[MrDosu]

This is reminds of a story of friends of mine from South Africa. They took the kids out of school to travel all the way up Africa and into Europ and back down for a year. They got robbed three times. Two times in France and once in Spain...

[colmvp]

Ha! I've travelled to remote parts of South America, Africa, Asia, and the only times I ever experienced getting robbed or deeply fearing for my safety was in Barcelona and Philly.

[todd8]

I've been to Barcelona twice. A beautiful city that I really enjoyed. I never felt threatened in any way (but see next paragraph). I went out at night to local clubs and didn't feel that there was any more risk than going out in a large US city. Take the same kind of precautions, ask people before venturing into areas that you are unfamiliar with at night.

Las Ramblas is a large interesting boulevard through the middle of town and is a lot of fun to see. However, in any location where there are tourists, there appear to be very talented pickpockets targeting them; be careful.

I'm an amateur (very amateur) magician so I was fascinated to see the street scams based on the classic shell game being performed openly on Las Ramblas, complete with confederates winning money etc.

[oxryly1]

The pickpockets there are magicians themselves. I watched* my friend get his phone lifted on a nearly empty Barcelona street at 5am, and neither of us had any clue.

*: more like I was looking in the exact direction but not actually seeing what was happening.

[cdhdc]

I've seen the shell game and 3 card monte scams performed on the Las Vegas strip. Also witnessed the shell game in downtown San Francisco.

[M_Grey]

Philly is one of those fun places where you can go from "Look at this lovely campus!" to "Oh god... we... we came to the wrong part of town. See how everyone is looking at us like we're crazy to be here? What... we were just on campus!!!" in a couple of blocks.

[kochthesecond]

Just to add anecdotal evidence, I have travelled a lot in Spain and never felt unsafe nor been robbed.

[jdavis703]

Same I've been to Philly and Barcelona, and live in Oakland, CA. Never felt like I was about to be robbed. I guess at the risk of being downvoted for victim blaming, "don't be stupid." It wouldn't surprise me if people let their guard down when they felt they were in a "safe" area.

[ghshephard]

Depends on when you lived in Oakland, CA. When I lived there (Lake Merritt and 17th) in 1998/1999, it was a total war zone. Absolutely nobody went out a night, and cars would typically drive through red lights rather than stop.

I visited it recently, and the entire Lake area has become gentrified. Almost like an entirely new city, with lots of people out at night. And I wasn't too worried about being robbed. Of course, I was robbed at gunpoint just a few years ago walking home from work in Redwood City - so it just goes to show it can happen almost anywhere. Except, of course, Singapore. Gotta be the safest city in the world.

[justin66]

> live in Oakland, CA. Never felt like I was about to be robbed. I guess at the risk of being downvoted for victim blaming, "don't be stupid."

Unless things have improved a lot in the last fifteen years, it's really pretty easy for a tourist inclined to walk between touristy areas in Oakland to wander into an unsafe area. I wouldn't blame that on stupidity, it's not as if the city puts warning signs up.

[ctrl-j]

> I've been to Philly and Barcelona, and live in Oakland, CA. Never felt like I was about to be robbed.

Maybe you don't know what the feeling is like? I mean, how long have you lived in Oakland? If you grew up in the city with the 3rd highest crime rate in the US, maybe your barometer isn't calibrated the best?

[mklim]

On the other hand, I lived in Detroit for years. I think most people conflate "visibly poor" with "actively dangerous" and feel scared when they shouldn't. So many people would come in from the suburbs and visibly panic because they saw a crumbling building or a homeless person and figured they were about to get mugged, even though they were by the DIA in broad daylight surrounded by a crowd of people. My university's campus had less reported crimes than U of M's while I was there, and I still had a middle aged suburban woman try to get my professor to end a 6-9pm class at 7pm because she was scared to walk the 100 well-lit feet from the lecture hall to the parking structure after dark.

[rmason]

I am a native Detroiter though I don't live there now. It has always puzzled me that people view Chicago as a safe and fun place to visit. Yet South Chicago is in many ways more dangerous than most Detroit neighborhoods. But they don't hold that against the city because most visitors never enter South Chicago. Yet people are afraid to visit downtown Detroit because of the crime in neighborhoods like precinct nine.

[knowaveragejoe]

I think you are placing undue weight on the statistics. Just because it's the 3rd highest in the US does not mean every waking second is spent looking over your shoulder lest you be robbed.

[catshirt]

the only thing we can extrapolate from this is that not every single person who goes to Spain gets robbed.

[piaste]

Let's do the black sheep joke:

"There is at least one HN account, used by at least one person, who claims to believe he went to Spain and did not get robbed."

[gmunu]

I've been to Spain once, went to Barcelona, and was robbed. I'd still go back to Spain and Barcelona though!

[bshimmin]

I've only ever been robbed in Italy, but I've been back a lot in the hope of meeting my robber again (he was Italian, he had dark hair, medium height, and was somewhat unshaven - anyone know him?).

[hueving]

Yes, fits the description of an Italian guy I work with. He's now living in silicon valley. :)

[sumang]

Barcelona really? I am from Barcelona but never thought people are scared to be in Barcelona. I heard people get robbed in Las Ramblas years back but now its quite safe. You will never get mugged in Barcelona according to my experience.

[jnsaff2]

Years ago I found a foreign hand in my pocket at metro turnstiles in Barcelona, elaborate scheme with 3 people, one covering on the back, one on my right distracting me and one on my left reaching into my pocket.

Something tripped my alarm and I ripped the hand out of my pocket before I lost anything, that dude was gone in a flash, the other two urged me to go through the gates as I would lose my ticket.

Then I remembered the recommendation to swear angrily in Russian at them and came up with a few of those I knew and the other two took a hike very quickly. Apparently they are very afraid of Russian speaking people.

[M_Grey]

No one wants to take the chance that they're pissing off someone connected.

[de_Selby]

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic..

Anyone who doesn't look Spanish is likely to get pickpocketed on Las Ramblas. I've heard multiple stories and seen it myself despite having only visited a few times.

I wouldn't feel unsafe there, but the risk of getting robbed is very high.

[tombrossman]

You can sit on one of the benches in the busier areas and easily spot the pickpockets and see them going in people's bags and backpacks and taking stuff. This isn't a rare occurrence and it does not take a practised eye to see. The pickpockets are always well dressed (usually very similar to the tourists). I like visiting BCN and I think it's a wonderful city, but it is completely infested with thieves targeting tourists to a degree that I have not seen in other European cities.

I'm surprised this is not common knowledge among people from there, maybe try 15-20 minutes people watching anywhere along Las Ramblas and see for yourself. Busy, sunny days with lots of people and police around are the best times to spot the thieves. You'll also frequently see tourist couples speaking to police reporting the robberies. You can watch the body language and gestures from a distance and it is very obvious.

[jzwinck]

My friend went to Barcelona and ended up in the hospital with a whole lot of stitches after being mugged in a tourist area after dark.

The place is also fairly well known for robberies of tourists in rental cars on the way to and from the airport. We were cautioned about this and rented a car from the other side of town instead.

[scalesolved]

I'm a foreigner living in Barcelona for four years, only once has someone tried to pickpocket me and I noticed them easily. I agree with your sentiment though, Barcelona feels like an incredibly safe city (at least in the center/Eixample) and I've never felt worried at night. Having lived/visited in Leeds/London and NYC in my experiences they are vastly more worrying/dangerous at night.

[enraged_camel]

My grandpa was visiting Barcelone about 3 years ago and he got mugged in broad daylight. He's 80 years old. One mugger put him in a chokehold while the other emptied his pockets.

My grandpa lost consciousness and had to be taken to a nearby hospital.

After he woke up, he said the people around the incident just ignored them, even though he called for help. He said he got the impression that it must be an everyday occurrence.

[donretag]

I once had a mugger in a chokehold in Las Ramblas after he tried to get my friend's wallet.

[DanBC]

A remarkably stupid thing to do. The wallet is disposable, you aren't.

[donretag]

I was not worried about the mugger himself, but of any possible friends nearby. I could have floored him easily (martial arts), but I did not want to start a rumble.

[tluyben2]

More anecdotal : I live close to Malaga and I travel a lot in and outside the EU: only place I got mugged (at knife point) was Barcelona.

[kingofspain]

Last year I was mugged away from Las Ramblas, guy ran up to me, pushed me from behind and got my phone while I was on the floor. I had my hand on the damn thing at the time too! This was on a busy street around 1am. So while perhaps not typical it does happen.

Bastard ran up £3k in premium rate calls by the time I got back to the hotel to cancel it. Luckily I was refunded for those!

[greggman]

A friend from Barcelona sent me this

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2239466/

[beachstartup]

thieves target tourists.

[collyw]

Ha! I live in Barcelona. Yes, pickpockets are bad (mainly in the tourist areas), but it is no way a violent city.

[RogtamBar]

Yes, it's puzzling.

70% of French criminals are of Arab origin. Maybe Arabs are better behaved in the Arab world than they are in France?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/1135...

Maybe it's because the French are really soft on prisoners. That Coulibaly guy was furious they confiscated his playstation. I doubt Morocco or Algeria would have ever allowed him one..

[acchow]

Or maybe the french are racist?

[RogtamBar]

I hope so. Reality is racist, therefore, if you're not a racist you're trying to fool yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2sUW8q7uWI