Unlike the rest of the municipalities of Nayarit, Bahía de Banderas follows the Central Time Zone, as used in the neighboring municipality of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. This is in order to allow for greater integration with the touristic region of Puerto Vallarta, as well as to prevent time zone confusions that could lead to missed flights on account of the local airport being across the state border in Puerto Vallarta. This time zone is represented in the Olson database as "America/Bahia_Banderas".