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Is Mexico Safe?


Gator83
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If there were safety issues, the cruise companies would cancel stops at these locations. Just use your head as you should at any port: book tours with reputable companies that you have researched ahead of time. If you go off on your own, stay within well populated areas. Don't go off alone. Don't get so drunk that you don't know what you are doing. Don't try to buy drugs from locals. Use common sense, and you will be fine.

 

 

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We hesitate to answer the OP because everyone seems to have their own feelings about safety. But DW and I have lived in Puerto Vallarta for the past 12 winters (nearly 2 years total time in the city) and have always felt safe....even safer then most places in the USA. We think the greatest danger is drinking too much, falling off a sidewalk, and being run over by a bus (those bus drivers are loco). Mexico is similar to most countries in that there are safe places...and also unsafe places. Cruises tend to go to the safer cities/ports. While we would feel very safe in places like Puerto Vallarta and Cabo....you will not find us in places like Acapulco.

 

Hank

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Like Hank we spend our winters, more or less 4- months in Puerto Vallarta.

With us thousands and thousands of americans and canadians do the same.

We drive our car or take the local bus, we shop, go to the cinema, visit friends, eat in various simple or more upscale restaurants and never had any problems.

Use your common sense, donot drink too much, donot carry valuables etc. and you will be fine.

The same for Mazatlan, they had problems in the past, now tourists are back again.

In case you want to use a cab, always make tour price before entering the cab.

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I live in Cabo San Lucas six months a year. There has been new lately of incidents in Cabo, which previous to this year, was pretty much untouched by the cartels. Here is a very good article pertaining to Cabo telling what has gone on and what is being done:

 

http://www.itravel-cabo.com/about-los-cabos/safety.aspx

 

Cabo had over 300,000 cruise ship passengers between January-May this year. Not one cruise line diverted the port, even on windy days when the marina was closed but the cruise ships were still tendering.

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Thanks everyone. I have been to the Mexican Riviera a few times but not since a few years ago when there seemed to be a lot of trouble and the cruise lines stopped going for a bit. I know about being safe, etc. and am like that where I live. I may actually only get off the ship in Cabo because I don't feel like there is much to do that I haven't done at the other stops. Thanks again.

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Thanks everyone. I have been to the Mexican Riviera a few times but not since a few years ago when there seemed to be a lot of trouble and the cruise lines stopped going for a bit. I know about being safe, etc. and am like that where I live. I may actually only get off the ship in Cabo because I don't feel like there is much to do that I haven't done at the other stops. Thanks again.

 

At least take a cab or local bus to Playa Los Muertos in Puerto Vallarta to have a drink or meal there. So much nicer then staying on the ship!

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Thanks everyone. I have been to the Mexican Riviera a few times but not since a few years ago when there seemed to be a lot of trouble and the cruise lines stopped going for a bit. I know about being safe, etc. and am like that where I live. I may actually only get off the ship in Cabo because I don't feel like there is much to do that I haven't done at the other stops. Thanks again.

 

Bet you haven't ridden a camel at the other stops. There is a camel experience excursion that gets rave reviews.

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I love these "Is Mexico Safe?" threads. Half of me wants to say that Mexico is totally unsafe and you should never visit. Why you might ask? It is simply to keep the prices from going up faster than they are already going up. I truly believe that tourists being subjected to nacro violence in tourist cruise ports is pretty darn unlikely. I even think the chances of being subject to petty theft in cruise ports is less than in big tourist city in most parts of the world.

 

Mexico does have its risks and I wouldn't want to "sugar coat" them. Kidnapping is a big issue, shake-downs by gangs, extreme corruption by politicians (see Javier Duarte for an example), etc all are issues in Mexico. Killing of journalists is a big issue in Mexico. There are certainly places I wouldn't go but not enough so that I wouldn't go at all.

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  • 4 weeks later...
I pretty much dismissed the rest of your incoherent rant, but couldn't resist asking you what 'nacro violence' is.. :confused:

 

Even though you live in San Diego, it seems you don't have strong connections to Mexico or cross all that often if you don't understand the concept of "narcoviolencia" assuming you speak Spanish, here is a good site: http://www.narcoviolencia.com.mx/

 

An English definition can be found here: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/narcoviolence

 

Ve con Dios amigo mio!

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Even though you live in San Diego, it seems you don't have strong connections to Mexico or cross all that often if you don't understand the concept of "narcoviolencia"

 

Actually we are native San Diegans, and love Mexico. Have been visiting there since the early 60's and still regularly do.

 

We are quite familiar with the 'narco violence' issues plaguing some areas of the country currently, especially along the drug trafficking corridors and some of the border towns.

 

We just weren't familiar with the new term 'nacro violence' that you had introduced in your previous post, but no worries.

 

Que tenga un buen día!

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Actually we are native San Diegans, and love Mexico. Have been visiting there since the early 60's and still regularly do.

 

We are quite familiar with the 'narco violence' issues plaguing some areas of the country currently, especially along the drug trafficking corridors and some of the border towns.

 

We just weren't familiar with the new term 'nacro violence' that you had introduced in your previous post, but no worries.

 

Que tenga un buen día!

 

Maybe nacro is the Spanglish word for macro ????

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Hi,

I know a few years back there were issues with safety in Puerto Vallerta and Mazatlán. Do those issues still exist?

 

Thank you!

I personally will never go to any part of Mexico .However,I would suggest that you check out the State Department web site.

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I personally will never go to any part of Mexico .However,I would suggest that you check out the State Department web site.

 

Great, the more space for us that love to visit this beautiful country! However, I definitely hesitate even considering a visit to New York City; have you seen any of the crime reports there?

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We have driven our car many times over the past 10 years to various parts of Mexico as I know many other people do yearly. This year we crossed the border in Laredo, TX (because that is the most simple place we've found to get a vehicle permit, visa, etc) and drove across Mexico to Mazatlan, took the car on the ferry from Mazatlan to Cabo and drove back up the baja (about a 2 month trip due to spending days to weeks at stops along the way). We've also driven to Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Penasco and visited many inland towns along our routes. We found that over the past 10 years, Mexico has become much more like USA and in much of Mazatlan and Los Cabos you see more non-Mexicans than Mexicans and everyone speaks English. Haven't been to PV in a while, I assume it is the same.

 

Never had a security problem, but then we drive in the daylight only, we drive the autopistas instead of the back roads when they are available, we don't buy drugs we don't wear expensive jewelry and we are aware of our surroundings and we stay aware of what is happening - one year we changed our route because the cartel had taken over a town that was along our original route. But we do those things everywhere in the world that we travel. We feel safer anywhere in Mexico than we do in Paris or Brussels now (or many other places we have traveled to) - the terrorists aren't in Mexico yet.

 

We fly to Acapulco for 2 months every other year (don't drive because of high tolls - it is actually cheaper to fly most years). Acapulco is no less safe than the rest of the country for those who don't buy drugs, don't go out at night and pay attention to their surrounding.

 

The "narcos" typically won't bother tourists and, in Mazatlan, many years ago the government made an agreement with the local cartel so that they would stay out of the "tourist zones".

 

FYI: The taxi drivers we have gotten to know throughout Mexico have told us that they know which tourists have money because they wear jewelry and when those people are in the cab they charge more and try to sell them additional things like tours, trinkets, etc.

 

 

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We have driven our car many times over the past 10 years to various parts of Mexico as I know many other people do yearly ... one year we changed our route because the cartel had taken over a town that was along our original route.

 

... Acapulco is no less safe than the rest of the country for those who don't buy drugs, don't go out at night and pay attention to their surrounding.

 

The "narcos" typically won't bother tourists and, in Mazatlan, many years ago the government made an agreement with the local cartel so that they would stay out of the "tourist zones".

 

I am very curious as to your ability to communicate fluently in Spanish and if you have family connections in Mexico. I think the ability to communicate and cultural familiarity can help you stay out of travel regardless of where you go, including Mexico.

 

I am also curious, how did you know to avoid a particular town that had been taken over by a cartel?

 

Your statement regarding Acapulco struck me as odd. I don't really want to visit a place where I can't freely go out at night. I realize all cities have areas which are less safe, but I still want the freedom to go out and do things and not feel the need to be locked up at night.

 

I totally agree that the gangs avoid the tourists and their areas although sometimes it happens like in the big nightclub shootout in Playa Del Carmen last year.

 

I was in the state of Veracruz last weekend for a family event. I must confess that I was taken a bit back by the seeming escalation in violence being discussed in normal chat around the table. I truly hope somehow, someway Mexico can walk it back a bit and live up to its potential as a country.

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Our Spanish is very bad...we can get a hotel room, order food and drinks and answer the questions by the officials st the state lines and federal stops if everyone speaks slowly.

 

No family connections in Mexico, but we have a friend whose wife is from Matamoros but we haven't seen her family since the wedding about 12 years ago.

 

I knew the cartel had taken over the town because it was in the online news that I read.

 

There are many places I go that I don't go out at night. But, I should have said we don't go downtown at night..we do walk to restaurants near our resort in Playa Diamanté area at night. Never had a problem.

 

I too hope Mexico can get a handle on the violence. Even though it appears to not directly affect tourists, there is always the chance of being caught in crossfire. We did one section of the drive very early in the day because there had been a shootout on the main road about 4 months before we drove through and an innocent woman was killed s she was driving by a stray bullet. Again, learned about this online.

 

 

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Our Spanish is very bad...we can get a hotel room, order food and drinks and answer the questions by the officials st the state lines and federal stops if everyone speaks slowly.

 

No family connections in Mexico, but we have a friend whose wife is from Matamoros but we haven't seen her family since the wedding about 12 years ago.

 

I knew the cartel had taken over the town because it was in the online news that I read.

 

There are many places I go that I don't go out at night. But, I should have said we don't go downtown at night..we do walk to restaurants near our resort in Playa Diamanté area at night. Never had a problem.

 

I too hope Mexico can get a handle on the violence. Even though it appears to not directly affect tourists, there is always the chance of being caught in crossfire. We did one section of the drive very early in the day because there had been a shootout on the main road about 4 months before we drove through and an innocent woman was killed s she was driving by a stray bullet. Again, learned about this online.

 

 

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I am glad you have found Mexico a great place to visit regularly. The country is very large and has something for just about everyone and every interest.

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I live in Cabo San Lucas six months a year. There has been news lately of incidents in Cabo, which previous to this year, was pretty much untouched by the cartels.

 

And another...

 

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/gunmen-attack-group-mexican-resort-beach-killing-men-49071381

 

There are other sites with more graphic footage. Search it if you like. I thought I would just stick to a source that reported the incident.

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