SAFEST CITIES IN THE WORLD FOR TRAVELERS IN 2027

Our top 15 cities are just below. For a deeper dive into why they made the list, click here to jump down the page. Otherwise, compare this year’s picks to the safest cities one year ago. 

2027 Safest Cities to Visit

1. Monteral
2. Zurich
3. Amsterdam
4. Tokyo
5. Reykjavik
6. Oslo
7. Singapore
8. Venice, Italy
9. Sydney
10. Honolulu
11. Dublin
12. Copenhagen
13. Barcelona
14. San Francisco
15. Paris

Just for comparison, here is last year's list:

2026 Safest Cities to Visit

1. Reykjavik 
2. Copenhagen 
3. Zurich
4. Amsterdam
5. Honolulu
6. Sydney
7. Barcelona
8. Lisbon
9. Tokyo
10. Dublin
11. Venice, Italy
12. Seoul
13. London
14. Singapore
15. San Francisco

Photo by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash

What You Need to Know About the World's Safest Cities Research

Changes 

Methodology

Caveat

 

The Top 15 Safest Cities in the World

1. Montreal

Score: 82.18

Rank Last Year: 16

Why it's ranked highly 

It’s a particularly low-crime city in the country that was just named the world’s safest for American travelers. Its neighborhoods regularly get scores in the high 80s from GeoSure, where scores in the high 70s are exceptional. 

What to watch out for

Traffic. Montreal and its suburbs occupy both sides of the St. Lawrence River, though most of the city is on an island. Crossing the bridges to the city can be a chore. And if the roads are under construction, which they almost always are, the complexity of your trip increases fivefold. 

2. Zurich

Score: 81.03

Rank Last Year: 3

Why it's ranked highly 

Not exactly a tourist hotspot even in midsummer, Zurich’s core conservatism – and the high prices that accompany it – keep the city laid-back and safe. Add clean and safe mass transit, and Zurich is as secure as a Swiss bank, with no bad neighborhoods according to GeoSure. 

What to watch out for

The currency. Switzerland doesn’t use the Euro, and some places may not accept Euros or dollars. It’s a good idea to get about $75 worth of Swiss francs when you enter Switzerland, even though the country is essentially cashless. 

3. Amsterdam

Score: 80.81

Rank Last Year: 4

Why it's ranked highly 

Everyone goes to Amsterdam to have a good time, but not in the Cabo sense: They go to drink beer, walk around the canals, dodge bikes, and see some Rembrandts. The result is that Amsterdam is a surprisingly safe city. 

What to watch out for

Well, sex and drugs. The Netherlands actually have some relatively stringent laws on both, in addition to strong ideas on how tourists should comport themselves when encountering either. The good news? They’re easy to steer clear of. 

4. Tokyo

Score: 79.91

Rank Last Year: 9

Why it's ranked highly 

Extremely high GeoSure marks for personal safety, nighttime safety, and access to health and medical facilities across neighborhoods mean Tokyo is safe practically anywhere you go. 

What to watch out for

Low marks for LGBTQIA+ safety might force some travelers to alter their plans. 

5. Reykjavik

Score: 78.90

Rank Last Year: 1

Why it's ranked highly 

Reykjavik is small enough to almost not have neighborhoods, and it’s Iceland’s largest city. It’s “try that in a small town” in a country that’s isolated in the North Atlantic. 

What to watch out for

Reykjavik is located close enough to active volcanoes to give you pause. And should something require evacuation, there’s basically one road out. 

6. Oslo

Score: 76.45

Rank Last Year: 17

Why it's ranked highly 

It’s a Scandinavian capital city, which per GeoSure means great medical care and physical safety for all types of travelers, including women and LGBTQIA+ travelers. 

What to watch out for

Pickpockets and bag-snatchers at the Oslo central railway station. 

7. Singapore

Score: 76.41

Rank Last Year: 15

Why it's ranked highly 

Singapore has long had a reputation for locked-down safety, and this is one case where perception and reality align. 

What to watch out for

Dare we say draconian punishment? In addition, you can be arrested for the mere act of watching a demonstration, so steer clear. 

8. Venice, Italy

Score: 75.39

Rank Last Year: 11

Why it's ranked highly 

Women are generally quite safe in Venice, according to GeoSure, and medical care is readily available. Otherwise, petty crime is an issue. 

What to watch out for

Excessive alcohol consumption. The City of Canals is no place for you to be out and about staggering drunk. In addition to the safety hazard, fines for public drunkenness are high. 

9. Sydney

Score: 75.34

Rank Last Year: 6

Why It’s Ranked Highly

Practically every Sydney neighborhood gets great ratings from GeoSure Global; in addition, the city is rated fourth in the Global Livability Index. The State Department has no issue with the country, either. And have you seen pictures of the fireworks above the Sydney Opera House? 

What To Watch Out For

Spiders. The Sydney redback is one of the world’s most poisonous, though antivenom is readily available in Australia. 

10. Honolulu

Score: 75.31

Rank Last Year: 5

Why it's ranked highly 

This bustling capital of an island paradise may not offer the neighborhood-by-neighborhood safety of a European capital, but it’s an extremely safe city as major American cities go. 

What to watch out for

Storms. More severe storms have been striking the islands over the last several years, at least partially due to a warming Pacific Ocean.  

11. Dublin

Score: 74.58

Rank Last Year: 10

Why it's ranked highly 

Ireland is a good-natured country full of warm-hearted people, and that’s on full display in Dublin. The country is a perennial top-30 finisher in the Global Livability Index, and many of its neighborhoods get high scores from GeoSure. 

What to watch out for

Payment in restaurants. When paying at a restaurant, have a card reader brought to your table. Don’t let waitstaff take a card out of your sight. 

12. Copenhagen

Score: 73.52

Rank Last Year: 2

Why it's ranked highly 

The Economist says it’s the safest and most livable city in the world. Full stop. 

What to watch out for

The perennial only-bad-thing-we-can-say-about-Copenhagen thing: Do not take pictures in the Freetown Christiania neighborhood without permission. 

13. Barcelona

Score: 73.44

Rank Last Year: 7

Why it's ranked highly 

Despite crowds and the pickpockets that come with them, Barcelona maintains its status as a beautiful, largely safe place to visit, particularly in the shoulder and off-seasons. It has respectable GeoSure scores and came out ahead of counterparts London and Lisbon in the last Global Livability Index where we have full results. 

What to watch out for

There’s still an active separatist movement based in Barcelona. Demonstrations can pop up unexpectedly. Head the other way; don’t get swept up in them.  

14. San Francisco

Score: 73.15

Rank Last Year: 15

Why it's ranked highly 

Some very safe neighborhoods and a better-than-expected Numbeo ranking offset some middling numbers elsewhere, such as a fourth-place finish among American cities in the Global Livability Index. 

What to watch out for

Some San Francisco neighborhoods simply aren’t very safe. Stick to well-trafficked streets (that are sometimes too well-trafficked) and the beaten path and you’ll be fine. 

15. Paris

Score: 72.45

Rank Last Year: 18

Why it's ranked highly 

Paris finished just below Reykjavik in the most recently available full listing of the Global Livability Index. GeoSure Global has identified some very safe neighborhoods, and the title character of Emily In Paris goes traipsing around the city at all hours, so it has to be safe – right? 

What to watch out for

Paris might be the tourist-scam capital of Europe, which would make it the tourist-scam capital of the world, or at least the first runner-up. All the major scams are here – the fake ring, the tight string on the finger, the “lost” wallet, you name it.  

Travel Safety Has Multiple Dimensions

Safest cities to travel - safety from violent crime

1. Zurich
2. Montreal
3. Tokyo
4. Amsterdam
5. Singapore
6. Venice, Italy
7. Honolulu
8. Bangkok
9. Reykjavik
10. Oslo

A relatively small percentage of our survey respondents have been to Zurich, but the ones who have been think it’s very safe. 

Safest cities to travel - safety from terrorism

1. Zurich
2. Montreal
3. Amsterdam
4. Singapore
5. San Juan
6. Tokyo
7. Oslo
8. Honolulu
9. Venice, Italy
10. Seoul

See above. The same thing applies to Oslo. And San Juan, to a lesser extent. 

Safest cities to travel - transportation safety

1. Zurich
2. Tokyo
3. Montreal
4. Amsterdam
5. Oslo
6. Reykjavik
7. Venice, Italy
8. Sydney
9. Dublin
10. Paris

It’s no accident that most of the cities listed here have very efficient mass-transit systems. 

 

Photo by Stephen Leonardi on Unsplash

Safest cities to travel - health measures

1. Zurich
2. Montreal
3. Reykjavik
4. Cairo
5. Amsterdam
6. Dublin
7. Tokyo
8. Venice, Italy
9. Singapore
10. Paris 

Cairo’s placement on this list seems puzzling, and the margin of error is lower than some other cities on this list. The only explanation: Survey respondents didn’t get sick in Cairo. 

Safest cities to travel - women's/LGBTQIA+/people of color safety

1. Montreal
2. San Francisco
3. Amsterdam
4. Zurich
5. Singapore
6. Tokyo
7. San Juan
8. New York
9. Paris
10. Dublin

Singapore has never been known as a bastion of LGBTQIA+ safety – just check out the GeoSure ratings – but the top four are as solid as they get. 

 

Photo by Alex Wolo on Unsplash

Rankings by Age and Income

Survey respondents showed some really different perceptions of the world’s safest countries depending on their age and income. After we broke apart the responses, here are some of the categories with the biggest deviation from the overall scores: 

Millennial survey respondents 

1. Montreal
2. Zurich
3. Tokyo
4. Amsterdam
5. Singapore
6. San Juan
7. Sydney
8. San Francisco
9. Copenhagen
10. Honolulu

Millennials are voracious travelers, and the cities on this list support that.   

Gen Z survey respondents

1. San Francisco
2. Mexico City
3. Amsterdam
4. Paris
5. Oslo
6. San Juan
7. Zurich
8. Tokyo
9. Dubai
10. London

Mexico City at #2? Gen Z has some interesting thoughts on travel safety. 

Respondents with a household income of more than $350,000

1. Sydney
2. Oslo
3. Copenhagen
4. Lisbon
5. Zurich
6. Reykjavik
7. Montreal
8. Dublin
9. Singapore
10. San Francisco

Often the destinations chosen by the most wealthy respondents reflect an “any place can be safe if you spend enough money to make it safe” attitude. Not this list. 

Respondents spending more than $25,000/year on travel

1. Barcelona
2. Cairo
3. Sydney
4. Montreal
5. Hong Kong
6. San Juan
7. Dublin
8. Zurich
9. Reykjavik
10. Tokyo

Bear in mind that a small number of travelers a) have been to Cairo and b) spend $25,000 or more on travel. 

 

Photo by Eugene Alkimov on Unsplash

 

Mature survey respondents

1. Reykjavik
2. Sydney
3. Tokyo
4. Singapore
5. Zurich
6. Oslo
7. Montreal
8. Amsterdam
9. Venice, Italy
10. Dublin

A very traditional list for very traditional travelers. 

Parents

1. Montreal
2. Tokyo
3. Zurich
4. Amsterdam
5. San Juan
6. Barcelona
7. San Francisco
8. Cairo
9. Paris
10. Venice, Italy

The fact that Cairo, San Juan and Venice all show up on a list of parents’ safest destinations and Orlando doesn’t suggests that these parents aren’t your parents’ parents. 

LGBTQIA+ travelers

1. Copenhagen
2. Oslo
3. Amsterdam
4. Zurich
5. Barcelona
6. Paris
7. London
8. San Francisco
9. Tokyo
10. Rome

Copenhagen topping a list of safest places for LGBTQIA+ travelers? Not shocking in the least. 

Final Notes

As a reminder, survey results can be variable. 

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