If you’ve done quite a bit of traveling, you’ll know that you can have vastly different experiences around the world depending on your country and how well you fit in there.
In one place, you might be considered crazy if you smile at a stranger while walking down the street. Meanwhile, in another, you might be called rude if you don’t converse with the bartender before ordering a beer.
Your experience might also be greatly impacted by how the locals feel about tourists. Globetrotters on Reddit have recently been detailing which countries they’ve met the friendliest locals in and which ones weren’t exactly welcoming towards foreigners.
We’ve gathered their most eye-opening replies below, so be sure to upvote the ones you’ll keep in mind for future travels. And keep reading to find conversations with travel experts Alyse, aka The Invisible Tourist, and King Siu of Travel, Eat, Drink!
#1
Dear female travellers travelling alone in India: don’t travel alone.
Image credits: maelius
#2
Female, American from DR, raised in NJ in the 80s and 90s. I appear mixed/brown and when I traveled in my 20s and 30s, I mostly did alone.
Nicest people: Japanese. I’ve lived in Japan and traveled there a lot since. Never had a truly bad experience. People were helpful and once the ice was broken, very friendly; everyone tends to mind their business and customer service was always great, even when the konbini part-timer looked like they’d rather be anywhere but at work. Friendliest people I met were at Kamakura.
Meanest: I wouldn’t say “mean” but I am never going to Egypt again. The sexual harassment was unbelievable. Made NYC Construction Sites seem like a monastery by comparison.
Image credits: milkcustard
#3
For me, a white woman in my then early twenties, Scotland was by far the nicest country. I found it so endearing that everyone kept calling me “love”.
Image credits: wydhs
#4
Some of the nicest people I’ve come across in travels:
Japanese and Balinese, also New Zealanders
The rudest and most disrespectful:
Russians and Chinese.
Image credits: waffles4us
#5
I feel like men and women may have VERY different experiences in some countries. India for example. I found it very friendly/respectful as a big/tall western man, but I’d not want my wife or daughters traveling alone there.
Image credits: J4MES101
#6
This highly depends on who you are. Race, gender, ethnicity, nationality play a huge role.
Image credits: Original_Dogmeat
#7
People posting nicest places needs to post if they’re a man or woman. Going to someone of these places as a woman is down right dangerous yet men see it as “nicest people ever”.
Image credits: dumbasstupidbaby
#8
The world is filled with nice people and I keep travelling to remind this myself: you will find great people in any country.
Image credits: GreyAngy
#9
Nicest place I’ve ever been was New Zealand. The land is gorgeous, the people are lovely, and welcoming. I live in Niagara Region, which can be very touristy, and all over NZ was just so pleasant.
Worst place I’ve ever been is the Walmart next to Walt Disney World in Florida. There was a shooting as we were leaving, heard the gunshots while pulling out of the parking lot.
Image credits: MetricJester
#10
I haven’t travelled the whole world but I felt safe and comfortable travelling in Germany, and totaly scared for my life in China.
Image credits: anon
#11
Went to Montreal once. Just got to the city and stopped in front of a street kiosk with a city map. Within a couple of minutes of staring at it, a woman approached us and asked if we needed help finding anything. She was local. English, but with a French accent.
I was so confused and startled by this random act of kindness, that my initial thought was she was setting us up for something and I started looking behind my shoulder. The concept of a stranger helping us out for no particular reason was so alien to us that we were on guard for something that never happened. Turns out, people are just nice there and we weren’t used to seeing it.
Image credits: -Dixieflatline
#12
Nicest? New Zealand by far.
Worst? Isreal. Arrogant and mean.
Image credits: bmwlocoAirCooled
#13
Nicest people – Thailand; people were just friendly and helpful for no gain; I remember the nicest lady who saw we were confused and helped us to cross the street and then she couldn’t speak English so she found someone else who spoke English so we could get directions and then made sure we got safely to building.
Runner Up – Wierdly Americans; seemingly always open to starting a conversation and trying to assist you or give you helpful tips
Image credits: EmpressI
#14
Nicest? Easily Canada- some very nice people up that way!
Meanest was easily Germany, though I did find their rudeness to be almost comical haha. I still like them though and appreciate their blunt manner!
Image credits: nomorechoco
#15
I haven’t been to all that many foreign countries, but I thought New Zealanders were quite nice. Sarcastic and teasing at times, but nice in general. I got really, super-bad vibes in Rwanda, like I was hated. That was difficult.
Image credits: Regular_Boot_3540
#16
Ireland = nicest, I was surprised as I’m English but everyone was very friendly. France = rudest.
Edit: Runners up for nicest, Greece.
Image credits: Scott_EFC
#17
Taiwan is awesome and the people are super welcoming and nice
Image credits: Satanic_Doge
#18
Meanest in Morocco, lots of catcalling and no respect for personal space. Nicest I am going to say America from personal experience.
Image credits: kirrillik
#19
Best: Japan. By far the worst of what I’ve experienced: Turkey. God I hate everything about that country.
Image credits: blabla123455789
#20
The French. I am not a huge world traveler so I’m no authority, but in my experience the French folks I met were not very friendly, and liked to make fun of people and any attempts to speak their language.”
Image credits: CountessBloodbath
#21
Philippines is very friendly to travellers. The rudest I’d say were France and Belgium. I honestly can’t say I was really personally impacted by that, but coming from Canada it was quite shocking to see how rude some service staff could be to customers.
Image credits: Already-asleep
#22
Vietnam is probably the friendliest place ive been.
Image credits: Petrich0rium
#23
For me thus far, nicest: Denmark. I don’t think I met a rude person once. They score very high on reported happiness quizzes. Close second would be Costa Rica.
Meanest: France, but I still wouldn’t say they were mean. People in the Loire valley were great, Parisians were a little less nice. But still much nicer than the stereotype, which I think comes from Americans who believe that everybody understands English if you just slow it down and shout it.
Image credits: RichCorinthian
#24
Thailand. Nicest people.
Image credits: Used_Start_3603
#25
The meanest is probably Manila Philippines. I’ve been there 3 times and every time I encounter the coldest least friendly people I’ve ever met. I heard good things about other places away from Manila so I’ll have to experience that first.
Image credits: zaryaguy
#26
Nicest customer service: Mexico
Friendliest locals: South Africa, Southern USA
Worst customer service: Russia
Least friendly locals: Northeastern USA.
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