Walking safety

Because I have a wife who is vision impaired I try to stay off broken pavements or areas without dropped kerbs. Generally all around there that's pretty easy. She's a lot safer when she doesn't fall down - which unfortunately she does too often.

What really is dangerous for her are building sites and where the heavy trucks access the building sites. Pavement tends to be damaged and often uneven. We cross the street if we can.

As far as anything else, don't leave your phone on a table or sling your handbag around the back of a chair. That's what the hooks under the table are for.

And remember that all intersections in London are unsafe if you fail to Look Right before crossing the street.

I'll just add that I usually stay about 1/2 mile from your hotel and have walked by it on occasion to get to restaurants. I have no qualms about walking in that area any time of day or evening. I'm not usually out later at night but that is just because I am an early to bed kind of gal, lol!

I’ve stayed in the Victoria area several times and as a single woman traveling alone have always felt perfectly safe.

Contrary to Emma, there are parts of London I wouldn't want an American tourist to walk alone, but they are nowhere near Victoria and a tourist would have to make a real effort to get there.

It's really true -- the most dangerous thing you can do in London, or anywhere in the UK, is forget to look both ways when crossing a street. First right, then left, then right again -- exactly the opposite of what Americans have done all their lives.

I believe Winston Churchill was badly injured when a New York taxi hit him. We could have lost the war. Don't make the mistake he probably did -- the world needs you too! ;-)

I normally stay in the Victoria station / Belgravia area and have never had any problems walking around even late in the evening. That's normally a very safe area (at least in my experience). As the others mentioned, be sure to look both ways before crossing the street, as traffic will be coming from the opposite direction to what you're used to. Also be aware of what's happening around you.

Emma, I'm a Londoner and I felt more than a little cautious a while back when I explored Tower Hamlets cemetery. Near me, I'm not sure I'd want a wealthy-looking American wandering around bits of Leytonstone.

We stayed in that general area and walked to Victoria Station a number of times, including late in the evening. We always felt safe.

General safety rules apply, especially situational awareness. Have a great trip!

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5224998/london-acid-attack-map-areas-delivery-drivers-too-dangerous/

Would you be walking in your home town? Victoria Station and its immediate area do not pose any safety concerns.

I recently stayed in a hotel just a couple of doors down from where you are staying. It's a perfectly lovely area and you'll be able to walk around quite safely with the usual precautions you would take in any big city. I end up in London fairly regularly and have been all over the place and have never once felt unsafe, even in some of the outer boroughs of the city where tourists don't normally go.

OP, use common sense like you would anywhere else. If an area looks desolate, turn around and leave.

There is nowhere in London that you need to avoid. There simply aren't any "no go" areas.

Sure, there aren't any "no go areas" but I've conducted my fair share of drug raids in parts of London that I wouldn't feel entirely comfortable walking around let alone as a tourist, however, those places are never going to be somewhere that a tourist will inadvertently find themselves in unless they were extremely unlucky.