I am not familiar with any posts about safety concerns in Granada; however, I'd be amazed if there truly were safety issues there.

I visited Granada in January 2000 solo, and I never had the slightest concern for my safety. One of my most pleasant memories from the day I visited the Alhambra is walking down to the Plaza Nueva, singing "Far away places, with strange sounding names...castles in Spain."

I've also visited there with my sister once and with my college friend another time and had no safety concerns at all.

You'll often read about problems with theft in BARCELONA, but seldom, IF EVER, with violence. My sister's purse was stolen in Barcelona (luckily she'd given me her passport and debit card to put in my money belt), and someone tried to steal my purse on the train to Montserrat, but I realized what was happening and moved my purse.

I'm always careful when I travel. I always wear my money belt. I put my purse beneath my chair, with a chair leg anchoring the strap so that the purse cannot be stolen without pulling my chair along with it. When I walk down the street, I keep my purse on the side away from the street.

But I'm never worried about personal safety in Granada. I don't go out much at night, so I can't address that. I'd ask the folks at the hostel if there are areas you should avoid.

DH, 12yo DD and I visited Granada in October, a less-touristy time of year, and stayed at a B&B in the Albayzin, Hotel Santa Isabel la Real, which is quite close to your hostel. Even late at night, there were people (normal people) out and about, and we never had any concern for our, or our daughter's, safety.

There are actually not many different streets that you would take to get between your hostel and the main part of Granada, and as they'd likely be the same streets we walked up and down, I think any obvious route that you'd take would be fine.

Nearby Plaza San Miguel, with two bar /cafes, is a nice place to sit with drinks and to people-watch. And you've probably already seen suggestions to go to Mirador San Nicolas, which provides views over to the Alhambra. Even at midnight, there was always a crowd up at the Mirador. One night, some enterprising young Spaniards played guitar and sang to the crowd; it was magical.

lol, Peg, the closest we got to a real live crime whilst on holiday was in Granada when we were almost knocked over by a fleeing miscreant and then by the cops who were running after him.

oh, and predictably someone tried to dip DH's pocket on the Barcelona metro.

Jottenweiler, without a link to whatever posts and/or travel guides you've read it's difficult to advise you on them specifically, but Granada felt very safe to us. just observe the sorts of sensible precautions that peg mentions or what you would do at home, and you'll be fine.