Best/worst country to visit

[travelinterest]

AIBU to ask which countries/cities were the best or worst you have visited and why?

Best : South Africa. Wildlife, scenery, wine, the place has everything. Where else can you see lions, whales & penguins in the same country?

United States : The US is just so fascinatingly diverse in every possible way. I am fortunate enough to have visited more than 20 states, from the forests and fishing ports of Maine to the deserts of Nevada to the monuments & mueums of Washington to the plains of Indiana to the swamps of Louisiana. And far, far more besides. I will never become bored of it.

Worst : No contest. Saudi Arabia. An appalling backward, uncivilised, illiberal theocratic shithole of a country with absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever. Disgusting levels of misogyny are a way of life. I hope I never have to set foot in the place again.

Mostly travelled as a solo female traveller, so a little biased towards solo experiences!

Best:
Istanbul - nice people, nice food, so many things to do/see
Buenos Aires
Maldives

Worst:
Brussels - drab
Paris - overpriced, grubby

Best: France, California, Botswana, Sri Lanka.
Worst: Durban specifically - unsafe and terrible inequality. Bahrain - had a great time because we were in a really fancy hotel but not that much to do

Bruges is pretty but very expensive, and I've had some of the worst food I've ever experienced in Belgium.

Zanzibar is indeed lovely, and I've got a soft spot for Dar es-Salaam as well, although bits of it are very sad and run down.

Nothing bad has ever happened to me in Nairobi, but I still found it intimidating. Outside the city, I felt quite safe in Kenya.

Aleppo was lovely about 20 years ago - it makes me so sad to think about what has happened to it. An ancient city with some of the kindest, most welcoming people I've met, and delicious food could be had for pennies.

Cappadocia in Turkey is good fun and the rest of Turkey does have its nice spots, but overall I agree about the skeevy men and pushy sales people.

My favourite places in the UK are York, Liverpool and Warwickshire - Stratford, Warwick and Leamington are all lovely. Being in York or Stratford feels a bit like being on holiday. I know London is overpriced, overcrowded and dirty, but I can't help but get excited when I go there. So much to do and see.

I loved:

Majorca
St Lucia
Jersey
Montenegro

I was underwhelmed by:

Paris
Trieste
Gibraltar
Tenerife

And I hated:

Turkey
Egypt

Best: Mexico, America, the quiet side of Ibiza

Worst: Turkey, Brussels, Malta

Haven't been on holiday to many countries but have lived in - and loved :

Greece, Japan and Oman. 2 years in Japan and then Oman and 1 year in Greece.

Have holidayed in Sudan to visit friends - wasn't keen on the food, so much meat but the people are something special.

Planning to go to Lebanon next year for our 1st holiday in years, can't wait.

Would love to go to Croatia.

I loved Mexico, New Orleans, the Maldives, Krakow, Austria, Croatia, Santorini, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Switzerland.

I hated India, Tunisia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Bali, Singapore and China.

Best: Florence. I never get bored there, but Renaissance art is my passion.
All the hill towns in Umbria. Unbelievable treasures in the smallest of churches.
Saigon
Buenos Aires.
Venice but only in the winter
Riga.
Worst: Sorrento. I just don’t get why people rave about it. Rammed with tourists and no beach.
Casablanca.
Nairobi.
Loved Stone Town in Zanzibar, but felt very uneasy, and my luggage got lost.
Sicily apart from Syracuse, which was lovely.

Never been to Croatia, but a good friend has spent quite a lot of time there and claims that it is full of good-looking men. Slovenia also.

I have to agree with others about Dublin. We expected a sort of mini-London, with tons of stuff to see & do, but it’s actually more like being in Nottingham, only twice as expensive.

I had lovely food in Bruges but after mussels in a creamy wine sauce with chips followed by chocolate tasting with hot chocolate at a cafe I was feeling unwell and desperately seeking salad and couldn't find it anywhere. I love Bruges though.

One of the more interesting places we've been is Rio, lovely hotel overlooking Copacabana beach (thanks DHs work!) and you could hear man on next table trying to negiotiate a prostitute at breakfast . He was after 1, lady was trying to give him 10 girls in a boat, he was trying to get to 1 and she was telling him he had to have 10. Good job no kids. Stayed at another hotel there on way back and could hear shooting and the waiter told another diner that's normal its Saturday night. Beautiful scenery and monkeys. Got chatted up by some dodgy Iranian doctor who told me my husband was so lucky I know when to shut up unlike most women and kept clicking his fingers expecting waitress to come from bar to him.

I didn't dislike Sorrento, but was underwhelmed by it and disappointed that there was nowhere nice to walk. It is built up right to the cliff edge so you can't walk by the sea, and the streets have too much traffic and very narrow pavements. It was my least favourite stay in Italy.

I adore Lake Garda. It is breathtakingly beautiful, and you can combine a lazing by the pool holiday with some really interesting sightseeing. I would probably say that Lake Garda is my absolute favourite holiday destination.

My favourite counties in the UK are Shropshire, Northumberland and Devon.

I loved iceland... but really didnt enjoy new york..

Best : Venice, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, St Petersburg, Las Vegas

Worst: Dominican republic, Vienna, the canary islands.

Best city: Budapest - loads to see, friendly people, cheap and so easy to get around
Best country: Peru - people were so warm and welcoming and the scenery was absolutely beautiful

Worst country: Norway - just found it overpriced and boring
Worst city: Doha - got stuck there with some others when our flights were overbooked. My sister and I covered ourselves in loose clothing from neck to ankle and still got followed everywhere by men who literally stood inches away and stared constantly. Worse still a couple on honeymoon were not even allowed to play ten pin bowling on the same bowling lane

The same bowling lane as each other that is!

Best:
Co Kerry, Ireland. Absolutely beautiful county. Amazing scenery and the people are so friendly.
St Petersburg. Stunning city. Would love to go back.

Worst:
Lanzarote. Utter shithole. Can't understand why it's so popular.
Dublin. I've been there quite a bit and I think it's definitely gone downhill in the last twenty years. Main streets are quite grotty and the amount of drug addicts is overwhelming.

Best cities: Istanbul, Berlin, Stockholm

Favourite countries/regions: Mexico, France, Transylvania.

Marmite choice: Russia - the most fascinating place ever, lots to love and lots to hate.

Worst: not a fan of Brussels or Amsterdam, really disliked lots of aspects of Marrakech.

Best

Brussels
Los Angeles
Barcelona

Worst

Paris
Malta
Nice

Not that well travelled.

Best
Rome or San Francisco

Worst
LA and not a massive fan of Miami
Paris is not on my list of favourites either

Love Austria, especially Salzburg
Had a great time in New Orleans and felt very safe when I went with my friend (both young women)
Surprisingly really liked Paris. Expected to find it overhyped but I had a wonderful time and wouldn’t love to go back.

Disliked Stockholm and Copenhagen. Both have nice vibes and I’m sure they’re lovely to live in, but as a tourist I found them quite dull.
Hated Venice. It’s obviously beautiful but it was extortionately expensive, crowded and I didn’t feel entirely safe being accosted by street sellers all the time, especially at night.

Just spotted that Bali has been mentioned, and I forgot to mention it in my first post.

Really didn’t get the hype. The beaches were nothing compared to other beaches in Asia, we were almost scammed quite a few times, and the traffic is shocking! It’s surprisingly expensive too (in comparison with other Asian beach resorts).

Also, when we were there it was full of Instagram-model types who floated around in frilly dresses taking pictures at every opportunity. Even when we tried to get off the beaten track!

Forget L.A. - been twice.. massively underwhelmed, almost to point of dislike. Nothing good to say about it (dull, everything so spread out, not at all scenic) but love Catalina Island

Best...Warsaw, Berlin, Rome, New York, Inverness, York, Devon, San Francisco

Meh: Paris, Luxembourg( found people RUDE), Venice, London and San Jose

Disliked: Gran Canaria, Salou, Blackpool, Amsterdam ( dirty and sleazy), Verona in Italy. I adore Italy but Verona was a massive letdown, especially Juliettes balcony.

Buenos Aires and Budapest is on my Bucket list.
And I actually like Dublin....I found the people very friendly!