fedupbrit

hi everyone, i am a new user and as you can see by my username, a bit fed up of britain. can anyone give me a general idea of crime and safety in spain, i have 2 small children and this topic is obviously really important to me. i keep reading about idyllic and safe lifestyles in the glossy magazines, but is that really the case , or is it the magazines to just trying to gain a sale of a house. i have really enjoyed this website, and look forward to any replies. bye

big wheels

I suppose it all depends on where you choose to live. If you pick a large urbanisation full of foreigners, where a lot of houses are left empty for large parts of the year, the thieves will know this and there is a greater risk of break ins etc.
However pick a small village inland and you may find that people never lock their doors at all.

regards
BW.

Mitzyboy

You'll need to specify an area really. There are areas of Spain where its quite apparant that crime is higher than others. But from what I've read on this and other forums the concencus seems to be that crime levels are no better or worse than the UK.

I think there are very few places in the world that are 100% safe. You just have to take the same kind of precautions that you would anywhere really.

fedupbrit

i was really interested in costa almeria and not by the coast as such , but about half hour inland

Mercedes

I think if you move into a spanish only community, you will find there is less crime, I had more problems in a British expats community, ie broken into ripped off, I have know moved into a spanish only community and so far I have left the doors open by accident and had no problems. I have great spanish neighbours also who keep an eye on thing. I was talking to a man on the plane the other day and he said he lives inland and had no problems until the Brits started to move into the area. I certainly think children are much safer here. The other problem with the "Foreign" areas is the drug problem. It is bad, and too many people actually taking it. I was speaking to someone who also lived in the Costa Del Sol and ex policeman and he said he never met so many nasty people here. He went off to Taffia (sp) as he liked being involved with the Spanish more. So start learning spanish and keep away from the Brits and you should be happy with no so many problems. I certainly am, in fact I avoid the type of Brits here like the plague, I never been anywhere in the world where I've hated them so much....and I'm not alone in that thinking, from all accounts speaking to others who also live in spanish communities and avoid the expats scene.

Costa-Convert

Hi Fedupbrit

You do sound fed up too. I have to agree with Mitzyboy on this one. Crime happens whereever you live but to be fair most personal crime in Spain ie Robbery or Mugging happens because of carelessness and opportunism. If you are careful and don't give them an opportunity you will be fine. I am moving to Spain this year (as everyone knows) and have a son of 5, I live on an urbanization not too big and to be fair not all buy to let properties which spend most of the time empty. I feel very safe their.

I am going to moaned at for this comment but most burglaries are done on urbanizations that are being built!! My neighbours where burgled 6 times in the first year they lived their (whilst the builders were still on site) as soon as the building stopped so did the crime!! They have lived there 7 years and have had no problem for the last 6.

Good luck where ever you decide to go, I love the Almeria region and recently visited Mojacar (old town) which is a beautiful village in the hills overlooking vast expanse of valley's. The new part is on the front and I was shocked at how commercialised it was but the old was still the same.