Are around-the-neck money belts okay to use?

I think it's unlikely anyone would come up and try to snatch it off of your head, but the whole idea is for a money belt to be invisible. If someone can see the string, you are at a higher risk.

I personally prefer the neck money belts myself, but I travel in the winter, with layers and sweaters to keep the cord covered. If you are wearing summer attire, it would probably be better to use a different type of money belt.

An alternate option if you like the neck ones anyway would be to pin it to the inside of your shirt. That way if someone did try to grab or cut the cord, the wallet is still attached to your clothing.

If that method of wearing your money wallet is comfortable, then you're fine. Someone would have to physically assault you to get it from you and the odds of that are simply minuscule. The great majority of thieves are opportunists and not violent. You won't feel insecure in Europe and you'll be just fine. Keep your eyes open and be observant of your surroundings. Just like livin in the good ol' US of A.

We wore our Neck money wallet under our collars. Could not be seen by anyone. Before we began our day we would take out what money we thought we would need for the day and would duck into a bathroom and take out more if needed.

I always wear the neck wallet, and really like it. Like another poster, I also travel in the winter, and is much harder to see under your clothes. I have heard of pickpockets cut the string, if the string does show.
Still be careful. These people are clever!
Happy Travels!

I also had some guys grab my cord just to scare me. It was teenagers in the UK. I found that the waist version worked for me when I took the advice of our Rick Steves guide Christof. He said to think of it as deep storage. You had your daily needs out and accessible. The balance was in the money belt.

Pam

Good analogy Pam. I like it! I use both but hadn't thought of it in those terms. For those who have never taken a RS tour, deep storage is under the bus and you don't need it very often. Rick even sells a special bag for deep storage. :-)

I hate the neck pouches, personally. No matter what I do it is visible, partly because of my personal architecture (I am not exactly flat-chested), and partly because the cord shows no matter what I wear. I use them at the airport, though, for passport and boarding pass since I want those easily accessible (outside my clothes) while managing my bag, a drink, whatever.

Kristin, ther is a version for women that you can hang from your camisole or brassiere straps. It doesn't hold everything, but it can hold credit cards, your room key and a days worth of cash.

I personally don't like wearing money belts or the neck wallets but I did like wearing the little um.. bra pouch.

I found mine at ebags.com. click here to see this.

Kristin- I decided to try a neck one this trip as I found the waist ones extremely sweaty and lumpy. I found that it was going to show with a lot of my tops since it was hot this May and I had lightweight tops to wear and it bugged my neck some, so this is what I did...I wore it across the chest instead of the neck (looping your head and one arm through so the cord is diagonally across your chest) so the cord anchored at one shoulder (on a few low V-neck tops I found that looping it around my brastrap a few times helped to keep the strap just so) and then I tucked the wallet into the front of my pants opposite of that shoulder (very easy access if you need it). My strap was plenty long to do this. You can let it fall above your pants, but I found this more comforable and secure). I also had a small bag I carried daily so I carried this on the same hip as the money belt to further cover up my "lump" (but I had my youngest child's passport as well as mine so it was pretty thick with money, train tickets, and credit cards). Give it a try.

Just think how goofy you will look in your holiday pictures with the string around your neck. ;-)

I have a small passport sized pouch with a string that I loop over my head to my waist and tie on one end and tuck the pouch on my hip or rotate it around my waist depending what I am doing.

I usually keep my eye out for these small pouches at markets.

I couldn't decide which type of money belt to use so I brought one of each and used the one i didn't wear as my deep storage. I wore the neck one for two days but it was bulky even with not much in it and the strap hurt my neck. I switched to the one around the waist and found it to be more comfortable. Also, the outline of the neck belt could be seen under my shirt. Make sure to have a ziploc bag for your passport so it doesnt get ruined.