• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Puerto Vallarta: Is it Safe

Daverock

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
192
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
New York
Hello to All,

My wife and I frequented PV for years but when the "drug" problems began we were afraid to journey there especially when it was reported in the New York papers that 5 heads had been discovered outside of the town.

We miss going there and would like to return so I have to ask is it safe for us.

Thanks in advance,

Dave
 

EJC

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
459
Reaction score
66
Points
388
Location
Eastern Washington
Resorts Owned
Worldmark, Vacation Internationale, Villa del Palmar, Dikhololo
I just got back from a month-long Puerto Vallarta vacation. I took the bus to Nuevo Vallarta a few times, to Bucerias once, and from the hotel zone to town multiple times. On many of the buses, I was the only Anglo. During the daytime I walked along the remodeled Malecon and walked around the downtown area. I felt safe the entire time. Maybe it was my imagination, but I had the sense that, at least at the timehsare resort where I was staying, more people seemed to be staying on property and fewer people seemed to be spending lots of money in the resort's sports bar and restaurants. The locals seemed to be more polite this year. More than once, drivers stopped at intersections and motioned for me to cross the street. Also, more than once, locals motioned for me to get on the bus before they did. I just had a feeling tourists were being appreciated a little more this year--perhaps because of the bad rap the media has given Mexico in general. My flight to Puerto Vallarta was packed and so was the Puerto Vallarta airport. Lots of people are still choosing to travel to Puerto Vallarta. Would I travel to Acapulco? No way! But I would go back to Puerto Vallarta tomorrow if I could.
 

T_R_Oglodyte

TUG Lifetime Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
16,117
Reaction score
8,064
Points
1,048
Location
Belly-View, WA
Hello to All,

My wife and I frequented PV for years but when the "drug" problems began we were afraid to journey there especially when it was reported in the New York papers that 5 heads had been discovered outside of the town.

We miss going there and would like to return so I have to ask is it safe for us.

Thanks in advance,

Dave
There are many threads and extensive discussions about this topic in the forum. I suggest that you do a search for info.

Here is my summary. Those who have actually gone to Puerto Vallarta and been there almost universally concur on how safe it is. The people who seem petrified are people who have zero first-hand experience. So who are you going to believe - people who actually go there or people who just read news stories?

We'll be there in a few weeks. In the main tourist areas in Puerto Vallarta I feel safer than I do in any major tourism locale in the US. If you wouldn't ahve a problem visiting Times Square in NY, or going to Key West, then you shouldn't have a problem going to Puerto Vallarta.

For myself, I feel safer in downtown Puerto Vallarta after dark than I do in almost any major tourist area in the US. And so does my wife.
 

pittle

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
4,034
Reaction score
2,146
Points
599
Location
Goodyear, AZ
Resorts Owned
Vidanta Grand Luxxe
Buganvilias Sky Suites
Pueblo Bonito Em Bay
We were there for 3 weeks in November and are looking forward to going back this November. We feel very safe there and as has been mentioned, the locals are very gracious.
 

Holly

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
414
Reaction score
0
Points
226
Location
Brooklyn, NY
GO!!!

We were there last Spring Break and are headed back this Thanksgiving. We love, love it there.
 

ada903

TUG Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
3,587
Reaction score
42
Points
433
We were just there Christmas week and took multiple trips downtown, eating out, shopping, etc. Totally safe, and the locals are the friendliest people on earth. Just stick to common sense and you will be fine - stay in the tourist areas.
 

capjak

TUG Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2006
Messages
1,683
Reaction score
270
Points
444
Location
US
Resorts Owned
DVC BC & SSR, Marriott GV+MVC Pts, WKORV & SVV, HGVC Flamingo
Was there last 2 years and seemed safe, stayed in Nuevo vallarta and Puerto Vallarta and visited Bucerias
 
Last edited:

rlblack

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
130
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Alaska
We were there first week of December, 2011- all was wonderful- there during one of thier festivals- all was safe and secure- never felt uncomfortable. Do have to say, we don't party any more- or stay out to close down the bars- having said that- we were downtown and the marina area. They have "filled in the street" between the malecon- for about 3 blocks- wonderful place to walk. We are scheduled again in late Feb.- We had no worries.
 

rpennisi

Guest
Joined
Jun 26, 2010
Messages
1,296
Reaction score
403
Points
243
Location
New York
We just returned from 2 weeks in Nuevo Vallarta, with visits to PV. Wonderful time and at no time felt any threats, and we walk around a lot.

We took a van (four of us) with a driver up into the Sierra Madres to visit San Sebastian, a four hundred year old silver mining town. On the way, we stopped at a wonderful tequila factory and former haunts of John Huston, now a b and b and museum.

On our trip (going and coming) we passed two check points manned by platoons of armed Federales. Rather than feel threatened by that, I thought it was pretty good that they were policing what goes into and out of the PV/NV area.

Any New Yorker, as I am, as well as the OP, knows that armed Guardsmen at various sites is welcomed and not to be feared.

Go and enjoy!!
 

siesta

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
3,514
Reaction score
57
Points
283
PV is fine. Defnitely stay out of Acapulco, it has become a battleground as it is an important drug port for cocaine coming from columbia. Acapulco now has the 2nd highest murder rate of cities in Mexico and 4th overall in the world!
 
Last edited:

Neesie

TUG Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Messages
573
Reaction score
10
Points
378
Location
Minnesota
Dave, I just returned from three weeks in Puerto Vallarta. My husband and I felt very safe as we walked the town and and took busses up into the mountains. The American news we watched on Cable TV came from New York and New Jersey. Each day we would say wow, what a dangerous area (New York/ and New Jersey). On our last day we heard some lady was found burned to death in a pile of trash in New York. That was just a few days ago. I would think you'd be glad to get out of that violent area!!
 
Last edited:

PStreet1

TUG Lifetime Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
2,077
Reaction score
43
Points
48
Location
Rosarito Beach, Baja, Mex., & Phx
Just read a statistic (they offered no proof, but I think it's true):
You are 17 times more likely to be struck by lightening and 15 times more likely to win an academy award than you are to be the victim of violent crime in Mexico.

I live in the "dangerous border area" just south of Tijuana. We are safe. All our friends are safe. We drive wherever we want; we visit friends, shop, cross the border to San Diego and come back the same day several times a week (as do all our friends). NOT ONE of us has ever been/felt threatened in any way or been harassed by a policeman. We've owned here for 12 years; we have friends who have been here 20 years. That's a lot of collective experience--and we're safe in the "dangerous border area." We wouldn't be here if we weren't safe; we have a home in the U.S. that we aren't in much because we love it here.

Puerto Vallarta is many times safer. You should believe the people who are in/or at least vacation in Mexico before you believe politicians and news hounds looking for something to play up that will sell the news. The poster who mentioned the woman burned on a trash pile is right: if we knew the things happening within a few miles of where all of us live in the U.S., we'd be building bunkers and staying in them.

Come to Mexico and enjoy!
 

aliikai2

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
3
Points
398
Location
Yuma Arizona
We were in Mazatlan in November

and we will be there again in March. I take the public buses around town, have never been scared or uncomfortable.
I would love to live there full time, and maybe within the next few years that will happen. Greg
 

taffy19

newbie
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
5,723
Reaction score
593
Points
398
We are staying at the Bouganvilias Club and have walked outside every night. I even walked all the way back home from further than the Malecon with friends while my husband took a cab with other friends. We feel completely safe here. :) It is too hot for us to walk outside during the day time and that should be very safe too.

The weather is very nice and the ocean is so blue and beautiful and the whales are out there too. We had a beautiful display by mother and calf jumping all the way out of the water and hanging around for at least 20 minutes or more while we were having breakfast. Even all the employees and construction workers on the roof stood still to watch it as they were so close. :cool:
 

pammex

TUG Review Crew: ELITE
TUG Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
1,019
Reaction score
31
Points
408
Location
Chapala Mexico & USA
Common sense tourist will be just fine in Vallarta. I was there beginning of Jan. and plan to return in a few weeks. We walk and drive all over, never feel unsafe. Lot of media hype essentially. If you are not into drugs or drug activity you most likely will be fine...

Check out and pass along this video...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=38AFaiNfXOU

Happy Vacations in Vallarta, oh by the way we have also gone to Acapulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo, and Mazatlan without feeling unsafe...or being unsafe...:hi:
 

Karen G

Moderator
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
9,470
Reaction score
1,983
Points
749
Location
Henderson, NV
Resorts Owned
Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
Nice video! Is that you pammex in the video?
 

pammex

TUG Review Crew: ELITE
TUG Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
1,019
Reaction score
31
Points
408
Location
Chapala Mexico & USA
yes that is pammex, aka bezerk aka Pamela ....in Puerto Vallarta!!! Please pass it on, one PV is safe and two I need the hits, I have a bet with hubby how many hits I will get...LOL.
 

pammex

TUG Review Crew: ELITE
TUG Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
1,019
Reaction score
31
Points
408
Location
Chapala Mexico & USA
yes that is me pammex, aka bezerk aka Pamela. No laughs , I know my port a cath is sticking out like a broken bone..oh well. We did not think of that.

Anyway please pass on the video, one because PV is a safe tourist destination and two I have a bet with hubby on ho many hits I get...here are a few trip visit videos you may like from Vallarta...pass them on as well..please..:hi:

www.tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-040d-526e-93a6?lm
Where Everyone is Special Casa velas Jan 2-6, 2012


http://www.tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-02f1-abbe-6c8a?ln
Girls trip to Casa velas August 2011


http://www.tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-02f9-14a8-d394?ln
Grand Velas July 2011

They were all at Velas Resorts, two at my favorite Casa Velas and the other at Grand Velas...
 

Karen G

Moderator
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
9,470
Reaction score
1,983
Points
749
Location
Henderson, NV
Resorts Owned
Once owned these: FirstFairway@Walden X 2; Lawai Beach; ManhattanClub; PuebloBonitoRose; 4 South Africa--now timeshare-free
yes that is me pammex, aka bezerk aka Pamela.
Pamela, thanks so much for all the information. Great photos and websites! I've put the links in the Puerto Vallarta thread in the sticky posts at the top of the Mexico forum.
 

pammex

TUG Review Crew: ELITE
TUG Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
1,019
Reaction score
31
Points
408
Location
Chapala Mexico & USA
Thanks Karen...glad you enjoyed and hope others do as well...so much media hype when uncalled for...
Thanks for putting under stickies...on top...that is great..
 
Top