Safety at night in Antigua

I agree. It's not always safe at night after 9 or so I think. I lived 3 months there and had no problems. 1 lady friend got robbed at gun point on her bike by 2 guys on motorcycle , they had hit several other women ,no men. Another friend got pickpoceted due to stupidity keeping all credit cards $ in wallet in back pocket. Dumb! Only go out to bank in daytime in busy area. Only carry 1 or two cards in different places, socks shirt pocket,underwear  front pocket not all together. Don't carry large sums of money . Have a throw down wallet with 20-30bucks and some old credit cards if you do get robbed . I have been all over Cen Am and am 70 years old!  Stay in well lit areas

Thanks man, but in for the nite by 9 seems pretty bad. Even around the bars near the hotels? I am an Afghanistan Veteran, and can take care of myself pretty well, but not of course, I am not bulletproof. Do the armed robberies usually involve guns in antigua? Or just some punks, looking for vulnerable victims?

Well you could probably handle them . I'm 70 yrs and saftey cobpnscious!  An ex marine friend was coming home 2 a.m and had to walk by 3 guys  'they started to hassle him,but he carries one of those telescoping  steel nightsticks and banged all of them ,then ran. They occasional brandish a weapon ,knife or gun,you don't know until you face it. There is a Antigua expat Facebook pg and you can get latest news. I used to like the Illegal Mescal bar ,a long way from my place near Amistad cathedral . Take a yuk tuk home best at night.nThey wait outside late.  Don't carry much money  and give it up in fake wallet will usually satisfy them Get money from bank machine mid day . Well lit streets w other people around usually best. Good luck !

My daughter decided to walk home near the center just after dark and was robbed at knifepoint by two men. Four men saw them and decided to rape her. Luckily she got away after handing them her cell phone, which she had stuck in her bra.

Phil,

My understanding is that the tuk tuks don't run very late...

Yes you are right I should have said cabs! They do come to that  late night spot, a very popular place.A waitress I knew there got robbed at gunpoint in daylight on a dirt road going to her home after she got paid. They were targeting women only and got caught from video pics!! Guatemala City is really a war zone, guard towers at War Mart!!

don't be afraid to have direct eye contact with the local folk. make a copy of your i.d and passport. do you speak Spanish? go during the day so you know exactly where the places are, so you're not wandering around at night, or simply take a taxi to the place. chewing gum has helped me in cap haitien, Haiti. when I chew it, for some reason, no one even looks twice at me. it's the same thing with toothpicks or even sunglasses. I was born and raised in the Bronx, new York, so I know all of the tricks. get a local buddy somewhere, such as a college kid, to walk around with you. the Guatemalan culture is far more reserved towards foreigners than they are in Haiti, where you'll make 10 friends an hour, but it's a great thing to have a local with you.

Your funny. I Should have tried the gum chewing in Afghanistan, but it might not of worked since only the kids chew gum over there. LOL
Gum and sunglasses saved your ass in Haiti? This is the funniest thing I have ever read….
If someone tries to mug me while chewing gum I would probably wind pipe him.
As for the other advice thanks….makes sense to know where I am going so not wondering at night. I appreciate your advice but sorry, gum chewing, sunglasses and toothpicks had me rolling….but whatever works for you.

I've heard other methods as well, being a native new Yorker. I knew a woman who would ride the subways at 2am whilst she read the Holy Bible. A man I know would pretend that he was a stroke victim and move his head spasmodically. Still another, with far more gall, would park in handicapped spots w/o authorization and limp his way up to the supermarket!! another more realistic street measure which educated women I know use when passing a possibly sketchy male on the street is to actually greet them with kindness, which throws them off and may present the appearance that the woman isn't, in fact, menaced, when she may very well be.

I am from chicago and have never been mugged. Some of those tricks you mention may work, who knows? Just sound funny. I usually just walk confidently and look people in the eye that I have my doubts about.

nice. I want to move to Guatemala. I studied Spanish in xelia, even though my parents were Sicilian immigrants in the west village. I lived in mexico city for 2 years and it rotted. you go to bed and feel like you have to cough it's completely unproductive. back then, I didn't know that vicks worked. taxco, cuatla, puebla, and Puerto Escondido are so much better.  anyhow, it was hot here in bayonne, new jersey but now it's cloudy and raw again. I worked for 12 years at a public library in a jersey suburb and got bored out of my mind, even though i'm a book junkie. as youths, we used to ride the #6 train and paint it with graffiti and spend all our money at clubs and have to take the subways back at 5AM. I myself have been mugged.

I am Italian American myself. Funny you mention New Jersey...years ago must have been early 2000’s some time. My girlfriend and I went to New York, stayed in secaucus. My girlfriend at the time was a big Springsteen fan..so we decided to go to penn station..and take the train to asbury park. Turns out other than the board walk it was shady a hell. Walked all over asbury..looking for a cab..found nothing. Finally somehow found our way back to the train station. Lots of tense moments. But I hear asbury is a lot nicer now. That was a good example where I had to act confident as I could tell a few of the locals were sizing us up. I’m probably going to Antigua in June I’ll let you know what I think.

In my youth my friends and I used to ride the L (our subway) late at night and did a lot of crap I would not think of doing now. Guess I was lucky. But I’m near age 40 now..and things were a bit less shady back then in the 90s

I've been to Antigua 5 times since December of 2017 and I've walked many nights back home to the house I was renting from one of the sports bars that carried American sports and I have never had an issue or felt afraid.  To be honest, I feel safer in Antigua than I do in many places in the US.  I'm not discounting the fact that you need to be careful and that crime does happen, I just didn't see it or see anyone that concerned me.  I would be back by 11pm or 11:30pm  so maybe it is after midnight that it gets dangerous.  The people there then to be much shorter than Americans and maybe that is part of what makes it feel safer.
In Antigua you see a lot of families and lots of children walking around by themselves (daytime) like we used to be able to do a long time ago in the US but we can no longer do.  The other thing I like is you don't see the thugs or gangster wannabe's like you do in the US, I found that very refreshing.
Antigua is an incredible place, you will enjoy it.