Skip to content
SafetyScorer

Ranking

Safest Cities in Europe 2026

Every European city we cover, from capitals to smaller cities such as Kraków, Florence and Edinburgh. Istanbul is included because its historic centre lies on the European side of the Bosphorus; Antalya, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast in Asia, is not. Open any city for the numbers, the neighbourhoods and the sources.

Updated · Scores update with each page

The ranking

  1. Munich

    Munich is one of the safest big cities in Europe, with about 0.6 killings per 100,000 people in 2025 and less than half Berlin's crime rate. The real risks are phone theft at the Oktoberfest and the main station, and a terrorism threat the FCDO calls very likely.

    Score 88, grade A

  2. Stockholm

    Stockholm is very safe for visitors, with 0.7 killings per 100,000 people in its police region in 2025 and some of the safest roads and cleanest air in Europe. Gang shootings and bombings are real but stay mostly in suburbs; pickpockets in crowds are the everyday risk.

    Score 87, grade A

  3. Copenhagen

    Copenhagen is one of Europe's safest capitals, with 6 homicides in 2025 for about 670,000 people and very low road deaths. Pickpockets around the central station and Strøget are the main nuisance. Gang conflicts flare up in Nørrebro now and then but rarely touch visitors.

    Score 86, grade A

  4. Edinburgh

    Edinburgh is one of the safest big cities in Britain, with under 1 homicide per 100,000 people, air close to the WHO guideline and few road deaths. The main risks are pickpockets in the August festival crowds and drunken trouble in the Old Town late at night.

    Score 86, grade A

  5. Vienna

    Vienna is a very safe city for visitors, with few killings, among the fewest road deaths of any big European city and a calm centre at night. Pickpocketing in crowds and on the U-Bahn is the main nuisance, and the FCDO rates the terrorism threat in Austria as likely.

    Score 85, grade A

  6. Dublin

    Dublin is a safe city for visitors, with about 13 killings a year in a region of 1.5 million people and some of the safest roads of any European capital. The catch is the city centre late at night, where assaults and anti-social behaviour have become a national debate.

    Score 84, grade B

  7. Kraków

    Kraków is a safe city with very little serious violence, very few road deaths and 79% of residents feeling safe walking alone at night. Visitors mostly meet pickpocketing around the Old Town and stations, overcharging in some bars and clubs, and smog on still winter days.

    Score 84, grade B

  8. Amsterdam

    Amsterdam is safe for visitors, with killings rare and falling. The catches are pickpockets around Centraal Station and the Red Light District, street dealers, drunken nights in the old centre, and a cycling culture that punishes pedestrians who step into a bike lane.

    Score 82, grade B

  9. Berlin

    Berlin is a safe city for visitors with low lethal violence and a calm traffic record. The risks are pickpockets on the U-Bahn and at Alexanderplatz, and a handful of drug-dealing hot spots in Kreuzberg and Neukölln that are best avoided late at night.

    Score 82, grade B

  10. Madrid

    Madrid is one of Europe's safest big capitals for violent crime and a city that stays out late without much trouble. Pickpockets in the centre and on the metro are the main risk, and summer heat is the hazard visitors underestimate.

    Score 82, grade B

  11. Prague

    Prague is a safe city with little serious violence and very few road deaths. What visitors meet is petty crime in the Old Town, on trams and on the airport bus, plus exchange offices, taxis and nightclubs that overcharge.

    Score 82, grade B

  12. London

    London is safe for visitors, with a homicide rate below Paris or New York and record-low violence in 2025. The real risk is having your phone snatched in the West End, often by thieves on bikes.

    Score 81, grade B

  13. Budapest

    Budapest is a safe city for visitors, with record-low street crime and few killings. The risks are about money and nightlife, chiefly bars and clubs that overcharge tourists, sometimes with taxi drivers in on it, plus pickpocketing on busy transport.

    Score 80, grade B

  14. Lisbon

    Lisbon is one of the calmer capitals in Europe for violent crime and road deaths. Pickpockets on the old trams and in the Baixa are the main risk; late at night, trouble clusters in Cais do Sodré, Bairro Alto and around Martim Moniz. Steep, slippery streets cause more falls than crime causes injuries.

    Score 80, grade B

  15. Barcelona

    Barcelona is very safe from violent crime and traffic, but it is Europe's best-known city for pickpocketing. Expect to be targeted on La Rambla, metro line 3 and Barceloneta beach, and plan for it.

    Score 78, grade B

  16. Paris

    Paris is safe from serious crime for almost all visitors, but it has some of Europe's busiest pickpocket gangs. Guard your phone and bag on the Metro, the RER B airport train and around the big monuments.

    Score 78, grade B

  17. Venice

    Venice is one of the safest cities in Italy for violence, and its car-free centre removes the main traffic risk. Pickpocketing in the crowds at Rialto, St Mark's and the station, inflated bills, and high tides that flood the lowest squares in autumn and winter are what visitors need to plan for.

    Score 76, grade B

  18. Milan

    Milan is safe from serious violence and has the safest roads of any big Italian city, but it tops Italy for reported thefts and street robberies. Phone and bag theft around Centrale station, the Duomo and the metro, and youth robbery gangs at night, are the risks; winter smog is the other.

    Score 74, grade B

  19. Florence

    Florence is safe from serious crime, but pickpocketing has reached record levels, with more thefts per head than anywhere else in Italy. Crowds around the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio and Santa Maria Novella station are where you lose things; heat and river floods are the other risks.

    Score 73, grade B

  20. Rome

    Rome is safe from serious crime, but pickpocketing at Termini, on the 64 bus and at the big monuments is common. Its traffic kills more people per head than any other large Italian city, so crossing the road deserves real care.

    Score 73, grade B

  21. Athens

    Athens has little serious violence and visitors are rarely hurt. Theft is the everyday risk, above all on metro line 1 and around Monastiraki, Omonia and the Acropolis. Heatwaves, nearby wildfires and unruly traffic weigh more on safety here than in most European capitals.

    Score 71, grade B

  22. Istanbul

    Istanbul is a reasonably safe city for visitors, with lower traffic death rates than its reputation suggests. Watch for bar and shoe-shine scams around Taksim and Sultanahmet, avoid protests, and know what to do in an earthquake.

    Score 69, grade C

  23. Naples

    Naples is safer than its reputation for a visitor who keeps a grip on phone and bag. About 1.1 homicides per 100,000 people a year, many of them Camorra feuds, rarely touch tourists. Snatch theft, risky traffic and the earthquakes of the Campi Flegrei caldera west of the city are the real issues.

    Score 68, grade C

Which cities are included

The rule is geography: every city we cover that lies in Europe. That covers the EU, the UK and Istanbul. The list grows as we add city pages, and every new European city joins it.

How the ranking works

Every city has its own page with six scored factors. Violent crime carries 25%, using city homicide and assault rates. Theft and scams count for 20%, walking at night, traffic safety and health and environment for 15% each, and natural hazards for 10%. The list is those scores sorted from the highest down, and it changes whenever we update a city page. We do not write scores into this text, because the list always shows the current ones.

For factors, thresholds and the country conflict cap that applies to every city, see how we score cities.

What the safest European cities have in common

Violent crime against visitors is rare in almost every city on this list. Munich had about 0.6 killings per 100,000 people in 2025, and Edinburgh is under 1 per 100,000. So the order here is decided mostly by the other factors: how much theft visitors meet, how safe the streets feel at night, how dangerous the traffic is and how clean the air is.

Cities near the top, such as Munich, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Edinburgh and Vienna, have clean air and somewhat less street theft than the big tourist capitals. Cities further down are not dangerous places; they lose points to pickpocketing in tourist areas, to busy and risky traffic, to summer heat or to earthquake risk, as in Naples, Athens and Istanbul.

What the score does not tell you

A city score is an average for visitors. It cannot predict what happens on one evening, and even the safest cities have a station or a nightlife street that needs more care. Keep your phone and bag close on public transport and in crowds, which prevents most of the crime tourists meet in Europe. For cities outside Europe, see the world ranking.

Questions

What is the safest city in Europe?

The city at the top of this list has the highest score we give any European city right now. The leaders are close, so treat the top few as a group. Their pages show where each loses its few points, usually theft in tourist areas.

Which European city has the worst pickpocketing?

Pickpocketing is the main risk for visitors in most big European cities. Barcelona is the best-known case, with La Rambla, metro line 3 and Barceloneta beach the hotspots, and Paris and Rome have busy pickpocket gangs on the metro and around the big monuments. Our theft and scams factor reflects this on each page.

Is it safe to walk at night in European cities?

In most of them, yes, in the central areas. Our walking-at-night factor uses surveys of how safe residents feel alone after dark, and most European cities score well on it. Station areas and some nightlife streets are the usual exceptions, and each city page names them.

Are Italian cities safe?

Italian cities have little serious violence against visitors. Theft is the everyday risk in Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice and Milan, and Rome's traffic kills more people per head than any other large Italian city. Each page gives the details.

Why is Istanbul on this list but not Antalya?

The rule is the city's location. Istanbul's historic centre and most of its sights are on the European side of the Bosphorus, so we count it as a European city. Antalya is in Anatolia, on Turkey's Asian side.