Safety

Safety

Barcelona is a friendly and safe city, with a relatively low rate of crime compared to other big cities.

Have a look at the document "Tips to stay safe and respect others" with safety advice and tips for peaceful coexistence, especially useful for tourist and newcomers and published in 6 languages: Spanish, Catalan, English, French, Chinese and Japanese.

In Barcelona, you can avoid many incidents by taking common-sense precautions, such as looking after your belongings. As in any other part of the world, pickpockets concentrate in places frequented by tourists, attempting to take advantage of any lapse of attention from visitors, or in crowded public areas, such as metro stations, public areas and monuments.

When it comes to security, surveillance in Barcelona falls to the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan government police) and the Guardia Urbana (city police).

If you need to contact either of these police forces, you can do so by calling the emergencies telephone number or visiting your nearest police station.

• Guàrdia Urbana (City police) 
• Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan Government Police)

Emergencies

112 is the phone number for medical, rescue, fire-extinguishing or civil defence or police protection emergencies.

As in other cities, this is the number through which all the services are coordinated and attended to. The service is in operation 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Calls are free.