Abstract. In this paper we show that any chain transitive set of a diffeomorphism on a compact C ∞ -manifold which is C 1 -stably limit shadowable is hyperbolic. Moreover, it is proved that a locally maximal chain transitive set of a C 1 -generic diffeomorphism is hyperbolic if and only if it is limit shadowable.Transitive sets, homoclinic classes and chain components of a diffeomorphism are natural candidates to replace the hyperbolic basic sets in nonhyperbolic theory of differentiable dynamical systems, and many recent papers explored their "hyperbolic-like" properties (for more details, see [2,6,8,9,14,15]).In this paper we study the chain transitive sets which are limit shadowable. Let us be more precise. Let M be a compact C ∞ -manifold, and let Diff(M) be the space of diffeomorphisms of M endowed with the C 1 -topology. Denote by d the distance on M induced from a Riemannian metric on the tangent bundle T M . For δ > 0, a sequence {x n } n∈Z in Λ is called a δ-limit chain if lim |n|→∞