The murder and kidnapping rate are rising, that is an undeniable fact.  Murder rate had gone down from 17 murders per 100.000 inhabitants in 1997, to some 10/100.000 in 2007, but since then it has been growing, and is now estimated at 12-15/100.000. To give it some perspective, the murder rate in USA is now around 5.5/100.000, and in Western Europe some 1/100.000. So an American can say “if I go to Mexico I will have twice the chance of being killed”, while an European would say “If I travel to the USA, I will have 5 times more probabilities of being killed”.

So far, this is the hard data. But looking deeper in to the figures there is some more interesting information that you should consider if you are analyzing traveling to Mexico:

1)Tourists are very rarely killed in Mexico. The most recent, and very rare cases (they get a lot of media coverage because of being rare) were the following: i)the wife of a US penitentiary officer targeted by the drug gangs as some revenge in the north border (south US border), ii)A wife allegedly killed by her American husband in a Cancún resort.

2)Kidnappers rarely target foreigners.  They do a lot of intelligence, chasing rich local families and businessmen.  Foreigners are not attractive targets.

3)Violence is concentrated only in some places, mostly away from touristic areas.  Most of the violence is because of the clash of rival drug gangs, or between them and the police/army.  Most of the violent events happen in the northern states (US border), Michoacan, the Mexico City poor suburbs, and Guerrero.  The only “touristic” place is Guerrero (Acapulco is in Guerrero).  You need to be very unlucky to be caught in the cross fire.

So my conclusions are the following:

• Mexico is a safe place for tourists

though you may consider the following advise:

• Avoid driving by night in isolated highways, especially in Mexican northern states (there have been some isolated events in daytime also in the last couple of months)
• Stay in the touristic places
• Have the usual precautions when traveling anywhere

El Palacio Duhau (parte de Park Hyatt) es un gran hotel para quedarse, y si no alcanza el presupuesto para dormir al menos hay que ir comer o tomar algo al restaurant de los jardines

I ve just read a very good article from ASmallWorld on Buenos Aires.  I has very good tips, and the recommendations are excellent. It is based on local know how as opposed to many travel guides.  I am reproducing it so non members of ASW can access it too.  I am glad they refer to Chacarita (or “Palermo Dead”) as the next hot place in Buenos Aires, if people believe it I might trade my loft there on-par with a Manhatann Village loft.

Palermo: Buenos Aires’ Hip, Pulsating Heart

When the 2001 economic crisis hit, Buenos Aires’ creative class picked up the pieces by sparking a cultural renaissance. The city’s Palermo district served as the HQ of this revolution as designers, film types and galleries took over the then-cheap old buildings. Seven years later, Palermo is the established heart of all that is hip in the city. During our recent visit, local ASWers let us in on the secrets of their address books.

Oven-roasted lamb with vegetables at El Rocio

Eat
It’s all about the beef in BA. Get your prime cuts at La Cabrera, reputed to be one of the city’s best parrillas (steak joints) and the perfect spot for curing a hangover, according to Fernando Bach. Social Paraiso is another staple for its lovely service and inventive fusion cuisine. For a quick lunch, Anne-Maria Korpi’s pick is El Preferido de Palermo, also a choice of Francis Ford Coppola, who has a house nearby. For a break from the meat, head to Krishna, a kitschy canteen offering amazing vegetarian thali. And for dessert, try Scannapieco (Cordoba 4826) for the best ice-cream ever and a time warp – circa 1950s or so – experience.

Tango Dancers

Play
The Rojo Tango Show at the dramatic Faena Hotel is a night out like no other. And be sure to get to Congo – a bar boasting an enormous outdoor terrace and a particularly good atmosphere on Thursday nights, according to girl-about-town Loli Delger. But, get there before the queues start at 11. You might want to continue the party and head on to Club 69. For a less hectic night out, try Milión. And of course, needless to say, keep an eye on the ASW forums as parties happen in BA all the time!

Antiques at Mercado de las Pulgas

Shop
Bring an extra suitcase or better still, plan a shipping budget. With all the tantalizing objects – modern and antique – on offer, you might decide to refurnish your pad. For antiques, the old but rather touristy Feria San Pedro Telmo on Sundays is mandatory. In Palermo, don’t miss the daily Mercado de las Pulgas, which is chock-full of chandeliers, mid-century furniture and other curiosities at bargain rates.

Calma Chicha is a favorite for fun souvenirs, such as the penguin wine jugs, and try Papelera Palermo for the prettiest notepads and wrapping paper. For earthy, indigenous Argentine wares, check out the technicolor carpets from the country’s northwest at Fernando Bach’s Elementos Argentinos. For cowhides, try Calma Chicha or head out to Boedo and pick up a bargain from the wholesale Nueva Casa Antonio, which also sells to the passing retail shopper.

Materia Urbana is the spot for crafts and prints by contemporary local artists. At Sabater Hermanos, you’ll find divinely scented handmade soaps in the shape of flakes, golf balls and plain old, multicoloured bars. Lode Joaquin Alberdi has an extensive selection of that other great local product - wine

Loaf
At the Crack-Up bar and café there’s a jumble of Spanish-language books and a host of amusing (and literary) local characters. The courtyard garden of the very hip Olsen is an oasis for those mid-afternoon stops for coffee or vodka shots from the bar’s extensive menu. If BA inspires you to attempt some poetry or prose, a good place to spark up your laptop is the courtyard café of Boutique del Libro, a bookstore lined floor-to-ceiling with art tomes and other books.

The Hammock at El Rocio

Rest
Throw a stone in Palermo and you are likely to hit a boutique hotel. While Home Hotel’s rooms are mini sanctuaries, the hotel also provides two out-of-room oases: its rocking bar and secluded pool. Costa Petit, co-owned by artist Diego Padilla and interior designer Eugenia Choren, is another recommended gem.

In neighboring Las Cañitas, Mariquel Waingarten’s  Tailor Made lives up to its name with in-room Mac Minis, hydrotherapy tubs and free bike rentals. In Recoleta, the magnificent Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt is enchanting. Sometime BA habitué Luigi Tadini recommends having a drink at the neo-classical mansion’s Oak Lounge, overlooking its beautiful gardens.

If you are staying for a week, you might consider renting. There are plenty of lofts available and the new-ish Palermo Hollywood Lofts are fabulously appointed.

a Gaucho at El Rocio

Escape
If you’ve had enough of BA’s bustle, the flat countryside around the city has many estancias (ranches) that welcome wannabe gauchos and aspiring polo players for short visits.

Head out to Estancia El Rocio on the Pampas (the plains between the Atlantic Ocean to the Andes), which is owned by former financier Patrice Graviere and his wife, Macarena Llambi. Packed with art and mementoes from their travels, the estancia is an extremely stylish getaway, which should come as no surprise since Macarena used to run Hermès in BA.

Eat your fill of the chef’s meals - made with local produce and unbelievable vegetables from El Rocio’s organic patch - and then work it all off with a ride around some of the ranch’s 400 acres, guided by polo manager, Camilo Moreno Crotto. It’s easy to spend days and days here - bird watching, learning polo or simply lolling about the pool.

If all you want to do is get out of Palermo, then explore the city’s other nabes and its traditional tourist attractions. Take a walk amongst the magnificent tombstones at Cementerio de la Recoleta or venture to up-and-coming Boedo (think Greenpoint in Brooklyn or Hackney in London) for a bistro lunch at Café Margot. There’s also tango and theatre to be had in the hood. See www.boedomas10.com.ar for more details.

On the edge of Palermo is Villa Crespo – the next big thing, neighborhood-wise. Billed ‘Palermo Queens’ (to complement the existing Palermo Hollywood and Palermo Soho quarters), the area is home to Thames 878, the ‘secret’ gathering spot for ASW porteños. Watch the numbers or you’ll miss it since there are no signs for the bar. Further on, the area on the fringes of La Chacarita cemetery has been nicknamed ‘Palermo Dead,’ the new, new frontier. ASW has penciled in a tour of the hip haunts that are sure to be there by our next visit.

Address Book

Rest

Home Hotel, Honduras 5860, Palermo Viejo
Phone: + 54 11 4778 1008
www.homebuenosaires.com

Costa Petit, Costa Rica 5141, Palermo Soho
Phone: + 54 11 4776 8296
www.costapetithotel.com

Tailor Made, Arce 385, Las Canitas
Phone: + 54 11 4774 9620
www.tailormadehotels.com.ar

Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt, Avenida Alvear 1661, Recoleta
Phone: +54 11 5171 1234
buenosaires.park.hyatt.com

Palermo Hollywood Lofts
Phone: + 54 11 5254 1770
http://argentinaconsultant.com/default.aspx

Eat

La Cabrera, Cabrera 5099, Palermo Viejo
Phone: +54 11 4831 7002

Social Paraiso, Honduras 5182, Palermo
Phone: +54 11 4831 4556
www.socialparaiso.com.ar

El Preferido de Palermo, Guatemala 4801
Phone: +54 11 4774 6585

Krishna, Malabia 1833, Palermo Viejo
Phone: + 54 11 4833 4618

Scannapieco, Cordoba 4826, Palermo Viejo
Phone: + 54 11 4773 1829
www.scannapieco.com

Play

Rojo Tango Show, Faena Hotel, Martha Salotti 445, Puerto Madero
Phone: + 54 11 5787 1536 for reservations
www.rojotango.com

Congo, Honduras 5329, Palermo Viejo
Phone: + 54 11 4833 5857

Milión, Paraná 1048, Recoleta
Phone: + 54 11 4815 9925
www.milionargentina.com.ar

Thames 878, Thames 878, Villa Crespo
Phone: + 54 11 4773 1089

Shop

Feria San Pedro Telmo, Plaza Dorrego, San Telmo
Open Sundays from 10 a.m.

Mercado de las Pulgas, Niceto Vega and Dorrego, Palermo Viejo
Open daily from 10 a.m.

Calma Chicha, Honduras 4925, Palermo Viejo
Phone: + 54 11 4831 1818
www.calmachicha.com

Papelera Palermo, Honduras 4945, Palermo Viejo
Phone: +54 11 4833 3081
www.papelerapalermo.com.ar

Elementos Argentinos, Godoy Cruz 1720, Palermo Viejo
Phone: + 54 11 4832 6299
www.elementosargentinos.com.ar

Nueva Casa Antonio, Avenida Boedo 1411, Boedo
Phone: +54 11 4921 7951

Materia Urbana, Gorriti 4791, Palermo
Phone: + 54 11 4831 6317
www.materiaurbana.com

Sabater Hermanos, Gurruchaga 1821, Palermo
Phone: + 54 11 4833 3004
www.shnos.com.ar

Lode Joaquin Alberdi, Jorge Luis Borges 1772, Palermo Viejo
Phone: + 54 11 4832 5329
www.lodejoaquinalberdi.com.ar

Loaf

Crack-Up, Costa Rica 4767, Palermo Viejo
Phone: + 54 11 4831 3502
www.crackup.com.ar

Boutique del Libro, Thames 1762, Palermo Viejo
Phone: + 54 11 4833 6637
www.boutiquedellibro.com

Escape

Estancia El Rocio, Rte. 3, km 102.5, San Miguel Del Monte, Buenos Aires
Phone: + 54 22 7142 0488
www.estanciaelrocio.com

Charles Crespín offers trips to Estancia El Rocio and other locations near BA.
Email: rugbydeportiva@yahoo.com.ar

Cementerio de la Recoleta, Junín 1760, Recoleta
Open daily from 7 a.m.

Café Margot, Boedo 857, Boedo
Phone: +54 11 4957 0001

Casa Playa Maya is also very safe as the small community (10-15 houses, spread along 2 miles) is gated.  You can contact the owner at www.vrbo.com/17242 Price starts at $2.200/week (low season tariffs).

1)Know more beaches. Yours is surely great (as all of them) but some beach variety is highly advisable.  The white sands of Cancún are ok, but you may like to explore the deserted and virgin beaches in the Sian Kahn Reserve (south of Tulum, on the Tulum-Boca Paila beach road).  The Tulum beaches are less crowded and with small coves. The Soliman Bay beach is like a pool, the best for snorkeling on the continent side.  Akumal beaches and the lagoon are also great for snorkeling.  The Playa del Carmen northern beaches (like Mamita´s) are the euro-chic beach spots.

2)Eat at the excellent restaurants of the Mayan Riviera: leave (at least for one night!) the all-you-can-eat boring places inside your resort.  Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulúm have great restaurants, excellent food from around the world, and a lively atmosphere impossible to get in a resort.  Try the Puerto Madero in Cancún, the Glass Bar in Playa del Carmen and the Zamas in Tulúm.

3)Experience the history.  Visit the Mayan ruins of Tulúm, Cobá or Chichen Itzá. Go to Mérida, a beautiful city that combines colonial history with the more recent boom of the henequen haciendas (old and big farms that produced cord, they were run by very rich families that kept their homes with all the European luxury they could afford).  Many of these haciendas are now luxury boutique hotels and restaurants

4)Dive, learn to dive or snorkel at Cozumel: a coral reef with an unique underwater life, and a magic blue/turquoise sea

5)Live the vibrant nightlife of Playa del Carmen, cool people, cool places, avoid the American tourist traps with familiar names.  Have a drink at El Diablito Cha Cha Cha, have another and dance at La Santanera.

1)Blue Parrot Suites: I stayed there last November and almost had to fight to access to my room.  Despite I had warned that I would check in very late (around midnight) they had not check in service clerk.  The worst of all was that I had to go through a very violent group of bouncers who were “controlling” the access to the Blue Parrot bar, where the small reception is located.  It took me something close was to a fist fight to access the hotel. After a lot of discussion a dumb guard (who apparently had not been informed of our late check in) led us to our rooms (300 yards away).  The suite was ok, the price was also ok as it was low season (around $100), but it was too noisy.  You could hear loud music from all the 3 or 4 beach bars in the neighborhood. On top of this, the last afternoon, while trying to chill out after arriving from the beach, we had to listen to a show of two drunk guys who have taken to the pool a CD player with very loud “banda norteña” music (the music the drug dealers like in northern Mexico).

All hotel service was extremely poor. As a summary, not a place to rest and especially not a place you will like if you also hate (like me) disco gorilla bouncers.  A year before I stayed at the Blue Parrot 5th Avenue (100 yards away from the main Blue Parrot Hotel), and the experience was good.  The room was ample, we paid $ 65 + tax, it was quiet and the service was ok.

2)Diamante K cabins (Tulúm): located at the hotels zone (”Zona Hotelera de Tulúm”) in Tulúm, Diamante K offers a “natural paradise” for visitors.  The location is excellent, the sea is amazingly blue, but the cabins service is a disaster.  Personnel lacks a service attitude and the cabins seemed to have gone the last cleaning round centuries ago.  This was way too “organic” for me…

If you want to stay in this area, please go to “La Vitta e bella” or “Ana y José”.  They are both very good, though they have substantially increased prices in the last years (to around $ 200 in high season).

The place is nicely decorated (lot of Italian furniture) and is always lively with above-average tourists (not the loud drunk guys in t-shirts) and locals. It has an ample terrace.  It is on 10th Street, between 1st and 5th Avenues. Reservations: 984 803 1676.

Cancún, the most known of them, and the closest to the airport, caters mostly to US “traditional” tourists, who prefer huge all-inclusive 5-star resorts.  Nightlife has plenty of options, mostly dance clubs where it is frequent to spot “girls gone wild” scenes.  Beaches are just perfect, and restaurant offer is diverse and meets the highest standards. The main disadvantage is that there is no “village & beach life”, to mingle with other tourists and locals you have no other option but to drive to a shopping mall or a dance club. Beach social life is also secluded to the private beach of your hotel. I personally do not like big hotels and the Cancún “tourism lifestyle”, though the beaches and the restaurants are probably slightly better than those of Playa del Carmen and Tulúm.  My top restaurant pick in Cancún is Restaurante Puerto Madero, and classy Argentine-beef-plus-seafood place by a marina.  It has a beatiful terrace overlooking the marina and the Cancún lagoon.

Playa del Carmen, just 70 km (43 miles) south of Cancun has experienced a fast growth (the fastest according to Guiness), and evolved from a small fishermen village to a huge city in just 10 years. As opposed to Cancun, hotels are much smaller and most of them are not all-inclusive (though there are many all-inclusive resorts along the highway and by the beach all the way in the 110 km (68 miles) road that separate Cancun from Tulum).  European tourists favor Playa del Carmen.  Playa (as it is know locally), as many beaches in Mexico has an important Italian residents community, that is why probably italians, French and other European tourists were attracted to Playa del Carmen in the first place.  Playa del Carmen is today the best expression of the “European chic” in Mexico. Despite of this, Playa del Carmen attracts tourists from everywhere, including a lot of American. In addition to tourism, the immigration was a key driver for such a high growth.  Immigrants came from other places in Mexico, Italy, Argentina, France and the USA.  Playa del Carmen has many beach clubs that resemble Ibiza (Baleares Islands, Spain), like the beach club Mamita´s, home to many fashion shows and other trendy events in Playa.

The restaurant offering in Playa is big and diverse.  My top choice is The Glass Bar, a sophisticated Napolitan restaurant with the best wine list in town.

Tulum is a totally different place.  The town stretches along the road/highway that connects Cancún-Playa del Carmen-Tulum-Chetumal (all the Mayan Riviera) and is as awful as many other new Mexican villages (as opposed to the thousands of old charming Mexican “pueblos”).   Despite the misserable urban planning, some stubborn neighbors decided to build some nice bars and restaurants along the main road.  As you move from the main road to the beach (2.5 km away from town) there are some nicer small hotels and constructions.  So, then, what makes Tulum attractive? Herebelow the reasons why:

1)Firstly, the people.  It has a unique combination of hippies, european settlers, locals, backpackers, radical liberals and refined tourists. Easygoing is the right word to describe Tulum lifestyle.

2)The beaches are excellent, though 2.5 km away from town.  Most travelers prefer to stay on the beach hotels, located direcly on the coastal road.  Many of these hotels are sophisticated thatched roof bungalows, very cozy & romantic, though some of them are dirty tourist traps (like Diamante K).

3)Tulum hosts the only Mayan ruins on the beach. Though not the most important Mayan riuins in the Yucatan peninsula, the Tulum ruins boasts the an amazing scene that combines historic buildings, a pristine beach, the Caribbean blue and the jungle

4)An important urban project, expected to replace the existing downtown is under construction.  Located between the town and the beach, Aldea Zama combines residential and commercial develpment.  With a careful design and ecologic urban planning, Aldea Zama will become the new Tulum center (much closer to the sea).

5)The jungle: on the opposite side of the highway (to the west), Tulum has thousands of acres of jungle.  There are some new developings and a few houses that allow you to stay in the middle of a jungle, and still only 5 minutes to the Caribbean beaches.