liv2ride, we’ve been doing Mexican vacations for years. Married in Nuevo Vallarta and have hit most vacation towns along the west coast. Puerto Penasco, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Ixtapa/Zihuatnejo, Acapulco and the list goes on. Our folks live in Tucson and we still drive down to Nogalas for lunch and shopping. We've only done Cozumel Island on the east coast years ago. We've traveled the mountains from Mexico City to Acapulco. From a seasoned Mexico traveler, the drug lords have the border towns in a shambles. Only visit those during daylight hours and you'll see the Federallies in armored trucks with black face masks and semi-auto rifles. Don't go there after dark. The smaller coastal vacation towns live by the tourist and are doing everything possible to make sure the industry is kept in tact. I do not know Cancun, so I can't give you advice there, but the tourist areas of the west coast towns are reasonably safe. Very few incidents. We will be in Puerto Vallarta in February and Daniel our condo owner (who lives in Tepic) tells us things are "safe". Last year we did a mountain tour toward Gaudalajara and found ourselves in a small town guarded by AK-47's - Never again will we go off the beaten path.
