Is Mexico a safe area for 2 young australians to travel on there own?

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scott b

Mexico is a safe place to travel..The riviera maya has a lot of attractions such as mayan ruins..cenotes...scuba diving ...snorkeling..swim with dolphins..it is easy to get around on the bus systems...I have been there many times.. even backpacked around by myself..no problems..just use common sense as you would anywhere you go....the beaches are great..nice people and good food....it is so easy to take the busses from there into guatamala to see the mayan city of tikal...or go into belize which is english speaking country....i am going again for two weeks in june...have fun

Dorian G. Vazquez

I live in a border city, and trust me: You should avoid the border cities, but you should try the northern cities for travel.

In the southern part of Mexico, almost all foreign people are seen with a slight anger. Specially if you look like an american or if you speak english. But you are australians, the best city for english speakers is Monterrey. That's because the city of 3.5 million people is located just 2 hours south of te border with USA. You'll have at reach within the city of Monterrey and its sourrundings, mountains good enough for rapelling, mountain climbing, ecoturistic tourism, prehistoric caves, waterfalls, dams, fishing activities, kayacking,first world shopping centers, museums.

Last year Monterrey hosted the Universal Forum of Cultures. The cultural celebration, legacy from Barcelona 2004, bought to Monterrey sculptures and many different works and objets from El Cairo Museum with "Isis y la Serpiente Emplumada", or "Buda Guanyin" From your country, the Circus Oz went to Monterrey during the Forum. The Forum ended in december of 2007. It will be presented on Valparaiso, Chile on 2011.

There is, at the moment, a Fernando Botero exposition (Abu Ghraib) at Parque Fundidora (Fundidora Park). The cost to admire Botero's work is under US$5.00 / person. A lot of museums exists on Monterrey. MARCO (Contemporary Art Museum), Museo de Historia Mexicana (Mexican History Museum), MUNE:Museo del Noreste (MUNE: Northeastern History).

Parque Fundidora used to be a huge smelting company. The siderurgical facilities were shut down in 1985, but 10 years after, it was rescued to become a huge park with one auditorium with a capacity of 7,000 people and one arena (Arena Monterrey) with a cap. of 17,000 aprox.

Recently the local government invested a lot of money to build a 2.5km long artifitial navigating channel that crosses the heart of the city and connects the Macroplaza (the second biggest square in the world) with Parque Fundidora.

The city has two major soccer stadiums that they're also used as concert forums. Monterrey recently had the opportunity of seeing Aerosmith, U2, The Police, Roger Waters, Riders of the Storm (The Doors), CCR, Hillary Duff, Shakira, among others. The lineup next month is Korn, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan and Iron Maiden.

The night life on Monterrey is always exciting. There are two areas filled with clubs that offer a good night party: Barrio Antiguo (located on Downtown Monterrey, next to the Macroplaza) and Centrito Valle (located on San Pedro, next to Monterrey).

The city is well connected with the rest of the country with 8 highways, 5 railroad lines, two international airports (one is commercial, the other is for the public), one bus station. And locally, is well communicated with over 200 bus routes and two subway lines. The subway I might add is very clean, the cost to use "el metro" is US$0.45/person.

You can look for more information of Monterrey. The most important economic hub in Mexico.

Log on to:
FOLLOW THE ICONS THAT REPRESENT THE DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES AVAILABLE IN MONTERREY:
http://nl.gob.mx/?P=t_turismo_diversion

MAIN PAGE OF TH STATE TOURISM (english)
http://www.nl.gob.mx/?P=turismo

If you have any other question, feel free to leave me a message on my email:
regiodelnorte@yahoo.com

Have a nice trip!!!

big bubba

Trouble spots are the border towns, thats where the drug war is on.

Mexico cty is good but you need people to tell you where to go and where not, aviod grabbing a passingby taxi, always ask for the safer places, the same if you go to Guadalajara or Monterrey.

The beach resorts are mostly safe,but you have great beaches also down under..Here is a suggestion of places:

Not a Beach:
Chihuahua and a trip in Train to Copper Canyon, (quite trip)
Zacatecascity ( quite one cool club dough)
Guanajuato city, ( not so quite)
San Miguel Allende Gto, ( not so quite)
Guadalajara and a trip by train to Tequila city. ( Party!!)
Morelia and a trip to Patzcuaro lake ( quite)
Valle de Bravo ( lot of sports and no so quite)
Cuernavaca ( no so quite)
Taxco ( quite)
Puebla ( party!!)
Cuetzalan ( quite)
Xalapa ( rafting and no so quite at night)
Oaxaca ( not so quite)
CHIAPAS the state is beautiful

Mexico City .- Huge 20 million p. city lots to do but be careful.

Beaches are most full with party!

On the Pacific

Cabo ,
Mazatlan
Puerto Vallarta ( old mexican town)
Acapulco
Puerto Escondido ( Surf town)
Huatulco

on the east

Veracruz
Cancun
Playa del Carmen

Seth D

I once spent three months of study abroad at a language school in Cuernavaca. While a student there, I took multiple excursions to Mexico City as part of a student tour, spent about a week in a small town in the state of Guerrero as part of my program, and during a week of vacation from classes I traveled to Oaxaca. Since then I have made a two week return trip to Cuernavaca, a two week trip to Guadalajara, and quite recently returned from spending another week in Guadalajara and surrounding areas to visit a friend around the Holidays. From my personal experiences as a traveler and from what I myself have been told/advised about Mexico let me simply pass on to you the following:

As far as security is concerned allow me to first say that in all of my travels I have never experienced any real danger. Now, that is not to say that danger does not exist--it merely means that thus far I have not personally had to deal with it.
Mexicans themselves will caution you as to the dangers of travel in Mexico City, which means that the perception of risk there is not merely a stereotype propagated by foreigners. There are indeed many great things to see in and around Mexico City--the Archeology Museum, National Palace, Metropolitan Cathedral, Palace of Fine Arts, Zocalo, and the nearby pyramids of Teotihuacan. It is worth a visit, but do be quite cautious while there: preferably go around in groups, avoid going out at night unless with trusted company, do not take taxis from the street, etc: always keep your guard up.

Cuernavaca is a medium sized city about two hours south of Mexico City and is quite a pleasant location. There is a nice downtown central plaza, beautiful Jardin Borda, and many shops to browse through and enjoy. It seems mostly safe.

Guadalajara is the second largest city in Mexico but seems to be much safer and much less chaotic. It is quite modern and offers all of the amenities and entertainment you could find back home while also offering quite a bit of authentic Mexican culture. In this city you will have the opportunity to see "real Mexico" rather than simply the artificial beach resort scene catered to foreign tourists. Be sure to visit Plaza Tapatia, El Teatro Degollado, and the Metropolitan Cathedral. Really, the whole central downtown district is quite an interesting place to explore. From there you can also take the "Tapatio Tour" to get a nice city overview.

Oaxaca has a very pleasant pedestrian walkway in its downtown area, a large cathedral to visit, and nearby ancient ruins such as Monte Alban and Mitla. You can also take tours up into the surrounding mountains and it is quite beautiful.

When traveling between cities in Mexico you are most certainly advised to take first class buses due to safety. These buses really do not cost that much and are a quite comfortable means of transportation. It's worth the cost.

Another piece of advice may be to take care with how you dress and how you conduct yourself while in Mexico. While it might be pretty hard to totally hide your foreignness, you can still avoid sticking out so much like a sore thumb. For example, if you are seen meandering around in shorts, a T-shirt, a camera around your neck, big sunglasses on your face and a belly pack full of cash, you might be asking for it. I know that's an exaggeration to prove a point, but the idea is to blend in as much as possible and show that you know where you are going and what you are doing. To sum up my answer to your security concerns, don't become intimidated by all of the horror stories some people will tell you about Mexico--there is a certain degree of exaggeration in how dangerous people perceive the country to be. On the other hand, don't become overconfident by listening to the other side that seems to say "don't worry about it" and just blow off legitimate concerns. Just be street smart, and you'll be fine.

Curious

Depends on how far off the beaten path you go and if at least one of you is male. I lived in Mexico for over 30 years (back in the US for 25+) and it was safer then, but now there's more drug trade, more armed thugs and still poverty and disillusion. Not everyone adores foreigners. That said, you can and will love the country and its people. Don't know where you plan to go but there are so many beautiful and interesting spots, especially if want to delve past the surface.

Let us know where you'll fly in to and I can offer some suggestions.

flintguy49

I have found it safe wherever I have been. I have not been to the border cities lately, That is where one might have some trouble if anywhere. My wife can be nervous but even in Mexico City she never felt ill at ease.

Gata de Barrio

I live in Mexico City (14 years and counting) and even though I'm white and very obviously stand out a lot because of it, I've never been mugged. Use common sense if you're going to visit Mexico City.
Don't go wandering at night carrying a laptop that's turned on in a dark alley (yes, stupid as it seems, I know someone that actually got mugged doing this despite people warning him to shut the machine off and got his nose broken as well), don't be carrying tons of cash everywhere (200 pesos would be a good amount unless you're planning on eating somewhere nice, then bring some more), avoid the bad neighborhoods at night (Tepito, Iztapalapa, Ciudad Neza) unless you know the area very well and more importantly, know the people who would protect you.

Mexico City has a sort of little problem with pirate taxis. However, if you know how to ID them, you can avoid them, use a legit cab instead and chances are you'll be fine. Pirate taxis usually don't even have an ID number painted on the car for starters and the painted colors usually don't match what they normall should look like cuse they are painted in the owner's garage. If the credential with a photo ID and reg number of the driver isn't at your view on the dashboard (or the photo isn't of the driver) that's a watch out sign too.
Another way to ID pirate cabs is that legit cabs have special liscense plates that are white. Pirate cabs will have typical liscense plates of State of Mexico or DF state.

Mexico Citians rely on something called Sitio taxis where legit drivers park in a specific assigned street and have a phone number and you can simply order one to go to your house and take you somewhere. They are perfectly safe. I've used them dozens of times riding alone and no problems. They can be a bit pricey though.

You'll probably stand out a lot no mater what you do, but if you avoid parading around with tons of cash, you should be fine even in Mexico City (regional mexicans think MC is dangerous to the point of legendary proportions, but I don't think it's any more dangerous than any other major huge city). Oh, I warn you, pickpockets are common in Mexico City. Keep a hold of your valuables when riding a subway. I'm neurotic for a reason and so far I've never had that happen to me. I know tons of people that got their cellphones stolen and they didn't even notice.

If you do get drunk in a nightclub here, bring a person you can trust along that will stay sober. Bar waiters like to steal your cash when you pass out.

If you do come to Mexico City and follow these sugs, you'll more probably get stomach aches from eating a taco in the street than getting mugged or something bad like that.

I think southern mexicans being rash to white tourists is a bit out of reality myself. Be nice to rural locals in villages, they'll treat you very well. Be tolerant that in many parts of Mexico, it's socially normal for children to drink alcohol for instance.

Lola

well depends where in mex ur gonna b, i mean, a small town or city is ptetty safe but big ones r not tht much....u can come with no frear but juss remember not 2 b naive :)

Im mexican, if u tell me which places r u planning 2 visist i can tell u wht 2 do there...here u have some nice options: taxco, chiapas, oaxaca, riviera maya, los cabos, puerto vallarta, san miguel de allende, mexico city, guanajuato.

Michelle D

I've been going to Cancun, Mexico every year for the past 3 and I recently booked my next trip there May. I'm not even 21 yet and I've never felt like I was in an unsafe situation. The first time I went I had only turned 18 about two weeks before and had never traveled out of the country without my parents at that point. You just have to be aware of your surroundings, but that's true for every where you go! We stay at an all inclusive hotel, but we've ventured out on the city bus to the malls and you can take guided tours to Chichen Itza which was one of the seven wonders of the world and it was a great day trip. You can scuba dive and rent jet skis. The beaches are nice and so are the people. We go downtown every night to the clubs. The hotel we stay at organizes transportation there and we take cabs back by ourselves and we always have a good time attempting to speak Spanish to the drivers. Clearly, you shouldn't trust strangers and don't try to buy drugs because most likely it's an undercover cop. Use good judgement and you'll be fine! It's a lot of fun!

Gary P

Yes, Mexico is relatively safe to travel in. Just don't drink the water. And the attractions vary depending on what you like to do and see.

u r dumb

Ozz is correct .NOw I have been to Mexico multiple of times and have alot of fun. You should use common sence in safety.
The police is well known for its corruptness and I hear so many cases of tourists in jail one I just heard about this weekend -a woman who although has not been charged still they will not release her .Look up the barcelo murders(ues I actually stay at barcelo most of the times while I am in Mexico ) although their is so much evidence against a mexican security guard the mexicans without anyevidence (including the hotel ) have blamed it on two canadian women )
IN the past year I have heard of two tourists being also murdered outside of night clubs

Ot can be a safe to visit but don't go like many tourist thinking its just paradise and no crime ever happens in this developing country
lol taking a taxi your being ripped off as a nieve tourist even ..I consider that a crime .The fact being half south american my sister and I pass for Mexicans we always pay less in Taxis ...when I go with my husband on vacation what a shock as how much prices raise because the automatically tag as us tourists then ....trust me tourists are singled out .
Just keep on the laert and remeber your in a different country
be cautious and you'll be fine .I have had my luggage grabbed at the airport and my friend had to grab it back from the guy walking away with it for me

Ozz

I have been to Mexico many times. It is NOT a safe place. The police are corrupt. Open warfare occurs during broad daylight between competing drug dealers or criminals and police.

My advice -- stay away. If you MUST visit, confine your travels to Mexico City and avoid all border towns.

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