Mexico: Riviera Nayarit amps up its resort scene

A new hotel and several other tourist facilities are scheduled to open during the upcoming year in Riviera Nayarit, one of Mexico‘s newest coastal developments. Several resorts in the region, which is north of Puerto Vallarta, also plan to add rooms or make other improvements.

“Riviera Nayarit has seen remarkable growth in the development of tourism infrastructure and offerings since our inception in 2007,” said Richard Zarkin, public relations manager of Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We are very optimistic going into this year and beyond.”

Among the improvements:

• The Iberostar Playa Mita, a 452-room resort, is scheduled to open later this year in Litibu, at the north end of Banderas Bay. The all-inclusive resort will feature two pools, a Kids Club, four specialty restaurants, three bars and meeting facilities. The resort will be Iberostar Hotel & Resorts’ 10th property in Mexico.
• Tau Resorts Nahui is scheduled to open late this year, with 172 units. The new timeshare community will include a village, beach club, golf course, hiking trails and oceanfront water sports center.
• The Grand Luxxe Nuevo Vallarta, a Grupo Vidanta resort that opened in 2010, is constructing a tower with 144 rooms, bringing its total to 540 rooms.

The new developments cap a year when several hotels opened or made improvements, including a new Hard Rock Vallarta resort, which debuted in August. Major renovations were made at the Grand Palladium Vallarta Resort & Spa, Occidental Grand Nuevo Vallarta and Four Seasons Punta Mita.

The governor of Nayarit is developing three inland destinations based on cultural appeal, Zarkin said: Sierra del Nayar, Lagunas Encantadas and Nayarit Colonial.

• Sierra del Nayar is home to several indigenous ethnic groups, including the Coras, Huicholes, Tepehuanos and Mexicaneros, and hosts several colorful festivals throughout the year.
• Lagunas Encantadas, in central Nayarit, has three lagoons and offers a variety of boutique hotels, water sports and fishing.
• The Nayarit Colonial region features historic structures influenced by the Spanish conquest. In Nayarit Colonial, the tourism bureau says, “time stands still.”

Riviera Nayarit stretches along 192 miles of Pacific coast and includes the resorts of Nuevo Vallarta, the historic colonial town of San Blas and upscale Punta Mita, besides fishing villages, beaches and Banderas Bay.

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