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?

Dubai - soulless, mysogynitstic
Israel - went on a trip to Palestine for a friend's wedding. She frequently couldn't join us in her own country and Jerusalem felt so toxic. Spent a day feeling on edge, hemmed in and angry
I used to feel the same way about Egypt but this year went again for a special occasion and it was 95% brilliant

I'm Indian myself and have never enjoyed a family trip to India at all. Always excited when we land back in the UK

Dubai is the only place I have completely written off ever going to again unless I need to. In a previous job I had to go a few times. Awful place.

Lots of the places mentioned on this thread have good areas and bad areas. Such as US, SA, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco etc but Dubai is the only place I can think of that doesn’t have a nice part. It is all equally soulless, tacky, fake and with a horrible undercurrent.

Morocco
wasnt for me, culturally too different felt unsafe at times. Beautiful views but the poverty of the locals in the area I stayed in put me off as they didn’t have passports even. I support charities and am up to speed with world economics but for a holiday I struggle when I am faced with poverty makes me feel really guilty about the luxury of my own daily life 😭

India. The harassment was non stop across every part we travelled around. I was there for a month with some friends and every woman amongst us was sexually harassed multiple times. I was groped, followed, catcalled - it was horrendous and I felt constantly unsafe. I would never ever go back there.

Egypt - I would go back but I wouldn’t go as a solo female traveller. Super beautiful things to see but I’ve been to 70 countries and it’s where I felt most unsafe walking down the street by myself.

Thailand. Sex tourism. I feel bad about this, as so much of the country and its culture is so lovely. I've been to, even lived in, other places with rampant sex tourism but not on such a blatantly industrial scale. Perhaps irrationally, I was distressed by the 'normality' of the groups of attractive, intelligent men exploiting Thai women. It killed off any idea that they were paying for something they couldn't get at home for free.

Sad to hear about Gambia, @ButtSurgery. I spent a fantastic month there about 40 years ago. I had to hire a teenage 'protector' but was never threatened or ripped off, and sexual exploitation was not part of the landscape. I've seen documentaries about it since then, though 😢

Do people think an old woman would have a smoother experience visiting North African countries now, or is any female considered fair game?

India

also really not interested in UAE

@BlackForestCake going off topic slightly but come to think of it, I've only ever read 2 stories where there were no men; one was in a collection of short stories by John Wyndham called 'Consider her ways' and the other was of a certain genre that I found on the internet, but was actually a really good story.

Pretty harsh to slate the whole of Wales for some dickheads on a beach and a couple of crap meals. Where did you go? Sounds like definitely not a town/area to visit!

Exactly the same. The animal abuse was horrifying and got seriously ill.

Absolutely this. The harassment and heckling was horrendous plus I had the worst food poisoning/stomach bug I’ve ever had in my life.

I really like North Wales. It does rain a lot though.

It is a big country - surely you don't mean all of it.

Parts of Spain have much lower temperatures than others. Some areas are not touristy at all, so the local community really don't have a view.

New York - really dirty, loads of litter, place stank and loads of rats running around. The locals clearly hate tourists - we got shouted at multiple times in the street, a lot of mentally ill people roaming around, shouting and acting quiet scarily, unhelpful people, especially on the tube. Were quite well travelled but found the New York tube system confusing, when asking for help at the help desk they weren't interested.

Paris - again, dirty and underwhelming. Rude people, food really sub par. Wouldn't return.

To those who disliked New York and Russia for being cold, I can't help feeling this could be avoided by going there at a warmer time of year?

I mean the Russian and NY winters are fairly well known to be cold.

Egypt - specifically Cairo. Shithole.
Mauritius- too far for what it is. Overrated.
Australia. Too far.

Misogyny and harassment are a bit of a theme.

It would be interesting to hear men's answers to the same question. Their experiences are so different.

Reading all the appalling stories on this thread, someone needs to start up a country with no men.

Duh! This will never happen, as you know. Typical Mumsnet. Men are the enemy. No they are not. While most on Mumsnet hide behind dreadful men in relationships and marriage.

Get out of your comfort zone, get down to the gym and do a self-defence course, then you can travel to your heart's content. This world really is a wonderful place to explore.

Yes, that was my experience. It’s great that you had a different experience and enjoyed it.

I don’t personally put the UK’s undoubted race problem in the same category as South Africa but that’s probably for another thread.

Also agree with this one! It was so underwhelming I'd actually forgotten about it. Very little to do - we saw the whole island in one day. Very dull. Unless you like to lie on a beach all day everyday.

Never had the chance but I'm afraid I wouldn't go to Australia because of the venomous wildlife. Hate spiders and snakes It also puts me off quite a few other countries as well. Shame as I'd love to have a cuddle with some kangaroos, koalas, wombats and some of the other lovely cuddly creatures they have

I don't think there's anywhere I've been that I wouldn't go back to, but I'm pretty picky about where I go in the first place. If you are paying to go on holiday you want somewhere you will enjoy. You can be educated and have a nice time at the same time!

I have done very little travelling for work (sadly but perhaps fortunately as well!) but didn't mind San Francisco but it was about 20 years ago now.

I wish I could have just gone on my own but our work policy meant that no-one was allowed to go anywhere without the company’s hired driver. We couldn’t step foot outside the hotel🙄 I spent an entire week being shuttled to and from work meetings in a minibus so in truth I don’t feel I’ve actually visited SA.

By contributing to the economy, you are reducing poverty - in a fair world. Sadly I don't think the trickle down always works.
I work extensively in sub-Saharan Africa and frequently feel the same way. But you contribute what you can where you can. The world is imperfect