For decades, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, has been world-renowned for its air of romance. These days, its enchantments include golf.

Known as the Riviera Narayit, this scenic stretch, which extends some 200 miles along the Pacific Ocean, brims with memorable resort and public-access courses. As prime golf season approaches south of the border, here are five of the finest spots to play in and around the Riviera Nayarit.

Punta Mita Golf Club

There are many ways to tell the story of golf at Punta Mita, a 1,500-acre resort and residential community set along a vast expanse of white-sand beaches. A good place to start is with the “Tale of the Whale.” That’s the moniker for a one-of-a-kind par-3 that features the world’s only natural island green. The hole, which requires a 194-yard carry from the tips to a rock-ringed putting surface lapped by ocean waves, plays as hole 3B on the Pacifico Course. It is, in other words, an ‘alternate’ hole on the scorecard. But it’s not an experience you want to miss (note: at high tide, the green is only accessible by motorized boat). The Pacifico Course is one of two private Jack Nicklaus Signature designs at Punta Mita that makes tee times available to resort guests, offering pristinely manicured golf on palm-fringed fairways with sweeping ocean views. Both courses also play host to one of the most popular golf and lifestyle events in Mexico, the Punta Mita Invitational, a five-day food-and-wine filled gathering where winners from the major professional golf tours play alongside amateur participants in an easy-going atmosphere.  

El Tigre Golf Club

At more than 7,200 yards from the back tees, with a course and slope rating of 75.4/144, this Robert von Hagge course has been described as one of the toughest in Mexico. It certainly has a lot of teeth. A menagerie of animals live on property, including crocodiles and monkeys. The par-3 17th, which plays over water to a peninsula green, is all the more nerve-racking for the hazard just behind it: a large enclosure inhabited by tigers, which were rescued by the property’s director of golf.

Vista Vallarta Golf Club

In Spanish, as in English, ‘vista’ means view. And, boy, are they eye-popping at this 36-hole facility, in the foothills just east of Puerto Vallarta. The two courses here, designed, respectively, by Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf, complement each other in their aesthetics and shot-making demands. The former, which tips out as just over 7,000 yards, bucks and rolls through thickets of palm and ficus trees, its routing spliced by creeks and arroyos, while the slightly shorter latter makes ingenious use of elevation changes to ramp up its start-to-finish risk and rewards. What both layouts have in common are the stunning vistas, which sweep from the coast and Banderas Bay to the green ridges of the Sierra Madre mountains.

Vidanta Neuvo Nayarit-Vallarta

This sprawling resort, just north of the Puerto Vallarta airport, spreads across more than 3,500 acres, allowing room for dozens of swimming pools, scores of bars and restaurants, nine miles of wooden footpaths, and golf. Lots of golf, including a Nicklaus Signature design and a Greg Norman course that hosts the Mexico Open. Both layouts can be bearish or benign, depending on the tees you pick, and there’s also a user-friendly 10-hole par-3 layout that is illuminated at night, as well as a golf academy to help set you straight.

Flamingos Golf Course

Built in 1970, this Percy Clifford design is one of the OGs of the area, and it offers a traditional tropical experience. Its gently rolling routing winds through a backdrop of mangroves, lagoons and lush rainforests. Though coastal winds are a near-constant presence, the fairways are forgiving and the greens roll as purely as any around.

Josh Sens

Golf.com Editor

A golf, food and travel writer, Josh Sens has been a GOLF Magazine contributor since 2004 and now contributes across all of GOLF’s platforms. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sportswriting. He is also the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.