British tourists are being told to avoid Amsterdam if they go to the Netherlands, because the country actually boasts one of the safest places in the world – The Hague in the Netherlands has been named the safest city in Europe, with a safety index of 79.9.
The Hague is a city on the North Sea coast in the western part of the Netherlands. The Gothic Binnenhof is the seat of the Dutch parliament, the 16th-century Noordeinde Palace is the residence of the King, and the city is home to the United Nations’ International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, both of which are headquartered in the Peace Palace.
It was closely followed by Munich in Germany and Trondheim in Norway, both with an index of 79.2. Three UK cities – Bradford, Coventry and Birmingham – were ranked as the most dangerous in Numbeo’s latest crime index.
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Amsterdam’s crime index is 28, well above The Hague’s 20. Amsterdam’s safety index is also only 70 compared to The Hague’s 80. Other cities in the Netherlands considered safer than Amsterdam are Eindhoven and The Hague, as well as Rotterdam and Groningen.
Naples in Italy and Marseille in France also made it into the top 5. “Why is The Hague so underrated as a tourist destination? It rarely appears on tourist lists and the city itself doesn’t seem to get many tourists. Is there a reason why?” one Reddit user wrote.
“As someone who lives in The Hague, I don’t really mind it being underrated and not many tourists visit – in fact it could be a big selling point, shhh,” a second user replied. “Because it’s not very interesting? I worked there for 5 years and apart from the Binnenhof and the beach it was not interesting at all,” another user typed.
“Well, Scheveningen is a nice town, but having lived in Amsterdam and The Hague, it’s not a very interesting town for me. It’s a town of offices and administrative buildings surrounded by residential areas,” said another.
Another said: “The Hague has Madurodam and Scheveningen. Scheveningen has a circus theatre but it’s not like Utrecht, Rotterdam or Amsterdam where going to the theatre is fun, especially when the weather is bad or subpar. Madurodam is fun once you’ve gone, and a historical tour of The Hague would be fun too, but it’s not somewhere you’d want to spend more than a day.”
