Is the red light district safe to go to at night?
July 25, 2010 by
Filed under Red Light District
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if you don’t piss off any drug dealers then ya. also, make sure you wear running shoes in case a junky tries to mug you (happened to me but I outran him!!). best to go in a group…
Be aware who is following you at all times. A would be mugger approached me thinking I was American. When I spoke to him in Dutch he was shocked. I told him I was an Englishman with a Dutch grandfather and it confused him lol.
Keep your wits about you and try not to walk around alone. Basically the same advice as most big cities in areas you are unsure of.
The Red Light District is a seedy place. It is billed as a tourist attraction and you will find a lot of tourists there but the reality is that it sells sex and drugs. I was in the Red Light District approximately one month ago. It was my first visit to Amsterdam and I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about.
To be honest, it was very sad. A lot of the young women were clearly of Eastern European decent and had probably been tricked into the profession. Many of the people in the area were dirty and smelly and clearly junkies. The girls in the windows looked bored and had blank looks in their eyes.
I expected it to be sexy and tempting. I thought the girls would look like those in the ads in our hotel room. They didn’t. Not at all. I walked through the area with my husband – also because I wanted to see the Our Lord in the Attic Church which is in the area. I never felt threatened but it was very early evening – before 9 PM. We were told that after 11 it gets quite dangerous. We saw several police officers patrolling but they can only be in one location at a time. As long as you are alert and with someone else, do not buy any street drugs and keep your hands on your wallet or purse, you should be safe to walk through if you are curious. Is it safe? Depends on what you are there for. We were also told that there is no mandatory AIDS testing and that an estimated 15% of the prostitutes are HIV positive. Street drugs have been known to be laced with rat poison and other things. Many muggings occur during a buy.
Amsterdam has many wonderful attractions. The Red Light District is not one of them. It may be what put Amsterdam on the map but even the mayor of Amsterdam sees how destructive it really is. That is why they closed down 50 windows already this year and more are slated to be closed.
No red district is safe anywhere in the world if you are careless and provocative.
See and do what you went there for and take your leave.
If you behave sensible it is safe, safer than the shopping areas after shop closing. For that reason I often walk a little around just to go through the red light district.
Sensible behavior is:
Girls, dress proper, closed till nearly the chin, skirts a little longer than fashion is a good idea too.
All, do carry your camera in a bag that does not look like a camera bag.
Do not show your money and do not talk with people selling things on the street.
If in need call Help!
The pimps do take harassment of all women and of potential customers very serious and will not allow druggies to control the street. (May not be the kind of help you expect but it does help.)
There is also a lot of police on the street, may be just around the corner.
After midnight it is getting less safe and I would not advice to go there between 3 and 8 in the morning, but people who lived in or near the area said it is basically safe round the clock.
It’s fairly safe because there are usually plenty of tourists around, but still, try to go with a group of people. Don’t get drunk and let yourself be taken advantage of.
It’s the druggies and dealers you need to stay away from.
I lived several years in Amsterdam.
hi, i just came back from holland, visitng my dutch bf’s family and they all said that although it is a seedy place, the red light district is one of the safest to live in (i guess also to visit) as they are the most frequently patrolled by police.
always keep an eye out for anything suss wherever you go, but just feel comfortable in the fact there is authority around..
oh, and dont take photos of the girls in the doors, that will cause trouble
any red light district is unsafe
I’ve never felt unsafe walking through the red light district… I suppose it all depends on your attitude and what you’re looking for…. I usually just walk through it on my way to the railway station and besides getting some remarks from people hanging around I have never really been bothered… But it’s not a friendly lovey dovey environment. If you’re looking for trouble, you will find it there… But if your sensible and just curious, take a stroll through… it’s pretty weird….