I’m headed down about an hour South of Cancun to an all-inclusive next week. I’m not too concerned about being at the resort, but we are talking about going into some nearby towns to shop. How safe is this to do? My Dad, who is admittedly a right-wing semi-extremist paranoid, has warned me of ISIS elements mixing with the Cartels to kidnap tourists for ransom and trafficking.
Does anyone have any real knowledge or experience recently?
Your dad is full of hoo-ha. The Yucatan has always been one of the safer areas. You’ll be fine.
I just spent a week in Playa Del Carmen (45 minutes south of Cancun) at an all-inclusive and felt safe the entire time. If you stay on the resort property, there’s absolutely nothing to be paranoid about. If you wander into the shadier parts of town, you’d run into the same issues that you would in the US in the shadier parts of town.
Go and have fun. Sunburn is most likely your biggest worry.
Montezuma’s Revenge is probably a close second.
I will say that more than a few Canadian tourists have been killed in Mexico in the last several years.
I spent 10 days in and around Playa Del Carmen a month ago. Walked all over the place the entire time, day and night. It’s about as dangerous as walking around Las Vegas.
If you stay in the resort or with a resort-sponsored tour, you’ll be fine. However, you wander off the reservation at your own risk.
Been to Mexico several times, never stayed at an all-inclusive there. On one trip, I rented a car and drove the “Puuc Route”; last time, I went to Chiapas to visit archaeological sites there - mostly Palenque. That time, I took local transport.
Never had a problem.
The real horrors are with the drug trade. Avoid that, you will be okay - well, as okay as anywhere where there are extremes of wealth & poverty. There is always crime.
The “Maya Riviera” is pretty damn safe, as far as I can see.
Kidnapping for ransom is a rare occurrence anywhere simply because that takes a lot of coordination, effort, and risk. Anytime you go into a poor country the biggest threat is simply being robbed (had a few incidents in Mexico when I was traveling there with friends about 10 years ago - the worst one being in the Chiapas region which is probably the most dangerous part of the country. But none of them turned violent). Just be extra vigilant regarding any money or valuables you take with you and you’ll be fine.
The worst part isn’t Chiapas, but the Mexican states next to the US border. The reason: drug cartels are more active there. Of course, they don’t typically target tourists, but allegedly crime is simply higher in those places anyway.
Here’s a web source on dangers in Mexico by state:
More: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/mexico-travel-warning.html
Back when I was there circa 2004 the Zapatista rebellion was still going strong. As soon as we entered the state, there were ominous hand-painted signs along the road that read “Aqui la gente manda, y el gobierno obedece” (Here the people rule, and the government obeys). We were heading to visit some really beautiful natural waterfalls called Agua Azul, when someone from the local village of indigenous people purposely bumped into our vehicle with theirs coming in (made a very small dent, if anything). Then as we tried to leave they demanded/extorted several hundred dollars from us for alleged repairs and wouldn’t let us go until we paid up. We ended up calling in the federal police (who I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if they were in on the scam and getting a cut), but they did keep things from getting violent so I was thankful for that at least.
I believe it’s still the most impoverished part of Mexico, even if the cartel crimes happen more often in the border states, and as mentioned tend to only involve people from the drug trade. Anyway that’s a whole different area and not where the OP is going anyway so he needn’t worry.
Nitpick:
There’s crime anywhere there are humans. There was plenty of crime (and alcoholism) in the Soviet Union, for example, where there was forced economic equality (more or less) and there were no extremes of wealth and poverty.
TLDR: It’s likely safer than the worst neighborhoods in Flint or Detroit.
The state department website is a great resource before foreign travel. Here’s their page on Mexico. I’m guessing you are looking at Quintana Roo. No travel advisory is in effect. Taking a look at that and the country page might help you get a feel for the threats out there. The crime threat may well be higher than if you were heading down to The B.O.B. for a night out at home. A bigger issue is potentially standing out as a tourist and not having good situational awareness because of the differences from home. It’s not bad to pay a little more conscious effort to your surroundings just because of lacking that instinct for possible threats. It’s not a bad idea to do that even in the US away from home. That’s different than giving in to all your fears.
Still there’s no advisory and there’s no immunizations recommended above the typical US shots. Be smart and have fun!
Been there twice - once in a small hotel in Puerto Morelos, once in a VRBO rental in Akumal. Rented a car drove from the airport. Never felt any danger. If you never leave your resort, you’ll miss out on Xcaret (pricy, but pretty neat), Xel Ha (great swim), Aktun Chen and other cenotes, snorkeling Yal ku Lagoon, the Mayan ruins at Tulum, etc., etc. However you do it, visit the whole neighborhood, not just your resort.
“ISIS is in Mexico” is a claim credited to whackadoodlesite JudicialWatch, and picked up by overly credulous mainstream news sites. TL;DR: there is zero evidence that they are in Mexico, and considering that Mexico isn’t even remotely an Islamic country the claim is stupid.
Go! Explore!! Enjoy!!!
Note to self: don’t expect to hear anything from this chick again, after next week.
The Yucatan Peninsula is one of the safest parts of Mexico these days. The State Department Travel Warning is very detailed - read the parts that apply to you. I was in the Yucatan a couple of years ago and never felt unsafe (although we did get chased a bit by the ladies in the Cancun Airport, which is a zoo, trying to sell us taxi rides we didn’t need, etc.) Yucatecos are generally pretty laid back.
I would strongly advise prearranging some kind of transportation from the airport to wherever you are staying, especially if you don’t speak Spanish and aren’t comfortable with public transportation. Other than that, you should be fine, with the caveat that there are jerks and criminals everywhere. Your hotel should be able to steer you toward safe taxis, etc.
ETA: ISIS in Mexico is pure crazy talk. Cartels, well, I didn’t see any evidence of anything unsavory in the Yucatan. We stayed in Puerto Morelos and took public transportation down to Tulum, but I am fluent in Spanish and have no compunction about asking people for directions, etc. People were generally very friendly.
Absolutely seconding arranging transportation from the airport. We used Canada Transfers and can’t recommend them highly enough. It was $100 round trip for 2 (same price for up to 6) from the Cancun airport to Playa. They tell you how to get through the airport and avoid all the timeshare sales people. When we got outside, they were just putting my name up on a sign. 5 minutes later, we were in the van and headed straight to the hotel. On our departure day, they picked us up exactly when they said they would. It was completely painless.
Moving to IMHO.
Goodness, I lived in Mexico nearly five years cumulatively. If you’re not going to a narco-controlled town (predominantly in the north, some spots in little villages here any there), you’re going to be okay. And as far as the narcos go, you’re not targeted, and only have to worry about crossfire situations (but that’s not an issue in most of the country).
Especially in tourist economies – and really, Yucatan and especially Quintana Roo don’t really have anything else going for them – you’ll be safe. Take the mini-busses up and down the highway, even; you’ll be fine.
Like everywhere, you can worry about pickpockets in some places and gringo price gouging when prices aren’t marked (or sometimes, even when they are; Mexicans will usually haggle).
As for kidnapping, if you’re not rich or work for a huge multinational they won’t have any interest in you, either. There’s occasional kidnap express, but not in Quintana Roo. If you’re paranoid leave your cards in the hotel.