Most dangerous city districts at night

EDIT

I changed my mind about contributing to this topic.

I've lived in Berlin for over 3 years now, and having lived in various parts of one of South London's roughest boroughs (Southwark), I can honestly say, Berlin is generally one of the safest cities in europe. Who told this person that it wasn't? Whoever it was is guilty of scaremongering. You have to bear in mind that there is one major element missing in Berlin which is a major cause of violence in London..drugs, and by drugs I mean rocks and smack. If I was going to suggest a no go area in Berlin for foreigners it would be the eastern side of Friedrichshain, there have been some pretty nasty skrimishes recently, aggravated mostly by the Nazis.
Anywhere else (compared to London) at least is pretty safe.

Oh my goodness. I can't believe you just wrote that.

I can't believe HALF the things said in this thread. A whole lot of generalizing and talking about places and people without knowing anything about them going on in general. (Yes, i'm generalizing now too).

All and all I think it comes down to being somewhere you feel safe and comfortable. If you exercise common sense, I don't think you're going to find too large of a margin in "safety" between one area and another. There's some scenarios that are just not so safe in general no matter where you are and you can avoid them. I've felt safer almost anywhere in Berlin than I have in american cities like Detroit and sometimes Toronto in Canada, etc. But all three cities mentioned here i've not explored in great detail considering their size.

i've lived in friedrichshain for about 5 months now and have never had problems, apart from people having no manners.
but other than that i have not seen many neonazi.. mostly it's ordinary people, punks and german chavs with bleached jeans and orange suntans (lol.. i actually wonder if they think it's cool?)

Agreed. A lot of misconceptions conveyed here. Prenzlauer Berg is absolutely not dangerous. I can't think of a single dangerous place in Berlin, except perhaps Marzahn but I've never been there. The only place I've experienced sketchy people was in Kottbusser Tor station. That's it, and most of them are degenerates / junkies you can just shout BOO at, and they'll scurry away in confusion / fear. And I'm lanky and honest looking.

But if you can be scared in Berlin there must actually be something clinically wrong with you. I mean, the base level of street smarts are all, if that, you need to be safe.

^^ couldn't agree more. I think if you're scared of berlin you have no business being in a big city full stop. I live in dublin, have lived in london i think Berlin is much safer than either. I spent a night in berlin on my own in January and walked around a lot of P-Berg in the evening/night (i'm female btw), saw some homeless types drinking on the street and i'm sure they shouted something at me but for gods sake, since when is that sh*t-your-pants stuff? Just keep walking! I dunno, maybe i'm being harsh but i think perspective and a bit of savvy is required. Also, have found Berliners to be actually friendlier than a lot of Dubs (and londoners).

(posted in wrong thread)

I'm a Scotsman, married with kids, living in Lichtenberg. I have not found the area to be at all problematic. In fact the first and only time I encountered potential trouble was the day a drunken fella on a bike stopped a few feet short of where I was standing and started to yabber at me. After a few seconds, I realised he was trying, struggling, failing, to deliver a badly timed history lecture.

Neo-Nazis are a problem all over Europe. But what non-neo-nazis and neo-nazis don't seem to realise is that the Nazis are now the despised minority.

I have lived in Germany for five years and not once have I been attacked, mugged or aggravated (though the German manner is a bit trying at times).

Compare that to my collection of muggings from Scotland. Eight times in a period of five years!

Nice to be here folks.

I cannot believe people think Prenzlauer Berg is dangerous! I mean perhaps if you come between a Prenzlauer Berger and their Bionade or Bio food, or maybe if you fear getting run over by the hoards of Kiddies on a Kindergarten outing, but not once have I ever felt in Danger in P´Berg. I have felt more afraid in Sydney, all given I was in Redfern, than in Berlin. Yeah there are a couple of Neo Nazi thugs around and young Turkish thugs (I live in Wedidng), but they are more interested in eachother.
I have walked through Neukölln alone for 30 mins at 4am during the strikes and didnt feel unsafe or threatened. I geuss its bad luck what ever happens.
Though you do have to watch out for those Wannsee thugs...

That's the thing. This is one of the safest countries in Europe and Berlin is one of the safest cities in the world. As a Scotsman, I am used to feeling unsafe and/or being prepared to fight my way home. The Germans can be frightfully rude but in fact they are far too frightened to cause physical harm. I know this is a sweeping generalisation but I feel it is a justified one. In a city where giving someone the finger is illegal, the citizens are far too aware of the consequences of the law and the popularity of reporting crimes.

People here are not frightened to report a crime and so less crime is committed. In Scotland no-one gave a toss. People in Scotland are either scared to go to the police or are tired of their now automatic response "what d'ye want us to do about it?".

You attack that woman in Alexanderplatz she's gonna report you and you are gonna get caught.

You attack that boy in Glasgow Central Station, he'll go home, tell no-one and will always watch his back.

Interesting that no one has mentioned Steglitz yet. I moved to Berlin and lived in Köpenick for three months. I never left the flat after 8.00 PM. Scary place that one. Although not surprising since NPD has it's head office there. Now I'm living in Steglitz since a little over two years and and very glad that I made the move.

For all the people who love statistics (and can read german), here is the Kriminalitätsatlas, which lists the most dangerous city districts: http://www.berlin.de/imperia/md/content/se...007/bericht.pdf Surprise: MItte (and tiergarten) is the most dangerous district (going d'accord with that as far as my personal five-years-in-berlin-experience goes)

I'm quite suprised at the amount of people listing Prenzlberg as being an area in which one might feel unsafe at night, or at any time for that matter. ive lived in this area for a while now and havent encountered any hostility whatsoever. I have lived in Steglitz, Tiergarten Neukölln and finding myself now in Prenzlberg, I really have no problems with the area or the people in it. Obviously I respect that different people can have different experiences of the same area, but I have to put forward my point of view that I deem Prenzlauerberg to be safe, and very friendly.

The problem is that Prenzlauer Berg is very heterogenous from northeast to south. The south is one of the safest areas in whole germany I guess, but the northeastern part, especially around Greifswalder Straße is not that friendly (though I wouldn't call it unsafe in general!!).

Welcome to Berlin. What you just described sounds like a typical night out in any UK city to me.

I've lived in Berlin for 15 years and the only time I have ever had trouble is with English tourists - and the only time I was was ever physically attacked was by a group of English thugs on the U-Bahn who wanted to "teach me a lesson" for being an "English Traitor" and "Working for the Nazis".

Of course I am knocking on wood right now like the clappers

Life is dangerous, but not because of Berlin.

I even feel safer here than I do in Oslo. I really do not think Berlin is the kind of city where security should be your main concern when you´r looking for a flat. Unless you are paranoid, that is.

I like wandering round the rougher areas of cities rather than looking at typical tourist sights... I got my £30 Ryanair ticket to Berlin and walked right out into the far east (got the S Bahn for a bit as its quite a way). I went to Lichtenberg and Marzahn and I have to say I probably felt as safe there as in my home village near the Cotswolds. I'm pretty good at weighing up the atmosphere of places (i've been to a lot of dodgy areas in the UK and abroad) and those places were very chilled, i'd even go as far as saying nice in some spots. The people were friendly. Even the Nazi's didn't give me any trouble when I spoke in English to them. I'd say Kreuzberg felt more dodgy - had a bit of a Hackney vibe, but not too bad.

Yeah I feel ashamed to be English sometimes. Going to such a nice/helpful city like that makes you realise just how cuntish British people usually are.

got to admit that coming from glasgow maybe my view is a little scewered but i find this whole chat about berlin being "unsafe" ridiculous. ive never seen a single bit of bother and ive been coming for 15 years. unless youve been living in some kind of gated community there really shouldnt be anything to trouble you.