Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.
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19 Comments
Detroit?! Really! As a metro Detroiter, I wonder if these votes were based on real life experiences or expectations resulting from negative media exposure. I would really like to know if that is how visitors think of us! And I think it is so sad that half of the unfriendliest places are in the U.S.
wtf? Islamabad unfriendly?
Clearly people havn’t been to islamabd! Or pakistan for that matter.
And again from personal experience kuwait is a beautiful city with beautiful people, friendly people!
Islamabad is certainly not unfriendly ,it’s a warm,welcoming city..your research is wonky..where is Jeddah on your list?
I’m not really surprised from this list. I didn’t think that Brazil would be the friendliest though…I thought maybe somewhere like St. Lucia would top the list.
Medellin in Colombia is certainly one of the friendliest places I’ve been to – wonderful climate & nature, fascinating architecture, decent, helpful and very warm people.
Where is Chicago? It is one of the most friendly and beautiful cities in the world! The folks are friendly, the restaurants are stellar, the public transportation is easy to use and safe.
To me, Dublin is one of the friendliest cities I have ever been to. People seem always eager to help. The weather might not be your reason to go, but being there among smiling and helpful people, sure makes your stay memorable.
Maybe La Laguna, in Canary Islands, is not the best-known town on earth, but it´s filled with welcoming locals and charming locations. Do not hesitate to give it a shot, it will not let you down.
Centuries of history and hundreds of stories are there waiting to be unveiled!
What about Canada? Friendliest country hands down. Calgary probably the most, Toronto the least. Canada has the nicest people and I’ve been all over the world.
I would have to disagree with Detroit. Detroit gets a bad image in the media and while there are areas in Detroit I would avoid the area is growing and people are very friendly.
Based on my travels here are some of the friendliest/unfriendliest places I’ve encountered:
Friendly:
Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Outer Banks, North Carolina
San Juan Islands, Washington
L’anai Hawaii
Singapore
Saint-Remy de Provence, France
Florence, Italy
Unfriendly:
Miami FL
London, UK
Rome, Italy
Los Angeles, CA
Islamabad is okay! Have been there many years ago and have followed ever since! Its a nice place and here talks somebody form far away, the Netherlands, Europe . Common guys your lists fail some cities……….
This is the typical absurd survey aimed to fill space in media when they don’t have anything intelligent to publish. There are not friendly or unfriendly cities, just friendiness when tourist behaves in a polite and nice when way.
Islamabad? Are you kidding man? I wonder how did you conduct survey on this? People who vote Islamabad as one of the unfriendliest, I am sure they never been there. I have visited around 25 countries and Islamabad is one of my favorites. People are friendly, as far as you are not rude to them. Compared to other cities in Pakistan, for example, Islamabad is one of the best: clean, peaceful, and more open to foreigners. If you want to put Pakistan cities in the list, you may vote other but for sure not Islamabad. This is totally nonsense.
Great list! Any body out there who has been to Uganda, (East Africa) will tell you- its even a fact that Expatriates tell you- that should you stay in Uganda for more than 3 weeks- chances are , that you are “hooked” for the rest of your entire days on earth!
Baffling that Islamabad is among the unfriendliest cities.
Compact, well structured, no traffic nuisance, clean, peaceful.
May be you should visit and ask the foreigners living here
I was expecting Islamabad on the list of friendliest cities but astonished to find it on #2 of unfriendliest list. I would simply say “injustice’!!
I dont agree as i have visited these unfriendliest cities that you have mentioned and they are really not like that.
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Here are the winners and losers on each list:
Friendliest
1. Florianopolis, Brazil
2. Thimphu, Bhutan
3. Queenstown, New Zealand
4. Charleston, South Carolina
5. Paro, Bhutan
6. Margaret River, Australia
7. Mandalay, Burma
8. Kilkenny, Ireland
9. Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
10. Chiang Mai, Thailand
Unfriendliest
1. Newark, New Jersey
2. Islamabad, Pakistan
3. Oakland, California
4. Luanda, Angola
5. Kuwait City, Kuwait
6. Lome, Togo
7. New Haven, Connecticut
8. Detroit, Michigan
9. Atlantic City, New Jersey
10. Tangier, Morocco
Are there any surprises, would you say? Â Some cities that don’t deserve to be in either list, or some that you feel have been omitted? Â Let us know in the comments!
Here are the winners and losers on each list:
Friendliest
1. Florianopolis, Brazil
2. Thimphu, Bhutan
3. Queenstown, New Zealand
4. Charleston, South Carolina
5. Paro, Bhutan
6. Margaret River, Australia
7. Mandalay, Burma
8. Kilkenny, Ireland
9. Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
10. Chiang Mai, Thailand
Unfriendliest
1. Newark, New Jersey
2. Islamabad, Pakistan
3. Oakland, California
4. Luanda, Angola
5. Kuwait City, Kuwait
6. Lome, Togo
7. New Haven, Connecticut
8. Detroit, Michigan
9. Atlantic City, New Jersey
10. Tangier, Morocco
Are there any surprises, would you say? Â Some cities that don’t deserve to be in either list, or some that you feel have been omitted? Â Let us know in the comments!
Detroit?! Really! As a metro Detroiter, I wonder if these votes were based on real life experiences or expectations resulting from negative media exposure. I would really like to know if that is how visitors think of us! And I think it is so sad that half of the unfriendliest places are in the U.S.
wtf? Islamabad unfriendly?
Clearly people havn’t been to islamabd! Or pakistan for that matter.
And again from personal experience kuwait is a beautiful city with beautiful people, friendly people!
Islamabad is certainly not unfriendly ,it’s a warm,welcoming city..your research is wonky..where is Jeddah on your list?
To clarify, this is not our research. It’s a readers’ survey from Condé Nast Traveler.
I’m not really surprised from this list. I didn’t think that Brazil would be the friendliest though…I thought maybe somewhere like St. Lucia would top the list.
Medellin in Colombia is certainly one of the friendliest places I’ve been to – wonderful climate & nature, fascinating architecture, decent, helpful and very warm people.
Where is Chicago? It is one of the most friendly and beautiful cities in the world! The folks are friendly, the restaurants are stellar, the public transportation is easy to use and safe.
To me, Dublin is one of the friendliest cities I have ever been to. People seem always eager to help. The weather might not be your reason to go, but being there among smiling and helpful people, sure makes your stay memorable.
Maybe La Laguna, in Canary Islands, is not the best-known town on earth, but it´s filled with welcoming locals and charming locations. Do not hesitate to give it a shot, it will not let you down.
Centuries of history and hundreds of stories are there waiting to be unveiled!
What about Canada? Friendliest country hands down. Calgary probably the most, Toronto the least. Canada has the nicest people and I’ve been all over the world.
I would have to disagree with Detroit. Detroit gets a bad image in the media and while there are areas in Detroit I would avoid the area is growing and people are very friendly.
Based on my travels here are some of the friendliest/unfriendliest places I’ve encountered:
Friendly:
Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Outer Banks, North Carolina
San Juan Islands, Washington
L’anai Hawaii
Singapore
Saint-Remy de Provence, France
Florence, Italy
Unfriendly:
Miami FL
London, UK
Rome, Italy
Los Angeles, CA
Islamabad is okay! Have been there many years ago and have followed ever since! Its a nice place and here talks somebody form far away, the Netherlands, Europe . Common guys your lists fail some cities……….
This is the typical absurd survey aimed to fill space in media when they don’t have anything intelligent to publish. There are not friendly or unfriendly cities, just friendiness when tourist behaves in a polite and nice when way.
Islamabad? Are you kidding man? I wonder how did you conduct survey on this? People who vote Islamabad as one of the unfriendliest, I am sure they never been there. I have visited around 25 countries and Islamabad is one of my favorites. People are friendly, as far as you are not rude to them. Compared to other cities in Pakistan, for example, Islamabad is one of the best: clean, peaceful, and more open to foreigners. If you want to put Pakistan cities in the list, you may vote other but for sure not Islamabad. This is totally nonsense.
Great list! Any body out there who has been to Uganda, (East Africa) will tell you- its even a fact that Expatriates tell you- that should you stay in Uganda for more than 3 weeks- chances are , that you are “hooked” for the rest of your entire days on earth!
Baffling that Islamabad is among the unfriendliest cities.
Compact, well structured, no traffic nuisance, clean, peaceful.
May be you should visit and ask the foreigners living here
I was expecting Islamabad on the list of friendliest cities but astonished to find it on #2 of unfriendliest list. I would simply say “injustice’!!
I dont agree as i have visited these unfriendliest cities that you have mentioned and they are really not like that.