While traveling outside the U.S. I’ve only rented a car on rare occasions. First of all, I’m not a big fan of driving and second, I’d much rather take public transportation since I find it a great way to get a feel for a city/ country.
However, there are times when public transportation just won’t get the job done. For some places, having a car to get around is essential. In some of these places a tour could always be another option. You might also have a limited amount of time during a trip and big plans (kind of like on our recent Quick Euro Roadtrip where we visited 3 countries in a little over 4 days- Italy, Switzerland & Liechtenstein) where public transportation would be way too slow to use to get around.
During our most recent trip, I drove on what I felt were some of the craziest roads in the Lake Como area of Italy. Think very narrow and extremely steep two-way roads. I almost forgot to mention all of the sharp twists and turns which added to the fun.
A friend on Facebook posted an article from the Huffington Post aboutĀ The Top 10 Absolute Worst Places to Drive in the World. The article caught my attention due to my most recent driving experience around Europe.
I wondered which places made the list and will make a mental note (or look back at the article) to never drive in any of these places!
Here are the Top 10:
- Beijing, China
- Seoul, South Korea
- Paris, France
- Rome, Italy
- Mumbai, India
- Toronto, Canada
- Manila, Philippines
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
- Athens, Greece
I’m wondering if any of you have driven in a city from the list mentioned above? If so, what was your experience like?
If you’re wondering where I’ve rented a car during our international travels, here is the list.
- Barbados
- Easter Island
- Milan Malpensa Airport to Lake Como-Swiss Alps-Liechtenstein (and back)
- New Zealand
- Tobago
Find out why each of the places on The Huffington Post’s list made the cut as one of the worst places to driveĀ HERE.
Santastico- I don’t remember Sao Paulo standing out but then again I was there almos 10 years ago + I did not rent a car!
Cass- Ulaanbaatar sounds pretty crazy!
Joe- I had a free rental last time I was in Vegas and didn’t find it a problem to drive there.
Eric T- It sounds like you’ve driven in some rough places!
bpbindaas- While I haven’t been to India, I’d expect India to be a awful place to drive.
Eric- Bolivia- good one. Isn’t that home to the deadliest road in the world?
Hank- I don’t think I’d ever want to drive in the Middle East or Africa. The worst roads were in Namibia, virtually all dirt and through parts of Uganda.
Charlie- Cairo was crazy and hectic, I don’t remember Amman being so bad ( not that I drove in either!).
Benji- That is really interesting and almost comical!
Drew- Probably not!
AlohaDave- Good ones!
Donna- I would’ve want to drive in Istanbul either!
Kareninfl- I’d definitely expect any driving in Iraq to be dangerous!
msmcmoto- I didn’t know Jamaica was so bad. I figured when we eventually visited, I’d rent a car for at least part of the trip.
Xavier- The list is from the Huffington Post, I did not write it!
SteveVB- Many others agree with your choices!
Toronto? Please. Please.
Cairo, Istanbul and Sao Paulo are impossible to leave off my list.
Try Boca Chica area, Dominican Republic or Mexico City. Much worse than most cities on your list (I’ve been to 7 out of 10 of them).
+1 on removing Toronto, Paris, Rome and Athens. Mumbai and Lagos definitely belong. +1 for adding GRU and Shanghai. My new nominee would be Kingston, and just about anywhere else in Jamaica!
How about the drive from downtown Baghdad to the Baghdad airport? I know someone who needed an armored car, plus two Army vehicles with visible machine guns as an escort.
One word – Istanbul! Despite having been there a crazy number of times, never would I drive there.
Cairo and Bangkok wuz robbed!
The person that wrote this drivel clearly has never been anywhere in Saudi Arabia.
Really surprised Doha, Qatar was not on the list. Everytime I have driven there, I have had a near death experience. Someone toldme that it is because qataris learned to drive in the last couple of decades and they learned from watching American films with car chases and action scenes.
I agree with some of the comments above – Toronto should not be on that list and Sao Paulo definitely should. Some other additions would be Cairo and Amman.
Well, to be honest Rome and Paris are very safe to drive, seoul as well, there is some logic in those places
There is also a logic in India,
Ćm surprised no one considers driving in Morocco, Algeria and Turkey is … Odd… There absolutely no logic there, especially in Morocco and Algeria as drivers just do random things antytime in any situation, everything is possible anytime… You just to imagine the worst scenario until you park your car (and then pay for someone for keeping an eye on it or to be honest, you pay for someone for not breaking your car)
Africa is tough
This list is a joke. Toronto? Seriously? Toronto, Rome, Athens, and Paris should certainly come off the list.
How about most of Bolivia? On the road from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba I saw corpses from accidents and many a truck that played chicken with other vehicles and caused terrible collisions.
How about Beirut?
Mumbai is scary! So is most of India, except Goa, may be. And heavens forbid if u involved in an accident.. Get ready for a heavy argument if not more.
There is nothing in the US that can be compared with this š
+1 on GRU. Should most certainly be in the top 10.
In Lagos, I had a light armored vehicle (LAV). I felt safer that way. However, they are clunky in traffic — which is really really bad except when driving on the lagoon.
Also drove in UB. It’s fairly chaotic but the real issue are the terrible roads and a real danger of road rage with Mongolians.
I drove in several of the worst places on the list — including Beijing for two years. Beijings traffic is so bad that any accident will likely occur at low speed. But it’s not the worst place to drive — Tianjin is a total nightmare that makes Beijing look orderly!
Las Vegas should be on the list.
I visited Ulaanbaatar in 2012, and while I didn’t rent a car, the one afternoon I was able to hire a taxi to take me outside of the city center was enough of an experience. In the city, the roads are terrible with massive potholes, construction on every block, too many cars, and not enough through streets. Rush hour never ends, and it’s just people sitting in their cars not moving. I think it took us almost 2 hours to get from the city center to the city limits. Gas/petrol is expensive, so people only fill up when they absolutely have to. As you can imagine, it’s not uncommon to find cars abandoned on the side of the road while their drivers are off in search of fuel…
Where is Sao Paulo? If you drive there you will never drive again in your life.
Ed- Interesting to hear that there wasn’t much traffic in Paris. I’d expect it to be a bit crazy. Parking is always challenging in a busy city, maybe giving another car a “push” is the way to get the job done in Paris!
Jan- I don’t think I’d give driving in Manila a shot!
Mike- Wow 2 now saying Paris isn’t bad! I’ll remember not to rent a car if we go to Sicily!
JustSaying- Sounds like things changed quite a bit from your visit on the 80’s to 2007. I wish I could help ya with some ideas but I visited Paris over 10 years back + I didn’t rent a car.
Boraxo- I wondered why Toronto made the list. Paris I thought was pretty bad but I was there years back. I thought Rome was a good choice for the list. I do agree though, Bangkok and even more so, Ho Chi Minh City should’ve made the list.
Nr- No thanks! We stuck to walking, tuk tuks, trains, water taxis and cabs.
Perhaps you would like to give Bangkok a try.
Toronto, Paris and Rom -LOL. The authors obviously don’t travel much otherwise Bangkok, Jakarta and Moscow would be on the list. Pathetic
I have driven in Paris twice. In the 80’s I was there in my Olds 98 circling the Arch de Triumph and honking my horn…….what an insane rush………..then in 2007 in a rented Mercedes that was non-stop stress. The reason for driving was going cross country either before of after Paris. This summer I am visiting Normandy D-Day Reunion after Paris so will again need a rental……..probably try to find a place outside the city but without the airport fees….any ideas?
Paris isn’t bad.
I’ve driven in Catania, Sicily. That was scary.
Driving in Manila all the time; take a lot of patience with you, smile and be careful.
Drove in Paris with a bmw rental from sixt. wasn’t that bad of a traffic. parking on the hand was horrible. saw an Audi tried to squeeze in between 2 cars, since there wasn’t enough space in between, the audi decided it’s a good idea to “push” one of the cars.