Geography
Nayarit is small by Mexican standards — 27,857 km², 23rd of the 32 states — and had 1,235,456 inhabitants in 2020, 29th by population. It packs three landscapes into that space. The Sierra Madre Occidental fills the eastern half, rising to about 2,700 m in the highlands of El Nayar and La Yesca, where the Cora and Wixárika (Huichol) peoples live in scattered communities. The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt begins in the centre: Ceboruco, 2,280 m, last erupted between 1870 and 1875 and its lava fields are still bare beside Highway 15D, and Sanguangüey stands over Tepic. West of the volcanoes is a hot coastal plain about 300 km long.
The Río Grande de Santiago, the outlet of the Lerma–Chapala system and one of the longest rivers in Mexico, crosses the state in a deep canyon and reaches the sea north of San Blas. It has been dammed three times in twenty years — Aguamilpa, El Cajón and La Yesca — making Nayarit a significant hydroelectric producer. Behind the beaches, the Marismas Nacionales stretch for 200 km: some 200,000 hectares of mangrove and tidal lagoon, the largest such system on the Mexican Pacific and a biosphere reserve since 2010.
Two island groups belong to the state. Isla Isabel, 70 km offshore, is a national park and one of the main seabird nesting colonies in the eastern Pacific. The Islas Marías, about 100 km out, held a federal penal colony from 1905 until 2019 and are now a biosphere reserve. On land, the plain around Santiago Ixcuintla grows tobacco, mango and jackfruit, and the southern bay is the tourist coast: Sayulita, Punta Mita and Nuevo Vallarta all face Banderas Bay.
The climate is tropical and strongly seasonal: rain falls between June and October and the rest of the year is dry, which sets the tourist season from November to May. Pacific hurricanes track past the coast in September and October, and Nayarit was where the first Spanish shipyards on the Pacific were built, at San Blas, which supplied the expeditions that founded the missions of the Californias in the eighteenth century.
Main cities
| Municipality | Population (2020) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tepic | 425,924 | State capital, inland at 915 m |
| Bahía de Banderas | 187,632 | Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerías, Punta Mita, Sayulita |
| Santiago Ixcuintla | 87,000 | Tobacco and farming on the Santiago river |
| Compostela | 74,000 | Rincón de Guayabitos, Chacala, coffee country |
| Xalisco | 55,000 | Adjoins Tepic to the south |
| San Blas | 37,000 | Colonial Pacific port, mangrove boat trips |
| Rosamorada | 37,000 | Coastal plain north of the Santiago |
| Tecuala | 37,000 | Novillero beach, shrimp lagoons |
| Acaponeta | 36,000 | Northern road and rail town |
| Ixtlán del Río | 26,000 | Los Toriles ruins, on the Guadalajara highway |
Nayarit has 20 municipalities. Bahía de Banderas, created in 1989 out of Compostela, has grown faster than anywhere else in the state; figures below the top two are rounded.
Neighbouring states
Four states border Nayarit: Sinaloa to the north-west across the Río Cañas, Durango for a short stretch of sierra in the north-east, Zacatecas to the east, and Jalisco along the whole southern and south-eastern side, from the sierra down to Banderas Bay. The Pacific forms the western edge. Nayarit belongs to the Pacific Coast and its eastern highlands to the Sierra Madre.
Getting there
Almost everyone arriving for the coast flies into Puerto Vallarta (PVR) in Jalisco, about 20 km south of the state line and 40 minutes from Nuevo Vallarta; the Puerto Vallarta map shows the airport. Tepic's Amado Nervo airport (TPQ) has domestic flights only. The airports map lists the codes.
Federal Highway 15D, the toll road, links Tepic to Guadalajara in 210 km and about two and a half hours, and runs north through Acaponeta into Sinaloa and on to Mazatlán, 500 km away. Highway 200 is the coast road: Tepic to Puerto Vallarta by way of Compostela and Sayulita is about 165 km and three hours, and the northern arm reaches San Blas and Santiago Ixcuintla. The Jala–Compostela toll road shortens the run from the Guadalajara motorway to the beaches. From Mexico City, Tepic is about 790 km and nine hours of driving. See the road map, the beaches map and the volcanoes map.
Questions about Nayarit
Where is Nayarit on the map of Mexico?
On the Pacific coast of western Mexico, between Sinaloa to the north-west and Jalisco to the south, with Durango and Zacatecas inland to the north-east. Tepic, the capital, is 210 km north-west of Guadalajara.
What is the Riviera Nayarit?
The tourism name for the coast from Nuevo Vallarta, on the Jalisco state line, north to San Blas — about 300 km taking in Bucerías, Punta Mita, Sayulita, San Pancho and Rincón de Guayabitos. Most visitors reach it through Puerto Vallarta airport.
Which airport serves Nayarit?
Puerto Vallarta (PVR), which is in Jalisco but sits about 20 km from the Nayarit state line and handles almost all traffic to the coast. Tepic has its own small airport, Amado Nervo (TPQ), with domestic flights.
What time is it in Nayarit?
Most of the state is on UTC−7 with no daylight saving, an hour behind Mexico City. The exception is the municipality of Bahía de Banderas — Nuevo Vallarta, Bucerías, Punta Mita and Sayulita — which keeps Central time, UTC−6, so that it matches neighbouring Puerto Vallarta. See the time zones map.