Okay a few disclaimers. I've been to Mexico a number of times. To Cancun 3 times and to border towns on numerous occasions. With the recent drug related murders (like of the missionary lady this past week), family members are getting freaked out that I am planning to go to Cancun this year (and these are people who until just recently traveled to Mexico monthly). A friend who just got back from Cancun said that her resort refused to let guests leave the resort grounds without a bodyguard. So that said, what's it really like down there in Cancun right now? Is there much violence, or fear of violence against tourists? There's no way I would ever cancel, but it would be nice to have other reports to tell worried family members...
I havent been since last april, however... this is a year after year debate on the violence in mexico, I have never seen or been part of or even heard while I was down there about any kind of violence or people having any type of issues, if you keep yourself away from trouble then trouble should stay away from you. I would recommend cancun for safety over most Major US cities, New York, LA etc... I wouldnt worry, but steve or other people living there can give you better info
We just got back and I never once felt unsafe there. It's kinda like Austin... You go on the east side of I-35 in a bad neighborhood, you are probably not going come out unscathed...
I have never found trouble anywhere on the planet I wasn't looking for. Stay where you belong and stay sober enough to see a bad situation happening and you'll be fine.
I did a ton of research on this as I recently booked a trip to puerto Vallarta and cancun. If you google tourist violence in cancun Mexico you will find several sites that warn about the dangers of Mexico and say DON'T GO! I then read thru all of their examples and 90+% were spring breakers falling off balconies and drownings. Almost all the murders were to people doing bad things or along the border towns (mostly carjackings / abductions). In other words I couldn't find any random murders to tourists in cancun or puerto Vallarta. Reading all the don't go to Mexico sites made me realize how overblown most of this is. Now the hotel saying don't leave is intriguing. Wish you had more details as to why.
Robert's Caribbean Travel Blog By Robert Curley, About.com Guide My Bio My Blog My Forum RSS Should Cancun Killings Stop You from Traveling? Wednesday September 1, 2010 #spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}The recent firebombing attack on a Cancun bar has many tourists worried, but I think USA Today makes a good point in noting that "'the horrific violence that is jacking up the national death toll is largely in nine of Mexico's 31 states,' and that while Mexico's 2009 murder rate was still more than twice as high as the U.S. rate, the murder rate of 2 per 100,00 in Yucatán, the Gulf of Mexico state known for its beaches and Mayan ruins, was comparable to Wyoming and Montana." In fact, Yucatán state has Mexico's lowest murder rate, and almost all of the states with high murder rates are along the U.S.-Mexico border. The neighboring state of Quintana Roo, where Cancun is located, has a lower murder rate than the state of Arizona, although the state does have one of Mexico's highest overall crime rates. Facts worth considering before you bail out of a Cancun trip because of one shocking but still relatively isolated incident. More Caribbean Travel Safety Information Overseas Security Advisory Council: Mexico 2009 Crime and Safety Report on the Yucatan Peninsula
Only if the John Deere runs out of gas and you hear a Bango playing in the woods.... then make a run for a mexican border town lol *No wyoming or Montana citizens were hurt during the typing of this message*
We spent some time in Cancun town last year. Felt pretty safe ,, apart from the traffic, and the holes in the walk ways,, and getting squashed in the bus was a little nervey,, been to other places which are really scary...
Like everyone says Cancun is just as safe as your home town, as long as you don't fall off your balcony . The hotel requesting bodyguards is just a scam , probably so that you'll hire his friends and family as bodyguards. If some one gets killed in your country say 1000 miles or so from your place, it would never make your local news, but someone falls off a balcony or gets mugged (highly unlikely ) in Mexico it its right up there on the news . Don't worry your friends are just jealous that your going south. Hope to see you at Temptations, where the only thing you'll loose is your clothes. :musik026::musik026::musik026:
