Crime in Greece

When visiting Greece for your holiday, it is easy to get carried away by its natural beauty and enthralling nightlife. However, as in every place you are not familiar with, you need to be careful. Not all areas in Greece are equally safe and disputes involving locals and tourists sometimes occur. Those mainly take place in Athens and other big cities but are relatively rare on the islands and less-populated mainland areas.

The main concern for tourists is petty crime. Visitors need to be alert in busy spots where nightlife is intense, such as Rhodes and Zakynthos. In large cities, tourists may fall victims to certain tourist traps and scams. Pickpocketing is likely to occur if you are not careful around the country’s most popular landmarks, public transport, and wherever it gets crowded in general. At night, especially on poorly lit or secluded alleys, you should always be wary. Certain spots like Pedion tou Areos, Metaxourgio and Omonia have such alleys and can be dangerous.

For any crime involving tourists in Greece, the Tourist Police will intervene. Police departments have special branches dealing with crimes like thefts or scams in quite a few cities and islands. Tourists can dial (+30) 1571 to contact the Tourist Police for any problem they might encounter in Greece and will be referred to a trained representative. Police representatives are fluent in Greek, English, German and French.

A Greek Police car with its light and siren on. Source: Hellenic Police

All in all:

• • Avoid remote and poorly lit alleys at night
• • Watch out for tourist traps near tourist attractions
• • Keep your valuable belongings as close to you as possible
• • Never go out carrying all your money, especially if it’s cash
• • Contact the Tourist Police if needed

Bonus Information
A remarkable situation that can easily be a false alarm of criminal activity is the customs of balothies in Crete. For years and years, Cretams have been celebrating their joyous occasions, like weddings and births of children, with balothies, a tradition where people fire their guns at the sky or at certain objects to express their happiness. The shots are usually blank but certain people use actual ammunition.
Such shootings are condemned by the Greek Police, as the shooters do not usually have an official license to carry weapons, but balothies happen anyway.

Hellenic Police (Official Website): www.astynomia.gr