Of course, when you travel to Mazatlan or anywhere outside of the U.S. or Canada for that matter, your personal safety is something that you will want to give serious consideration to. The fact is, that Mazatlan is heavily policed and that particularly applies to the areas most frequented by tourists such as the Gold Zone, the beaches along the Malecon as well as the port and the entire downtown area.

As you move about the city you will frequently see trucks full of heavily armed police with military style rifles, as well as military vehicles filled with solders. They aren't on patrol looking for rebels, they are policing the streets and they don't  play around.

Tourists – The Sacred Cows of Mazatlan

Mazatlan has a population of around seven hundred thousand permanent residents, yet over two million tourists visited last year, so tourism is basically the economic lifeblood of the area. Also Mazatlan is in constant competition with other Mexican resort areas  for tourism dollars.

What this means for the criminals in Mazatlan is that none of them want to risk getting caught victimizing a tourist, as the punishment that they can expect to receive will be the most draconian available to the local cops. You have to remember that in Mexico a suspect is guilty until proven innocent and they have none of the rights that they do in the U.S. justice system.

Stick to the Beaten Path

Some of  the areas that you will pass through on the outskirts of Mazatlan, coming in from the airport, can look a little rough but believe it or not they aren't as dangerous as they look. Besides, those areas are miles away from where you will be staying and vacationing.

The number one best way to become a crime victim in Mazatlan is to venture inland into these neighborhoods, particularly at night, looking for drugs or prostitutes. To you, the thought of doing this may seem insane but the truth is that some knuckle-heads actually do this type of thing from time to time.

A tourist in these neighborhoods sticks out like a sore thumb and every local thug or cop that sees them will know just what they are in there looking for. They may as well wear a t-shirt that spells out “ROB ME” in big bold letters on it.

So stay in the tourist areas, which means the entire beach front and downtown area and you will be perfectly safe any time day or night. While you are in Mazatlan relax, have fun and enjoy your stay, because the fact is, that the city of Mazatlan as a whole is far safer then your average American city of comparable size and population.

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