What are some of the friendliest countries that you have been to?
For me Ireland and Taiwan, how about some others
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View original on lemmy.worldFor me Ireland and Taiwan, how about some others
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Thailand and Vietnam have such kind and welcoming people. I am constantly impressed by the gestures I see.
Just today me and my girlfriend were standing on the side of the road in Thailand waiting to cross. There was no crosswalk nearby but cars saw that we wanted to cross and stopped both lanes for us go. We did not signal in any way or step into the street. They just saw people in need of something that they could help with. Nobody behind them honked or became impatient.
There are so many more examples…
I’m American.
I'm so sorry (I'm also American)
I’m so sorry (I’m also American)
Ireland is probably the friendliest I've been too. The Irish are great people.
Rome (I know, not a country, but I can't comment on the rest of Italy) is probably the least friendly place I've been to. Romans are assholes. It's a very cool city, but the people, especially outside of tourist traps suck.
The Japanese are very polite, respectful, and helpful (almost to a fault) but I'm not sure if I'd generally describe them as friendly.
First time I've heard this. People in Rome are like people in NYC: busy with their own lives, unwilling to take any BS, but generally helpful if you really need it.
My experience is they're roughly as polite as Parisians
I've only met one person from France in my life. It was at a music festival here in the states. I asked him if he knew where a specific stage was and through that thick French accent he said "go fuck yourself" and then walked away.
Obviously a sample size of one doesn't represent a whole country but yeah.
I feel like it matters what race you are :(
My [white] friend has touted some of the friendliest places, but me being Korean...nope. A large number of places are very cold and passive-aggressive.
That said, not typically violent like America, but still not exactly welcoming.
UK is super nice to white people, Koreans go there and get milk thrown on them.
Philippines super nice to white people, Koreans go there and get yelled at.
Taiwan super nice to white people, Koreans go there and... actually I never went with Koreans. and fwiw there's so much bad blood between China and Korea that it probably bleeds over into Taiwan
Um, maybe... Japan? Deep irony but that might be the nicest place to Koreans now...
oh, duh, Turkiye
Turks are using up all their hate on the greeks and armenians. No hate left for anyone else.
Türkiye is amazing. Met some awesome people in Istanbul.
Vietnam, Thailand, India, Guatemala, Taiwan is a good call.
in Vietnam, someone literally ran out of their house while I was stopping to adjust my headphones in order to invite me to breakfast at his home.
he had a tiny orchard in his front yard and we shared mango, dragonfruit and pancakes.
I've been wanting to visit Vietnam for a while now... I think it was watching Anthony Bourdain there that sold me. Looks like a beautiful nation full of amazing people
The mountains are pretty magical, and every single person was extremely helpful and gracious, either in the city or way out in the tiny mountain villages
How well can one get by as a tourist without speaking Vietnamese? Vietnam has been around the top of my list for places to visit for ages.
Very well.
I spoke nearly no Vietnamese and bikepacked across rural northern Vietnam for 3 months after buying my bicycle in Hanoi.
People in the city can speak some English, but even if they can't they're so earnestly helpful that I was able to easily buy clothes, bicycle repair items, get my bicycle repaired, buy food everyday(pho lyfe) be invited to tea and then a family feast, take shelter from a rainstorm, the stories of their generosity go on.
It's definitely a good country to visit.
Thank you for sharing. The language barrier is mostly the thing that has held me back. I know some vocabulary related to food, but that's about it.
absolutely, you'll be good.
I could barely count to ten and knew how to say pho, and still enjoyed my entire trip and made friends, so you'll be fine.
Thanks again! Glad you had such a good experience and I'm looking forward to going there myself.
What a nice man.
the coolest.
i was on a bike, so i guess he felt like he had to hustle.
Taiwan for sure. What lovely people.
How about China? That's one country I want to see
I have been yes, and the people were indeed friendly. Same with Vietnam, and others. However, the Taiwanese people were just so, so, genuinely helpful, friendly and kind. I was taken aback.
I very much think so
china is too big to generalize I think, but Taiwan is very nice
Finland and Chile, definitely.
They're also astonishingly similar.
Chileans are like the Scandinavians of South America.
Really depends on the skin color of the person visiting and where they are visiting in that country. A non-white visiting most West-European cities will be mostly fine, but if they go out to the country-side, things can be very different.
I watched a documentary of an Indian boy adopted to a Swiss family who then went back to India to visit. He had a terrible time in Switzerland due to racism and nearly as an awful time in India, because he couldn't speak the language and people thus assumed he was a Pakistani spy.
What kind of shitty spy wouldn't learn the language of the people he was sent to spy on?! Can't overhear secrets if you don't understand.
Maybe India still has many movies playing in Switzerland? It's suspicious when you ask where somebody is from and they mention the place they see on TV.
I'm a white American.
Most friendly: Portugal. They seem to be a happy bunch in general, and they all seemed excited to have visitors. Lisbon, Cascais, Lagos, and all the little towns in between.
Least friendly: Iceland. They could just be less open and emotionally expressive with strangers, but unless it was a business transaction I was frequently ignored when I said hello and people seemed uninterested in having a conversation.
Sounds wonderful
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This is interesting.
Definitely Scotland. They are antithesis to the English. Super friendly and welcoming. I have been around a lot in Europe never have I been struck by the German nature after I returned from Scotland.
Only place in the world where I was in a random pub and got called a "fucking cunt" and we are all laughing about it.
I felt bad, I can't hear all that well and all the cab drivers in Glasgow have wild accents and had to ask them to repeat themselves. Isla if your reading this, you were very sweet with all the recommendations but I couldn't understand a word you were saying!
Do pople treat tourists well in Germany?
Taiwan. Clerk at the shoe store didn't have what I wanted in my size. She went to the other shoe stores nearby searching for me without telling us. We found out when we asked why it was taking so long.
Regarding the people, disregarding officials and leadership? Iran. Such lovely, welcoming people.
Germany is very nice, most people I met were more than happy to help my with practicing my German
Interesting. My experience was the opposite; I couldn't practice German at all because everybody would switch to English.
Not surprising; it's far more practical to get information across by switching to a language you both speak fluently. If you ask the other person to help you practice the language, it would change the task from "information" to "training", and you'd probably have better luck in speaking German if that's the expressed goal.
Communicate your wants, or you'll end up with the most efficient route to the end of the interaction. 'Tis the German way.
Both times I went to Germany I was the only one trying to speak German out of a very large group, maybe they were happy to see someone at least try?
Magst noch mehr üben?
Friendliest country I've ever been to was Cuba. Everyone was incredibly nice and helpful with anything we could want. Malaysia was a close second.
Least friendliest was Belgium, but I went as part of a school exchange trip, so I was pretty much always in a large group of mostly teenage Americans with a few teachers. Understandable why people might not have been as friendly.
Dude?
I went to see the Vimy memorial, many years ago, and it was delightful. People were so friendly, and very welcoming. I did not see a 'rude Frenchman' stereotype throughout the holiday. Very nice cheeses, though you have to be okay with the strength of the aroma of them lol.
Which app are you using?
Voyager [email protected]
As a Canadian, I spent eight months living in France a couple years ago. Had nothing but great experiences with people. I had one pharmacist be a little snooty with me. But other than that, they were very helpful regardless and very nice.
What I realized is that they place a lot of value in their native language and it's very important to them to speak it clearly and properly whenever possible so they won't usually hesitate to correct you.
The vast majority of people were stoked that we were speaking French at all. It's really changed my perspective on the French language in my own country for the better, to be honest. I just get it now.
I frequently hear this stereotype from people who haven't been to France. I specifically hear that the French are rude to anyone who doesn't speak French. My experience was that they can be rude to Americans who assume everyone will speak English. I would do my best to have a conversation in French, and the locals would usually take pity on me and switch to English.
I'm not denying there are unfriendly French people, but I would expect anyone to get tired of tourists who don't make any effort to speak the local language.
Also, I think mainstream Americans expect people to be bouncy and grinning all the time or else they say you have resting bitch face and a case of the Mondays. In a lot of cultures, grinning at a complete stranger is condescending and makes you look foolish.
... nobody ever says Italy.
Most friendly: Namibia probably.
Least friendly: UK.
Some context: Live in Scandinavia, and been in all those countries. Other countries I've been to: Chile, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium (technically, walked across the border from Netherlands), Austria, South Africa, Zambia, Kazakstan.
You thought the UK was less friendly than the Netherlands??? Did you only visit London?
No, met up with some friends living in Birmingham.
Iceland and nowhere even comes close. I heard newfoundland will beat it though, one day I'll visit.
France is actually quite nice the further you move away from Paris. Met some amazing folks in Breton.
People in the very south of France ar super nice from my experience. One thing to know about french people is that they don't like to speak anything but french, even if they could.
Mongolia.
Every single people I met were nice and friendly. Even when they don't speak english, they will try anything to help you, or find someone that speak english.
Australia, they are all just Koala friendly.
Australia was really fun because man do they know how to properly roast someone. They'd come up with some of the most creative ways to call me a fuck ass yank and then buy my next beer haha
(Although, I absolutely whooped everyone down there in darts and I'm not even that good haha)
French Polynesia. Genuinely the kindest and most down to earth people on the planet. My husband and I had the most amazing and hospitable experience there staying in a detached room (treehouse style) with a local family. The locals are so friendly - we were given food, helped with getting a rental car (they even gave us a ride there and spoke with the guy behind the counter), told of all the best places to explore, taken to the farmer's market, and so much more. We were treated like visiting relatives.
for me American
Canada for sure, but I have friends there
Japan, China and the UK were the friendliest I've been so far. I'm German.
Where did you visit in the UK?
Because I live here and I disagree. If it was London (as it usually is) then I'm really going to laugh.
Aside from London (where I didn't really talk to anyone but my sister who lives there), I spent 2 weeks traveling solo by train around England, staying in Bath, Shrewsbury, York and Scarborough and visiting some of the surrounding towns and villages. I'm sure it helped that it's a country where I have a good grasp of the local language unlike, say, Italy, where I could barely make myself understood. But I had lots of random friendly conversations with strangers in the UK and no negative experiences at all. Way more friendly than the average German for sure.
Big-city people are generally less friendly, so I do believe you that it's a different matter for London. It's the same for e.g. Tokyo, where people are way more cold than in the rest of Japan. And I guess you get a different perspective as a local than as a visitor. Several people in this thread have mentioned Germany, which does surprise me as a German.
Understandable. I went to New York expecting it to be an urban hell. People in Manhattan were more pleasant and friendly than London. I guess the short term visitor experience will also be very different.
Philippines
I did a short stay in Sri Lanka as a young adult, it was a formidable experience. I remember a different, more considerate sort of kindness in people compared to my home town/country
I live in the US and have been to Canada, Mexico, Ireland and Germany.
Only one of these places have I ever been randomly called a removed from a moving vehicle while just minding my own business on more than one occasion, and it wasn't any of the countries I don't live in.
Honestly surprised it wasn't Germany, as a German
China, Taiwan, and just EA Chinese people in general are beyond nice. This past trip made me see how straight forward and warm hearted they really are and such strong family values.
I'm Aussie. For me friendliest countries probably Taiwan, Ukraine and Canada
For me it's actually Australia. Except on Australia day, that was weird as fuck to be honest.
south africa, really just a great group of people. hell, even when i got robbed, they were super nice about it.
Japan. The cavet? Know some Japanese.
Most people in Japan grow up learning some English. But they almost never use it in their day to day after highschool. So it's a point of issue, maybe even a little embarrassment, for them to "start" a conversation. I've found that the better you are at Japanese, the more willing the Japanese are to want to connect with you.
Unless they're drunk. In my experience, social drinking some how blows away the shyness barrier. Go to a pub, especially in a rural town, and you will be bombarded with questions. You're a novelty, maybe? Not sure. But booze does makes things easier it seems.
Keep going back for some reason. Not sure why. :)
Mexico, but we were in a touristy area so kinda expected. But naturally nice was St. Thomas. Virgin Island people in general except Jamaica. I haven't experienced a "rude boy" sorta speak, but has friends in Florida from there that warned me to be wary of any Jamaican outside of the tourist spots.
I found the people in Jordan were incredibly friendly.
Same. I did a summer study abroad program in Amman when I was in college, and everyone I interacted with was very nice.
Sudan, definitely. (And I've visited well over 50 countries.)
Oman, is the friendliest country I have been to in the Middle East.
I don't know how to parse this question and it makes me wonder about humanity at large.
Like, what's "being friendly" when assessing entire countries? How do you measure it? Does it apply just to strangers or is it related to having friends there? Does this require you not finding that unsolicited conversation is borderline assault? Because I'm afraid I can't do that. Is it an institutional thing? I almost got deported from Canada once, so from that baseline I'm pretty sure I couldn't agree with a lot of responses below.
Are you serious?
I am slightly facetious and mildly hyperbolic.
But yes, I absolutely hate strangers forcing conversation on me. I find few things more grating and hostile than landing in a foreign country horrendously jet lagged and having a "friendly" cabbie try to extract my life story from me while telling me about their mortgage payments or whatever.
I once had someone in the US just sit at our bar table unprompted and strike up a conversation and I saw my life flash before my eyes. That's what psycopaths do. It's like getting punched right in your social anxiety with spiky brass knuckles.
Now that you explain it I understand and actually agree in some situations like your taxi example.
However, once I’m out doing tourist things I want to meet locals and other travelers and share stories, tips, or local lore. Meeting people in this way has allowed me to discover new places that or perspectives that I would never experience otherwise.
To each their own I suppose.
You can meet people online, I would be very wary as a tourist, most folks will only talk back if they get value from it, like assault, robbery or your blood🦇
You are too paranoid. I have been traveling internationally for the past 3 years and have never experienced any danger. Most of the time I travel alone.
Or maybe we are just different kinds of people and thus get treated differently. Maybe if I was a cishet euro dude I wouldn't worry about it either.
Is that what you have classified me as?
Assume less.