r/Europetravel • u/Infinite_Context7167 • Aug 08 '25
Safety Traveling in Europe, concerned about safety as an Indian
Hey, I'm 26F and an Indian(I look like a typical north Indian), traveling with my boyfriend(24M Indian) to Europe for the very first time. We are going to cover Belgium(Brussels, Bruges and Ghent), Netherlands(Amsterdam and Hague) and Germany(Berlin, parts of Rhine Valley and Frankfurt) in 16 days. While I'm super excited and looking forward to the trip, I'm a little paranoid about the Anti-Indian sentiments in Europe. I just wanted to know if this is something I need to be concerned about and maybe some ways to avoid any trouble.
Thanks in advance!!!!
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u/No-Acanthisitta2012 Aug 08 '25
just PLEASE be friendly and patient in restaurants/cafès etc. Unfortunately I’ve made really bad experiences with Indians behaving super entitled in establishments, like waiving the waiter over, wanting to cheap out and just drink tap water or even just sit there without consuming, and demanding service the second they want something. That’s not how we operate in Europe. The waiter has seen you, even if they don’t come to your table immediately. They know what they’re doing
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u/Ok_Opinion6269 Aug 08 '25
Yeah, I know the reputation Indians have. Unfortunately, service industry is not a valued one in India and some people are entitled. I’ll try my best to be a good tourist. Thanks for the advice!
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u/Topsn Aug 08 '25
I am sorry, but even I, as a European sometimes only order tab water to my meal, if I feel like it. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, it’s a whole other story, if you only order tab water.
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u/Ok_Opinion6269 Aug 08 '25
That’s true though. Even I prefer to get tap water since I don’t want to use a plastic bottle and it saves money which is a plus. Any specific reason why I shouldn’t order tap water?
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u/No-Acanthisitta2012 Aug 08 '25
no no, sorry. Ordering tap water is fine as long as you don’t order JUST tap water.
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u/Topsn Aug 08 '25
I think It somewhat differs from country to country. I can only speak for Germany and Austria where tab water is perfectly save to drink. On the ordering aspect, idk why you shouldn’t (be allowed) to order tab water. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
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Aug 08 '25
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u/No-Acanthisitta2012 Aug 08 '25
no problem with tap water, I said JUST drinking tap water, as in, not ordering anything else. Oh or filling tap water from the restaurant bottle into your own lmao
I’m not a waiter, I’ve just been embarrassed more than once when I went out with Indian friends 🙃
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Aug 08 '25
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u/kittyglitther Aug 08 '25
I think you're misunderstanding them. They're talking about people who go to a restaurant, sit at a table, and just order tap water and no food.
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u/No-Acanthisitta2012 Aug 08 '25
no sweetie. You’re misunderstanding everything and apparently in the mood to just get into a fight on Reddit. Go get some off screen time :))
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Aug 08 '25
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u/SinoSoul Aug 08 '25
The border security at Schipol airport last week was the hottest and the most “I don’t give a fuck” female officer I’ve ever met in my life. And Albert Heijin is now my fave supermarket chain in the world.
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u/Sad-Turnip-1645 Aug 08 '25
Just don't do crazy things, you'll be fine. Anti India?? I've never heard that.
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u/Infinite_Context7167 Aug 08 '25
There's some cases that I heard of about in Ireland and got worried. Thanks for the confirmation!
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u/Icy_Guarantee_4558 Aug 08 '25
well racism is everywhere so there will always be some rotten apples that will call you some ugly names. But mainly in most the countries you will be going to no one will care, there already are living a lot of people from outside the eu.
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u/Plof1913 Aug 08 '25
Pssst Europe consist of many country’s and all have different mentality, beauty and issues. Just be nice, act normal and you are fine.
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u/Arclights101 Aug 08 '25
We have a 20 year housing crisis and we are swamped with American right wing media so there is a problem in Ireland but it's not "natural"?
It's the bottom 5% of the population who are being told that it's all the immigrants fault, no one else will listen to them and most of the time they are told to shut up and go away by other Irish who can hear them.
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u/Ok_Opinion6269 Aug 08 '25
That’s good to hear. Indian media has been highlighting one-off cases a lot which led to my paranoia.
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u/Arclights101 Aug 08 '25
About 18% of the population living in Ireland we're not born in Ireland. That was pretty much 0% in the 90's so there has been massive change and the losers are being told that it's the immigrants fault because we consume so much us and uk media.
I don't know why it is being highlighted so much though, Wikipedia says there are 45k indians in Ireland, it's a big number when you see there are only 5 million on the island.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland?wprov=sfla1
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u/Normal-Seal Aug 08 '25
You’ll be safe in Ireland too. There’s some recent immigration waves of Indians to Ireland due to Brexit and Ireland being an important tech hub. Whenever there are big immigration waves, there’s some pushback.
In Ireland in particular there’s concern that regular Irish citizens are pushed out of the housing market.
Rent prices in Dublin have skyrocketed in recent years and well-educated foreigners outearn many regular Irish citizens.
But at the same time, foreign IT-workers contribute to the economy and the Irish government grants them visas, so there’s still mostly support for skilled immigration and you don’t have to fear being attacked on the street.
Ireland is generally pretty welcoming to foreigners.
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u/Zooz00 Aug 08 '25
This is only a thing in places with large Indian/Pakistani populations such as in the UK or Ireland. In the rest of Europe, most people won't even know the difference between Indian and other people of colour so there can't be any anti-Indian sentiment, just general racism.
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u/Ok_Opinion6269 Aug 08 '25
Thanks for responding. I understand that it is unfair to club the entire continent as one.
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u/Late-Photograph-1954 Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25
There’s no anti Indian sentiment in Europe. We have general anti tourist and specific anti tourist who cant cycle sentiments, however, in places where tourists > locals. Also, all Europeans are hostile against the concept of entitlement. God made us all in his image, and though most Europeans dont believe any longer, that concept stands. Do not behave in an entitled manner.
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u/Complex-Challenge374 Aug 08 '25
I honestly don’t think people spend a lot of time thinking about India or Indians. Well, some people might be disappointed in the Indian governments stand on the Ukraine war, but other than that, I have never heard of any specific Indian rage or targeting. I know a lot of Indians that complain about India and Indians, but very few natives.
I mean, even Indians and Pakistanis seam to get along here in Europe, and my Desi friends all meet up to watch Bollywood moves, watch cricket matches and celebrate holidays and festivals.
But I’m interested in where you got the idea, so if you could please link to any sources you have on anti-Indian sentiment (preferably news or similar). Because it’s the first time I have heard of it. Did you mean anti Muslim / Islam sentiment?
Enjoy your trip.
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u/Ok_Opinion6269 Aug 08 '25
There were some cases in Ireland that I heard about. They were on TV news so don’t have particular links though.
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u/artparade Aug 08 '25
First time I hear something about anti-Indian sentiments. You'll be fine.
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u/Infinite_Context7167 Aug 08 '25
That's great to hear. I have not been around much and you hear these one-off cases which made me worried. Thanks!
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u/kypsikuke Aug 08 '25
What anti-indian sentiments….?
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u/Infinite_Context7167 Aug 08 '25
There were some cases that I heard about in Ireland and got worried if this is happening around as well.
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u/ultimate--- European Aug 08 '25
I mean half of the people you'll see will be indian anyway, what's the worry
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u/Odd-Transition1527 Aug 08 '25
I’m POC- been to most of these places. Don’t do anything funny for people to make comments. Most people mind their own business. You’ll have a good time. Good luck :)
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u/Coeri777 Aug 08 '25
I see many Indian tourists everywhere, I have also many Indian colleagues and not heard any bad stories from them ( I do not live in countries you mentioned, but my friends travelled there)
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u/Bitter_Split5508 Aug 08 '25
You are visiting major cities with sizeable immigrant communities. While racism exists even in these cities, it is unlikely to be the overt aggressive form. You are very unlikely to become the target of an attack. There may be some microaggressions and stereotyping, but they will likely not impact your experience as a tourist very much.
As a non-European looking tourist it can be worthwhile to clearly identify yourself as a tourist (as opposed to an immigrant), even though you're usually warned against this because it might make you a target for pickpockets. The reason is that most racism in Europe is anti-immigrant and the same people that might target you if they think you're a poor immigrant trying to steal welfare, can suddenly become quite welcoming if they think you're just a well off tourist coming to admire their beautiful hometown and then go back to India.
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u/r_coefficient Austrian & European Aug 08 '25
Racism is, unfortunately, a thing. But it will be almost exclusively targeted towards immigrants, not tourists. You'll be fine. Have a great trip!
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u/Topsn Aug 08 '25
IMO, ppl like you writing a poste like this are the ones who will have 0 problems in Europe. Looks like you informed yourself about the customs in each country, what goes and what not. So I wouldn’t be worried at all. If you’re scared about racism, big cities like you are going to generally are really open minded. So I wouldn‘t worry about that either. I even had one of the most wholesome experiences with Indians. I was visit Innsbruck with a few friends of mine and we wanted to take a picture in front of historical building. So did an Indian family of 3. We asked them to take a picture of us and afterwards we took one for them. After each taking pictures separately, the father of the family insisted on taking a picture together in front of the monument.
So TLDR: I wouldn’t be concerned about racism in Europa. Especially in those places you are visiting. Enjoy your trip.
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u/me-gustan-los-trenes Berlin-Warszawa Expert Aug 08 '25
It's gonna be fine. I cannot assure you that there are no racism in Europe. Things do happen. But those are rare and these days they are rather focused on other ethnicities.
There are a lot of south Asians in Central / Western Europe so you won't even stand out that much. So don't worry too much.
I hope you have a wonderful and safe trip.
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u/kittywarhead Aug 08 '25
There's overall racism and here and there maybe the "exotic" fetishism for sure but no specific anti-Indian racism.