My husband and I recently booked a trip to Puerta Vallarta in August. We were really excited about the trip until we started talking to friends and and family about it. 3 different (and unrelated) groups of people have warned us against travelling to Mexico because it was..."not safe for Americans". Are they just being paranoid? Should I be concerned? Please advise. I'd really like some input and insight. Thanks!
I was just there for two weeks and felt just as safe as if I were back home in California. I don't know why people are paranoid in going to PV. The problems Mexico has experienced have been mostly in the border cities. The people of Puerto Vallarta are so very special & friendly, thats one of the reasons you just want to keep coming back. Have no fear you are going to have a great time.
If you look in the right hand column of this page there is a list of top asked Puerto Vallarta questions and a topic called Safety concerns for Puerto Vallarta. Nothing has changed in the information that is on that link. The problem is people are generalizing Mexico as a whole not different areas of the country. There are areas of Las Vegas you would not go into, it is no different than what they are saying about Mexico. Puerto Vallarta has not had any problems with the drug cartel like other areas of Mexico have. It is different than the border towns of AZ or Texas and it is not one of the areas that is having problems. Use the same precautions you would use in Vegas, don't flash large amounts of money, expensive jewelry, don't wander down dark deserted streets at night and stay off the beaches after dark. Last but not least don't drink so much that you don't have a clue what is going on around you. Puerto Vallarta is built and thrives on tourism just like Vegas does. If it wasn't safe to go to Vegas and everyone stopped going there the town would die, so would Vallarta. Read the information, relax and enjoy your trip to Puerto Vallarta and the warm and friendly people of PV. :)
I see your from Vegas. I'm a 35 year old male and former boxer. I've been on the Vegas strip hundreds of times. I also have vacationed in many parts of Mexico. I have to say I have felt 100 times more pressure to watch my back on the Vegas strip then I have any place in Mexico, especially PV! Just like any place in the world even Mayberry things happen. PV is a very safe place and you will feel very safe. Just use good judgement like you would anywhere else. Im taking (in June) my wife, 5 year old daughter, and my wife is 3 months prego. No worries here.
Don't worry, there have been many, many posts just like yours on the forums lately. Although the people who are offering the unsolicited "advice" likely have good intentions, it's probable that they've never actually been to Mexico themselves, and/or don't understand the security environment in the country in general, or in PV in particular.
Go and enjoy yourselves - just take the normal precautions that you'd take on a trip to any unfamiliar place!
There have been many killings in Mexico in the last couple of years, mostly drug related. Puerto Vallarta has been spared this problem for the most part. If you go seeking trouble you can find it. There are parts of town here in Phoenix that I won't travel to after dark.
It's good to hear from people who have been there recently. All the feedback and advice have certainly been helpful in allaying any of my fears and doubts. I can now relax and look forward to my trip . Thank you.
My brother's teenaged stepson was shot three times in a Phoniex shopping mall parking lot and left for dead by a fellow teenager.....won't catch me travelling to Phoenix anytime soon.
We took a wrong turn driving to Disneyland and ended up in a very bad part of LA.....
We were in Vegas staying at The Mirage and while I liked Vegas I feel much safer in PV.
Parts of Vancouver BC I wouldn't venture into during the day and I am sure that holds true in any city anywhere including PV
Not saying PV is an ultra utopia dangerfree mecca but if you keep your sense and sensablities about you as you would anywhere you will find it a lovely place to vist:)
It is truly a shame that there as so many naysayers about "ALL" of Mexico now days. We have been going to PV for over 25 years and it is no less safe today, in general, then it was 25+ years ago. A same dose of care that you use at home, where ever you live, should just be used.
We have never found the people of Puerto Vallarta, anything but wonderful, warm and friendly.
Here in PV right now. Really glad that all of the paranoid trash talkers stayed home. I would be a bummer if any of them actually traveled here and we had to listen to all of their delusional drivel!
Hi all, thought I would share this.. it was posted by someone on the Cozumel forum...there's been a lot of talk of this very topic on the Cozumel & PDC forums as well.
http://www.travelweekly.com/mexicomap/
travelweekly.com/uploadedFiles/MEXICOMAP4.pdf
Hope you find it helpful, as I did. :)
