Safety in Switzerland: Which areas do Zurich residents avoid at night?

Zurich is known as one of the safest cities in Europe - and perhaps even the world. 

However, Zurich residents say there are still some areas they try to avoid at night. 

How safe is Zurich? 

The Economist’s Safe Cities Index ranked Zurich in the top 20 safest cities in the world over the past three years. 

Zurich featured alongside Stockholm, Amsterdam and Copenhagen over the past three years, with Asian and Australian cities also ranking highly. 

In terms of the ranking’s individual categories, Zurich did particularly well in health security. The category covers indicators including access to healthcare and social care, and the provision of a healthy urban environment including traffic management and green space. 

The Swiss city also ranked strongly for infrastructure security, a category generally driven by affluence, according to the report authors.

What about those shadowy places?

While International agencies might rank Zurich highly for safety, Zurich residents’ also feel their home city is relatively safe. 

A study commissioned by Zurich city police found that 98 percent of residents feel very safe or fairly safe in the city during the day. 

It is at night however where things take a (slight) turn. 

Almost one in five (19 percent) said they feel slightly or very unsafe at night in Zurich. 

Almost half (47 percent) said they avoid certain places at night due to safety reasons. This was slightly lower than in 2016, when 51 percent said they avoid certain places at night. 

So where do they avoid then? 

According to the study, the people of Zurich feel particularly uncomfortable in the Langstrasse district, the city’s party strip and red light district. 

The respondents also said District 4 (Aussersihl) and District 5 (Industriequartier) made them feel uneasy. 

In addition, those surveyed said they try to avoid parks and train stations at night, along with “dark places”. 

The central areas of Zurich. Photo: Wikicommons

What are they worried about? 

According to the survey, there’s a relatively wide set of concerns. 

Those surveyed said problems caused by drunks, drug dealers, young people and foreigners concerned them the most, while 10 percent also said they were worried about Zurich traffic. 

The study also found that Zurich residents have a high level of trust in the police, while 91 percent feel that the police’s efforts in protecting the public are either sufficient or somewhat sufficient.