mphall

I am looking for some times to for avoiding petty crime in Barcelona. Many of the posts on this website are from 2001. So, has the problems with crime become less?
Thanks.

Gaucho100K

Wirelessly posted (Palm TX: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D050; Blazer/4.3) 16;320x448)

Barcelona is currently very safe.

Aviatrix

FWIW... I was at a conference in Barcelona a few weeks ago. There were about 80 of us, all fairly seasoned travellers. Two of our groups had their pockets picked, one on the train from the airport, the other one just outside the hotel.

I never felt unsafe in Barcelona, and maybe it was just bad luck that two out of a group of 80 had their pockets picked... but it probably pays to be a bit extra vigilant.

Mroadwarrior

I disagree that BCN is very safe. Our crew member and passengers report getting pick pocketed quite a bit whilst in this city. Las Ramblas is a notorious spot for them.

newgroundhogbrit

Depends on your definition of 'safe' and the person doing the asking. I'm 1.82 and 120Kg so I don't get picked on that often.

Do you stand a chance of losing your wallet? Definitely yes, especially in the area of Las Ramblas, the Old Town area off to the left of Las Ramblas at night, and in the area of the Olympic Harbour of a night-time if out wandering the bars.

The usual trick was to try and drape arms around you like a long lost friend whilst shouting the name of an English football team very loudly. Left hand around your money and a large free hand to push off the attention seemed to work for me.

You are also likely to see gangs working the 'Find the Coin' routine on the Ramblas which is kind of fun to watch from a distance if you can spot the 'players' but less fun if you join the game - you will lose - and if you lose your wallet in the crowd of 'spectators'.

Crowds of young kids milling around near tourist metro stations are also a pretty good indication that you ought to keep your hand on your wallet.

The bottom end of the Ramblas also gets a fair cross section of 'ladies for hire' and associated street offerings late into the night but is pretty normal early evening and in the daytime.

That being said for all its petty stuff I have never felt unsafe in the city. The violence of other big cities seems absent.The cabs are cheap if you want to avoid walking of a night time and the usual rules about splitting up your cash, keep cards back in your room, carry ID, and keep your wits about you apply in Barcelona just as much as any other big city.

Still one of my favourite cities in Europe.

newgroundhogbrit

Don't want to add too much but just remembered two colleagues who lost laptops and other baggage upon arrival in Barcelona Airport! Don't leave anything unattended even when in the queue for a hire car, taxi, bus, train etc these people have skill and a great deal of nerve.

Also came across this article:

http://www.expatica.com/es/lifestyle....html?ppager=0

unrdchi

I was in Barcelona in Feb, and on the crowded metro ride into the city, I thwarted a pick pocket, mostly by accident. A group of young punks pushed us into the train car as the doors were closing and in the process open up our backpacks. Then one of them had his hand in my pocket when I reached down, luckily there was nothing in the pocket he was reaching in. I had hoped to use my new DSLR camera while there, but after the incident on the train and looking and seeing almost no one with a large camera around their neck, I decided against using it.

Jeeves

My dad got pick pocketed in Madrid but was fine in Barcelona. It can happen in almost any big city.

alanw

Exactly. Barcelona is no different than any other big city full of drunk foreign tourists. It's amazing the way people will wander around with expensive cameras draped around their necks, wallet bulging in their back pocket while gawking up at the sights or leave their mobile phone laying on the table at an outdoor cafe, or put their luggage down at the airport and wander off to find change/coffee/whatever. FWIW, those doing the stealing are also foreigners, not locals. They arrive just in time for the tourist season and leave again in the fall.

Avoiding petty theft in Barcelona is the same as anywhere else: engage your brain.

With respect to safety, Barcelona is an extremely safe city. Violent crime is nearly nonexistant, and when it does happen it is almost always crime-of-passion stuff, not muggings, rapes, assaults, or robbery etc.

catched22

July 31,2009. Got pickpocketed on the L3 train going to Sants station. They took the wallet from a "fanny" pack worn in the front. Got on the metro August 1,2009. Same L3 train and saw some petty criminal flying out of a subway car with a tourists camera. The tourist frantically tried to stop the subway car as it was leaving. The car got stopped and there were 4 guys chasing after the robber down the platform. Is this Hollywood or what. Some people say that it is coincidental. But I don´t think so and I would not come back to Barcelona. I think Barcelona is "Supermarket" for petty criminals. This is not a great place to visit.

alanw

Indeed. If you're wandering around on the metro at the height of tourist season with your wallet in a "fanny pack" hanging in front of you, it sounds like you got exactly what you were looking for. Best stay home.

dia1

I travel in Europe quite a few times a year and used to live in a large city in Mexico. I'm not a naive tourist, don't carry a camera, and dress to blend in.

Barcelona is beautiful and interesting but irritates the dickens out of me because of the extensive petty crime. I have never been so hassled as in Barcelona. Especially in the tourist haunts but in other places as well, you just have to be completely on-guard. And assume that your airport taxi driver is more likely than not to be a crook who will try to scam you out of a lot of money or leave with your luggage. This is extremely unfortunate because there are more wonderful, honest people there than you will realize . . . but the city has a problem and it has only gotten worse with and since the Olympics.

alanw

Amazing the people from Missouri who get hassled in Barcelona like nowhere else on Earth! It's amazing 'cause I'm from Missouri, and I've lived here six years, and am still waiting for the hordes of pickpockets to come at me on the train, the metro, walking down the street, standing in line, etc. I must be really lucky! Well, me along with everyone I know here.

studentbecometeacher

I'm not sure why you think this is a good comparison. Living someplace for six years and being a tourist are different things. In addition, you dress differently than a tourist, walk probably faster than a tourist, etc. Your behavior and mannerisms are different than a tourist.

Even many posters in this thread who claim to be so savvy have been targets. There are two separate issues here:

1) Not being a tourist target. Almost impossible to avoid, really, unless you really don't want to have any fun. Race/ethnicity/weight/age/sex, walking speed, where your eyes move, being curious, etc., all are things that it's sort of difficult to avoid when you want to have fun on your trip. Tourists may try avoid being a target by leaving behind the white athletic shoes, khaki pants, hats, fanny packs, backpacks, etc., but generally tourists are always going to be targets, especially in cities like Barcelona, because you stick out like a sore thumb.

2) Protecting your belongings after being targeted. This includes not putting things in a fanny pack or in the back pockets of your shots. This is much easier to do.

What I'm trying to say is that if you were targeted but then thought ahead of time so you had a wallet with nothing in it, or kept your money in your bra, so on and so forth, then good for you. But you were still targeted. Being targeted itself would ruin a vacation. You may lecture someone who wore a fanny pack but I bet you they would have been targeted anyways.

dragonfirebcn

I have to agree that most of the tourists here (as in any other big destination in the world) are screaming to get robbed...