My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Hidden Beach Resort in Mexico. It's about an hour's drive from Cancun Airport. We had no concerns about our safety at any time during our trip. We're primarily going for the sunshine, and don't have much interest in sightseeing, visiting ruins, etc. I'd never rent a car there, as the local drivers are rather erratic, and the roads are somewhat unpredictable. But the people generally seem friendly and OK. We're going back in November!

Many sunny holiday destinations have high crime rates, and high murder rates. Tourist crime is largely avoidable; if you wander around covered in jewels and expensive watches, don't be surprised if someone relieves you of the burden. Murders tend to be of locals, by locals, and are usually gang-related or drug-related. It's interesting to look at murder rates (ie the number of murders per 100,000 population). Mexico has an almost gentle figure of 19.26 which is much lower than Trinidad & Tobago (30.88) or Jamaica (47.01 - more than double the rate in Mexico!). Yet most of us are quite happy to visit Jamaica. My wife & I visited Tobago a few years ago, hired a car, had a wander around, drank in local bars, no problems at all.

In contrast, Dominican Republic has a murder rate of only 15.18 yet this is one of the few places we'd never ever return to! The resort we stayed in had armed guards at night. We were ambushed in our taxi on the way back to the airport by an armed gang of renegade cops and soldiers, who extracted money from the cab driver. So murders aren't necessarily the real indicator of risk.