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Small side note, Amsterdam has it's issues here and there with crime, for sure, but saying there is only a small "Safe" section is complete nonsense. Most histo

Small side note, Amsterdam has it's issues here and there with crime, for sure, but saying there is only a small "Safe" section is complete nonsense. Most historical sites are completely safe, except maybe for pickpockets, like any major tourist congregation. The major problem in Amsterdam is the taxi drivers. They refuse to take you somewhere because the distance is not enough for them to make some money on (even though this practice is illegal). They are aggressive, do not know their way around town and are general assholes. The market was deregulated, i.e. everybody with a roof light is now a taxi, they even have fake signs from "reputable" taxi companies. TL;DR Amsterdam is safe Amsterdam Taxis are crazy bad.

enra 10y ago
I was surprised by the parent comment as well. I visited Amsterdam last summer and walked to pretty much every part of the city, also took a train to other towns and didn't see hard drugs & anything even moderately unsafe. I find that US average cities are order of magnitude more "run by hard drugs and unsafe". In SF I walk by sketchy areas and piles of needles everyday, you can't really avoid it.
alex_hitchins 10y ago
I have found this out also. Amsterdam is a fantastic place I encourage all to go and visit.
cr1895 10y ago
>Most historical sites are completely safe I'd contend literally every site of historical interest in the NL is safe. Which would you consider unsafe? Neglecting, of course, pickpockets; they're not really a threat to personal safety, they're in every city with lots of tourists, and among big tourism destinations in Europe (Paris, Rome, Barcelona, etc.) the pickpocket issue is anecdotally much less severe.
emmelaich 10y ago
Yes, Amsterdam is safe, especially within the ring. Those pickpockets though - rapacious and bold. Much worse than Rome or Paris for example.
- cr1895 10y ago
  >Much worse than Rome or Paris for example. Anecdotally, I think the opposite is true. There are far more noticeable scammers and pickpockets in for example touristy areas of Paris, or even its metros. It's surprisingly hard for me to find concrete data on this, however. I'm curious to know.
  - jakub_g 10y ago
    I can confirm on Paris. Been to Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Paris has been definitively the worst, with all the scammers around Eiffel Tower and Sacre Coeur. Lisbon also felt a bit weird in some places. All the other cities were fine, though I've heard many stories from my colleagues about Barcelona.
  - emmelaich 10y ago
    Scammers yes worse in Paris, but not pickpockets in my experience. Might have been lucky. TBH probably depends what time of the year and where you go. What really annoys me is the acceptance of these cities with their existence. Amsterdam trams will warn you whether there are pickpockets on board (zakkenrollers). So they're easy to spot by the locals. But I've never seen real policing. I have seen pickpockets do almost full body searches on unsuspecting tourists on crowded trams. And they get very menacing when they know that you know what they're up to.
    - cr1895 10y ago
      What can they do? It's obviously in the city's interest to squash the pick-pocketing as much as possible, but it's not easy to police against. It's like bike theft. Bikes get stolen all the time but there's little that can be done to stop it. I tend to avoid areas where they'd congregate and I don't especially look like a tourist, so there's probably some confirmation bias at play.
      - pmoriarty 10y ago
        What about using surveillance cameras? I presume that pickpockets aren't going around wearing masks, so it should be possible to identify them from surveillance camera footage, no?
rconti 10y ago
I did my share to piss of Amsterdam Taxi drivers. I stayed 8 days at the hotel attached to the airport. Every morning I walked across the skybridge and hired a taxi to drive me to a datacenter on the other side of the airport (Perhaps 8km/10-12min).

enra 10y ago

I was surprised by the parent comment as well. I visited Amsterdam last summer and walked to pretty much every part of the city, also took a train to other towns and didn't see hard drugs & anything even moderately unsafe. I find that US average cities are order of magnitude more "run by hard drugs and unsafe". In SF I walk by sketchy areas and piles of needles everyday, you can't really avoid it.

alex_hitchins 10y ago

I have found this out also. Amsterdam is a fantastic place I encourage all to go and visit.

cr1895 10y ago

>Most historical sites are completely safe I'd contend literally every site of historical interest in the NL is safe. Which would you consider unsafe? Neglecting, of course, pickpockets; they're not really a threat to personal safety, they're in every city with lots of tourists, and among big tourism destinations in Europe (Paris, Rome, Barcelona, etc.) the pickpocket issue is anecdotally much less severe.

emmelaich 10y ago

Yes, Amsterdam is safe, especially within the ring. Those pickpockets though - rapacious and bold. Much worse than Rome or Paris for example.

cr1895 10y ago
>Much worse than Rome or Paris for example. Anecdotally, I think the opposite is true. There are far more noticeable scammers and pickpockets in for example touristy areas of Paris, or even its metros. It's surprisingly hard for me to find concrete data on this, however. I'm curious to know.
- jakub_g 10y ago
  I can confirm on Paris. Been to Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Paris has been definitively the worst, with all the scammers around Eiffel Tower and Sacre Coeur. Lisbon also felt a bit weird in some places. All the other cities were fine, though I've heard many stories from my colleagues about Barcelona.
- emmelaich 10y ago
  Scammers yes worse in Paris, but not pickpockets in my experience. Might have been lucky. TBH probably depends what time of the year and where you go. What really annoys me is the acceptance of these cities with their existence. Amsterdam trams will warn you whether there are pickpockets on board (zakkenrollers). So they're easy to spot by the locals. But I've never seen real policing. I have seen pickpockets do almost full body searches on unsuspecting tourists on crowded trams. And they get very menacing when they know that you know what they're up to.
  - cr1895 10y ago
    What can they do? It's obviously in the city's interest to squash the pick-pocketing as much as possible, but it's not easy to police against. It's like bike theft. Bikes get stolen all the time but there's little that can be done to stop it. I tend to avoid areas where they'd congregate and I don't especially look like a tourist, so there's probably some confirmation bias at play.
    - pmoriarty 10y ago
      What about using surveillance cameras? I presume that pickpockets aren't going around wearing masks, so it should be possible to identify them from surveillance camera footage, no?

rconti 10y ago

I did my share to piss of Amsterdam Taxi drivers. I stayed 8 days at the hotel attached to the airport. Every morning I walked across the skybridge and hired a taxi to drive me to a datacenter on the other side of the airport (Perhaps 8km/10-12min).