Barcelona has become one of the most visited cities in the world, ranking number 8 on the world list for most attractive city for visitors in 2024. But it cannot be denied that Barcelona has unfortunately also developed a reputation for pickpocketing and theft. But how much of the reputation is true? And what steps should I take as a visitor to ensure I don’t become another statistic?
I have been living in Barcelona for 11 years, and have experienced being a resident in various spectrums and layers. I have lived the experience of being a recent arrival: naïve, distracted and living in tourist areas. But I have also settled into a more sustainable, integrated lifestyle in a more local area. These experiences have given me insight into situations and practices that visitors commonly fall victim to.
City vs. Country
One of the main things I notice in tourist behaviour in Barcelona is the fact that many visitors are not accustomed to visiting big cities. A visitor from New York City or London is already well-conditioned on the basic levels of awareness and sensibility to have when in public spaces. But many visitors come from smaller cities, towns, or villages, and do not possess the second nature of being aware of your surroundings. Barcelona is a city: The city proper houses 1 million inhabitants (approx) and a further 2.5 million in the metropolitan area. Any time you have a city that condensed and populated, the propensity for crime and bad actors capitalising on opportunity increases exponentially. I saw this first hand with my parents: They lived in a suburb of Northern Virginia for 24+ years, and while home invasions, robberies, etc. do exist, on a much lower scale than in, for example in Washington, DC only 20 minutes away. The amount of times I had to remind them to watch their belongings, keep their bag close to them, or not engage with individuals obviously peddling scams was mind-boggling to me. I wondered if I had also arrived with that behaviour. But of course, I did. I had my phone stolen twice, my wallet stolen once, and my bike stolen twice. To me it is the most obvious weakness I see in public: People who are obviously from small towns/villages who are visiting a big city and don’t come prepared. Take a moment to readjust your mindset, and remind yourself to be aware of your surroundings.
Taking care of your Belongings
Unfortunately in my case, I had to get burned before I learned my lesson. I understand that you don’t want to be so hyper-aware of your surroundings at every moment that you don’t enjoy your trip, but just do momentary checks on yourself and your belongings. Heading into a crowd? Where is your bag? Are all the zippers closed? If its super packed I even switch my backpack to my front and put my hand on the bag. Make sure that your wallet, passport, phone, or any other valuable is not stored in an external zipped pocket, but rather inside the main body, and ideally within another zipped pocket. Metros are prime locations for pickpockets to subtly unzip pockets and take valuables without you even feeling a thing. Make it as difficult as possible to reach your valuables, and be aware of your bag at all times. Are you sitting at a terrace or restaurant to eat? DO NOT hang your bag over the back of your chair or loosely on the floor. Either put it on your lap, or if you want to relax and eat, I loop my purse strap around one of my legs and put the purse between my feet. It may seem excessive, but it quickly becomes second nature and doesn’t infringe on my enjoyment at all.
Common Scams / Techniques
If you are in a public space and all of the sudden you see a commotion occurring, it’s human nature to pause and watch. Someone is screaming, having an argument, crying loudly, asking for help. Or maybe someone is making a spectacle, doing a street performance, etc. I’m not saying to rebel against human nature and not look. But my first thought when I see a commotion happening in a public area is – where is my bag? Do I have a good handle on it? Is it within my sight lines? Pickpockets often work in teams, and will stage a dramatic and engaging distraction, and a collaborator will flit around the bystanders who are distracted by the show. Sometimes commotions are legitimate, but have that check-in with yourself and your belongings when you come across one. It takes 10 seconds to do, but awareness immediately makes you an undesirable victim. And remember, sometimes it doesn’t need to be a big group commotion in a public space: Sometimes thieves will work in teams of two, with one distracting the victim asking them for directions, help, etc. while the other one steals. I still help out my fellow neighbours and engage when someone asks for assistance, but as stated before: I have a quick check-in with myself. Where is my bag? Let me put my hand on it? Are there lots of people swarming around me, is there someone standing right behind me?
There is also the age-old scam of ladies, often of Roma descent, standing near churches or other religious sites with herbs or flowers asking to give you a blessing. Do not accept anything they hand to you. They may say its free, or it may sound like a nice story, but it is almost always a scam. In fact, do not accept anything strangers hand you in public.
Things to not bring to Barcelona
The number one object I would recommend visitors to NOT bring to Barcelona are: Luxury Watches. Time and time again we hear about situations in the news where a watch worth 10K, 50K, 100K are snatched off the wrists of unsuspecting owners. It is very unfortunate, but the propensity for high-spending tourists to come with naïve behaviours to Barcelona has caused several mafia rings to spring up in Barcelona that focus solely on wrenching watches off wrists. If you want, you can bring a knock-off, but know that if the knock-off is a good one, it may also be wrenched off your wrist as its mistaken for the genuine article, and you can only hope your wrist/arm isn’t hurt in the process. It’s better to either eschew the article completely, or wear one that is obviously not a luxury watch (Swatch, smaller/cheaper brands, etc.)
For women, the danger for yanking objects is not AS common as watches, but there is still a danger. Know that if you bring an invaluable bag such as Birkin, you will need to watch that bag like a hawk, and not relax even for a minute. Cross-body is better, but they also can cut purse straps. So if you’re absolutely dead-set on wearing a luxury bag, wear it cross body and keep a hand holding the strap so even if it’s cut you still can hold on to it. For jewellery, it may seem obvious given previous advice, but do not wear ostentatious or attention-grabbing jewels. Small diamond stud earrings or a gold chain, etc. should be ok. But if you’re rocking around Las Ramblas with the Hope Diamond hanging around your neck, some may say you are asking for it.
The Importance of where you are
It may seem obvious, but any place that tourists gather is an automatic attraction for thieves. But of course, the places tourists gather often happen to be the places you most want to visit touring the city. I am not saying do not visit touristic sites, just visit them with heightened awareness of your surroundings. La Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo, Parc Güell, Passeig de Gracia, La Barceloneta, Las Ramblas, are all areas in which bad actors operate capitalising on the volume of potential victims. Just remember when in those areas to have a check-in with yourself.
Now if you allow me to also make some recommendations on visiting the city: I would recommend to not stay in the Casco Antiguo (which includes the neighborhoods of Raval, El Gòtic, and El Borne). Absolutely visit those areas during the day, there are very nice shops, museums and sites to see. But at night the narrow streets, low lighting and concentration of nightlife establishments lead to more unsavory behaviour. I would recommend to stay in the Eixample neighborhood (either Eixample Esquerra or Eixample Dreta). Eixample is very centrally located to many touristic sites, but also has larger, well-lit streets. There is a higher proportion of locals living there as well, which are usually not attractive to pickpocketers as locals are more aware of their modus operandi.
Another controversial opinion, but one I’m sure most Barcelona residents would agree with: Las Ramblas is a hellhole. It is really the worst. And it is very sad that it is so, because Las Ramblas used to be one of if not the most beautiful boulevards in Barcelona. At the turn of the century it was where the Barcelona residents would go to be seen, they would put on their best clothing and promenade. You could visit the many stands and vendors there selling flowers, pets (actually I’m glad this no longer exists, it was quite unethical in my opinion) and newspapers. Nowadays, it is a grotesque, artificial and seedy version of itself. The street itself may look the same when you squint, but now the sidewalks are lined with tourist store after tourist store selling cheap magnets, crappy ice cream shops, restaurants serving disgusting paellas made in microwaves, vape/tabaco shops, and establishments that offer absolutely nothing to the culture or community of Barcelona. And that’s not even mentioning the incredibly insistent and irritating ambulent vendors peddling at best some half-assed, overpriced tourist activity, but more often than not selling illegal wares ranging from every drug on the market to sex workers offering their services. And predictably, it only gets worse when the sun goes down. My recommendation is to take the metro straight to the stop of “Liceu”, and visit only La Boquería, the beautiful market with its dozens of exotic and unique food stalls, and then leave the street again. And once again, while in the market, make sure you have a handle on your belongings.
Is Barcelona safe?
Having read the above, you might ask why I have lived in this city for the past 11 years. And it’s a fair question. The straight answer is that residents tend to frequent less the areas that have higher occurrences of pickpocketing. I live in the Sagrada Familia neighborhood, but not in the direct vicinity of the church. My neighborhood is a local one, filled with regular people going about their day. I have not been robbed in over 5 years, and the biggest factors in this have been the area I reside in, and that I have conditioned my behaviour to being more aware. Today, I can honestly say I feel no burden in my day-to-day worrying about being robbed. I know most of the tricks, and take necessary precautions, but I do not feel fear. Of course, it makes us sad to hear about incidents happening to tourists, and we grumble about general safety. But if you ask the general Barcelona public if they feel safe on their street, the answer is usually yes. Remember social media and news tend to sensationalise events to provoke reactions and emotions. Similar tactics are also carried out for political means, to paint the city as being some horrible place in need of saving. Try to keep a balanced view of what you see, and don’t get caught up in hysteria. Barcelona is safe, there is little violent crime, especially occurring to tourists. Pickpockets are an incredible nuisance and headache, but they will normally not enact violence in their methods. If you catch one in the act: yell, make noise, call attention to yourself. That is the last thing they want, for all eyes to be on them. You will see how quickly they slink away into the shadows.