What kinds of ecotourism activities are there in Riviera Nayarit?

The release of turtles is widely considered to be one of Riviera Nayarit's most popular activities. The Riviera Nayarit is an excellent location for birdwatching and general exploration.

Release of turtles

Thousands of olive ridley turtles that hatch on the beaches of this region return every year to build their nests and lay their eggs. There are several hatcheries dedicated to the care, incubation, and release of turtles. There is a tour that also includes a visit to the crocodile farm "El Quelele", a swampy lagoon where crocodiles live.

Encounter with sea lions

Sea lions are very friendly and feeling their noses and whiskers, as well as interacting with these happy and mischievous little animals, is both an educational and fun experience.

Swim with dolphins

Along the coast of the Riviera Nayarit, you can often see bottlenose dolphins jumping and playing. There are several programs designed to interact with the dolphins, some for young children, others include swimming with the dolphins and there is another one that turns you into a "Trainer for a day", quite an experience.

Bird watching

Currently, there are about 350 species in this region. There are a variety of tours available where you can visit wetlands, mangroves, canals, mountains, and forests. The Quelele Bird Lagoon tour is the perfect place to enjoy an encounter with nature and the beauty of a Purple Gallinule, American Coot, or Green Heron.

Near streams and in the woods, you can find vermilion thrush, rufous-backed robin, and squirrel cuckoo and it is even very likely to see a lot of orange-fronted parakeets. Very close to San Blas, in the mangroves of the Tovara, it is quite an experience to take a boat ride, and observe birds such as the rufous-necked rail, puaraquees, purple gallinules, naked tiger heron, northern nictibia, northern jacanas, warblers, mangrove vireos, impressive nests of boot-billed herons and many green kingfishers.

Whale watching

Every year from mid-December to the end of March, visitors to the Riviera Nayarit can enjoy the most spectacular whale-watching spectacle to be experienced anywhere in the world. There are whale-watching tours that take you up close to take spectacular photographs of the impressive cetaceans.