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Health and safety in Mexico City
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Mexico City comes with an unenviable reputation for overcrowding, grime and crime. To some extent this is deserved, but things have improved a lot over the last few years, and in general they're no worse than you might expect of a city of the same size and population elsewhere in the world, and often a lot better. Certainly none of these issues is reason enough not to visit, and the frenetic atmosphere is part of what makes this such a fascinating city.
Certainly there is pollution . The whole urban area sits in a low mountain bowl that tends to deflect smog-clearing winds away from the city, allowing a thick blanket of haze to build up through the day. It is particularly bad in winter when there is no rain to wash the skies clean and pollution levels (reported daily in the English-language newspaper The News ) tend to peak in the early afternoon, yet even at its worst, the sky overhead is almost always blue and the haze only apparent as you look towards the horizon. Couple this with the capital's altitude, and those prone to respiratory problems sometimes have difficulty on arrival, though most suffer no ill effects. The city's stringent anti-emission regulations mean you'll be spared the clouds of black diesel smoke found in less developed countries all over the world, with the Hoy No Circula ("Don't drive today") law prohibiting car use from 5am to 10pm for one day in the working week for vehicles built before 1994, the day depending on the car's number plate; newer vehicles and rentals are exempt. On particularly high pollution days, the city government may declare a Doble Hoy No Circula day, on which two sets of cars are not permitted to drive. As an indication of the success of such anti-pollution measures, the year 2000 was the first year in over a decade without a single day declared as such.
Mexico City newspapers take pleasure in reporting the city's
crime
in grizzly detail. Much of what is reported is gang or drug related and takes place far away from anywhere you are likely to be. The capital is also where the Mexican extremes of wealth and poverty are most apparent, with shiny, valet-parked SUVs vying for space with pavement vendors and beggars. Such financial disparity fuels
theft
, but you only need to take the same precautions you would in any large city, and there is no need to feel particularly paranoid: keep your valuables in the hotel safe (even cheap hotels often have somewhere secure), don't flash large wads of money around, and keep an eye on your camera and the like when in busy market areas. In some quarters, the ubiquitous green-and-white
taxis
found cruising the streets have a bad reputation, and there are reports of people being robbed at knife-point, though drivers are mostly helpful and courteous. It is difficult to give hard and fast guidelines, but in general it is best to get your hotel to call you a taxi (more expensive) if you are going somewhere unfamiliar. Once you know your way around a bit better, or know enough to appear confident, you are safe enough in the green-and-white taxis. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Mexico,
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