Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, July 21, 2026 – Seven Puerto Vallarta beach sites are expected to receive Blue Flag certification in August, but municipal officials have not identified the beaches or released the evaluations behind the announcement.
Councilman Christian Omar Bravo Carbajal, president of the Commission on Free, Clean and Certified Beaches, disclosed the expected certifications during the commission’s July 17 meeting. The session appears in the municipality’s public commission records, while local reports following the meeting said the formal announcement would take place next month.
Those distinctions matter because Puerto Vallarta entered the 2025–2026 season with four Blue Flag awards. They covered Camarones Beach and the beachfronts operated by Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa, The Westin Resort and Spa Puerto Vallarta and Sheraton Buganvilias. PVDN reported last year that the total had fallen from eight awards during earlier seasons.
Other city beaches hold different environmental recognitions. Playa de Oro, as one example, recovered a federal sustainable beach certification and White Flag recognition in 2025. Those programs are separate from Blue Flag, although officials and local reports sometimes discuss the different distinctions together.
Until the municipality publishes the seven names and the certification attached to each one, it is not possible to determine Puerto Vallarta’s expected Blue Flag total during the coming season.
Blue Flag is awarded one season at a time rather than permanently. The Foundation for Environmental Education requires participating beach operators to maintain standards covering water quality, waste management, accessibility, environmental information, biodiversity protection, emergency planning and safety services.
Certification can cover a defined stretch of shoreline rather than an entire beach commonly known by one name. Hotel-operated sites may also have different access points and facilities than municipal beaches, making maps and precise boundaries important when the new awards are announced.
The certification news also arrives while Puerto Vallarta is dealing with a separate water-quality problem at Playa del Cuale. Federal health regulator Cofepris classified that location as unsuitable for recreational contact during its summer 2026 beach monitoring.
Samples collected between June 15 and July 1 found bacteria above the federal limit of 200 enterococci per 100 milliliters. Cofepris advised people to avoid swimming or other direct contact with the water at that location while sanitation work continues.
The Cuale result does not establish that any beach under consideration by Blue Flag has failed water testing. It does show why individual beach data and testing dates should accompany certification announcements. A Blue Flag covering one managed section cannot be read as a guarantee covering the city’s entire coastline.
Commission members also discussed crocodile management and a proposed digital platform that would display beach access points, weather conditions and environmental hazards. Officials did not provide a public launch date, operating budget, update schedule or list of agencies responsible for supplying the information.
That proposal follows renewed scrutiny of beach warnings after a tourist died in a crocodile attack near Marina Vallarta in June. The city had already begun training municipal lifeguards in crocodile behavior and response before the fatal attack.
A functioning beach platform could bring scattered information into one location, including access routes, swimming restrictions, wildlife warnings and water-quality results. Its usefulness would depend on how quickly conditions are updated and whether municipal agencies identify who is responsible when information is missing or outdated.
Before the August certifications are presented, the city has yet to publish the names and boundaries of each beach, the operator responsible, the type and duration of each award, public access information, current water tests, and the safety services available at each site. Without those details, the announcement remains a certification target rather than usable beach information.
