Lisbon Travel Forum

Can anyone tell me if this area is safe? I'm looking at an apartment rental for three single women on Rua Mãe de Água. It looks as if it's convenient to shops and restaraunts, but I'm wondering if it's safe at night for walking.

thanks.

Are you/they US or UK citizens?

We are US citizens.

Yes, I thought so from the question. :(

So, no feedback on the area? If you were to travel to SF I would supsect you may not know the in's and out's of the local streets or neighborhoods either.

... because unfortunately so many people in the States became paranoic about the safety. If there are shops around and restaurants and apartments for rent plus maybe some historic sights, than automatically assume, it's safe.

I have some difficulty to imagine, how an "unsafe" area in Lisboa or other major European town would look like unless it's an immigrant ghetto - but even than I won't assume anything wrong.

A city in Europe is a completely different animal than in the U.S. The "unsafe" areas barely do exist and if yes, these are notorious enough. Don't worry about the safety. Europe is 1000% gun-controlled place from Lisboa till Ekaterniburg. :)

Thank you. It is because in the U.S, in big cities, you can be in a popular / trendy area (with shops and good restaraunts)and not in the safest area - at night. Actually, in some areas it can change from safe to questionable in a matter of a few blocks. So, perhaps I'm a bit cautious (I've travelled many countries) but better safe than sorry. :)

I know... it's also interesting how the embassies look inside.

In Budapest I had to visit Russian consulate. You can ring the bell, the gate opens, you walk in. On the walls you will see pictures of major tourist attractions.
(remark: as we know, more Russian airplanes were hijacked and blown up by terrorists than American ones. And we remember Beslan and who was Shamil Salmanovich Basayev.

While walking the city I bumped into Chilean consulate. I had nothing to do there, just the door was open because it was too hot. There wasn't even a guard. We know, Sendero Luminoso is not far from Chile...

Serbian embassy did not employ a single guard. Like Sendero Luminoso Shamil Salmanovich Basayev - UCK/KLA is not related to Caritas or to Salvation Army.

While walking in Embassy district I parked my car next to the (South) Korean consulate doors. Earlier the (North) Korean consulate was almost opposite the S.K. consulate, now they moved to Vienna (cost-saving). At the time NK was there I could chose where to park: next to NK consulate or next to SK consulate. Going into either one means ringing the bell. Same with Chinese. If I want, I can smuggle a truckload of AK-47 into Chinese consulate in Budapest and go "postal": the guards are usually minding their business doing somewhat else.

There is one, only one consulate in Budapest... and that one is a tough consulate. Firstmost, the entire plaza before it became a maze of traps: you cannot walk, cannot drive, cannot park. Every few yard you bump into a patrol or "security consultant". Showing your passport once is not enough: as you approach the building you have to repeat the procedure again and again. Once inside, there is a thorough body search. Things like camera is out of question to take inside. Finally... you reached the inner sanctum. You won't be able to talk to a live person 1:1. She will be behind bullet-proof window and you have to use loudspeaker. On the walls you see pictures of some sorry people in handcuffs, not like in Russian consulate some Kremlin sights or onion-shaped church tops. So who is inside would know, that fate awaits the criminals who overstay the visa. I wasn't for visa there. We had death in the family and my goal was to speed up the passport procedure for my son. To my surprise, that wasn't really successful. Normally, consulates with strict visa policies (Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Russia, N. Korea) will issue visa or travel document almost instantly if the client presents a death certificate of close relative. That's not the case for other countries.

Quiz: what country was THAT consulate of? :(
Yes, we know...No need to guess. Hope, it will change for better.

In many languages there is a saying: "Don't paint the devil on the wall". I think, it's also in English....

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Stay prudently safe, be pre-cautious everywhere: don't display signs of wealth, keep the wallet/passport close to the body and the camera bag on the side away from the street and don't paint the devilon the wall.

Petty non-violent theft (pick-pocketing), and car theft is very common in every large city regardless of the country and the area. Make sure your own or rented car is a safe but an unpopular model. They also cost less to rent. Stealing a Chevy (Daewoo) Lancetti Wagon is precisely the same amount of risk as stealing a VW Touareg or a Bimmer. Guess, which will be stolen!

Without getting into so many words of unecessary explanation, Portugal is generally a safe country for travel destination. Probably one if not the safest of all continental Europe. I travel to there frequently. So, rest assured you'll be fine. But, as anywhere, it still good to be cautious especially when travelling at night. Enjoy your trip.

Praça da Alegria is not the safest nor the most beautiful zone in Lisbon - but I guess you'd be alright. Like it was mentioned before, Portugal is a safe country.

It's an area that is trendy, full of shops and activity during the day, but at night gets a little more empty. However, I can say I have no problems parking or walking there, and it's one of my favourite areas of the city.

I'd say, if the apartment is cheap, go for it. If they ask a lot of money, try another area - Bairro Alto, for instance.

Have a nice stay :)

Praça da Alegria is not the most secure area, specially at night, but if you have any problems, you can find a police station on the tiny praça square.

This said, we could have saved so many replies :)))
Keep sending your questions.