I am planning a trip to Puerto Vallarta in April.

I'd like to drive (along with two male friends, I'm a woman). I speak moderate spanish, one of the men does, and the other man is an Armenian with moderate grasp of english.

I have read up and have heard very conflicting tales. The state department says armed robbery and kiddnapping are an epidemic (which sounds kind of far fetched) and a lot of treatises on the web make it sound easier than driving in L.A.

(1) is it safe? (keeping in mind it's a two day drive at least, which means stop overs in undetermined cities)

(2) any suggested routes? (traveling by toll road seems to be the best choice)

(3) any other misc. info I should know of?

Thanks!!

Hi archermoon, well it is not a road trip I would take but I can tell you this. You MUST buy automobile insurance from a Mexican Co to drive in Mexico. If you don't and if you have an accident (even though it is not your fault) you can end up in a jail in Mexico. So do not even think about driving in Mexico without auto insurance that is acceptable under the Mexican laws.

Are you a US resident and citizen? Will you be driving your own car. If not, will you be driving a rental car? If so, make sure the rental car company allows you to drive across the boarder and into Mexico. Again, you will need auto insurance acceptable to the Mexican government.

And about your passengers as well as yourself, make sure everyone has the proper documents to return into the US (I assume the US is where you want to return to). If your friend who is Armenian is travelling with you, does he have the proper documents to return to the US such as his "green card" and his US permit to travel outside of the US?

And yes, Mexico again is having a problem with crime.

I strongly suggest that you do more research before taking this road trip.
Best wishes to you.

archermoon,

The State Dept is not joking. It is true.

LoveItaly gives you excellent advice.

Also, if you make the trip, I would suggest that you trade off the driving and drive straight thru.

I am a big fan of Puerto Vallarta but that is not a road trip I would choose to take. It's just too long/far.

Where are you driving from? Depending on that I could advise you on a route.

Regarding your questions:

1) Safety: There IS crime in Mexico, especially in Mexico City and on border cities like Tijuana, Juarez and Laredo. However, common sense precautions are usually more than enough.

2) Depends on where you're driving from. Toll roads are always the best choice.

3) The State Department has three levels of documents for any given country: The consular info sheet (which provides basic information), the 'Public Announcements' (which refer to short-term threats), and the Travel Warnings (which recommend avoiding a certain country). Mexico has a consular info sheet, with no Public Announcement or Travel Warning. Mexico is one of the top 10 destinations in the world for international visitors, and most of them have visits without incidents.

Puerto Vallarta is a great place, and depending on where you're coming from you will pass through really interesting cities such as Guadalajara, Zacatecas or Guanajuato.

The safety issues are not a joke. This is not a road trip I would even consider.

Three years ago a coworker of mine and his family flew to PV for vacation. One day they wanted to go for a picnic/drive in the country. The hotel arranged for a rental car (they couldn't organize it themselves since there were a lot of complicated insurance issues) but advised gainst the trip. Luckily for them it was of the rent a wreck variety.

About an hour from the town the car was stopped by a truck sideways across the road. The car was stolen, they were robbed of everything they had, including their passports (can;t imagine why they were carrying them) and they had to walk for more than 2 hours before they found a place that would phone the hotel to send a car for them. It turned out the car was not properly insured and they had to pay for it.

(In the end they had to get a US attorney to get a mexican attorney to handle this for them - but it still ended up costing them over $4,000 for the car and attorneys fees. The Mexican attorney volunteered that US citizens should never leave the tourist areas unless with a savvy local - due to both banditos and local scams - since much of the country is really not under the conrol of the government.)

nytraveler, to each his own, but I guess that not even considering this trip is your loss.

I've been to every single state in Mexico over the years, driving most of the time, and I've never had a problem. Does that mean that nobody ever gets in trouble? Of course not. A few people do. I agree with you that the safety issues are not a joke, but as archermoon suspects, they are grossly exaggerated. Of course you need to take some precautions, maybe even a little more than you would take in, say, Rome or Paris. Should you avoid a trip altogether? I don't think so.

nytraveler, are you sure this is not urban legend? i have never heard of any tales like that in the greater Puerto Vallarta area. i vacation there every year, for years now. I know loads of people who have rented cars and driven along the coast between say PV and San Blas.

Why would you like to drive? Do you plan to stop to sightsee? If it is to see the countryside from the road, consider a first class bus from Tijuana to Puerto Vallarta. You can always break up your trip by buying a ticket to Los Mochis, and then another one from Los Mochis to Puerto Vallarta.

I agree with Loveitaly and the others who say this is not a trip they would take and I believe nytravelers story as I worked with a woman whose family had a similar experience on their way to see family in Monterey.

I'd be coming from LA. One of the guys owns a body shop, so we're going to take the nastiest looking piece of crap we can find.
I def want to stay on toll roads.

The friend who I'm visiting suggested going through Hermosillo in the state of Sonora and Mazatlan in Sinaloa because they are big and safe.

Finally, I was thinking of registering with the Embassy.

It just sounds worse than Palestine from what everyone says and I don't want my mother to have a stroke.

Hopefully, the worst thing that will happen is you'll have to pay off a cop for "speeding". It happened to another friend of mine--he was driving a convertible when a cop on a motorcycle pulled up along side the moving vehicle to "read the odometer". They were given the choice of either going to jail or settling the matter on the spot. I don't recall how much money he and his friends handed over but they were let go after the exchange. The piece-o-crap is not a bad idea.

Out of real curiousity why are you considering this? Can't afford to fly?

Too cheap to fly, yes. Also, I think it'd be a pretty trip.

I'm totally comfortable paying off a cop, if need be.

It is interesting how perceptions work:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...nses=3&start=0

Someone concerned about driving in Texas...

And, archermoon, I'd agree with the Hermosillo/Mazatlan route, maybe crossing the border at Nogales.

Suze -

No - this is not an urban legend. I know the guy it happened to - and had worked with him for several years. And after they returned I got a play-by-play of the proceedings with his US lawyer and the Mexican lawyer - since it took months to resolve.

Not sure exactly how far from PV he got but it was only a day trip - and he said the hotel kept insisting this was a bad idea. He was definitely on a small local road - I don;t know which one - but it appears obvious that wandering around parts of the countryside at random is not a great idea.

Also - none of them spoke any Spanish - which I'm sure didn;t help matters.


But they had done this several places in europe - and assumed Mexico was the same. It's not.

Keep in mind that in parts of Mexico the law is Napoleonic in that you are presumed guilty until you can prove your innocence.

First you will be a second class citizen in a third world country. You'll have no rights. Do not carry all your money in one place. When you get stopped for speeding only show a few pesos. The roads leading into PV are very bad. The toll roads are fine but they don't go all the way. Guadalajara is a wonderful city but extremely hard to drive through. If I was looking for adventure I'd drive route 66. As Nat Cole sez it goes from LA to Chicago. Mexico , I lived there and know the risks.

nytraveler, OK I believe you, it's just I have not heard anything like that before in the Puerto Vallarta area (where I've been vacationing for 15 years)... but I do stay in town mostly or go by public bus. People I know who rent cars do stick to the main highway along the coast.