Last year I wrote a post about the Friendliest and Unfriendliest Cities in the U.S.
While Conde Nast came out with a slideshow of 2014’s winners I thought it would be more interesting this time around to check out the Friendliest and Unfriendliest cities in the world according to CN Traveler’s readers.
When I think of friendliest people in the world, the first place that comes to mind would be Bali, Indonesia. We went to Bali when Lucas was just 7.5 months old and it was an incredible experience. The people were welcoming and so nice to Lucas, Kim and I. I can’t think of many meals where somebody at the restaurant or our guesthouse didn’t offer to hold Lucas while we enjoyed our meal!
Switching to the most unfriendly people in the world, this would be a very easy choice. We visited Moscow during our trip to Russia in late March of 2013. If you asked me to describe the majority of the people in a few words it would be cold and rude. The best way to describe it would be like this- if you open a door they will run ahead of you, if they open a door it will most likely close in your face.
Let’s start off by sharing the bad.
The Unfriendliest Cities:
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Cannes, France
- Moscow, Russia
- Paris, France
- Marseille, France
- Beijing, China
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Milan, Italy
- Monte Carlo, Monaco
- Nassau, Bahamas
Now for some good.
The Friendliest Cities:
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Melbourne, Australia
- Victoria, BC, Canada
- Charleston, South Carolina
- Dublin, Ireland
- Sydney, Australia
- Siem Reap, Cambodia
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Tie- Savannah, Georgia & Seville, Spain
- Tie- Budapest, Hungary & Salzburg, Austria
I’ve been to 5 of the most unfriendly cities and 6 of the friendliest. Besides our experience in Moscow, I can’t say that any of the others stand out. I always heard that the people in France were rude but I didn’t have any of that during my trip to Paris years back. As for the friendliest, we found the people in Australia & New Zealand to be very nice. While in Siem Reap, everyone did seem to be friendly too but you never knew if it was only due to them trying to sell you something.
Do any cities around the world stand out for being really friendly or unfriendly? If so, please let us know where.
Find out about each of the cities that made CN Traveler’s list here.
For me as an American, Kosovo is definitely the friendliest place I’ve ever been to. People on the streets (of all ages and any gender) will come up to you if you look lost and literally walk you for half an hour to your destination. They are generous in sharing their stories and tell you all about the city. Most of all, they all seem so appreciative that people are visiting Kosovo. They are genuinely nice and friendly much like Canadians without any other intentions.
Let’s see, unfriendly…Shanghai has to be on the top of the list for me, people are much ruder than Beijing. Restaurants will refuse to serve you an hour before they close just because they want to get out of there the second the clock hits close time. There is no such thing as customer service, you just need to fend for yourself if you want to survive in that city. Tour guides lock you in the souvenir shops until you buy something or they punish you by not taking you to the sights on the itinerary. And let’s not mention the parents holding their toddlers on top of trash cans to have them poop in the middle of the shopping mall. Oh yes I have seen it.
theSHARK- We also found Kosovo to be friendly although not quite to the extent that you desribed.
Interesting stuff about Shanghai. I could literally picture the baby being held over the trah can! ILL!