Generally Europe is safe. Most touristy areas will have issues of petty theft and pickpocketing, so it is important to be mindful of surroundings.  Avoid super crowded places, if you are not comfortable and venture in the early morning hours instead. If you are trying to locate an address do that during the day, and not navigate to unknown areas at night.  As a POC, we have never faced any problems in Europe, in fact, each time we traveled we only felt LOVE, and a warm welcome. We traveled Europe using a Schengen Visa and on a Canadian passport (visa-free). When exploring Europe - visa or visa-free - didn’t make any difference to us. Yes, it does save us time and money from applying for a visa (prior to travel) - but that’s about it. Our experiences in Europe have always been positive (and so we keep returning to the continent). Salil and I are respectful of local norms, and we brush up on history so that we can strike up a conversation with the locals (and we happily link back to our History lessons).  I think the love and adoration we have for the continent just radiates back to us, and we feel at home there (at times I feel my History classes are coming alive in the open).