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SafetyScorer

Ranking

Safest Countries in Europe 2026

Every European country we cover, from Iceland to Russia, including the microstates, the Balkans, Cyprus and the three countries of the South Caucasus. Each score is built for visitors and combines homicide rates, conflict and terrorism, road deaths, health care, natural hazards and the theft tourists meet. Open any country for the numbers and the official travel advice.

Updated · Scores update with each page

The ranking

  1. Monaco

    Monaco is one of the most heavily policed places in the world and street crime is rare; there was no homicide or armed robbery in 2025. The risks are theft on the trains and at Nice airport on the way in, busy steep streets, and the crowds of Grand Prix week.

    Score 93, grade A

  2. Switzerland

    Switzerland is one of the safest countries in the world for visitors, with 0.6 homicides per 100,000 people and some of Europe's safest roads. Most serious harm happens in the mountains, through falls, avalanches and sudden weather, while pickpocketing has grown around Geneva.

    Score 93, grade A

  3. Iceland

    Iceland is the most peaceful country in the world on the 2026 Global Peace Index and crime against visitors is rare. Nature is the risk. Sneaker waves, glacier collapses, eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula and fast-changing weather on rural roads cause most serious incidents involving tourists.

    Score 92, grade A

  4. Luxembourg

    Luxembourg is one of the safest countries in Europe for visitors. Murders are rare enough that one case moves the rate, and there is no terrorism record. The real risks are pickpockets around the main station and on buses, and the roads, where deaths rose from 18 in 2024 to 29 in 2025.

    Score 91, grade A

  5. Denmark

    Denmark is one of Europe's safest countries for visitors, with 0.87 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 and about 2.3 road deaths per 100,000 in 2025. Watch for pickpockets in central Copenhagen and gang trouble late at night in Christiania and Nørrebro. The terrorism threat is rated serious.

    Score 90, grade A

  6. Ireland

    Ireland is one of the safer countries in Europe, with about 0.65 homicides per 100,000 people and no gun killings in 2025. Visitors should watch for pickpockets and late-night trouble in central Dublin, and drive carefully on narrow rural roads, where road deaths rose to 185 in 2025.

    Score 90, grade A

  7. Malta

    Malta is one of the safest places to visit in the Mediterranean, with fewer than one homicide per 100,000 people and no recent history of terrorism. The risks are on its packed roads, in the sea when the red flag is up, in the summer heat and in a few Paceville bars.

    Score 90, grade A

  8. Norway

    Norway is a very safe country for visitors, with about 0.7 homicides per 100,000 people and around 2 road deaths per 100,000. What hurts people here is nature. Avalanches kill about six or seven people a winter, mountain weather turns fast even in summer, and rescue is far away in the Arctic north.

    Score 90, grade A

  9. Slovenia

    Slovenia is one of the safest countries in Europe, with 0.7 homicides per 100,000 people and 4th place on the 2026 Global Peace Index. The risks are outdoors; the Julian Alps killed a record 50 people in 2025, road deaths rose 35% that year, and the August 2023 floods were the worst disaster in the country's history.

    Score 90, grade A

  10. Finland

    Finland is a very safe country for visitors, with a Level 1 US advisory and 9th place on the 2026 Global Peace Index. Its homicide rate, about 1.4 per 100,000, is mostly violence between people who know each other. The real risks are winter cold, remote Lapland, lakes and wildlife on dark roads.

    Score 89, grade A

  11. Andorra

    Andorra is a very safe country for visitors, with little street crime and no terrorism record. Most harm comes from the mountains (avalanches, ski collisions, falls on trails and storms) and from steep roads in winter. Bring full travel insurance, because the EHIC and GHIC are not valid.

    Score 88, grade A

  12. Austria

    Austria is one of the safest countries in Europe, with about 0.8 homicides per 100,000 people and 6th place on the 2026 Global Peace Index. The real risks are in the mountains and on the roads, where deaths rose to 397 in 2025, plus pickpockets in Vienna and a terrorism threat the FCDO calls likely.

    Score 88, grade A

  13. Czechia

    Czechia (the Czech Republic) is a very safe country, with 0.77 homicides per 100,000 people and 13th place on the 2026 Global Peace Index. Most problems are about money in Prague, from pickpockets to exchange offices. Hepatitis A cases jumped in 2025, and tick-borne encephalitis is common in the countryside.

    Score 88, grade A

  14. Germany

    Germany is a safe country to visit, with 0.91 homicides per 100,000 people and about 34 road deaths per million. The main concern is terrorism and copycat attacks on crowds, including a vehicle attack on Berlin's Pride event in July 2026, followed by pickpocketing in big-city stations and on public transport.

    Score 88, grade A

  15. Liechtenstein

    Liechtenstein is a very safe country to visit, with little street crime and no terrorism record. One domestic killing in late 2025 pushed up a homicide rate that rests on tiny numbers. For visitors the risks are Alpine ones (avalanches, rockfall, storms, falls on mountain paths) plus ticks in summer.

    Score 88, grade A

  16. Netherlands

    The Netherlands is a safe country for visitors, with about 0.7 homicides per 100,000 people and some of the best flood protection in the world. The things to watch are bikes, which now account for more road deaths than cars, pickpockets around Amsterdam Centraal and on Schiphol trains, and canals after a night out.

    Score 88, grade A

  17. San Marino

    San Marino is very safe for visitors. The FCDO calls street crime very rare, roads killed 12 people from 2016 to 2025, and the main practical risks are steep, busy roads and medical bills, because the UK's GHIC and the EU's EHIC are not accepted. Crime data is thin, so confidence is medium.

    Score 88, grade A

  18. Sweden

    Sweden is a safe country for visitors, with about 0.8 killings per 100,000 people in 2025 and around 2 road deaths per 100,000. Its gang violence is real but aimed at rivals and their homes: shootings fell to 158 in 2025, while bombings rose to 189. Pickpockets in Stockholm and Arctic distances are the everyday risks.

    Score 88, grade A

  19. United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom is a safe destination with about 1.1 homicides per 100,000 people and some of the safest roads in the world. The two things visitors should take seriously are a terrorism threat level of severe and phone snatching in central London.

    Score 88, grade A

  20. Hungary

    Hungary is a safe country to visit, with 0.72 homicides per 100,000 people and a Level 1 US advisory. The risks visitors meet are money ones, from pickpockets on Budapest's metro to bars that present huge bills. Roads are safer than they were but still behind Austria and Czechia.

    Score 87, grade A

  21. Estonia

    Estonia is a safe country to visit, with a Level 1 US advisory, 25th place on the 2026 Global Peace Index and 43 road deaths in 2025. The homicide rate, about 1.8 per 100,000, is higher than in Western Europe but rarely touches visitors. Russian airspace violations and GPS jamming are the new risks.

    Score 86, grade A

  22. Portugal

    Portugal is one of the most peaceful countries in the world, 7th on the 2026 Global Peace Index, with about 0.9 homicides per 100,000 people in 2025. The risks are more road deaths per head than Spain or Italy, large summer wildfires inland, and pickpocketing in central Lisbon and Porto.

    Score 86, grade A

  23. Poland

    Poland is a safe country to visit, with 0.80 homicides per 100,000 people and the biggest gain of any country on the 2026 Global Peace Index. Roads are safer than they were but still behind Western Europe, the war next door brings drone incursions and sabotage, and unofficial taxis are the everyday trap.

    Score 85, grade A

  24. Slovakia

    Slovakia is a safe country to visit, with about 1.1 homicides per 100,000 people and a Level 1 US advisory. The 2024 shooting of the prime minister and large protests in 2025 show real political tension, but visitors are not targets. In the mountains, fast weather changes and brown bears are the risks to plan for.

    Score 85, grade A

  25. Spain

    Spain is one of the safer countries in Europe, with about 0.7 homicides per 100,000 people and fewer road deaths per head than Italy or France. Theft in Barcelona and Madrid is the problem most visitors meet, and summer heat, wildfires and flash floods have become serious hazards.

    Score 85, grade A

  26. Vatican City

    Vatican City is very safe from serious crime and one of the most closely guarded places in Europe. The risks are Rome's, from pickpockets around St Peter's and the Museums to heat in long queues and traffic on the way in. No government publishes separate advice for it, so read the Italy advice.

    Score 85, grade A

  27. Belgium

    Belgium is safe for visitors, but less relaxed than its neighbours. Drug gangs fired guns 101 times in Brussels in 2025 and set off bombs in Antwerp, mostly away from tourist areas. Theft at Brussels stations, a terrorism threat level of 3 out of 4 and frequent strikes are the everyday issues.

    Score 84, grade B

  28. Croatia

    Croatia is one of the safer countries in Europe, with 0.7 homicides per 100,000 people and a Level 1 US advisory. The risks are everyday ones: roads with above-average EU death rates, pickpockets and bar rip-offs in Split and Dubrovnik, summer wildfires, and war-era mines off the beaten track.

    Score 84, grade B

  29. Cyprus

    Cyprus is a safe holiday island with under one homicide per 100,000 people and crime against tourists that the FCDO calls uncommon. The catches are the Middle East war next door, which reached a British base in March 2026, deadly summer wildfires, poor driving, and the different rules in the Turkish Cypriot north.

    Score 84, grade B

  30. Italy

    Italy is a safe country to visit, with about 0.6 homicides per 100,000 people, one of the lowest rates in Europe. The real risks are pickpocketing in Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples, city traffic that kills hundreds of pedestrians a year, and earthquakes and volcanoes in the centre and south.

    Score 84, grade B

  31. France

    France is a safe country to visit, with about 1.3 homicides per 100,000 people and modern roads. The weak points are a terrorism threat the FCDO calls very likely, frequent strikes and protests, and pickpocketing in Paris that is among the worst in Europe.

    Score 82, grade B

  32. Greece

    Greece is safe for travellers, with under 1 homicide per 100,000 people and a US Level 1 advisory. The risks are natural and practical rather than criminal; wildfires and heat every summer, earthquakes, fast and careless driving, quad bike crashes on the islands, and theft on the Athens metro.

    Score 82, grade B

  33. Latvia

    Latvia is a safe country to visit, rated Level 1 by the US and 19th of 163 on the 2026 Global Peace Index. The everyday risks are in Riga's Old Town, where bars overcharge and pickpockets work the crowds. Road deaths are above the EU average, and stray drones from the war next door have crashed in the east.

    Score 81, grade B

  34. Lithuania

    Lithuania is a safe country to visit, with a Level 1 US advisory and 24th place on the 2026 Global Peace Index. Its homicide rate has fallen a long way but is still about 2.6 per 100,000. The disruption visitors are most likely to meet is a Vilnius airport closure caused by smuggling balloons from Belarus.

    Score 81, grade B

  35. Bulgaria

    Bulgaria is a safe and peaceful country for most visitors, ranked 26th on the 2026 Global Peace Index. Its weak points are everyday ones: the EU's highest road death rate, thieves, rogue taxis and overcharging clubs in Sunny Beach and the ski resorts, and summer wildfires and flash floods.

    Score 80, grade B

  36. North Macedonia

    North Macedonia is one of the calmer countries in the Balkans, rated Level 1 by the US, with about 1.1 homicides per 100,000 people. The weak spots are fire safety in venues after the Kočani nightclub fire killed 63 people in 2025, heavy winter air pollution in Skopje, and roads where 132 people died in 2025.

    Score 79, grade B

  37. Romania

    Romania is safe for most travellers, with under one homicide per 100,000 people and a Level 1 US advisory. The real risks are the roads, which kill at one of the highest rates in the EU, brown bears in the Carpathians, earthquake risk in Bucharest, and stray Russian drones near the Ukrainian border.

    Score 79, grade B

  38. Serbia

    Serbia is safe for most visitors; homicides are rare and crime against tourists is mostly pickpocketing. The catches are a transfer of power after the student protest movement won the 25 October 2026 election, tension on the Kosovo border, and the deadliest roads ETSC tracks.

    Score 78, grade B

  39. Montenegro

    Montenegro is a safe holiday country for most visitors, rated Level 1 by the US and 30th on the 2026 Global Peace Index. Its weak points are the roads, with 107 deaths per million people in 2025, more guns and organised crime violence than its neighbours, and summer wildfires.

    Score 75, grade B

  40. Georgia

    The country of Georgia in the Caucasus has low crime and a US Level 1 advisory. The risks are its roads, with 469 deaths in 2025, nearly two years of daily protests in Tbilisi that are sometimes violent, and the Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where no one should go.

    Score 74, grade B

  41. Albania

    Albania is safer for visitors than its reputation suggests; crime against foreigners is rare and homicides run at about 1.3 to 1.7 per 100,000. The real risks are aggressive driving on unlit roads, weak medical care outside Tirana, unsafe tap water, and earthquakes like the 2019 Durrës quake that killed 51 people.

    Score 73, grade B

  42. Armenia

    Armenia has low crime, and Yerevan, Lake Sevan, Dilijan and the monasteries are safe to visit. The catch is the closed border with Azerbaijan, where the UK and US warn against travel, a peace treaty that is agreed but not yet signed, reckless driving and a high earthquake risk.

    Score 72, grade B

  43. Kosovo

    Kosovo is safe for most visitors, with little crime aimed at tourists. The risks are political, with tension in the Serb-majority north since the 2023 Banjska attack and protests in Pristina after war crimes verdicts in September 2026, plus weak public hospitals and awkward rules for onward travel to Serbia.

    Score 72, grade B

  44. Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Bosnia and Herzegovina is safe for most visitors, with about one homicide per 100,000 people and little crime aimed at tourists. The catches are landmines left from the 1990s war in rural areas, a long political crisis in Republika Srpska, road deaths that rose 10% on 2019, and heavy winter air pollution.

    Score 71, grade B

  45. Moldova

    Moldova is safe for most visitors to Chișinău and the wine country, with about 2.5 homicides per 100,000 people. The catches come from next door. Russian drones regularly stray in from Ukraine, Transnistria is outside government control and off limits under UK advice, and state hospitals are poor.

    Score 70, grade B

  46. Azerbaijan

    Baku and the north see little crime. The risks are regional. The US rates Azerbaijan Level 3 because of the war next door in Iran, mines still cover the districts around former Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian border is closed, and the authorities jail critical journalists.

    Score 68, grade C

  47. Belarus

    Belarus is orderly and its street crime is low, but the US says do not travel and the UK advises against all travel. The main risk is arrest for political activity, even online or abroad, with no US consular help and little from the UK. Russian forces are based in the country, and foreign bank cards mostly do not work.

    Score 65, grade C

  48. Russia

    Street crime is moderate and Moscow and St Petersburg look normal, but the US and UK both advise against all travel to Russia. The main risks are arbitrary detention of foreigners, drone attacks that close airports at short notice, and terrorism. Western bank cards do not work and consular help is very limited.

    Score 43, grade D

  49. Ukraine

    Ukraine is at war. The US says do not travel for any reason, and the UK advises against all travel except to a few western regions. UN monitors counted 2,222 civilians killed from January to August 2026, more than in all of 2025. Crime and roads would score as average in peacetime; the war is what matters.

    Score 38, grade F

Which countries are on the list

The rule is the UN's statistical map of Europe (the M49 standard), which includes the microstates, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and the Balkans. Kosovo, which that list does not name separately, is included. We add three countries the UN places in Western Asia. Cyprus is a member of the European Union. Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are members of the Council of Europe, and the US State Department handles them in its Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. They fit this list better than our Middle East or Asia lists, and each country appears in only one of the three.

How the order is built

Every country has its own page with six scored factors. Violent crime carries 25%, conflict and terrorism and road safety 20% each, health 15%, and natural hazards and petty crime 10% each. The list sorts those scores from the top and changes whenever we update a page. The rubrics are on how we score countries.

What the safest countries have in common

Near the top, homicide is rare: about 0.6 per 100,000 people in Switzerland and 0.7 in Slovenia and Norway. None of them faces armed conflict, roads are among the safest in the world and hospitals are good. They lose their few points to nature. Iceland's sneaker waves and eruptions and the avalanches in the Alps and Norway cause more serious harm to visitors than crime does.

Why some big destinations sit lower

Spain, Italy, France and Greece are safe from violence, but they lose points on pickpocketing in their capitals and tourist sites. France, Germany and the UK also lose some on terrorism. Further down, the Western Balkans and the Caucasus lose most on the roads: WHO road-death estimateThe World Health Organization's estimate of road traffic deaths per 100,000 people in a country, adjusted for deaths that police statistics miss.More in the glossary over 12 road deaths per 100,000 people in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2023, several times the rate in the Nordic countries.

Where the conflict ceiling applies

A country's overall score can never be more than its conflict score plus 35. Without that cap, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus would sit mid-table, because their crime, roads and health look ordinary. The cap holds all three down: Ukraine because of the war, Russia because of the war, drone attacks and arbitrary detention, and Belarus because the US, UK and Canada all advise against travel.

What the score does not tell you

The score is an average for visitors across a whole country. It cannot show one mountain road, one nightlife street or one season, and a country high on this list can still be dangerous on a glacier or in a Barcelona metro carriage. Each country page names the specific risks and what to do about them. Check your own government's travel advice before you go, because it changes faster than any ranking.

Questions

What is the safest country in Europe for tourists?

The top of this list belongs to small, wealthy states and to the Alpine and Nordic countries. Monaco, Switzerland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, Malta, Norway and Slovenia are all very close, and a single update can change the order among them, so treat them as one group. All have Homicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary near or below 1 per 100,000 and no armed conflict, and what separates them is mostly nature, roads and pickpocketing.

What is the safest country in Europe for solo travellers?

Any country near the top of this list is a sound choice, but our country score is not built for that question. Crime is rarely the risk for a solo traveller in Iceland, Norway or Slovenia; the mountains and the weather are, so tell someone your route before a hike. For walking alone after dark, our city pages score it as a separate factor, and the city matters more than the country.

Is it safe to travel to Europe right now?

Most of Europe, yes. The exceptions are in the east. Ukraine is at war, the US says do not travel to Russia or Belarus, and Russian drones keep straying into Moldova's airspace. In the west, the UK government calls the terrorism threat in France very likely, and Germany has had several vehicle attacks on crowds since 2024, which is why larger countries lose a few points on conflict.

Are Spain, Italy and France safe to visit?

Yes. Serious violence against visitors is rare in all three, with about 0.7 Homicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary people in Spain, 0.6 in Italy and 1.3 in France. Theft is the everyday risk. Barcelona police recorded 87,321 thefts in 2025, and the Paris Métro and Rome's Termini station are known pickpocket hotspots.

Why is Turkey not on this list?

Most of Turkey lies in Anatolia, which the UN counts as Western Asia, so we rank it with the Middle East. Istanbul, whose historic centre is on the European side of the Bosphorus, is on our list of safest cities in Europe.

Is Georgia safe to visit?

For most visitors, yes. Crime is low and the US rates Georgia Level 1. The roads are the bigger danger, with 469 deaths in 2025, the most since 2019. Protests have run in Tbilisi almost daily since November 2024 and sometimes turn violent, and the Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are off limits.

Why do Russia and Belarus score so low when street crime is low?

Because conflict and the risk of arrest outweigh everything else there. The US says do not travel to either country, and US and UK advice for both warns of arbitrary detention of foreigners. Our method caps a country's score at its conflict score plus 35, so low crime or decent roads cannot lift them back up.