How Safe Is Culiacan for Travel? (2023 Updated) ⋆ Travel Safe

Safety Index:

Culiacán is a big city located near the geographic center of the state of Sinaloa.

Culiacán weather is dry for most of the year, except for the wet season which lasts from July to September.

The city is known for its musical groups, which are quite popular in Mexico.
This place is rarely visited by foreign tourists.

Guide books on Mexico do not cover Culiacán and have very brief descriptions of the city.

However, Culiacán is very well-known by Mexicans for its distinct sinaloense culture.

Tourists come to visit beautiful botanical gardens in the city, zoo park, Catedral Basilica De Nuestra Senora Del Rosario – the city’s main cathedral.

Warnings & Dangers in Culiacan

OVERALL RISK : MEDIUM

The level of crime in Culiacan remains high. Problems with violent crimes such as assault and armed robbery occur often. Corruption and bribery in the city is the biggest issue. However mostly it affects only local citizens.

TRANSPORT & TAXIS RISK : LOW

Taxis are a convenient way to get to the city center and other landmarks. Often they don't have fixed rates and taximeters. Travelers can get around Culiacan using city buses. To see all routes available better use app called "Enrutate".

PICKPOCKETS RISK : LOW

Since there are not many tourists in the city pickpockets crimes not happens too often here. But the small risk always exists.

NATURAL DISASTERS RISK : MEDIUM

Culiacan located in seismologically active regions. The risk of earthquakes and floods is high enough. Before planning a trip to here travelers should get information about the situation with natural hazard risks.

MUGGING RISK : HIGH

In Mexico, it is easy enough to become a victim of a robbery. In the Culiacan area risk of being mugged is high. Travelers should have their belongings in a safe place.

TERRORISM RISK : HIGH

Terrorism risk is high here because of the city's reputation. Showdowns of drug dealers happen quite often, as well as clashes with the police.

SCAMS RISK : LOW

Scam risk is low here cause the place hasn't many tourists. But travelers should be aware anyway and buy things at verified places to avoid cheating.

WOMEN TRAVELERS RISK : MEDIUM

In Culiacan, women are not recommended to travel alone. Wearing modest clothes and not show up in night bars will be a way to avoid unwanted attention.

So... How Safe Is Culiacan Really?

As far as Culiacan not in the list of safe places in Mexico, travelers should be cautioned while visiting this city.

The level of crime in Culiacan is high enough.

The city center is safe to walk around during the daytime, but it’s better not to show up on the night streets.

Traffic in Culiacán can be extremely aggressive.

Locals explain this to the “sinaloense” attitude, which is stereotypically aggressive, proud, and boisterous.

So tourists must be careful if they travel by car or motorbike.

Culiacan is known for being the birthplaces and residences of many drug lords and drug dealers.

Mexicans from other states will often point out that Culiacán is very dangerous to visit.

But most conflicts occur only among drug cartels and federal armed forces.

Organized crime has a deeply-rooted culture there but tourists will almost surely not get any experiences with it.

Residents of the city have day-jobs, they take their kids to kindergarten, go to church on Sundays.

People here can always help if you turn to them.

Travelers are recommended don’t show off that you have a lot of money, don’t wear a lot of jewelry and don’t visit dangerous places at night, and they should be just fine.

How Does Culiacan Compare?

City	Safety Index
Culiacan	55
Playa del Carmen	69
Cabo San Lucas	68
Acapulco	63
Cancun	71
Siem Reap (Cambodia)	63
Phnom Penh (Cambodia)	61
Niagara Falls (Canada)	87

Useful Information

Visas - No visas required for tourist proposals to enter Mexico for many countries of Europe, US citizens and so on. You should have a valid passport and a tourist permit. The maximum possible of stay is 180 days. For a longer stay of other options, you should visit the Mexican embassy.
Currency - The Mexican peso - is the official currency in Mexico. There are one hundred Mexican centavos to every peso. The symbol for the Mexican Peso is $, so you can see MX$ or MN$ in banks and exchange points.
Weather - The average temperature in Culiacan varies a bit. With humidity, temperatures feel hot for most of the year. The chance of rain is very low. Based on average temperature and humidity, the best time to visit Culiacán is from the end of November 19th to the end of March.
Airports - Bachigualato Federal International Airport is an international airport located in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. It cares about the national and international air traffic of the city of Culiacán. This airport is one of the Top 10 busiest airports in Mexico.
Travel Insurance - The medical insurance for travelers should be prepared before starting your trip to Mexico. As well as in other countries, the customs officer can ask you to show travel insurance.

Click here to get an offer for travel insurance

Culiacan Weather Averages (Temperatures)

Jan 20° C

Feb 21° C

Mar 23° C

Apr 25° C

May 27° C

Jun 30° C

Jul 30° C

Aug 30° C

Sep 30° C

Oct 28° C

Nov 24° C

Dec 22° C

Average High/Low Temperature

Temperature / Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
High °C	27	29	31	32	34	35	35	35	35	34	31	28
Low °C	13	13	14	17	20	25	25	25	25	22	17	15
High °F	81	84	88	90	93	95	95	95	95	93	88	82
Low °F	55	55	57	63	68	77	77	77	77	72	63	59

Ex pat in Culiacan

I’ve lived in Culiacan for about a year now. It has many wonderful sights to see. Overall, its been a very safe place with many excellent places to eat and see. Culiacan has huge parks like Parque 87, were you’ll find acres filled with trees, bike paths, exercise equipments surrounding a large lake filled with turtles. Another large Park has a zoo which includes a large Avery. Botanical Gardens, many shopping malls and Cathedrals (main one downtown), with huge river parks along the banks of the three rivers which flow thru Culiacan. I live in a nice 2 bedroom house with enclosed car port and pay 3,500 pesos a month rent. Same place in Ensenada would cost 6-8 thousand pesos.
Now for the bad. Summers are very hot and humid day and night. Drivers are very agressive and mostly disrespect stop signs, traffic lanes or speed limits. Walking in most streets with traffic is very dangerous since most cars have no respect for pedestrians. I’ve come close to being run over many times.
Loud music, especially the Narco corridos, bombards your ears from passing cars. Business use big speakers blaring music to anounce they are open for business. Many neighbors, also with big amps blare music for hours day or night sometimes lasting from Friday night to Monday morning. It causes sleeping problems for there Neighbors.
Cops (municipal and traffic) are more corrupt than other places in Mexico, often setting up road Blocks to shake down the citizens for money that lines their one pockets.
My wife and I were here during the capture of Osvidio Gusman. We along with most of the city did not go outside that day. The next day most Business were closed and there was no public bus systems operating in the city. By the Third day things were back to normal and have remained so.
We spend about 15 dollars a month for utilities, Food about 200 dollars a month. Daily produce venders, tamale venders and kids selling Mexican bread pass buy. Not much need to go to grocery store if you eat mostly non processed food. In the neighborhood are tortilla makers, both corn and flour, meat markets and abarotes(small food market).
Aside from the Traffic this is a very safe place to be. The people are generally friendly. I walk about 4 miles a day and have walked to the parks even as late as three in the morning and have not been hassled or threatened in the streets. I have not crossed paths with any Americans. Not too many English speakers either. I’m fluent in Spanish. If you want to experiance Mexico you’ll find it here in Culiacan.

2 Reviews on Culiacan

C
Cyndy G says:
at
Informative Safety Post
Culiacan is a city that I’ve not heard of before but given that it’s not a major tourist area, then in my time in Mexico it would not be one that others talked about. Also, compared to other Mexican cities you mentioned, it is on the low side with regards to safety. Where possible, I would stick to places that have a higher rating.
G
Greg Pereyra says:
at
Ex pat in Culiacan
I’ve lived in Culiacan for about a year now. It has many wonderful sights to see. Overall, its been a very safe place with many excellent places to eat and see. Culiacan has huge parks like Parque 87, were you’ll find acres filled with trees, bike paths, exercise equipments surrounding a large lake filled with turtles. Another large Park has a zoo which includes a large Avery. Botanical Gardens, many shopping malls and Cathedrals (main one downtown), with huge river parks along the banks of the three rivers which flow thru Culiacan. I live in a nice 2 bedroom house with enclosed car port and pay 3,500 pesos a month rent. Same place in Ensenada would cost 6-8 thousand pesos.
Now for the bad. Summers are very hot and humid day and night. Drivers are very agressive and mostly disrespect stop signs, traffic lanes or speed limits. Walking in most streets with traffic is very dangerous since most cars have no respect for pedestrians. I’ve come close to being run over many times.
Loud music, especially the Narco corridos, bombards your ears from passing cars. Business use big speakers blaring music to anounce they are open for business. Many neighbors, also with big amps blare music for hours day or night sometimes lasting from Friday night to Monday morning. It causes sleeping problems for there Neighbors.
Cops (municipal and traffic) are more corrupt than other places in Mexico, often setting up road Blocks to shake down the citizens for money that lines their one pockets.
My wife and I were here during the capture of Osvidio Gusman. We along with most of the city did not go outside that day. The next day most Business were closed and there was no public bus systems operating in the city. By the Third day things were back to normal and have remained so.
We spend about 15 dollars a month for utilities, Food about 200 dollars a month. Daily produce venders, tamale venders and kids selling Mexican bread pass buy. Not much need to go to grocery store if you eat mostly non processed food. In the neighborhood are tortilla makers, both corn and flour, meat markets and abarotes(small food market).
Aside from the Traffic this is a very safe place to be. The people are generally friendly. I walk about 4 miles a day and have walked to the parks even as late as three in the morning and have not been hassled or threatened in the streets. I have not crossed paths with any Americans. Not too many English speakers either. I’m fluent in Spanish. If you want to experiance Mexico you’ll find it here in Culiacan.
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Rated 4 / 5 based on 2 user reviews.

How Safe Is Culiacan for Travel?

Mexico : Safety by City