To ask where you’d love to visit but are too scared to visit.

@Noodledog I went to Ethiopia to visit a friend about a decade ago, it was absolutely amazing - the early Christian churches were stunning. Such a huge amount of history that I'd been completely ignorant of (about?). So friendly, and it seemed like a country on the verge of finally embracing tourism and trade and just getting somewhere. New roads being built - which were transformational - new water systems.

Now....it's such a shame.

These countries for me too. Also Ethiopia for the early Christian churches and Papua New Guinea because the scenery looks stunning.

I visited the Soviet Union way back in 1987 - stayed in Moscow and Leningrad (flew Aeroflot internally).

Fantastic experience but I bet its like everywhere else now.

Why are you afraid of Australian fauna?

Oh, I disagree about Moscow - how dare you say it's a shithole - I loved it

Iran is getting a few mentions - it's fabulous apart from the ayatollahs!

London these days!

I would have loved to visit Syria when it was in its prime.

I feel that even without the current issues so much has been destroyed that it would be depressing.

Went on a tour to India last year . It was honestly amazing. If you are interested I can send you the details of the company we went with.

I agree with you about the US. Also the quantity of XL Bully dogs and other big dog mixes (people use them as guard dogs) unmuzzled I found really worrying when I was out with my toddler. And the amount of drug addicts. I felt safer in Colombia than the US!

I find myself recently single and have been musing on life and the fact that I haven't travelled much. Have been googling group travel for solo travellers and am drawn to Uzbekistan, well all the stans really. Have read a couple of really interesting books on the Silk Road and would love to see some of those cities.

Also partly because I want to see the expression on my mother's face when I breezily tell her I'm off to Uzbekistan. She's scared of any Abroad other than France.

I've been to Mongolia. Felt perfectly safe.

Me too. Whether things will change, I doubt it, but it’s been in my long list for years.

I follow the UK government travel advisories and I don't think I would be "scared" of travelling to anywhere that is isn't red/orange on their maps (ie avoid all travel/avoid all but essential travel). But in most countries there would be parts of certain cities that I would be wary of at certain times. That includes the Uk!

Current warnings for Sri Lanka are the same as eg France.

It was summer 2022 when it got a bit hairy. Friends of ours were due to go there and we were watching the news closely. They postponed their trip until things calmed down.

We were in Sri Lanka in 2020 and it was fine, although there was a very visible armed police presence on the streets of Colombo because there had been a few explosions in recent weeks.

There are ongoing scuffles, but they tend to be in the north of the country, away from most of the tourist centres.

It was pretty scary at the time though, and I can't think of many countries right now that I would travel to where top politicians are having their houses burnt down.

I mean, if you apply that kind of logic then pretty much every single country in the world would be deemed as unsafe.

Perhaps the worry about Sri Lanka is because of the civil unrest there a couple of years ago?

Edited to add that it was actually 3 years ago, but it was a bit scary with politicians' houses set on fire.

Very pleased to hear of PPs' experiences in the 'Stans (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan etc), as I've always wanted to travel to these countries but was concerned that they were off the list for now.

I'd also love to visit Russia, Georgia, Iraq and Iran.

Perhaps the world will magically resolve itself in the next 20 years and that will be my retirement present to myself!

Sri Lanka is lovely and the people are absolutely the loveliest most gentle people I’ve ever met!

Yeah I'm baffled by Sri Lanka too?! It's probably the safest and friendliest country I've ever been to (and I've been to loads mentioned in these comments!)

South Africa.

I went to Jordan solo and it was amazing, it's small so you can get around really easily. In Spain and France as a solo traveller I've been flashed, groped and propositioned for sex, in Jordan a shopkeeper mimed undoing his trousers and I thought 'here we go' - but nope he was just trying to alert me to the fact that I was walking around Madaba with the back of my skirt undone....

Turkey is also wonderful, I remember running around the huge bus station in Antalya trying to find where to catch the bus and the guys there all helping me out, same at Fethiye dolmus station. Istanbul and Cappadocia are amazing! Egypt on the other hand I wouldn't go back to and wouldn't be so keen to travel around solo. The hassle is just too much.

Sri Lanka is great. I went to watch England play cricket there a few years ago. I never felt in the slightest bit uneasy even outside the tourist areas.

Afghanistan
Israel