Puerto Vallarta Travel Answers

Drink only bottled water, no tap water, no ice in drinks, however if your at the Westin they probably have their own filtered water for ice, but would still not take the chance. How safe is Puerto Vallarta? well Mexico is not on my hit parade.

Ask at your hotel regarding water, when I stay at resorts in Mexico they always have filtered water in the restaurants and I've never had a problem getting sick from drinking their water or iced drinks. When I leave the resort I drink bottled water, it's cheap enough and better safe than sorry. As to food, once again, I've never had a problem at a resort regardless of what I eat, if you eat outside the resort, I only eat things that are cooked, no raw fruits/vegetables unless they are something you have to peel like a banana. Here are a couple of links to the US government's travel advisories for Mexico, but these are for Mexico as a whole and a lot of it likely doesn't apply to Puerto Vallarta. I don't see a specific reference for Puerto Vallarta travel.state.gov/travel/cis_... travel.state.gov/travel/cis_...

I forgot to add that I don't drink water out of the tap at resorts though, the last one I stayed at had a sign that said non potable so it was very clear that you shouldn't drink it. They had bottled water in the rooms to drink. I'll also add that I go to the other side of Mexico (Playa del Carmen) every year and have never had any incident with crime. Use the hotel safe for your valuables, keep an eye on them if you are at the beach if you have to bring something of value, be careful of where you withdraw money and where you use your credit cards (and make sure you know if they are charging you in pesos or dollars).

Regarding safety, way more people are killed in the US than in Mexico every year. Would you go to a shopping mall in Tucson? A University campus? Would you go into a ghetto and buy drugs? Mexico is getting a very bad rep for the reason nobody should go to the US

The problem is that all places in Mexico are getting lumped together, I wouldn't be heading to Acapulco anytime soon but I didn't hesitate for a second while booking Playa del Carmen. It's a valid question to be asking before traveling, it's just not something that I want to leave to a bunch of strangers on a travel board. I take the US advisories with the appropriate grain of salt as well, often I think they are overcautious but I prefer it over people's opinions and especially the opinion of people that haven't been there.

"Please tell me how safe is Puerto Vallarta and what I need to do to have a pleasant trip (i.e. Is it safe to drink the water?)"> I was in Puerto Vallarta last Month. It was fine. Had lots of fun. To have a pleasant trip is up to you. Me, it is having Tequila Shots and Dos Equis to follow. Fellow VT Odinnthor showed me the proper way with Patron Silver Tequila. Don't need the water that way. Ole ;-)

Wow, they import Patron to Mexico?

YVRDave's claim that the United States has a higher murder rate than Mexico is utterly wrong. Mexico's murder rate is 14/100,000 population economist.com/blogs/gulliver... as opposed to the U.S. murder rate of 4.9/100,000 population (fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/cr.... Mexico's murder problem is highly concentrated in four states (economist.com/blogs/gulliver...; the U.S. murder problem is highly concentrated in a few urban areas. In both cases, a little care in where you go makes a world of difference.

Wrong? I never mentioned murder RATE. I mentioned numbers. Your misdirection is pathetic You offer different information sources, and very misleading description on locations of US murders. A Tucson shopping mall, or University campus is not a large Urban area. How many innocent people died there? There is more of a chance of a non drug dealer being killed in the US than in Mexico. Refute THAT.

Griff, the part about Patron and VT member Odinnthor was that he taught me that Patron Silver Tequila was the way to go while we sat at a bar in Thousand Oaks, CA and also at the VT Barney Awards Banquet, he showed quite a few others. Didn't Santa bring you the toy you wanted. Ho, Ho, Ho. Time for everyone to lighten up. :-)

Dabs, your last sentence in your post above is right on. So many people on this web site express an opinion when they clearly have not been to the destination under discussion. I wish VT'rs would only express an opinion about a destination if they have been to it, or have first hand knowledge. Many on here just post to increase their VT rank, which is wrong. Now let the barage begin.

I wouldn't recommend drinking tap water in Mexico unless your tummy is used to it, and that takes time... Most places do used filtered water to make their icu cubes so just make sure to ask :P As for safety, I'm a total advocate for safety in PV, it's safer than ever! Please take the time to watch this and come to your own conclusions. Enjoy your time in paradise! http://youtu.be/Kn9u6dMeoQc