Safety in Puerta Vallarta and Cabo??

Just wondering how safe it is to just get off the boat and walk around at these ports.

Is there shopping near the pier? Beaches? We have excursions booked other days. Wanting to save $ for those days.

Anything that's a must-do in Puerta Vallarta or Cabo?

TIA!

Both places are absolutely very safe for tourists.

In Vallarta each winter thousands and thousands of canadians and americansstay there for a long winterstay. Many also are retired and live full time.

Cabs and buses are safe to travel. Make your price with the cabdriver before entering. Most shops, cabs, and restaurants will accept US$, not always at a good rate.

Shopping can be done opposite the terminal in Walmart and in the Galeria Mall, but why there.......

Take a cab or bus to old town, shop at the Malecon or better at the market at Rio Cuale. Beach and lunch at Playa los Muertos. Various restaurants right on the beach offer good meals and drinks.

Have a look at this website with lots of information re Puerto Vallarta, including various maps.http://vallartainfo.com/

We felt very safe in both cities. It is possible to see both cities without excursions or spending a lot of $.

In Cabo you can get off the tender and walk around the pier. There will be lots of people hustling you for tours, but you don't need to get one. We turned left from the tender pier and walked around the navy base to a beach used by local families. There's no food, chairs or umbrellas. We were able to find a shady spot at the edge of rock cliffs. A woman came by selling delicious mangos on a stick. The locals were very friendly and you can go in the water safely there.

In PV we took the local bus to town. You can find information on here on where to catch it and get off. The bus ride is a fun adventure in itself. Then you can walk around town, eat, have margaritas, shop and catch the bus back to the port. If you'd like pesos you can walk across the street to Walmart, purchase small items, use a large US bill and get change in pesos. If you want to go to the beach in PV just look here for directions on good beaches in town. The buses, shops and restaurants do accept US $. We always take lots of dollar bills to use for purchases in Mexico. Have a great time.

The tourist places will gladly accept $US. Use Pesos for the smaller venues.

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Just wondering how safe it is to just get off the boat and walk around at these ports.

 

TIA!

In PV, we walked around the malecon area late at night with no problems. Even went to WalMart at 11pm and walked back to the ship. There were many people out at both places and never felt unsafe.

Both places are safe.

In PV, there is a shopping mall across the street and adjacent to the pier a market with lots of local items

At Cabo as you walk from the tender drop off towards town there are lots of stores and town is a short walk with lots of stores, restaurants and hotels.

Keith

Both places are safe.

 

In PV, there is a shopping mall across the street and adjacent to the pier a market with lots of local items

 

At Cabo as you walk from the tender drop off towards town there are lots of stores and town is a short walk with lots of stores, restaurants and hotels.

 

Keith

Shootings in the tourist area yesterday.

Please be safe when visiting or stay onboard.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3590846/3-slain-near-beach-troubled-Mexican-resort-Acapulco.html

Acapulco has always had higher incidents of crime. It can be very scary. Cabo and P.V. have always been great when I was there and I have been many many times.

Candi

Shootings in the tourist area yesterday.

 

Please be safe when visiting or stay onboard.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3590846/3-slain-near-beach-troubled-Mexican-resort-Acapulco.html

That was in Acapulco, not Cabo or Puerto Vallarta. Acapulco does have drug cartel activity, but they are not shooting gringos, they are killing each other. Acapulco has very few cruise ships visit anymore due to the crime problem.

Acapulco is about 800 kms from Puerto Vallarta!!!

So if something happens 800 kms from the place you live that doesnot make your place unsafe.

as mentioned Acapulco has and had troubles for some years, cruiseships donot go there.

Shootings in the tourist area yesterday.

 

Please be safe when visiting or stay onboard.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3590846/3-slain-near-beach-troubled-Mexican-resort-Acapulco.html

To put your comment in perspective (that even somebody from CA can understand) Acapulco is further from PV then South Central LA is from your home! Do you think you would feel safe in South Central? Yes, there are issues in Mexico...but lets try to be reasonable!

Hank

PV

 

 

 

To put your comment in perspective (that even somebody from CA can understand) Acapulco is further from PV then South Central LA is from your home! Do you think you would feel safe in South Central? Yes, there are issues in Mexico...but lets try to be reasonable!

 

 

 

Hank

We take LA public transportation to Long Beach for almost every cruise. Travel thru Compton, Watts, South Central. No issues at all.

San Diego is about 800km from Diablo.

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We take LA public transportation to Long Beach for almost every cruise. Travel thru Compton, Watts, South Central. No issues at all.

 

San Diego is about 800km from Diablo.

 

 

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You miss my point. We live in PV (for the past 10 winters) where we are very comfortable out on the streets day or night (including late at night). Our biggest risk is falling off a sidewalk after a night of adult beverages :). I would suspect you would not want to walking around Watts or South Central at night. That being said, we are not naive about the problems in Mexico and continuously appraise the situation (just like we do for any part of the world where we travel). But currently, we feel very safe in PV (day or night) and understand that the situation in Cabo is similar. As to Acapulco, we have been somewhat outspoken (here on CC in past posts) about not wanting to visit or spend any time in that particular city. Most cruise lines (there are a few exceptions) no longer stop at Acapulco...due to security concerns. If we were to be on a cruise that did stop in Acapulco, DW and I would probably get off the ship....but stick to the main tourist/hotel area on the coast. It is interesting that in the US State Department's latest Travel Warning on Mexico...they specifically prohibit US Government employees from traveling to Acapulco! There is no warning about Puerto Vallarta.

Hank

You miss my point. We live in PV (for the past 10 winters) where we are very comfortable out on the streets day or night (including late at night). Our biggest risk is falling off a sidewalk after a night of adult beverages :). I would suspect you would not want to walking around Watts or South Central at night. That being said, we are not naive about the problems in Mexico and continuously appraise the situation (just like we do for any part of the world where we travel). But currently, we feel very safe in PV (day or night) and understand that the situation in Cabo is similar. As to Acapulco, we have been somewhat outspoken (here on CC in past posts) about not wanting to visit or spend any time in that particular city. Most cruise lines (there are a few exceptions) no longer stop at Acapulco...due to security concerns. If we were to be on a cruise that did stop in Acapulco, DW and I would probably get off the ship....but stick to the main tourist/hotel area on the coast. It is interesting that in the US State Department's latest Travel Warning on Mexico...they specifically prohibit US Government employees from traveling to Acapulco! There is no warning about Puerto Vallarta.

 

Hank

This is a common sense reply. If you don't going looking for trouble, it is highly unlikely you'll find any in either port. I would suggest that the advice above for Acapulco is good for the passenger who doesn't know PV or Cabo. It's not that anything bad will happen, but why not keep it simple and just enjoy your visit. No need to visit the back streets on a 7-8 hour port call.

We have cruised there a couple of times and never felt unsafe. We have friends who spend many weeks there in the winter. They have never had problems. As others say, be sensible :)

Do people feel equally as safe in Mazatlan?

Do people feel equally as safe in Mazatlan?

I have always felt safe in any western Mexican ports.

We go to the mercado, walk around then eat lunch upstairs (usually the only gringos :)). We then walk around the area around the mercado, before walking back to the ship. Never a problem.

When walking back on the blue line route, there are always local and tourist police around. One time when we crossed the busy main street, a cop stopped us. We thought we were in trouble for jay walking. Turns out, the cop was just wondering when the cruisers had to be back on the ship and to practice his english.

I have always felt safe in any western Mexican ports.

 

 

 

We go to the mercado, walk around then eat lunch upstairs (usually the only gringos :)). We then walk around the area around the mercado, before walking back to the ship. Never a problem.

 

 

 

When walking back on the blue line route, there are always local and tourist police around. One time when we crossed the busy main street, a cop stopped us. We thought we were in trouble for jay walking. Turns out, the cop was just wondering when the cruisers had to be back on the ship and to practice his english.

When we eat at the restaurants on the mercado's second floor we might be the only gringos but the crew is also there. Usually Filipinos and Indonesians, each group rents out a kitchen to make their own food.

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We've been going to PV, Mazatlan & Cabo for over 30 years, at least once a year on both cruise and land vacations. The only trouble we had was a while back in front of CyC's in PV, there was an over-served middle-aged female who obviously enjoyed buffets who kept inviting men to dance with her. It was mostly disturbing and kinda funny. That's it.

Very safe.

Smooth sailing.

Gunmen Abduct People From Upscale Puerto Vallarta Restaurant August 15th 2016

Not good. Heading there again in a few months.

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/08/15/gunmen-abduct-people-from-upscale-puerto-vallarta-restaurant/?cid=facebook_CBS13_CBS_Sacramento

Gunmen Abduct People From Upscale Puerto Vallarta Restaurant August 15th 2016

 

Not good. Heading there again in a few months.

 

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2016/08/15/gunmen-abduct-people-from-upscale-puerto-vallarta-restaurant/?cid=facebook_CBS13_CBS_Sacramento

Just saw this as well. This really looks to be an escalation in Mexico's ongoing struggle against violence. I hope that this is truly an isolated incident and Puerto Vallarta doesn't go the way of Acapulco.

I am optimistic as the state of Jalisco is way better than Guerrero - state where all the teachers were massacred by the police/drug gangs.

Just saw the news about the abduction in PV. We've been there several times on land based vacations and were looking forward to a return visit on our Panama Canal cruise in April.

We've heard of abductions of Americans, held for enormous amounts of random, before but not in PV - also don't know if there were any Americans in this latest abduction.

Frankly - we no longer feel safe in Mexico so we may very well stay on the ship. Sad.

The incident happened at 1 am. Are you really planning on being in a Puerto Vallarta restaurant at that hour? Unless you are in the drug trade, no worries. I'm in Mexico right now at my home in San Carlos and am perfectly safe. Of course, if someone is really worried about safety, they could go to Milwaukee.

The incident happened at 1 am. Are you really planning on being in a Puerto Vallarta restaurant at that hour? Unless you are in the drug trade, no worries. I'm in Mexico right now at my home in San Carlos and am perfectly safe. Of course, if someone is really worried about safety, they could go to Milwaukee.

Why not? The evening activities start much later in Latin countries and 1 am is not an excessively late hour to be out at night. In most clubs, the music doesn't even start until 10pm. Heck, the traditional work day havig a mid-day siesta doesn't even end until 9:00 or 9:30.

Here's a link to a pretty reliable Canadian source

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/puerto-vallarta-restaurant-attack-1.3721814

Late at night, restaurant closed for a "private party", and from the article

"They were not tourists or residents who work in legal activities," Almaguer said. "They were people tied to a criminal group we can very clearly presume."