It's a safe city on the whole. I once had my bag snatched out of my bike basket by what I thought was a respectable man in his 40s who was looking for directions. And I've had various bikes nicked and people are always breaking into our car and trying to steal it. It's an old and dirty Alpha Romeo, we can't imagine what anyone sees in it.

On the statistics front, here are stats from 2006

Amsterdam has also been home to a number of gangland killings in recent years. Most of these have taken place in the posher suburbs - like the Buitenveldert shopping centre and on the Apollolaan in Zuid. Bad for property prices.