‘Remain vigilant’: Europe’s most heavily pickpocketed tourist spots revealed

05.05.2024 - 23:09 / euronews.com / Saskia ODonoghue

As we get ever closer to jetting off on summer holidays, it’s sadly important to remember that not everyone you meet on your travels will be well-intentioned.

A new study by UK-based travel insurance company QuoteZone has highlighted that many popular European destinations are hotspots for pickpockets.

Researchers looked into the proportion of mentions of pickpocketing in visitor reviews of each European country’s top five tourist attractions.

Italy came out on top, with the highest proportion of any country across the continent, followed by France and Spain.

Here’s where you should be extra vigilant - and how to stay safe.

Although many cities and towns across Italy attract hordes of visitors year-round, Rome was found to be the worst for pickpockets.

Overall, QuoteZone found that there are 478 pickpocketing mentions for every million British visitors to Italy’s top tourist attractions.

The capital’s iconic Trevi Fountain came out on top in that country-specific ranking. The 18th century architectural masterpiece averages a staggering 1,000 visitors per hour.

Tourists throw around €1,000,000 into its waters every year - but it’s important for visitors to keep a keen eye on the crowd while tossing their loose change.

Also in Rome, the ancient Colosseum and the Pantheon were found to be particular hotspots for pickpockets. Outside of the Eternal City, the Duomo di Milano in Milan and the Gallerie Degli Uffizi in Florence were also reported as having the highest volume of stolen personal items on online travel reviews in Italy.

France is a hugely popular destination for tourists from across the globe, with Paris consistently one of the most visited cities worldwide.

Unfortunately, the research found that the city has the second highest number of pickpocketing mentions in all of Europe at 251 per million visitors.

All five of the top attractions monitored are in Paris - and the world-famous Eiffel Tower was, perhaps unsurprisingly, found to be the most risky for tourist theft.

Other places in the French capital to be extra vigilant are the Arc de Triomphe, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, and the Musée d’Orsay and Louvre Museums.

Paris is set to become busier than ever this summer when it hosts the 2024 Olympics. If you’re visiting, make sure to be extra careful with your bags and personal belongings in large crowds throughout the city.

Despite attracting rather different kinds of tourists, both Spain and Germany were each found to have 111 instances of thefts per million visitors.

Barcelona is notorious for pickpocketing so it's little surprise that Las Ramblas tops the list.

One of Europe’s busiest pedestrian streets, Las Ramblas is infamous for its thefts, many of which happen while visitors are watching one of the