Athens

Is Athens safe?

Athens is safe from serious crime and harder on visitors in other ways. Greek police recorded 34 intentional homicides in the whole Attica region in 2024, according to Eurostat, under 1 per 100,000 people in a region of about 3.8 million. Attacks on tourists are rare.

What visitors run into is theft, traffic and the climate. Pickpocketing on the metro and around the Acropolis is common, crossing the road takes care, and summer brings heatwaves and wildfires on the city's edge. We score Athens 71, a little below Rome and just above Istanbul. See the Greece country page for the islands and the rest of the country.

Metro line 1 and the pickpocket zone

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says thefts of passports, wallets and handbags are common on the metro and in crowded tourist places, particularly in central Athens. Police recorded 39,495 thefts in Attica in 2024. The trouble spots are well known:

• Metro line 1, the green line from Piraeus to Kifissia, especially between Piraeus, Thissio, Monastiraki and Omonia. Trains are crowded and full of tourists going to and from the ferries.
• Line 3 to the airport and the X95 airport bus, where people carry all their bags.
• Monastiraki Square and the flea market, Ermou Street and the lanes of Plaka.
• The approaches to the Acropolis, Syntagma Square at the changing of the guard, and Omonia.
• Piraeus port, in the scrum for the ferries.

Thieves often work in groups and create a crush at the doors. In 2026 police described a man at one metro station who crowded tourists so his accomplices could take their money. Since early 2025 an operation called Ariadne has put more than 400 officers on buses, trains and trams each day, with 1,400 arrests in the first four months of 2026, although most were for drugs rather than theft.

Car crime is high. Attica recorded 11,419 vehicle thefts in 2024, so do not leave anything in a hire car and park in a lit or guarded car park.

Where to be careful at night

The historic centre is busy until late, and Plaka, Koukaki, Psyrri, Kolonaki and Gazi are fine to walk through after dark. The area that worries visitors is the triangle around Omonia, Metaxourgeio and Larissis station, where drug dealing and rough sleeping are visible. It is not usually dangerous for passers-by, but it is not where you want to wander lost at 2am.

Athenians themselves are uneasy after dark. In the European Commission's 2023 survey of city residents, only 40% in greater Athens said they feel safe walking alone at night in the city, and 55% in their own neighbourhood. Among the 80 cities in Eurostat's data only Rome was lower, and 35% of Athenians strongly disagreed that they feel safe.

Exarchia, the student and anarchist district near the Polytechnic, is fine by day and has good bars. It also sees clashes between police and protesters, and the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary notes that police use tear gas. The flashpoints are 17 November, the anniversary of the 1973 Polytechnic uprising, and 6 December, the anniversary of a teenager's killing by police in 2008. Big demonstrations also gather on Syntagma Square, especially on 1 May.

The FCDO advises using Uber or Free Now to call licensed taxis rather than flagging one down late at night, watching drinks in bars, and not letting friends walk back alone. The tourist police on 1571 speak English.

Traffic and pedestrians

Greek roads are among the more dangerous in the EU, at about 5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2025. Central Athens is slower, but walking is stressful. Motorbikes weave between cars and sometimes ride on pavements, cars park across crossings, and drivers turning right rarely wait for pedestrians. Attica's traffic police recorded six road deaths in January 2026 and say fatal crashes fell by a quarter compared with January 2025, after a crackdown on speeding and riding without a helmet.

Cross at lights, look both ways even on one-way streets, and do not assume a car will stop at a zebra crossing. If you rent a scooter, wear a helmet; the police fine riders without one.

Heat, fire and earthquakes

This is where Athens differs most from northern capitals. July and August bring heatwaves above 40°C, and the Acropolis closes in the afternoon during the worst of them. Air pollution adds to the strain: the EEA put the city's average PM2.5PM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary at 14.2 µg/m³ for 2022 to 2023, nearly three times the WHO guideline.

Wildfires burn in the hills around Athens most summers, and fires on Mount Penteli and Parnitha have reached the northern suburbs. Greece is also earthquake country. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary advises setting your phone to receive the government's emergency alerts, which warn of fires, floods and evacuations by location. Autumn storms can cause flash floods on the city's paved-over streams.

Tap water is safe. Public hospitals are busy, and many visitors use private clinics; bring an EHIC if you are from the EU, and travel insurance either way.

How we scored it

Violent crime (90) is Athens' strongest factor. Walking at night (57) is the weakest: it follows the EU's 2023 survey of residents, which we use for every European city, and only 40% of Athenians feel safe alone at night in the city. Theft and scams (60) and natural hazards (62) come next, because of the well-organised pickpocketing on line 1 and in the centre, and heat, wildfires and earthquake risk. Traffic safety (68) reflects the national road death rate and difficult conditions for pedestrians.