I'm flying in and out of Barcelona in June as a framework for a trip to Sicily, hoping to end the trip (with my 3 kids, aged 4-17) with a few days in Barcelona, a place I've always wanted to go.
I've made the mistake of reading some rather hysterical threads on another travel forum about the terrible state of things in Barcelona. People being attacked by roving gangs. Etc. Marauding groups of beggars, pickpockets and prostitutes. Almost post-apocalyptic, it seems.
Now, listen. I went to Rome for the first time in 2005 and was seriously freaked out by the Rome-is-full-of-aggressive-beggars and con-men talk, and then found myself there, feeling safer than I ever had in the major American city which I often visit - Chicago.
So I don't know what to make of this. I really don't know much about Barcelona, although I am in the process of familiarizing myself with the neighborhoods as I search for an apartment. I understand the Ramblas is very touristy and chaotic and is not safe at night. Right? But if I try to stay in say, Born or further out near Sagrada Familia or Gracia...we'll be all right, taking normal precautions, right?
Amy, Obviously you do good research and are getting all the right instincts. Yup, if 3-card montys alternating with bad mimes every 10 feet are your scene, then you will enjoy the Ramblas.
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Posted 16 April 2009 04:54 PM Hide Post If you're not foolish enough to walk on the Ramblas, or in narrower streets in Barri Gotic at night, you should be fine.
C'est moi ! I was foolish enough to stay at Barri Gotic every time for the last 6, 7 times, dined late, stayed out late in the bars in the narrow streets in Borne, had the greatest time.
Amy, practice the same common sense as you did in Rome and you will be fine in Barcelona. There is a lot of petty crime there, but it is not as bad as it sounds in your post.
We stayed in El Born and there was a section near us that our apartment key-master told us not to go into. I went anyway, to buy some food, and it WAS sketchy back there, and I would not want to be there at night. So I know what Marian is saying about that.
Normal precautions. Don't leave anything on a table, don't walk around with a giant purse with everything you need in there, etc.
C'est moi ! I was foolish enough to stay at Barri Gotic every time for the last 6, 7 times, dined late, stayed out late in the bars in the narrow streets in Borne, had the greatest time.
Moi aussi. We have stayed twice in Barri Gotic - with small children - and been out late at night.
That said, some of the restaurants in that area employed their own bouncers/security guards to fend off petty thieves. Just adopt the normal precautions as others have said and you won't have a problem.
I would go to Barcelona tomorrow!
Joan
Posts: 491 | Location: Chicago | Registered: 25 April 2006
The issues of safety are quite the same everywhere. The answers to questions of safety are of two types: personal and property.
On personal safety, from time to time one hears about misfortune befalling a tourist. Generally we know little about the specifics of such cases, because we are mostly fed by sound bites and headlines. What I know is that millions upon millions visit Barcelona and they all return home safe and sound, and come back. Including myself.
On property, carrier beware! The rules are the same everywhere, and more so in places one is not familiar with.
Specifically to the Ramblas and Bari Gotic, because they were mentioned here, I personally think these are exciting and out of the ordinary places, but ask my wife and you may get a different answer. Just a small point: The Gran Teatre del Liceu Opera House is on the Ramblas, and quite close to La Boqueria. Every night thousands of opera patrons go to the Opera and return home after midnight (not to mention dining in the area before or after the event) and I don't think the Liceu would have survived in that location for over 150 years if the Ramblas weren't safe at night. Just a thought...
Barcelona is also the most rapidly gentrifying city that I have ever seen. The infamous Barrio Chino has now shrunk to a 1.5 block area, and is more a tourist attraction than anything. Just five, six years ago who would have thought of the Raval side of the Ramblas as a hip, desirable neighborhood? Now the area all around Casa Camper (carrer Elisabets) has the most exciting shops and cafés, right up there with El Born. One of the last times I went to Barcelona, even I started getting scared reading all the posts here. So I posted a very similar question about safety in Barcelona. Many people gave a reassuring answer, while others gave, well, scary answers. Psychologically it is the scary answers that one gets affected by; that's the way it is. My husband even got a special flat halter wallet to be worn inside clothing. Of course as it turned out, like all the other times, nothing happened to us, as we went out every night in the old town.
I was in Barcelona in February and stayed in the Barri Gothic area, right by the Cathedral. I too read on another travel site about "the dark underbelly of Barcelona, pick pockets and robbers". I too was a little wary, but decided that with the right amount of vigilance and common sense, I would be fine. I went, had a really great time, even walking Las Ramblas at night, my friend and I. I want to go back. My advice would be to keep your wits about you while enjoying your vacation. Anything can happen anywhere, muggings and robberies happen here in the US all the time, so just be vigilant and enjoy the great city of Barcelona.
I just came back from BCN a couple of weeks ago. Ive traveled all over Europe and this is the first place that my BF left me alone to wander. We stayed at Hotel Jazz by Plaza Catalunya. I felt safe walking at night or day. Just dont walk alone at the Ramblas late at night, too many shady characters. Watch your purse, although I felt Seville had more thieves than BCN.
Pick the right location, think sensibly and always have the presence of mind. I live downtown chicago and I have no problems walking in the right areas anytime, I felt the same way in BCN. Enjoy coz I truly love that city
Posts: 133 | Location: Chicago, IL | Registered: 05 January 2006
Amy, as everyone else has said, just take normal precautions & you'll have a great time. We had a brush with a pick-pocket in Madrid but nothing in BCN (that we were aware of). We found it to be one of the most hospitable, welcoming cities we visited...can't wait to go back!
Enjoy!
Posts: 561 | Location: Adelaide, South Australia | Registered: 08 May 2005
We started our trip to Barcelona badly with the taxi dropping us off quite a long way from our apartment even though we had given him a map and the words in spanish. It was near the Arc de Triumph instead of near Calle Princesa. While I was in a shop asking directions (we had realised we were in the wrong area) my husband put his backpack down to get a map out and look at it. A young bike rider approached him and pulled at his clothes. It was distraction enough to forget his backpack and put his hands in his pockets, where the money was, while the backpack was stolen by someone else. We had our computer and camera in the backpack so the thieves did very well for an opportunistic robbery.
We decided it would not spoil out week in Barcelona and enjoyed our time there.
When reporting the robbery at the police station we were 5th in line for the morning and the man we reported to was employed by the city and spoke 7 languages. He said the tourists are concentrated in a small area of Barcelona so they are targets. He did say there was very little violent crime there.
After this we were very aware of our surroundings but didn't feel threatened at all and really enjoyed our week there. We even found a good internet cafe and had a wine while accessing our emails each evening.
We had been traveling in South America for 5 weeks without incident and it was unfortunate that it happened, but we decided that we would continue our trip by being vigilant but not paranoid about security. Other than the inconvenience it didn't spoil our trip.
Jill
Posts: 256 | Location: Queenscliff Victoria Australia | Registered: 10 January 2005
Thank you all. I am a verycareful traveler and aware of my surroundings, but with little kids it is easy to get distracted. Your responses are reassuring.
I was in Barcelona last October and fell in love with the city. I saw nothing of what you mention. I found Barcelona to be clean, bright, vibrant, friendly, safe (taking normal precautions, of course,) and fun. I also think it's a wonderful city to bring children to; there are many attractions to absolutely delight them, and foods they may enjoy trying. Have a great trip!
We walked the Ramblas every night and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I wore a neck pouch and a tightly buttoned jean jacket that secured my belongings. The atmosphere was so enticing. We stay in the Barri Gotic for three nights and we got the true flavour of Barcelona. That was exactly a year ago last April and we loved it!
Maybe we had a false sense of security but my friend and I were there last month for a few days and we felt quite safe as we walked everywhere in Barcelona even quite late in the evening. She's a really pretty blonde so we got quite a bit of attention but no one bothered us or made us feel threaten. Madrid, however, is another story entirely.
Originally posted by Shannon: Amy, practice the same common sense as you did in Rome and you will be fine in Barcelona. There is a lot of petty crime there, but it is not as bad as it sounds in your post.
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Normal precautions. Don't leave anything on a table, don't walk around with a giant purse with everything you need in there, etc.
Barcelona is awesome! You will love it.
True, just take the necessary precautions and you should be fine.
I did have my wallet stolen but the guy was such a pro. i was reading a map and he "offered to help me... He just got Euros(quite a lot of them) but nothing else since I separate my money from credit cards. It was the first time for me. I consider it part of big city life. I live in a big city and it could happen here. I actually did not feel unsafe.
We just returned from a week in Barcelona. After reading all sorts of warnings, I expected to be accosted by an assortment of thieves and pickpockets, so I bought a PacSafe purse that's so secure I can hardly get in it. When we arrived we realized we were unlikely to be a target because there were so many easy pickens. We saw lots of tourists who weren't paying attention. If you have a wallet hanging out of your back pocket, a pack that you wear on your back, or even a purse on one shoulder you may be a target. If you wear your purse across your chest, it's much harder to rip off. We rode crowded subways and buses and never had a problem. The PacSafe purse was nice, but I don't think I really needed it, Maybe we were just lucky, but we didn't have any problems whatsoever and felt perfectly safe. We were staying at the edge of the Barri Gotic, although I will say that we were never really out late at night.
Posts: 136 | Location: Portland, Oregon USA | Registered: 06 January 2006
Barcelona is definitely safe as far as safe is concerned. of course nowhere is 100% but overall you should be fine in Barcelona.
Just try to do some common sense things i.e. do not leaves bags unattended, do not display your wallet or purse ie have it dangling from your trousers pockets etc.
We spent a day in Barcelona recently too and we did not feel any less safe than we do in any big city; we were alert we hope and took usual precautions and had a great day. It would be a pity to avoid places just because it may not be safe and yes we have been robbed once in our travel of 30 years and that was in Milan in our early days of travel and in retrospect we were foolish... we have been back to Italy several times after that and no problems...
Posts: 123 | Location: Fremont, CA, USA | Registered: 15 September 2006
I stayed near the cathedral a few summers ago. I walked all over and walked home late, around 2 or 3 am most nights. I never felt unsafe. However, I will say that after living in NYC for 15 years and traveling all over, Barcelona was the only place that someone tried to pick pocket me. I think petty theft is pretty common there, but with common sense and an awareness you should be fine.
I was on the subway exiting at Passeig dei Gracia. I felt weight on my bag and knew immediately and turned around and confronted the person. So it was all fine. But I have since heard that subway stop is a common spot for that kind of theft.
Amy, I was checking your post on the apt you rented and noticed you are going soon if not already there and I would love to hear what you think of the apt and area. My daughter and I are considering an Oct trip and we found a quaint bohemeian style place in the Grazia area but not ready to book anything yet because this is the 1st day we are seriously looking. Whatever info you can give would be great. thanks and hope you had a wonderful trip!
We haven't gone yet - we leave on the 22nd, spend two weeks in Sicily, then a week or so in Barcelona in early July. I will definitely post lots of info when we return!
Barcelona is pretty safe for a city of that size. I would venture as to say it's one of the safest in the world. Of course being a city there are problems associated with this and it's not as safe as many other places accross europe. Daytime though I would say barcelona is perfectly safe. I've been several times, last time was two weeks ago, I've never felt safer anywhere.
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Shannon,
We just returned last night, and I have to say...I have had it with the frantic warnings you find on *other* travel websites. I don't know who those people are or what their motivations are, but these posts and discussions that give the impression of a place like Barcelona as being nothing but a horde of roving pickpockets are just strange and wrong.
One point: we did not go on Las Ramblas at night. We went during the day, and perhaps it is worse at night - that wouldn't surprise me, but all in all, we went to several spots that were heavy and busy with tourists: Las Ramblas during the day, Sagrada Familia, the Barceloneta area on Saturday and the Magic Fountain on Saturday night.
The vibe I got was the exact same vibe I get in any tourist area - I would compare Las Ramblas to Times Square, in a way, of course without the skyscrapers and neon. But a similar surging, wandering, shopping crowd.
We stayed in L'Eixample, rode buses, the Metro,both during the day and at night. I walked around the neighborhood by myself in the evening.
I felt very safe all the time, never threatened or surrounded, kept my wits about me, my purse in front of me, nothing in my pockets. Barcelona is lovely, and we hope to return. In fact,my daughter (age 17 and thinking about such things) wants to live there!
Thanks Amy for the info! I agree with what you say. Not sure if we are still going to BCN as the air has gone up so checking every day and hoping to catch a good deal. Thanks again!
I have been to Barcelona several times and not experienced any problems. But that was some years ago. I think things may have gotten worse. My niece and her fiance were there recently, right at the end of a twelve-month backpacking trip. They had been all over the world, including some very dodgy places and are very careful, experienced, streetwise travellers. But they still had one of their daypacks snatched. It was the first time in that whole 12-month trip that anything like that had happened to them. So I do think extra vigilance is called for. The thieves there are very slick and quick and work in pairs and they have a lot of tricks for parting people with their possessions.It only takes a fraction of a second.
