Sarah Lim is a travel content creator who documents her journeys across the globe on TikTok, and after visiting 24 countries throughout Europe, she decided to share something her followers weren’t expecting. Rather than another highlight reel of beautiful destinations, she opened up about the places that left her feeling vulnerable and uneasy. Her video quickly captured the attention of thousands, sparking a broader conversation about safety for solo female travelers, particularly women of Asian descent. In the caption of her video, she wrote, “Five cities in Europe where I didn’t feel safe (as an Asian woman).”
What made her findings particularly striking was the geographic pattern she noticed. Lim mentioned that she had also visited several countries in Eastern Europe, the Baltics, and the Balkans, yet it was Western Europe that gave her the most cause for concern. “I visited several countries in Eastern Europe, the Baltics, and the Balkans, and unfortunately I found that Western Europe felt less safe to me,” she explained. The five cities she singled out were Paris, Brussels, Milan, Barcelona, and Rome, all of them among the most popular tourist destinations on the continent.
Paris was the first city she addressed, and she had more than one troubling story to tell. On her first visit, she recalled being followed at night while alone, and on a more recent trip she was stalked by a group of men even though she was accompanied by five friends. She also pointed to the city’s well-known problems with pickpockets and bag snatchers as an additional reason for her discomfort.
@mia.in.france Paris at night… #fyp #france #miainfrance #french #aesthetic #cottagecore #travel #cmbyn #paris #studyabroad ♬ Paris…Paris – Josephine Baker
Brussels stood out as the city where Lim experienced no specific incident but couldn’t shake a persistent feeling of unease after dark. “Large groups of men would gather at night in the city center and that was very unsettling to me,” she said. Her anxiety was compounded by news she had heard about an exchange student from Singapore who had been attacked in the city. Milan came next, where she said she nearly fell victim to a scam right inside her own rental apartment. She described the con artists as “very convincing,” largely because they operated in groups. She also said she did not feel comfortable walking through residential neighborhoods at night, adding, “I had to call friends to walk me and a friend back.”
Barcelona was a somewhat different experience, as she reported no major incidents there, but said she remained “constantly on alert” given the city’s reputation for theft. She noted that she had heard stories from fellow Erasmus students about robberies and even knife attacks in the area. Rome, however, left her with what she described as her worst overall experience. “It felt the most touristy, so there were the most street scammers. Pickpocketing and theft are common there,” she said, making it the city she felt most uncomfortable in throughout her entire European journey.
Her video ignited a wave of responses in the comments from people who had their own stories to share. One user backed up her assessment of Brussels completely, writing, “Finally someone mentions Brussels. I lived there for eight months and everyone asked me why I left such a good job. The reason was that I literally always felt unsafe.” Another commenter pushed back against the romantic image often associated with the French capital, saying, “It’s funny when people call Paris the city of love, because all I know about it relates to knife attacks, being followed, and pickpockets.” A female commenter echoed similar experiences, noting that she had also been followed in Paris in broad daylight while alone, and that Belgium had felt suspicious to her at night. Someone else confirmed the concerns about both Italy and France, sharing that a friend had her bag stolen on a train in Paris while pickpockets in Milan were so brazen they could be spotted from a distance.
Not everyone agreed with Lim’s conclusions, and some commenters were eager to share more positive experiences from the same cities. One person wrote, “I lived in Paris and actually felt very safe, except near Gare du Nord station. I also felt very safe in Rome. But of course, people have different experiences.” Another added, “I spent a month in Paris and never once felt unsafe or threatened.”
It is worth noting some broader context around solo female travel and safety in Europe. Studies and surveys from organizations such as Solo Female Travelers consistently show that personal safety experiences vary enormously depending on factors like time of day, neighborhood, and individual circumstances. Petty crime including pickpocketing is particularly common in high-tourism areas of cities like Rome, Paris, and Barcelona, a fact acknowledged by local authorities and travel advisories issued by governments worldwide. The U.S. State Department, for example, regularly lists southern and western European cities as areas where travelers should be vigilant about theft in crowded public spaces. Meanwhile, tourism to cities like Paris and Rome reaches into the tens of millions of visitors each year, meaning that the vast majority of trips pass without incident, even as a meaningful number of travelers do encounter problems. The experiences shared by creators like Sarah Lim serve as an important reminder that safety on the road is shaped by many intersecting factors, including gender, ethnicity, and the specific parts of a city one happens to visit.
If you’ve traveled solo through any of these cities, share your own experiences and thoughts in the comments.
