We're about to go to Europe(Amsterdam) for the first time and have a simple question. Do you need to have your passport with you at all times or can you just leave it in the room safe? Thanks

Leave it in the safe, carry a copy with you.

Everybody on here disagrees - we have this debate every couple of weeks. It is really a matter of preference. I personally keep my passport w/ me at all times. But some Fodorites just leave them in a safe.

Whichever you decide, be sure to make a photo copy of your passport just in case.

I've never needed to have my actual passport with me and why take a chance on having your passport taken by a pickpocket. Its a real pain to have to replace. As Traveler said, leave it in the safe and carry a copy with you.

I prefer to carry it with me at all times, since I think it's safer - and that way I wouldd know immediately if something happened to it.

If you put it in the hotel safe and return 3/4 days later when checking out - what do you do if it's not there? (And frankly many of the in-room safes aren't really very safe - although the hotel's master safe should be - but no guarantees.)

I think the answers are about 50 ~~50. We lived overseas and travel quite a bit, and I always, on travels, carry the passports WITH ME. I just keep track of my purse, stap across the shoulder and hug my purse in crowds.
We aren't, however, out late at night or go into too many seedy areas.....though sometimes we walk back streets to get the flavor of a city.
It ultimately will be your own personal choice. I don't think there is a right or wrong...But a copy of your passport should be in your luggage/or safe back in the hotel.

Whichever you decide the important thing is to have a photocopy of the ID page and to keep it in a <u>seperate</u> place.

If you carry your passport with, leave the copy with your luggage in your hotel. Or visa versa. If you do decide to leave the passport in the hotel and to carry the photocopy, be sure that the passport is in the safe! Don't just leave it in your luggage.

I prefer to carry the passport with me in my under-the-clothing money belt.

I leave a copy of my itinerary, the photocopy of my passport and the list of my cc numbers in the safe at the hotel.

Go with whichever is more comfortable for you. Amsterdam is really a safe place, but accidents can happen anywhere.

I used to carry mine because every now and then someone would ask for ID when I used a credit card.

That has happened so infrequently lately that I have stopped taking it with me and I leave it in the hotel.

I have a copy of the information page in a separate place AND I have that same copy stored on the internet so I can retrieve it if necessary.

As to the &quot;sfaety&quot; and pickpocketing possibility.

If you honestly think you'll &quot;know right away&quot; if you have been pickpocketed that could be a very serious incorrect assumption.

Comes down to this: Who (whom?) do you trust more to look after your passport - yourself or anonymous people who can get access to your hotel room?

If you trust the reception at the hotel with a real elaborate system of safe-deposit-boxes (counter-signed, only touched by you, that sort of thing), then leave it there.

But leaving stuff in your room? Don't think so, even in a little &quot;safe&quot; in the room? Your call.

There are some handy gadgets to keep the passport (and other such valuables) on your person, under your clothing, not accessible by strangers unless you disrobe, so it is your call.

You will rarely need a passport while moving about - really only if you cash travellers checks (yuck, don't do that) or make serious travel arrangements, so it's not about that.