Safety in Spain

I’ve just returned from Spain for 2 weeks’ vacation. My friend and I had rented a car and travelled mainly in Andalucia and Madrid.

Prior to the trip, I’d spent some time in TT to obtain the updated information and advices. I became very worried after reading several posts on the pickpockets, muggers and tyre-punctured scam. I also read a post which said that Asians are the popular targets. Yes, we’re Asians and I worried even more.

We took the car from the Madrid airport and immediately drove down to Toledo and cities in Andalucia, then went up to Segovia and Avila and finally returned to Madrid. Except in Madrid, we all felt very safe. We didn’t feel any threat or have the feeling of being watched. The people in most of the cities were nice and polite. We saw police quite often in many tourist areas.

We also did do street parking in several cities such as Toledo, Jerez, Cadiz, Tarifa, Malaga, Segovia and Avila and were perfectly okay. Of course we were very discipline that we left nothing (not even a piece of paper) in the car when we left it.

Though the LP guidebook states that Madrid is a relatively safe city, we met the same gang of pickpockets in the metro twice on the same day. They were a group of 4 people, 2 males and 2 females, doing their business on Line 10. My friend and I were standing near the metro door. When these 4 people got into the train, they stood very close to us although the train was quite empty. I immediately alerted my friend. 2 of them were holding the metro maps pretending as tourists. When the train was approaching to a station, a man suddenly threw a piece of paper to my friend. At the same time, a woman slipped her hand into my friend’s front pocket. My friend discovered and shouted at her. Of course she denied it. Then we got off the train immediately.

On the return trip, we saw them on the train again. My friend stared at them sternly. They also recognized us, so they moved to the next compartment. This time, they targeted at a pair of tourists. When a man was managing his luggage to prepare for getting off, the same woman stole the phone from his coat’s pocket. Luckily his friend noticed her action and shouted at her. She immediately threw the phone onto the floor and said the man had dropped his phone himself.

Overall, I felt the cities that I travelled were safe as long as the necessary precautions were taken. We used money belt and neck pouch. Dressed down. Left nothing valuable in the coat or pants’ pockets. Be alert when travelling in metro or in crowded area. Avoid quiet streets…..

Finally, I must say we enjoyed the trip very much. The Mezquita in Cordoba and Alhambra in Granada are so impressive. White villages around Ronda are also interesting. The aqueduct in Seville is stunning. We tried a lot of tapas and bought quite a bit of Jamon Iberico back home as souvenir. My friend said he will visit Spain again definitely.