I’m am just interested, if the perspective differs. Not trying to compare the safety of different countries, we all know Europe is relatively safe almost everywhere.
Over here, I feel like the countryside would feel the safest and the big cities the least safe, but I’ve heard people from other countries expressing the opposite view.
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For me it’s just completely different types of safety feelings. Like in cities and small towns (no difference for me) I’m scared of creepy men. On the countryside that’s not an issue at all for me, but there I’m scared of falling in a ditch and hitting my head and nobody finding me until the morning or something like that which is no concern in the city.
In the US I’ve always felt much safer in the city, especially as a woman walking alone at night. There are more people in the city, and most people are good. The chance of running into some really bad person with no one else around I lower. The country attracts people who don’t like other people and like to shove guns in people’s faces. That scares me way more than the city.
Prague actually feels much safer than many smaller towns. I never had any problem here during nighttime. Worst thing that I heard of is that somebody got their wallet or phone stolen (but that usually happens only when you pass out drunk in the tram or on street).
I never felt really unsafe anywhere in Europe, even at night.
I grew up in a small town that was super safe. The only thing that bothered me were some tiny pathways between gardens that had no street lights and were completely dark at night. Later I lived in Berlin for a while and crossed one of the supposed “crime hot spots” almost every day often late at night and never felt unsafe.
Big cities are very safe for the most part. Small industrial towns that’s where problems can be found in the poorer districts. I’m currently in a country side and find it pretty safe
I feel a bit less safe in Zagreb than small towns and countryside. And for countryside I’d probably be more scared of wild animals. So I’d feel safest in small towns. But I generally feel safe everywhere, including other European cities I’ve visited.
In general The Netherlands is safe. I don’t think there are places I wouldn’t dare to go. However, there are dangers in any place and I would advise to not push your luck. I wouldn’t advise to go to one of the poorer neighborhoods in the large cities at night roaming around, unless you have a reason to be there. Also, you might avoid quiet areas at nights as well. Probably one of the riskiest parts is online, cause cyber crime is a rising problem. Another problem is organized crime is less ‘professional’; there is a problem with often young criminals shooting in residential neighborhood or placing granades in front of rival shops.
In the city it depends on the neighbourhoods, but in general it is the place where I feel least safe to walk around, in smaller villages and in the countryside it is a different matter, although the countryside has other problems (isolated houses are more vulnerable to theft).
I don’t walk the woods during the night because wild boars are no joke.
I feel very safe almost everywhere and at any time, but I’m also a man and I can understand if some women feel unsafe at certain times or places. But statistically speaking, it’s still extremely unlikely that anything will happen to you anyway.
Safe from what? Getting robbed? Wild animals? Not slipping on ice?
I’ve never really felt unsafe anywhere in the country.
I have never felt unsafe anywhere, not in big cities, smaller cities or the countryside. Never been attacked or robbed. I’m a woman btw.
Hmm maybe cities here (in the Netherlands), but in general both are pretty safe.
Feel completely safe in my city (Prague) at any hour, even completely alone. I actually think I would be more nervous about walking around a small village at night, particularly fearing reckless/ drunk drivers in combination with worse public lighting than in big cities.
I live in a big city in Italy.
I feel safe here,I have no problem walking around at night..yes, there is always a small chance that something bad could happen, but it’s extremely low probability and not something that worries me personally.
Depends on the neighbourhood, but because of reputation doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll automatically get robbed, stabbed, raped or whatever. Some places in the countryside or urban areas outside of the city can see such incidents from time to time as well. Personally I’m a bit reluctant about going outside in the *newly urbanised countryside* (as I like to call it) where I live as crime has surged a little the later years together with the rate of urbanisation. Youngsters running around with knives robbing people and such. Wouldn’t leave a bike outside either.
I live in a relatively shitty part of the city. I guess I feel slightly less safe here than in small towns and villages, but not anywhere near the point that I worry about it. Even when I’m walking outside at night.
There’s this underpass I use which has been used in the past to “collect toll” from random bypasses. Sometimes when walking through it, I am reminded of it. And there’s a gas station where a guy was stabbed to death a few years ago… Perhaps I’m just being morbid for thinking about it, but I never had to deal with that kind of thing before moving here.
And there’s the higher probability of running into crazy people. But they’re usually harmless. Even the aggressive ones are more bark than bite.
I’m rather not representative and it’s only my impression but I feel much safer in a city than in a countryside. Being in a city gives me a sense of security (even illusory), when in a countryside I think about things like a pack of wild dogs, dogs that run free because their shitty owner can’t take care of them properly or boars.
I feel like crime is almost non-existent in smaller towns in the Netherlands
I personally feel a bit safer in bigger cities. I think having more people around me and more well lit areas makes me feel a lot safer. I remember cycling across badly lit provincial roads at night plenty of times and always feeling super uneasy (either just due to the unknown darkness or due to the fact that you could get hit by a car and nobody would be around to help).
I feel safer in bigger cities due to being part of the queer community. If I dress visibly to show belonging to my community (even by wearing something rainbow-coloured or nail polish) here in my small town I’d definitely get catcalled and I’d rather cut down on existential crises. Tried it more than once, not for me.
Middle and highschool boys are little shits.
I’ve never felt in immediate danger though, not even in the countryside. But this might also be because I’m a guy. I might be gay and twinky but I still have some degree of male privilege. My female friends feel pretty differently about these things.
In Hungary I feel safe in both cities and small towns. What creep me out are forests at night. There I feel like I’m back in the Middle Ages, and someone might burst out from a bush and stab me, or a pack of hungry wild dogs will try to eat me.
My hometown, Munich, is probably considered one of the safest cities Europe can offer. I’ve never ever felt unsafe there, and I regularly took extensive walks at night, walking through parks etc. There’s unfortunately one little park known for extensive drug abuse and there’s almost always some harassment happening if you go through there as a woman. I always avoided that park when walking alone at night – but that’s about it.
I also can’t think of any other city in Germany where I’ve felt unsafe. There’s certainly areas that you might want to avoid at certain times if you’re not super keen of having to interact with weirdos or creeps – but no feelings of unsafety.
I’ve also spent some time in Paris and even though there are some shady areas, I’ve never felt really unsafe. There’s certainly areas I’d avoid if walking alone at night, but overall it’s still an absolutely fine city.
Currently, I’m living in Brussels and I’ve had two rather unpleasant experiences when first moving here, so I’ve been quite wary of taking up my habit of nightly strolls. Now that I start to get to know the city a bit better though I know which areas to avoid and I’m again not having any issues. Even before though I wasn’t really feeling unsafe – I’ve just been much more alert about potential harassment.
Edit re: the countryside:
German countryside is super boring. The worst thing to happen is probably to run into someone walking their dog and chatting you up.
French countryside in the south of France: You’re probably gonna get killed by some crazy driver. Other than that, you’ll be fine.
In general I’ve felt very safe both in the village I grew up in as well as nowadays in Vienna.
The things you have to look out for are different of course.
Drunk drivers felt like a significant problem in my village because driving home after having “just a few beers” in the neigbour villages pub or at the firefighters festival was seen as no big deal, both by very young and very old drivers. On foot or on a bicycle I always felt a bit on edge in the evenings.
And if something did happen to you (accident or something), it would take far longer for someone to find you, and the next hospital was 20-25 minutes away.
I also wouldn’t have dared to let anyone know I’m queer out there. Not for fear of violence or anything, but the social circumstances.
In the city, you do have to look out for pickpockets and stuff like that. But even though some people on social media keep trying to make Vienna look like a cesspool of crime where you’ll be killed on the spot if you take the tram, I have never experienced anything scary myself, neither has anyone in my social circle.
A bum getting uncomfortably insistent after not giving him a cigarette was the worst in 10 years living here.
My biggest fear late at night isnt people, it’s angry dogs running out of gates left open for some ungodly reason. And this is much more common in the countryside obviously.
The countryside. We have no wild animals which see humans as a potential meal. If you are walking, statistically the most likely animal to kill you is a cow. But that risk is very low.
I grew up in a really tiny village with lots of forests and fields around. The slightly scary thing there were encounters with wildlife. But not in a dangerous scary way. Just in a scary way, like when all of a sudden a rabbit charges out of the bushes and scares the shit out of you.
I think i felt safest in a small town, at night there were no people and no animals. It was just really quiet there.
I am living in a kind of big city, not like one of the real big ones, about 200k people. And there is nightlife and some crime. I feel mostly safe here. But not as comfortable as in that small town.
Big city / small city vs countryside doesn’t really matter, but rather how much overview I have, how isolate it is and the risk of being found by the wrong person.
Dark forest or dark passageway, isolated stretch of road or industrial area, it doesn’t really matter. If there’s e good chance meeting someone walking their dog I am usually fine.
Are there any wild boars roaming in the countryside?
I personally am not afraid anywhere at all as i am not a likely target of sexual harrasment. Also a robbery would make my day, as i would laugh hysterically when the muggers see my empty wallet (i’m not broke i just don’t carry cash)
Finnish cities are very safe in general and to face any difficulties at night is an unexpected tragedy, not a common occurance.
Social security pays more than any robbery ever would, and Finns are too modest and shy to rob.
In Spain it is known that women shouldn’t walk alone late at night in unlit-NON PUBLIC- areas
Hmmm, I’ve never really felt unsafe. I’m a 24 woman.
I used to live in the suburbs of a big city, I was coming back home late at night/ early in the morning many times.
Now I live in a small city ~76k citizens, I visit countryside, I travel and walk alone during the night in other cities as well. To be honest I just love night walks. I never really felt that something bad can happen to me. Maybe a few times I looked at trees twice, wondering if it’s possible to meet some animal there but apart from that I never thought about it twice.
I see sometimes questions on Reddit like: *Are there really women who are not afraid of walking alone during the night?* and I am always confused
I feel safer in city than in countryside. I’m terrified of wolves, snakes, murderers etc. that might wait me in dark forests in countryside.
Small towns would propably feel the safest.
I don’t feel safe at the countryside because there’s a pack of deers that can run me over and once I was attacked by a cow that escaped
born and grown in Prague I never feel unsafe here. Being outside of Prague it looks to me even much more safe as everyone goes sleep before midnight.
Now with the comeback of the wolves (I know they are more afraid of me and I’m actually glad they came back for the ecosystem) and wild boars roaming the forests I probably would say the countryside, but not really by much. Then again I was never really afraid in towns at night as a man and had no problem traversing “shady areas”.
Vilnius is pretty damn safe. Haven’t been mugged ever and never heard about any of my peers being mugged.
In the city I have no fears at night.
In the country side, especially in the mountains, there may be bears so I’m paying more attention
The only place I felt somewhat unsafe was some areas of Lisbon otherwise in my 31 years I only had one minor incident at night in a pub and like three or four more, but those were in broad daylight lol.
Late night in a city there is a higher potential of encountering aggressive drunks, or gangs of teenagers that like to rob and attack people. I still don’t worry too much honestly, I’ve only had a handful of instances in years and years of walking around irish cities at night.
I feel safer in the countryside from people, but the pitch dark can make my imagination start conjuring up supernatural horrors in a way that doesn’t happen in populated areas 😅
So, I went walking around the countryside for a bit at night and apart from a few scary sounds around me, I felt pretty save. I walked to the next small town and nobody was in the streets, no need to worry for me. Then I cycled to the next bigger small town some other night and while sometimes there was a car or a person, there never was an atmosphere of unsafety. Honestly, with all the scary sounds around, the countryside felt a bit scarier.