Zurich

Is Zurich safe?

Yes. Zurich is one of the safest cities in Europe for a visitor, and in 2025 it got safer. City police recorded 44,434 offences under the criminal code, 8% fewer than in 2024, with the drop driven by fewer thefts and break-ins. Killings are rare: the Federal Statistical Office counts 12 completed homicides in the whole canton of Zurich, home to 1.6 million people, about 0.7 per 100,000.

What you are most likely to run into is a pickpocket at the main station or a crowd of crack users in a park near the Langstrasse. Neither is a serious threat to your safety. We score Zurich 88, level with Munich and above Vienna (85).

Crime in numbers

Swiss crime figures are detailed and free to download, so it is easy to see where the problems are.

The one number moving the wrong way is serious violence, which includes killings, grievous bodily harm and rape. It nearly doubled in the city between 2020 and 2025. Part of the latest rise is legal: since July 2024 Swiss law counts more acts as rape, and the city says the increase in recorded rapes in 2025 is down to that change alone. Assaults and minor violence fell in 2025, mostly on public streets on weekdays.

The UK Foreign Office describes serious crime in Switzerland as low and says terrorist attacks cannot be ruled out, a lower threat level than it gives for France or Germany.

Pickpockets and the main station

Zurich Hauptbahnhof is the busiest station in Switzerland, and it is where most thefts from visitors happen: on crowded platforms, in the shopping levels underneath and on trains to and from the airport. 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 more reports of petty theft in Swiss cities and asks travellers to take extra care at stations and airports. Pickpocketing in the canton fell by almost a third between 2023 and 2025, but it has not gone away.

Other spots to keep a hand on your bag are the Bahnhofstrasse, the old town lanes of the Niederdorf on summer evenings, and the lakeside promenades when there is a festival on. Scams aimed at tourists are rare. Prices are the shock, not the overcharging.

The crack scene near the Langstrasse

Zurich's visible problem is drugs. Crack appeared around the Bäckeranlage, a park in Kreis 4, about three years ago, and in July 2026 the city said open drug use and dealing were increasing in summer. It named the Bäckeranlage, the Kasernenareal, platform 3 of the main station and the Gessnerallee, and the Schanzengraben canal in the evening. The city estimates that about 400 people use crack in the inner city, half of them from outside Zurich.

Police have treated parts of Kreis 1 and Kreis 4 as hot spots since about June 2026, with foot patrols, ID checks and orders to leave. The city also runs supervised consumption rooms on the Kasernenareal, in Oerlikon and in Selnau.

For a visitor this is mostly an unpleasant sight, not a danger. The city says the large groups lead to conflicts and make these places hard for others to use. The Langstrasse itself remains the city's main nightlife street and is full of people until late. Walk on the main street rather than through the park, and do not engage with anyone offering to sell you something.

Zurich at night

In the European Commission's 2023 survey of city residents, 86% of people in Zurich said they feel safe walking alone at night in the city and 92% in their own neighbourhood. Only five cities in the survey, Copenhagen among them, scored higher. Geneva came in at 81%, Munich at 79%.

Trams run until about midnight, and night buses and S-Bahn trains run through the night at weekends. The old town, the lakeside, Enge, Seefeld and Zurich West are calm late at night. Kreis 4 and Kreis 5 around the Langstrasse are loud and crowded at weekends, with the drink-fuelled scuffles any nightlife district has.

Trams, lake and weather

Zurich's roads are among the safest of any city we score. City police data show 5 fatal road accidents in 2025 and 31 over the five years to 2025, about 1.4 per 100,000 residents a year. Pedestrians were involved in 23 of those 31 crashes. Trams are quiet and fast, have priority, and turn across pavements; look both ways before stepping off a kerb, and do not walk along the tram tracks.

The air is clean. City monitors measured fine particle levels of 7.0 to 8.9 µg/m³ in 2025. Tap water is excellent, and so is the University Hospital.

Natural hazards are modest. Summer hailstorms can be violent, heatwaves are getting more frequent, and the Sihl, which runs under the main station, is the city's main flood risk. In summer, swim at the supervised lake and river baths rather than off random jetties: the Limmat current is strong.

How we scored it

Violent crime (93), natural hazards (92) and traffic (91) are Zurich's strongest factors; we put violent crime just below the 95+ band because serious violence in the city has risen since 2020. Walking at night (87) follows the EU's 2023 survey of residents, less 2 points for the open drug scene around the Bäckeranlage and the main station. Theft and scams (77) is the weakest factor, because pickpockets still work the main station and the trains. See our Switzerland page for the rest of the country.