El Salado Beach, Marina Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta

El Salado Beach in front of BVG, Marina Vallarta

Marina Vallarta, a Puerto Vallarta area, is directly south of the international airport and has high-end hotels, condo complexes, magnificent houses, restaurants, stores, a marina with a long, pedestrian-friendly boardwalk, and a golf course.

The beach at Marina Vallarta largely serves resort hotel guests, with some hotels sectioning off the beach in front of their premises with massive mounds of rock, making public access challenging.

El Salado Beach (Playa El Salado) is a stunning 1.5 mile beach on the north to south mid-point of Bay of Banderas. Hotels and condominiums like Velas Vallarta and Bay View Grand line the shores of the beach; Marriott and Westin are on the southeastern end of El Salado.

El Salado Estuary (Estero)

The beach gets its name from the El Salado Estuary (Estero El Salado)

Puerto Vallarta’s El Salado Estuary (Estero El Salado) is a 168-hectare mangrove and marshland preserve containing both fresh and salt water, making it an ideal breeding ground for a variety of fish that later migrate to Banderas Bay.

An estuary (in Spanish Estero or Estuario) is defined as a body of water located along a coastline where fresh water from rivers mix with salt water from the oceans. Transitional places between land and water, they are sheltered from many of the harsher elements that seas are exposed to, such as waves, severe winds, and storms.

In comparison to other ecosystems of equivalent scale, such as woods, grasslands, and agricultural fields, estuaries are extremely productive.

The Estero El Salado in Puerto Vallarta is a crucial resource for the region. This natural region is a vital supply of drinking water and is home to a wide variety of organisms, making it an urban estuary. El Salado Estuary is home to more than 100 birds (both terrestrial and aquatic), 29 amphibians and reptiles, 10 mammals, and, of course, a large number of fish.

There is a lot of room for sunbathing at Playa El Salado, which is often deserted during the off-season. The beach is more crowded during the summer months, and parasailing, windsurfing, banana boats, and jet skiing are some of the sports available there. Sailboats, stand-up paddle, and sea kayaks are available for rent at some of the resorts. Learn more about the sea turtle conservation efforts and maybe even participate in helping out in some of the baby sea turtle’s release events in the late summer and early fall.

The El Salado Beach seaside sequence of condos, hotels and resorts from north to south is:

• Bay View Grand Condos
• Velas Vallarta Hotel
• Caracoles Condominiums
• Portofino Condos
• Marriott Hotel
• Shangri-la Condos
• Meliá Hotel
• Villa Pacífico Beach Club
• Mayan Palace Hotel
• The Westin Resort Hotel
• Tres Mares Condominium

El Salado Beach is the beach of Marina Vallarta, so you’ll find it on the seaside edge of Marina Vallarta. It’s located between Boca de Tomates Beach to the north (the airport beach) and the Puerto Vallarta harbor area to the south, also the mouth of the El Salado estuary.

If you aren’t staying at one of the resorts or condos, getting to the beach is a bit of a challenge. El Salado is located immediately to the north of Bayview Grand Condo and immediately south of Puerto Vallarta International Airport, Bocanegra Passage (Pasaje Bocanegra) still offers a viable access point.

Head north from the Hotel Zone, turn left at the second entrance of Marina Vallarta (on the street that edges along the north side of the Plaza Marina shopping mall) and continue towards the beach (westward).

Mozayko Vallarta, Marina Vallarta, Natasha Moraga

Along the way you’ll encounter one of the hidden treasures of the Marina Vallarta. Located close to the seventh hole of the Marina Vallarta Golf club course. Natasha Moraga’s stunning mosaics can be found on the northern side of Albatros Street. Her vibrant Episode 2 (2015) spans the length of a few city blocks and covers an area of over 500 square meters, making it the second largest mosaic mural in all of Mexico. Natasha Moraga is known for her trencadís mural technique, which is the art of mosaic made from broken tiles.

There aren’t many seaside tourist attractions for those who aren’t vacationing in Marina Vallarta. If seeing the Marina Vallarta beach is on your list, you can walk to restaurants close to the Ameca River at Boca de Tomates or stretch out a beach towel and watch planes take off. There is on-street parking along Bocanegra and on-foot and car access is controlled from 7AM to 8PM.