 percent; Mexican nationals and foreign residents with documents pay half; foreign tourists pay the full MXN 125. The fee is sold as the conservation wristband, and operators may collect it for you.

Is A Private Boat From Punta de Mita Worth It For The Marietas Islands?

The private options from Punta de Mita start at $369 per group for up to 6 people with a personal bilingual guide and fees included, which undercuts the per-person math of the shared trips once four or more travel together; the other private listings, the shark's Playa Escondida trip, the Eco Explorer private tour, and the Oceanus safari, publish no price here, so check each listing for the current price.

The $369 per group safari from Marieta Tours lists port taxes, the Marietas Islands package taxes, a private boat, a personal bilingual guide, snorkeling, Playa Nopalera, bird watching, gear, and hydrating drinks as included, with alcohol, the Hidden Beach admission, and tips not included. Split across a full group of six, that fixed price works out well below the shared Hidden Beach trips, and it buys a boat to yourselves. The review pool is small, 4 reviews with a 4.8 rating, so weigh it as a young listing rather than an established one.

The Oceanus private safari is the northern option that reads most like a bespoke day: it includes a shrimp ceviche lunch, a beer tasting, a beginner surf class, snorkeling gear and life vests, and the landing per its title, 4.9 from 81 reviews, with the price on the listing. Its notes also state the start can be delayed about an hour when the tide is high, so the tunnel can be swum on an outgoing tide, which is a useful window into how tide-dependent the whole beach is. The full private-boat picture across the bay, including the Marina Vallarta listings, is in the site's guide to private Marietas tours and charters.

What Should You Know Before Booking A Northern Marietas Trip?

Book for the day's tide and your own swimming ability, budget fees separately unless the listing says included, and plan to reach the pier yourself: no tour here offers pickup, and all northern groups cap at 8 or fewer on shared boats. Monday and Tuesday are dead days for Hidden Beach, since the park is closed Monday and the Playa del Amor site runs Wednesday to Sunday, 8:00 to 17:00.

The calendar point catches many travelers. The park's official hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 8:00 to 18:00, with the Hidden Beach site open Wednesday to Sunday, 8:00 to 17:00, so a Monday arrival in Punta de Mita means no islands that day and a Tuesday means no Hidden Beach. Pair that with the tide question above and it is clear why operators keep schedule flexibility in their own hands. On cancellation, every northern listing states a full refund if cancelled at least 24 hours before the experience's start time, which is the policy to confirm on the live listing when you book.

Beyond the calendar, the same packing rules apply as everywhere in the park: reef-friendly sunscreen applied 30 minutes before entering the water, no single-use plastics, life jacket in the water, no alcohol, and no footwear for water or beach activities, per the park's eight official rules. Drones are banned under federal regulations on the listings that mention them. The site's what to bring guide has the full list, and the small-group question, 8 passengers here against 66 or 100 on the big catamarans, is worked through in the small-group versus large-boat comparison.

Common Questions About The Marietas Islands