How safe is it to travel to Puerto Vallarta in Feb,2009?

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RollandoMota

Crime and Murder Rates are really high right now...If you know spanish you probably won't really have to worry because the bad people go for the Caucasian

Alethia MD

Crime is a problem all across the country.
If you go to any touristic cities (Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Acapulco, etc), try to stay in the touristic part of the city, the security is much better, and autorities take better care of the tourists, ask the hotel to get you a cab, they use only one cab company, and keep a record of where they dropped you. Go only to fancy clubs (sounds snob, but the idea is: don't get into a deadly-looking bar just because it's cheaper)
Of course, don't flash your money, don't tip everybody just because. Take the same precautions you take everytime you travel

Enjoy Mexico!

Cheekote

It is mostly the media. There has always been crime at large, but mostly under government control.

You will be safe in PV. If anybody gives you any trouble just let me know, I will take care of it.

marci knows best

According to an article in the Guadalajara Reporter, crime is up somewhat in Puerto Vallarta largely because tourism and construction are down so unemployment is high. The city is taking very active measures to combat the rise in crime. Take the normal precautions such as not flashing money or valuables around and you should be fine.

traapdoor

Its true that lately there has been a rise in violence all around the country (not just PV) because o the war on drug lords being held by the newly elected president but things in PV have been quite calm for about 3-4 months now. Really it is not as insecure as the media makes it sound like, its as dangerous as as any place, its just that people here were used to have absolutely no crime being this such a relatively small city.
Of course you have to take your precautions and preferably stay in the touristic parts of town (but im guessing you are not interested in anything that is not tourist-related) and there should be no problem at all.

G B

I moved my family to PV a year ago. Two kids 9 - 11, absolutely no Spanish. I can't say there is no crime to speak of but I have never had any problems except for some vandalism to my car. One thing we learned about the news media in the US where we are from is that if the news does not scare you they simply do not have a purpose. Nobody wants to hear good news and of course nobody wanted us to leave the country as well. (don't know why but I have my suspicions) It is incredibly safe here. I don't know where you are from but if you are worried about visiting cities on vacation because they may be dangerous you may want to consider staying away from the following US cities, they are much more dangerous than any of the tourist cities in Mexico:
New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas Texas, San Antonio and Las Vegas Nevada. Obviously I'm trying to make people realize something, that all countries have crime and just remember that every year thousands of senior citizens drive their RV's over the border to live in Mexico. And they are white. With the current outlook of world economies you may wish to just make your vacation a move and forget about the rest.

See you here!

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