I used to be in and out of Monterrey in the ‘00’s. The amount of dimes was ridiculous. Monterrey had a strong German population and mixed with the locals. Creating straight baddies.
I lived in McAllen so we would bus it on the weekends. 4 hour trip there. Hotels were cheap and the loved us.
Every so often the cartels would acted up but we never were in the cross fire. Later in the decade though the night clubs got hit a few times. I was done partying out there by then.
I don’t know much about Monterrey’s safety now though. I do have a battle buddy that moved there last year if you want some intel about the security and local spots.