How safe is Germany for travelers?

Germany is very safe. The risk is your pockets, not your person.

• Pickpocketing concentrates in central stations (Hauptbahnhof), on U-Bahn lines and on the tourist squares - Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Marienplatz in Munich, the Cologne cathedral forecourt.
• The clipboard petition is the classic: someone asks you to sign for a deaf-mute charity, the board blocks your view, an accomplice works your bag. Keep walking and say nothing.
• Distraction theft on trains: one person drops coins or asks directions, another lifts the bag from the seat opposite. Keep luggage where you can touch it.
• Shell game (Huetchenspiel) on Alexanderplatz and other squares. Everyone winning is part of the crew. You cannot win.
• Unlicensed drivers in airport halls offering a "fixed price" that is not fixed.

Areas to be alert at night

• Frankfurt: the Bahnhofsviertel directly in front of the main station - Taunusstrasse, Moselstrasse, Kaiserstrasse. Open drug use is visible; violence against tourists is rare, but it is not where you want to wander at 03:00.
• Berlin: around Kottbusser Tor, Goerlitzer Park, Leopoldplatz and parts of Neukoelln after midnight.
• Hamburg: the side streets off the Reeperbahn in St. Pauli late at night.

Laws visitors break

• Jaywalking is illegal. Crossing on a red pedestrian light is a EUR 5 to EUR 10 fine and draws genuine public disapproval, especially in front of children.
• Cannabis is legal to possess, not to buy. Since 1 April 2024 adults may hold 25 g in public and 50 g at home, but there is no legal shop and commercial sale to tourists remains illegal. Public smoking is banned within 100 metres of schools, playgrounds and sports grounds, and in pedestrian zones between 07:00 and 20:00. Every other drug remains a serious criminal matter.
• Do not overtake on the right on the Autobahn. It is illegal, and on unrestricted sections the car in the left lane may be doing 200 km/h.

Solo and female travellers: Germany is safe, stations have emergency call pillars on platforms, and night transport is well used. LGBTQ+ travellers have full legal protection and same-sex marriage since 2017, with large communities in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg and Munich.