San Francisco, Bahía de Banderas

San Francisco, also known as San Pancho, is a Mexican town situated in the State of Nayarit[1] on the central Pacific coast of Mexico about 50 km north of Puerto Vallarta on Federal Highway 200.San Francisco is situated along the Pacific coast of the Mexican state of Nayarit.

San Francisco is at the edge of the Sierra de Vallejo Biosphere Reserve which provides water to the inhabitants of the region, and is considered by CONABIO as a priority region for the conservation of its natural resources, plant and animal diversity.

It is bordered by jungle that is home to the jaguar and scores of other exotic mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and bird species.

Before the arrival of the Spanish, and still somewhat today, the coast and nearby mountainous region known as the Sierra Madre Occidental was populated by the indigenous Cora and Huichol.

As the Spanish developed ports at San Blas to the north and Puerto Vallarta to the south, the region began to increase in population but still at a much slower pace and was cut off from urban centers like Guadalajara.