Barcelona is the city with the most robberies according to Tripadvisor

The travel website Tripadvisor recently ranked Barcelona as the number 1 city to be pickpocketed for the 2nd year in a row. The Catalan coastal region of the Costa Brava was ranked 7th on the list, although a mistake was made in the report situating Alicante, which is some 600 km. South, in the region

CNA / Aleix Moldes

September 16, 2010 11:23 PM

Barcelona (ACN).- The place where tourists are most likely to be pickpocketed is the famous Barcelona street ‘La Rambla’. This information was published by the website Tripadvisor, one of the most visited websites in the world of travel. The news spread fast, being picked up by world press such as The Guardian, NY Daily News, and dozens of tourism web pages. In addition to Barcelona, the Costa Brava was also mentioned as a risky area for tourists. The Catalan capital ranks at number 1 for the second year in a row for highest number of robberies. However, the report has geography mistakes that undermine its reliability.


In 2009, the website said that getting pickpocketed in Barcelona was just as common as “playing football”. Tripadvisor ranked the Costa Brava in the 7th position, though in parenthesis they stated that Alicante was the worst part of the Costa Brava. Alicante is not in the Costa Brava, it is a city some 600 km away from the Catalan coastal region.

The ranking is completed by Rome (2), Paris (3), Madrid (4), Athens (5), Prague (6), Lisbon (8), Tenerife (9) and London (10).

Tripadvisor gives a series of recommendations for tourists on their website, including always being aware of where their belongings are, avoiding letting others hold onto their money and never leaving their bags on the chairs and floors of restaurants and bars.