Hi everyone,

So I'm in Spain finally, in Barcelona, and loving it. Beautiful city, beautiful place, lovely people. I was reading through that infamous "Scams in Barcelona" page last night, however, and something occured to me:

Later this week I will be catching the overnight train from Barcelona to Madrid, leaving at either 10pm (2200hr) or 11pm (2300hr). I'm a single, white, 25 year old female travelling alone, and will have luggage. Am I going to be putting myself in considerable danger by getting to (from Placa Catalunya) and being at Estacion Sants at that hour, by myself? I wouldn't be worried in Sydney at our main train station (Central), ironically, but reading that site last night has given me pause for thought. I'm usually pretty wary of my surroundings, never go flashing a lot of cash, and keep to myself, and being around 6 feet tall, I'm usually not bothered by anyone.

Does anyone have any insight they can give? I'd rather not have to get there hours before and wait around, but if it's that or get robbed, or worse, I'd rather have to waste my time in a train station.

Cheers,

-adiav.

That is not specially dangerous. At 22 or 23 PM the streets are usually quite crowded, and so the station is.

Rail Stations have security personel. Your only concern should be your luggage. There are thieves specialized in stealing it while you are not watching it. Have your luggage with you all the time and you shouldn't have any problem.

Fernando

I've just come back from the beautiful Barcelona a week ago, and I felt that either people were blowing things out of proportion on that scam site, or the city has gotten a new police force recently, because we felt completely safe. Yes, we saw plenty of bums on the streets, just like in any other big city, and also the gypsy women with the babies but they seemed less aggressive than the Italian gypsies... Just guard your stuff at all times and use common sense.
Enjoy Barcelona and travel safely!

In general it is safe, but there continue to be numerous thefts of wallets and luggage on a daily basis, so just be sure to keep that in mind.