History Main / CityofSpies

* Nearly any capital city or any city big enough to have embassies and consulates, due to intelligence agents using diplomatic posts as cover, since they have diplomatic immunity. If they're caught, they can simply go back to their home country.

* ''Series/WonderWoman'': Washington, D.C. was a den of spies. From with [[TheMole Steve Trevor's first secretary]] (who Wonder Woman personally knocked out to take her job) to [[TheBaroness Baroness Von Gunther]] to [[SurgicalImpersonation spies posing as Treasury Department managers]], the first season had so many spies that there must have been a shortage of both housing and abandoned warehouses.

* ''Chuck'': In the episode, Chuck Versus the Suburbs, Chuck and Sarah go undercover in the suburb of Meadow Branch to find a Fulcrum agent. Later in the episode, it is revealed that the entire cul de sac is actually a front for Fulcrum, which is trying to build their own intersect.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': The station itself is a massive nest of intrigue, mostly because its the only neutral port around and between the major powers. Being the hub of diplomats means it attracts the dark side of diplomacy, spying. Notably, when the Interstellar Alliance relocates its headquarters to Minbar at the end of season 5, the chief of the ISA's covert intelligence division chooses to remain stationed on Babylon 5.

* ''Film/OSS117CairoNestOfSpies'' -- OSS 117 indeed bumps into a variety of spies (Soviets, British, separate Egyptian factions, a goofy Belgian spy and even a hidden group of the ''Nazis''), most likely due to the Suez Canal crisis and because the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser's presidency at the epicenter of pan-arabism.

If all the world's spies seem to work in the city a SpyDrama is set in, it's a CityOfAdventure. See also the TruceZone, which is very often one of these.

* ''[[Creator/GrahamGreene Our Man in Havana]]''. Bet you can't guess which city.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/city_of_spies.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''Estoril is small town near Lisbon, Portugal. Having a casino, beach and wonderful weather, the region was a center of diplomacy -- and spying -- during World War II.'']]

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* One of the ''Marvelman''/''Comicbook/{{Miracleman}}'' comics ("Spy Story", #21 of the revived series, 1991, by Creator/NeilGaiman) was about a woman living in a city of spies. Turns out all the members of the intelligence agencies of the world who couldn't adjust to the {{Utopia}} were put into one big city to intrigue their little hearts out.

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* ''[[Creator/GrahamGreene Our Man In Havana]]''. Bet you can't guess which city.

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* King's Landing in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', though to a lesser extent than some of the other examples on this page, does have a large number of spies for different factions. Although they don't figure into the War of the Five Kings much,supplementary materials indicate that Braavos and Volantis (as well as the other Free Cities) have in the past served in this role
** Essentially anywhere [[TheSpymaster Varys']] influence extends could count as such, thanks to his network of "little birds".

* Grantville in ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' becomes this in later books, as everyone and his mother wants to get their hands on up-time technology. Subverted in that the spying is done fairly openly - most of the information they want is public knowledge, and the Americans don't actually care that much.
** Adding to the mix is that Grantville still has a functioning (if limited) Internet, which offers a very secure way for the aforementioned spies to swap information with one another.

* Discussed in the LightNovel/FullMetalPanic novels when revealing where Mithril had the administrative headquarters for their Pacific operations. The chose Sydney, Australia as its large enough that they can blend by pretending to be the regional headquarters of a multi-national corporation and geographically isolated enough that's its not a natural crossroads attracting a lot of attention.

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* If you were to believe ''Series/BurnNotice'', Miami is full of spies and retired spies.
** Then again, the city attracts a lot of retiring people and is pretty close to Cuba.
** And it doesn't hurt that Florida doesn't have a state income tax, which makes it a popular place for mobile people to have as a residence.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': The station itself is a massive nest of intrigue, mostly because its the only neutral port around and between the major powers. Being the hub of diplomats means it attracts the dark side of diplomacy, spying.
** Notably, when the Interstellar Alliance relocates its headquarters to Minbar at the end of season 5, the chief of the ISA's covert intelligence division chooses to remain stationed on Babylon 5.

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* Bothawui and the other Bothan-colonized worlds (especially Kothlis, home of the cell of Bothan spies who are mentioned in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'') in the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'' are [[PlanetOfHats planets of spies]]. Also {{Playful Hacker}}s, backbiting status-obsessed politicians, and incredibly brave honor-bound people. With plenty of overlap between these categories. Bothans wear many Hats.

* During UsefulNote/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Franchise/WonderWoman, ComicBook/SteveTrevor and Etta Candy couldn't go anywhere in Washington DC without running into someone doing espionage work for the Axis powers.

* The Village in ''Series/ThePrisoner1967.'' All the inhabitants are forcibly retired spies.

* Nearly any capital city or any city big enough to have consulates, due to intelligence agents using diplomatic posts as cover, since they have diplomatic immunity. If they're caught, they can simply go back to their home country.

* UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}} during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, because it was a city in the middle of communist territory where all four occupation powers were in close proximity (as was Vienna, see below).

** More recently, spy swaps between countries like the US, Russia and Britain have still been known to take place in the area. The (now infamous) MI6 informant Colonel Sergei Skripal was 'exchanged' at Schwechat airport in 2010.

** And during the Cold War. Oil Money + U.S. Friendly Monarchy + Massive borders with the Soviet Union = Disaster. Even without all the MI6, CIA and KGB agents running around there was a lot of crap going on. Most of the intellectuals were promoting Marxist-Leninist ideas, but American pop culture was insanely popular. Prime Minister Mosaddeq was trying to make Iran into a full Democracy which the CIA decided to prevent because the Tudeh party and the Jangal party (which were both Communist) were becoming worryingly popular. All political parties except the Rastakhiz party were [[ThePurge disbanded]] after the Mordad coup but that only led to Communist and Religious Terrorist groups (mostly with foreign benefactors) and the Iranian spy agency SAVAK failed to stop them decisively.

* Also in Iran, Bushehr has been a hotbed for spy activity for centuries. Under the Safavids it was a sentinel of resistance against the Portugese colonists, then when the Portugese colonies were taken back it remained a major port in an era when the Safavids had developed relations with the Dutch and British East India Companies, which didn't quite get along. Nader Shah decided to put the Headquarters of his Navy in Bushehr, but he was killed before he was done conquering on land so the Navy went practically unused.

* Iga, Japan (Feudal ages): It's where ninjas originated and where most of them lived during the feudal ages in Japan. It became so independent of the rest of Japan that it became a de-facto city state until 1581, when it was destroyed.

* Tehran during UsefulNotes/WW2. Reza Shah's Pro-Axis administration was overthrown in a British coup a few weeks into the war and his Pro-Ally son was quickly crowned. British forces controlled the city while their enemies at the time (The Soviets) were ravaging the Gilan, Mazandaran and Azerbaijan regions just north of the Alborz mountains. The strong American, British, French, Russian and German presence in the city was one of the reasons the conference that finally got the Allies to pull themselves together was held there.
** And during the Cold War. Oil Money + U.S. Friendly Monarchy + Massive borders with the Soviet Union = Disaster. Even without all the MI6, CIA and KGB agents running around there was a lot of crappie going on. Most of the intellectuals were promoting Marxist-Leninist ideas, but American pop culture was insanely popular. Prime Minister Mosaddeq was trying to make Iran into a full Democracy which the CIA decided to prevent because the Tudeh party and the Jangal party (which were both Communist) were becoming worryingly popular. All political parties except the Rastakhiz party were disbanded after the Mordad coup but that only led to Communist and Religious Terrorist groups (mostly with foreign benefactors) and the Iranian spy agency SAVAK failed to stop them decisively.

Its vast number of spies might also be because a DeadlyDecadentCourt has set up shop here.

[[folder: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': King's Landing is rife with spies for various members of the DeadlyDecadentCourt. In one scene, Littlefinger is polite enough to point out several of them, including his own.

* Nearly any capital city or any city big enough to have a consulate, due to intelligence agents using diplomatic posts as cover, since they have diplomatic immunity. If they're caught, they can simply go back to their home country.

* Nearly any capital city or any city big enough to have a consulate, due to intelligence agents using diplomatic posts as cover, due to diplomatic immunity. If they're caught, they can simply go back to their home country.

* ''Film/OurManInHavannah''. Bet you can't guess which city.