Mexico travel advice: Foreign Office advises 'against all but essential travel' for several areas due to 'armed attacks' and 'drug trafficking' - is it safe?

The Foreign Office is advising “against all but essential travel” to particular regions of popular holiday destination Mexico. The government is issuing the warning to UK holidaymakers after there has been “armed attacks”, “targeted killings” and “violent robberies” in the regions as well as “high levels of organised crime activity”.

For example, Guanajuato, a city in central Mexico, has been hit with the “essential travel” warning as it is “a drug trafficking route” where “organised crime activity is rampant”. Jalisco, a western Mexican state that is known for mariachi music and tequila, also has the warning “due to inaccessibility for security forces, lack of state control, drugs cultivation and high levels of violence between rival criminal groups.”

If you travel to the parts where the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises against, you could invalidate your insurance. It cautions: "Your travel insurance could be invalidated if you travel against FCDO advice. Consular support is also severely limited where FCDO advises against travel."

Listed below are the parts of Mexico the FCDO advising against all but essential travel.

State of Baja California

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the city of Tijuana, except:

• airside transit through Tijuana airport

• the Cross Border Xpress bridge from the airport linking terminals across the Mexican-US border

• the federal toll road 1D and Via Rápida through Tijuana to the border

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the city of Tecate in Baja California (including roads between Tijuana and Tecate)

Note: FCDO does not advise against all travel or all but essential travel to any part of the state of Baja California Sur.

State of Chiapas

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to within 40km of the Guatemalan border between the Pacific Coast up to and including the border crossing at Gracias a Dio.

FCDO advises against all but essential travel on Federal Highway 199 (Carretera Federal 199) between Rancho Nuevo (just outside San Cristobal de las Casas) and the Chancalá junction just outside Palenque (where Federal Highway 199 meets Federal Highway 307).

State of Chihuahua

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Chihuahua, except:

• the city of Chihuahua

• the border crossing in Ciudad Juárez (accessed by federal toll road 45)

• federal toll road 45D connecting the cities of Chihuahua and Ciudad Juárez

• the Copper Canyon rail route to and from Chihuahua and towns immediately on this route including Creel

• the road from Creel via San Juanito to San Pedro

• state highway 16 from San Pedro to Chihuahua

State of Colima

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Colima, except:

• the city of Manzanillo accessed by sea or air via the Manzanillo-Costalegre International Airport

State of Guanajuato

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the areas southwest of road 45D.

State of Guerrero

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Guerrero, except:

• the town of Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa accessed by air.

State of Jalisco

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the areas south and southwest of Lake Chapala to the border with the state of Colima.

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the northern municipalities of:

• Bolaños

• Chimaltitán

• Colotlán

• Hostotipaquillo

• Huejúcar

• Huequilla el Alto

• Mezquitic

• San Martin de Bolaños

• Santa Maria de los Ángeles

• Totatiche

• Villa Guerrero

State of Michoacán

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Michoacán, except:

• the city of Morelia accessed by federal toll roads 15D, 126 and 43; and the federal toll road 48D between the city of Morelia and the General Francisco Mujica airport

• the town of Pátzcuaro accessed by federal toll roads 14D and 15 from Morelia, and boat trips out to islands on Lake Pátzcuaro

• the Federal Highway 15D

State of Sinaloa

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Sinaloa, except:

• the cities of Los Mochis and Mazatlán

• road 32 that runs between El Fuerte and Los Mochis

• the 15D federal toll road that runs the length of the state

• the Copper Canyon rail route to and from Los Mochis, El Fuerte and the towns immediately on this route

State of Tamaulipas

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Tamaulipas, except:

• the border crossing at Nuevo Laredo accessed by federal toll road 85D from Monterrey

• Federal highways 80, 81 and 85 between Tampico, Ciudad de Victoria and Magueyes, and the entire area of Tamaulipas south of these highways.

State of Zacatecas

FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Zacatecas.