Los Cabos Is Just As Safe As Popular Destinations Like The UK And Spain According To The U.S. State Department

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Last Updated 12 months ago

Travelers who come to Los Cabos overwhelmingly agree that they feel safe during their Cabo vacation.

In fact, according to the latest polls conducted by the Cabo tourism board 90% of travelers approved of their Cabo vacation as they were leaving the Los Cabos airport to head back home. 

Some people who have not come to Cabo may have their doubts about making the trip. Primarily due to things that may show up in local news outlets in their hometowns about safety issues in Mexico.

Also, the U.S. State Department’s travel advisories don’t always seem to look too favorably on Cabo. If you take a closer look, though, the State Department labels traveling to Cabo as safe or as risky as traveling to countries like the UK and Spain. 

We’re not saying that the travel warning issued by the U.S. State Department should be met with skepticism.

What travelers should consider, though, is gaining a better context when it comes to why certain countries or areas are slapped with a specific travel warning.

The first thing that should be cleared up about Los Cabos is the fact that the region is located within the state of Baja California Sur. 

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This Mexican state is currently in the second-safest tier in the State Department’s grading system. Baja California Sur is not the same state as Baja California Norte, which is sometimes only known as Baja California.

Baja California Norte is the state home to the popular border town Tijuana, and it currently sits in the third-tier warning level. Indicating that travel to the area can be riskier than traveling to Cabo.   

Countries In The Same Travel Warning Level As Cabo

Pretty much any country that you could potentially visit on a European trip is currently under a level 2 travel advisory warning.

This includes countries like the UK, France, Germany, and Denmark. In all 4 cases, the reason why these countries are in that tier, according to the State Department, is the threat of terrorist attacks.

Sadly, there have been highly publicized safety incidents primarily in the UK and France over the last few years. With that in mind, the travel advisory at level 2 can be considered warranted. 

The fact that all of these countries share the same tier for the same reason is odd when you look at cases like Denmark.

It’s in the second tier of the warning level with the same label, but there hasn’t been a hate crime or anything that could fall within the realm of the warning since 2015.

Spain’s case is a bit different since, apart from the terrorism warning, there’s an extra line about potential civil unrest.

Thankfully for travelers, tensions in Catalonia have died down over the last few years. What could be more concerning is getting pickpocketed while walking across Las Ramblas. 

Why The US State Department Puts A Travel Advisory Warning On Places Like Cabo

As previously stated, most of the countries frequented by American travelers in both the Americas and Europe are at least on level 2.

Oddly enough, many of the most visited Asian countries are on level 1. Yet, in places like Los Cabos, London, or Madrid, perhaps the biggest concern that tourists should have is being robbed by pickpockets or scammed by tour guides. 

It seems, though, that the U.S. State Department warns Americans against the worst possible scenario that they could potentially face on a trip — particularly when it comes to countries in that second-tier warning level.

With the upper tiers, there’s usually a more specific issue that the Department warns about instead of something overly general like crime or potential attack.  

When it comes to Cabo, it could be a good idea for travelers to keep an eye on the safety perception ratings that are published by the Mexican Institute of data collection.

These ratings are based on polls filled out by locals. Who, in turn, base their answers on their experiences with safety issues in the different cities across Mexico.

Although it must be said that the U.S. State Department does a good job of ensuring Americans don’t let their guard down by presenting perhaps the worst-case scenario, travels to Los Cabos virtually all occur with no threat to safety.

Hopefully, this is not something that deters travelers from heading to Cabo or any of the other destinations that are slapped with a low-level travel warning by the department.