In Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, tourists were told to shelter in place on Sunday.
Videos showed black smoke billowing from burning cars in several neighbourhoods, with one tourist describing the scene as looking “like a war zone”.
Around 300 visitors were stuck at the Puerto Vallarta’s airport after flights were cancelled due to the violence.
To ensure their safety, they were transferred to the city centre in a convoy with a heavy police escort.
The UK Foreign Office asked visitors to the town to “exercise extreme caution” and follow local authorities’ advice, including orders to stay indoors.
Sara Morales, who is on holiday in Puerto Vallarta with her children, said that they had been asked to leave Las Glorias beach.
“I was very afraid because I didn’t know what was happening,” she told Mexican newspaper El Economista.
The US state department has urged its nationals to shelter in place until further notice in the states of Jalisco, Baja California, Quintana Roo and areas of Guanajuato, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
The governor of Jalisco, where Puerto Vallarta is located, declared a “code red”, halting all public transport and cancelling mass events and in-person classes.
El Universal newspaper said that more than 250 incidents of roads being blocked had been reported across the affected Mexican states.
Security officials say that 90% of the blockades have been lifted but tension remains high, especially in the CJGN’s stronghold of Jalisco.
They added that 25 people had been arrested, 11 for their alleged participation in violent acts and 14 more for alleged looting and pillaging.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged people to stay “calm and informed”. She added that “in most parts of the country, activities are proceeding normally”.
She praised Mexico’s security forces for the operation in which “El Mencho” was captured.