Safe to travel to Cancun?

[Anonymous]

Other than swine flu, are there any other concerns I should have regarding travel to Cancun? I know that Mexico has been having issues with crime & violence is prevalent in several cities. Does anyone have any thoughts on Cancun?

[Anonymous]

If you are staying on the resort, and not visiting other areas you "should" be safe, but I really wouldn't take the risk quite yet...

[Anonymous]

We had the same concerns, but decided to book a trip to the Riviera Maya region (Playa Carmen) in July, about 30 mins outside Cancun, I think. I did quite a bit of research online before booking the trip, and apparently there was not one confirmed case of swine flu in the state of Quintana Roo, which is a large area that encompasses Cancun. The CDC removed the travel alert, and I looked at a lot of recent reviews on Tripadvisor where lots of people were saying there were no problems.

Also, it seems that this flu is not as severe as people first suspected. People die from the flu every year, and there were cases of swine flu that caused several local schools to shut down - and yet no confirmed cases in Cancun. We decided that if we still went out and about when a school near us had been closed, it would be silly to get all paranoid and not book the trip - rates are great!

Just to be safe, we purchased travel insurance that allows us to cancel ($45 pp when you book on Expedia to Mexico), in case the flu spreads or mutates to a more virulent strain. Anyway, that's my 2 cents - good luck with your decision!

[Anonymous]

21:51 here - got so caught up in swine flu, I forgot to address the other concern - violence. I didn't research this as much, but I did read that it was mostly limited to the northern border area and didn't affect Cancun much. To be safe, though, we will mostly stay on the resort where we're staying. If we do any day trips, the baby will stay with his grandparents (coming with), or if we take him to town, we will stay in very populated areas.

[Anonymous]

We traveled to the Maya Riveriera (south of Cancun) in late January and encountered no problems, not even a stomach bug. We stayed at a resort, but walked to the nearby town, and rented a car and drove out to the Coba ruins. We have three kids (5, 7, and 9) and we all enjoyed it.

[Anonymous]

I know that it is not Cancun, but the violence in tourist areas in Mexico appears to be heating up....There was just a big drug shootout in Acapulco Tourist Center that killed 16.

http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/lt_drug_war_mexico/2009/06/07/222483.html