To ask which country you would not visit again and why?

[travelcat]

I love hearing about travel experiences and am interested in knowing about places you have visited that you wouldn't go back to.

AIBU to ask which country you'd avoid in the future and what specifically made your experience less enjoyable? Was it due to culture, safety, or something else?

Australia

Just too damn far away

There isn’t a country I would never visit but for location that’s easy:

Barcelona, Spain. I had an awful experience.

If I was forced to name a country I would say Greece - had a few racist experiences there which soured my trip.

Tunisia, felt unsafe out and about as a woman, even with my husband and brothers with me. Lots of shouting and touching from men in the markets. Just gross.

Parts of San Francisco felt really unsafe due to big drug problems there. Lots of men off their faces again shouting and not allowing personal space. I know plenty of people love it there, and it was only a specific part of town that felt like that, but it was scary.

Also parts of India, just because it’s a bit depressing being confronted with beggars in the street when you’re on holiday trying to enjoy yourself. Yes, it’s horribly sad, but I don’t pay thousands of pounds to get away from home and experience a different culture to feel guilty and depressed every time I leave the hotel. I’m there putting money into the local economy on trips, in shops and restaurants etc not to be fleeced every time we stop at traffic lights. Obviously I should have chosen a different location, I get that part of the real India is the deprivation, but it doesn’t make me want to spend my holiday there again.

Los Angeles. What a dump

Morocco. Too hot, too dirty, horrible men.

Spain. Way too hot. They also hate tourists.

The US. It’s overhyped as a destination and certainly not worth dealing with the aggressive staff at the immigration counters.

Belgium. Had a dreadful holiday in Brussels!

Tunisia. Grim lecherous men!

Australia. We lived there for 18 months and yes, it is too damn far away. Also much more misogynistic than I would have expected, not to mention all the venomous spiders and snakes. Plus it’s very hot a lot of the time, which my Canadian blood can’t handle.

New Zealand on the other hand I would re-visit in a heartbeat. Worth the long journey.

Turkey- men harassing you if you are female, being heckled to buy in every shop you walk in, feeling like you are constantly being scammed ( just making up prices of things as you go along) and beaches were dirty.
Plus as an animal lover it was hard to see all the street dogs and cats constantly looking for food
:((

Yes their immigration staff are really unfriendly! I know immigration staff are hardly ever chatty but they seem very unwelcoming.

Wales.

Got screamed at on a beach because their dog wanted our lunch. We weren’t near the dog, they just couldn’t control it. So they screamed at us for having food and daring to eat it.

Same holiday, got served “home made” soup multiple times in multiple establishments that was clearly from a packet. Complete with shrivelled dehydrated peas.

Awful holiday.

South Africa. We got held up at gunpoint in Durban. I can take a hint.😀

Plus I hated the culture.

The Gambia.

Felt unsafe the moment I left the hotel compound. Constantly being groped and pawed at by men everywhere I went, even with an escort. Ended up wearing a ring on my left hand and making up a husband in the military.

"Sex tourism" (prostitution / exploitation) was rife and absolutely appalling - white men in their 70s with young girls in mid teens at the eldest, getting them drunk in the hotel bar before taking them upstairs - totally blatant in front of the staff etc.

I also got very sick on the 2nd last day - either the salad I ate (totally avoided it before then, don't know what I was thinking!) or from handling cash at the market where I bought a few bits, then not washing my hands until 2hrs later at the hotel. That lasted nearly two weeks...

So no I won't be back.

ETA - my luggage tags went missing on the way home and the bag had been rifled through. I received the tags a few weeks later in a envelope with a letter from a man sending me his photo, address and begging for money for his honesty in returning the tags. 🙄

Same experience in Egypt

Laos. Or Thailand to be honest. I spent 6 months travelling in that region so I'd rather go somewhere new.
I'd love to go to India. And back to Italy. And I love Spain. Countries I'd not want to visit would be Dubai, UAE, pretty much all that region. Or Australia, or Belgium. I guess Ukraine or Afghanistan probably not either right now.

Turkey because it’s got an awful authoritarian government. They don’t allow fair trials or freedom of expression. The government doesn’t tolerate dissent. Anyone who speaks up is persecuted and harassed and imprisoned by the state or worse. It’s really depressing how many people go on holiday there and then their currency props up the terrifying Erdogan regime.

Dubai. Hated it. Didn't like the attitudes towards women, found everyone very rude and it was like a giant hot tacky shopping mall

Osaka, Japan. Sexually assaulted by local man. Police didn’t give a shit.

Felt dreadfully unsafe the whole time, being perved at by men. The misogyny in Japan is like nothing I had ever experienced before, despite being well travelled.

Never ever going back.

UAE or even more specifically Dubai.

Never again. It's a horrible place where women are treated like absolutely shit and western woman are looked at like scum even when dressed respectfully. It's sleezy, and mildly threatening.

It has such a nasty undercurrent, I despised it.

I also would have been arrested if I stayed there much longer as not being treated as an equal really riles me up.

Can't think of anywhere I wouldn't go back to. Egypt was my least favourite holiday but I'd still like to go back and see more

+1 - I came on to post Egypt and also Jamaica (which I wouldn't have chosen but a friend got married there). I couldn't go anywhere without getting constantly harassed and it got old very quickly.

South Africa. Overt racism, plus felt very unsafe.

That's not been my experience at all. Have felt very welcome