# Queretaro Safety



## Sunchamama

How is the nar(k)o.....situation in Queretaro? 
We are considering moving back to Mexico after a break from the violence and would like to go some where safe and secure. I've not been able to fin any info online about what's going on as far this is concerned.....which makes me think that their is none! 
Thanks for the replys.


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## Guest

The city of Querétaro, and most of the state of Querétaro are safe and quiet as far as any activity by the bad guys.

(¿y que pueblo, jejeje?)


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## Sunchamama

Are you really originally from the DR? That's where I am now!
So are the bad guys their and quite? Or not their at all?


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## Guest

It's quiet here. The bad guys aren't doing much here, except maybe transport up the autopista - but they don't stop here. (and living in Querétaro is nothing like the conditions in DN in any way, shape or form)


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## Isla Verde

GringoCArlos said:


> It's quiet here. The bad guys aren't doing much here, except maybe transport up the autopista - but they don't stop here. (and living in Querétaro is nothing like the conditions in DN in any way, shape or form)


DN? Denmark?


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## Guest

Distrito Nacional - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


-


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## Isla Verde

GringoCArlos said:


> Distrito Nacional - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> -


Ah, ha. The Dominican counterpart to the DF.


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## Sunchamama

I lived in Mexico for 3 years before coming here to the Dominican Republic. So I know it's waaaaaaay different! It's not even apples to apples. Mexico is by far soooooo much more.....ummmmm.....I just like Mexico waaaaaaay more  DR is great for a beach vacation....and that's about it!


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## Isla Verde

Sunchamama said:


> I lived in Mexico for 3 years before coming here to the Dominican Republic. So I know it's waaaaaaay different! It's not even apples to apples. Mexico is by far soooooo much more.....ummmmm.....I just like Mexico waaaaaaay more  DR is great for a beach vacation....and that's about it!


So what pulled you away from the joys of life in Mexico?


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## Sunchamama

Border living was not for the faint of heart.


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## Isla Verde

Sunchamama said:


> Border living was not for the faint of heart.


Probably not. But Mexico's a big country and more peaceful away from the border.


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## Ken Wood

Sunchamama said:


> How is the nar(k)o.....situation in Queretaro?
> We are considering moving back to Mexico after a break from the violence and would like to go some where safe and secure. I've not been able to fin any info online about what's going on as far this is concerned.....which makes me think that their is none!
> Thanks for the replys.


I have been coming to Querétaro, the city, for 10 years, and have lived here full time, in retirement, since mid-2011. I have yet to see my first snippet of violence of any kind, and have yet to hear a reliable report of any drug related activity here. The police, both municipal and federal, and the army all maintain a high visibility profile here, in town, and on the surrounding arteries. 

Having said all that, I am usually at home before 10:00, and on the nights that I am out later, it is never at an event in an area that might require a long, dark walk, a drive through a narrow dark street, hailing a taxi on an unsecure corner, etc. I count all these as having basic, common sense. I did the same things in all the previous places I have lived, and still do them when I visit other cities in Mexico or the US.


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## MJB5293

i hve lived here for 3 years and find it a wonderful and safe place


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## canexican

*Qro safety*

Hi, In reply to your question about Qro safety and narcos....

I moved from Canada to Qro a year ago with my Mexican wife who is from here. Because i have two small children I did a lot of research before comitting to the move. It is a very safe place, both by my research and from experience living here. There have been a couple of drug busts in the news but they were busts in industrial buildings collecting ingredients to make meth or something. You see many military driving around the freeways and at entrances to the city limits. There are different opinions on the presence of military but it is working to deter the narcos. I have not read or heard of any narco shootouts or killings in Qro. 

As in any city there are better and worse neighbourhoods. I'm not living in a nice area yet but it is still pretty safe. I don't walk around in the middle of the night but feel at ease walking or bike riding with my family during any time of the day.

I do recommend Qro to you at this point. Time will tell what happens in Mexico after PRI has now won the election. It's rumored they wilk take a different approach on the narcos and less use of military. Even so, compared to other areas of Mexico I think Qro will still remain the safest place to be.

Let me know if I can offer any more info or help. Take care!


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## conklinwh

I drive into QRO about weekly, actually leaving in an hour or so, to take advantage of the shopping as well as the great restaurants. Expect that QRO as a fair sized city of about 1 million has some level of crime but certainly not tied to cartels. I have a lot of friends with businesses and biggest concern is possibility of extortion. There have been some half hearted attempts via phone calls but nothing overt.


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## Queretaro

My wife and I have lived and run a business in Querétaro (_on a funny side node, my computers spell check is correcting Querétaro as "Retarded"_) for over 4 years now and other than the standard petty thefts and stolen cars (all of which you can find anywhere) we have not heard anything to set off any red flags. Just like everybody else says, it is as safe as any other city of 1,000,000 people. 
My wife and I run a Spanish school here, and the most commune question we get is are their drug dealers here. Well, honestly, I bet there are. It is a very rich city by Mexican standards, and where there are people with money who want drugs, there are people who will sell it to them. But I would bet good money that you could find drug dealers in almost any city or town around the world, so the question is a little naive. Is there drug violence here however, is a definite no. Or at least not yet. Nobody can predict the future. 

See you on the streets of Qto.


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## hjaimeo

I have lived in Queretaro for 5 years now, so far it has proven to be a safe place to live; something that surprised me when I visiting Queretaro (before moving here) is that the Centro was filled with people at 11:00 pm! I seemed like it was 7 or 8 pm, there were even families with kids walking around (when I was a kid I wasn't allowed to be awake after 9:30 or 10 pm, I must admit that I was kind of jealous).

Along with the good experience that most of us have had here, the numbers indicate that it is a very safe place: in the last 14 years the city of Queretaro reported a murder rate of 3.2 homicides per 100K people, this is low when compared to the current 6.43 homicides per 100K people of Dallas, which is a city with a similar population and that has achieved 7 straight years of crime rate drops (I came across this data after my relatives living in the states expressed their concerns that I would die in one of the shootings that occurred everyday “throughout Mexico”).

So, as expressed before by many, other than taking the safety provisions dictated by common sense you should not be concerned at all. 

Hope it helps :-D


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## PabloSa

Hello Sunchamama!

I've made a post about Querétaro here: 
(I can't post URLs ending in ".html", so I am going to repost what I wrote there)

I am Mexican, and I joined this forum so I may be able to help my dear gringos (I use it with no insult implied, I really do like Americans) understand and learn a bit about this city.

I've lived in Querétaro since 1990. I was born in Mexico City in 1981, and when my dad convinced the company he works for to move R&D headquarters to Querétaro, we moved here (he wanted to raise his family in a smaller city).

As other posters have already said, Querétaro is safer than most cities in México, though it does have its crime as all places do.

I want to give you the pros and cons I personally think Querétaro has.

Pros:
- Clean (in Mexican standards. You may find it just as clean as any other civilized city, no more, no less)
- Beautiful Historical Center (kept clean, many parking lots, regional small commerce encouraged, lots of churches and several museums to explore and visit)
- Many Universities (ITESM campus [my alma mater], UVM campus, UAQ, ITQ, UTEQ, UNAM campus, Cuahtémoc Medical U., Politécnico campus, and several others)
- A LOT of places to eat, from your typical American place (Burger King, McDonald's, IHOP...), to international restaurants (Italian, French, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Argentinian, Brazilian), and obviously Mexican food (not your hard tortilla taco's, and not only genuine tacos, but real gourmet Mexican food).
- Expected Big City amenities (hospitals, cinemas, shopping centers [the largest shopping center in Latin America is being built next to Jurica], veterinarians, parks, gyms, etc.)
- Relatively safe (compared to other cities in México/the world, though Mérida is safer according to many Mexicans. Even with its "safe city" reputation, I try not to walk alone in dark places, always lock my house and chose to live in a gated neighbourhood).

Cons:
- Vertical development is almost null. The city grows horizontally, which means longer distances to move from place to place, with more traffic along the way, and more pollution from cars having to move a longer distance, especially public transportation ("microbuses"). This happens because, many years ago, it was forbidden to build higher than the domes of the churches. However, after the government issued new regulations, some places have recently been granted permission to build high raise buildings, but most of the city is layed out in a horizontal way.
- Public transportation sucks. There is no subway, no light train, and buses are not there to give a service to people, but to race each other to the death (literally sometimes).
- Immigration from other Mexican places sometimes brings also their bad costums: they seem to ignore trash cans, drive as if in a race circuit, honk their car horns to hurry you to get out of the way, etc.
- Water supply is rationed (Querétaro is in a semi-desert location), so you should look for a house that has a cistern/reservoir; and water in Querétaro is very "hard" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water), so you should pay attention to your tubing system and make sure it doesn't get clogged after some years.

All in all, Querétaro is a great place to live, but like all great places, it is attracting more and more people, some contributing to make it a great city, some contributing to worsen it.

Anyhow, if you choose to live here, welcome!

Hope it helps!


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## MJB5293

One of the Safest Cities in Mexico
The state of Querétaro and the city of Santiago de Querétaro are among the safest places to live and travel in Mexico. The high level of safety enjoyed by the city is a reflection of its great prosperity, its stable local government, and a police department that boasts a level of corruption lower than that of comparable departments in Europe and the U.S. 

Below you will find a graphic that compares the level of crime in Santiago de Querétaro with corresponding levels in cities elsewhere in Mexico, as well as a map that shows the distance between Querétaro and the places that have seen a rise in drug-related crime in recent months. Please move your mouse over the images to make them larger.
http://www.queretarolanguageschool.com/safety_queretaro.htm


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## mes1952

You might want to get more objective news reporting that some language school that promotes safety in whatever the area; after all they are seeking paying students.
Look on the major narco news sites such as BorderlandBeat or Narco News and you will find there are few places in Mexico or the U.S. that have not been affected. So the assumption that Queretaro and any other place is completely safe is not rational unless you are living in a dream world.


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## TundraGreen

MJB5293 said:


> … The high level of safety enjoyed by the city is a reflection of its great prosperity, its stable local government, and a police department that boasts a level of corruption lower than that of comparable departments in Europe and the U.S. …


Really? 

I would guess that the absence of drug related violence in Qro is because, so far, it is not on one of the major drug routes and is not disputed territory by rival cartels.


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## PabloSa

Lets hope it stays that way... (*searching for wood... where is some wood when I want to touch it!!!* *knocks own head* *ouch*)


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## MJB5293

well i have been here 4 years and i dont see it or hear about it or see it.


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