GeoffSmith

It’s worth mentioning that I’ve lived in Spain several months per year for the last 15 years, and had very few problems. No matter where you live there are always attacks and robberies, you just need not to be foolish and adopt a careful and sensible perspective. As an old acquaintance once said to me he refused to have nice things that gave him pleasure and then keep everything under lock and key. If you think about it, we underestimate the risk of car accidents, and over estimate the probability of robbery. Drive carefully.

flyerfirsts

I don't know what it is, but everywhere I've been if you pretend to be a German who doesn't speak English people quickly leave you alone.

Boraxo

My personal fav is to pretend I am Russian, particularly in Mexico when approached by timeshare hacks, to wit: "No entiendo, soy Ruskie" This also work in France with "Je no ce pas France"

Of course none of the Mexicans are fooled by this, but it often evokes a laugh and some will try to trick me by yelling in English.

A NYC favorite is to walk in a crazy manner and start yelling random phrases - the last thing a perp wants is to deal with an unpredictable crazy person.

flyerfirsts

The one to use in Mexico is "no fumar espanol". This is used in adventure motorcycling to such great effect it even frustrates corrupt police who want to extort money from you.

aster

Check out the Canary Islands, best weather not just in Spain but in all of Europe, and very low on crime.

flyerfirsts

So my vacation experience was I didn't find Barcelona to be any more crime ridden than any other large city. Maybe less so, to be honest, especially compared to cities in the US now. I dressed well, wore an expensive watch, and carrier a camera on my shoulder (not cross body or my neck even) everywhere I went.

Shylok

Will check out Canary islands, I am in Vienna and quite enjoying it.. Except for the fact it says feels like -9c this morning.
​​​​So looking for somewhere like Munich or Vienna, but warmer lol.

We survived Barcelona no issues thankfully. But it wasn't a busy season for sure.

flyerfirsts

Try Labstelle while in Voenna, a restaurant that really punches above its price point.

txdave

Yes I remember seeing a youtube video that it was number 1 in pickpocketing

fsuj25

Maybe I will try this next time I’m traveling.


I was just in BCN for about four nights with relatives. I stressed to them not to take anything with them they didn’t need. I can promise you they were distracted looking in every window shop, loaded with shopping bags, and otherwise being aloof.

Thankfully no issues. They did see one young girl crying to the cops because her backpack was stolen.

As others have said, always be vigilant, and be wary of anyone getting too close and/or being too friendly.

Eagle2000

FYI, A lot of pickpocketers are FEMALE, do not think it is just males.

If you are Asian (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, etc) They will target you as they know most likely you are tourists and come from "safe" countries, thus your guard is down.

xchpstang

I just got back from a couple of weeks in Spain and France and as a first timer I was hyper aware of presence of the presence of pickpockets especially riding crowded Barcelona and Paris trains. I never ever let my guard down whether I'm walking in downtown SF or I'm riding BART. In fact my personal rule in situations like BART, downtown SF, (or on this trip, Barcelona or Paris) is to never carry anything on the streets I wouldn't be willing to take a loss on. My iPhone, my Apple Watch, my credit cards, my Tesla key card are all items I'd quickly give up to a knife or gun wielding thief. Same goes for pickpockets, any of those items would be annoying to lose but it wouldn't put me at an unthinkable loss and they are ultimately replaceable. The only compromise I have to make is carrying my driver license which unfortunately would expose me to identity theft if stolen but it's a must to carry it.

This time during our trip though, the wife wanted to buy a nice handbag at the Chanel store in Paris. I was ok with doing that as long as it was store to taxi and back to hotel to leave bag. She decided that we should walk around for a few blocks and look for a cafe or restaurant after leaving the store. I was really paranoid because, although the neighborhood looked fine, I felt extremely vulnerable walking with a bag that says "I'm carrying something very expensive, come and take it!". This definitely was breaking my rule of not carrying anything I wouldn't be willing to take a loss on. Fortunately everything was uneventful

Same as others have said to OP, I just wouldn't carry valuables such as an expensive watch and I would always have my guard up. The reality is the situation is just deteriorating worldwide.

flyerfirsts

This is a level of paranoia that is unnecessary. I have been all around the world with shopping bags from nice stores, wearing an expensive watch, carrying expensive camera equipment. Outside of the USA nobody is going to stick you up for this stuff (well, UK too, but there its just at night if you are inebriated or old pretty much) for this stuff, though they may hope to grab it when you aren't look. Just always be looking, no problems.

LupineChemist

Yes, pickpockets in Europe can be a problem, but they are very rarely violent. The goal is to be away before you're even noticed so if you keep watch over your stuff, that's plenty. It would be extraordinary for someone to use a weapon to mug someone like in the US. The reason being that basically nothing will happen for small theft and pickpocketing but police will actually investigate and judgest will sentence if there's a weapon involved so it's dumb from the criminal's POV to escalate as the risk/reward gets far less favorable.

heyaroot

I would love to go to Barcelona. I guess pickpockets are everywhere, so all the stories about robbery in Barcelona shouldn't make me scared of visiting the city. I'll just make sure to be careful when talking to people and walking in public spaces.