The Friendliest & Least Friendly Places I Have Visited Around the World

We were recently asked where we found the most friendly people on our travels and where we found the least friendly people on our travels. Some of them may surprise you! Friendly people are everywhere so that is something everyone should know, but here are our top two favorite friendly places and a couple places where we felt our welcome was wore out before we even got there.
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[chrisredditch]

2 of the friendliest places I visited are Ireland and Scotland - You will always find someone to chat with and I keep returning to Dublin and Glasgow because of this.

[JiuJitsuLife-xrkb]

Wow. I have never heard of anyone going to Rwanda, and to hear something positive about it other than the unfortunate history is very impressive

[theItalianshamrock]

Surprised Brazil wasnt on the list. Always had great interactions with Brazilians both in Brazil and outside of Brazil. Extremely polite, energetic, and genuine

[Norseraider]

As a Dane with a Macedonian wife, she often tells me that Danes are masters at minding their own business, which makes us seem cold and unfriendly.

My response was/is: “I don’t care” 😂❤

Cheers for making awesome content and for being an outstanding lovely guy 🤘🏻🇩🇰❤️🍻

[markp]

Italy for sure! Got lost driving in the middle of nowhere somewhere outside Genoa, ( late 90s before gps phones ) asked for directions in front of a farmhouse, they spoke no English I spoke No italian, but they went inside their home came back out with a map, ice cream and wine! Spent a fun hour with those folks and had no idea what they were saying! 😅😊

[wncjan]

I have to say that Danes treat other Danes the same way as tourists, if we don't know them. We simply do not talk to strangers. In USA I'm often contacted by people in restaurants or i in the street, who hear me speak another language and want to know where I'm from. That will never happen in Denmark as we consider it an intrusion on peoples privacy, and we don't want to intrude.

I love the Amarican approach though, and the friendliest place I ever visited and still do, is rural western North Carolina, where I have gained a lot of friends.

[radboy]

Having grown up in NYC I can attest to the fact that NYers are very friendly and will go out of their way to be helpful. It is not uncommon for a NYer to not wait to be asked for help, but to offer assistance when they see someone looking either lost and needing directions or in need of help. Sure we can be blunt but don't confuse that with rudeness. We just like getting to the point.
As far as Denmark. I had the opportunity to work in Aarhus for for about a month and really got to know the people I was working with. They were warm and welcoming. Invited me to their homes for dinners, going out at night and in one case was driven to the northern part of the Jutland peninsula and toured seaside towns, split wood and dug up potatoes for that night's dinner. Weekend trips to Copenhagen were also outstanding. Everyone I met were just great. I love going back there.

[dvankeu]

Went to Italy last fall. HARD AGREE about Italy. Italian people are some of the most lovely and gregarious folks you can meet! My wife and I absolutely feel in love with the country and cannot wait to return someday for a longer vacation!

[ruskasielu]

Canada was one of the most welcoming places I've been to, a lot of people willing to help you or just have a friendly chat. Finland was also great in a totally different way: fewer interactions but they were always very genuine and people were really interested in learning more about where we came from and how we liked their country.

[siiiiiuu]

If you ever visit Iran, it'll immediately rise to first place on your friendliest list. No exaggeration. I've been multiple times to visit relatives and as someone who doesn't speak Farsi (nor am I very well-versed on Iranian culture, unfortunately) I'm always blown away by how kind and generous people are over there. Like, it's not uncommon to meet a stranger one day and be dining with them & their family the next. And if you form close relationships, expect to be smothered with cheek kisses upon each greeting lol

[whispie.]

As a Spaniard who has been living in the Nordics (NO+FI) for 10 years, I think the experience that you describe about Denmark can be found all across the Nordics.
The concept of "I already have friends, why would I want to make some more?" is very present (as opposed to my home country or Italy, as you mentioned).
However when you do belong to that bubble of friends, Nordic people are much more honest and friendlier than southerners.
I always describe it as every person having 3 friendship layers in their bubble: the outer one (which I call black one) is for total strangers, the intermediate one (gray) is for acquaintances that you hang out with but not really know your problems, and the inner one (white) is reserved for your close friends and people who really know you.
I feel like in the south the black layer is very thin, the gray is huge, and the white is very thin too - we let very few people really know our problems.
However in the Nordics I feel it's the other way around: the black and white ones are big and the gray ones is very small. So either you're a total stranger or you're best friends - and they make sure you know where you are 😂

[keeptrying]

I agree about Italians. They treated us so well, grandmas on trains telling us how pretty our children are, people willing to help you figure something out. One little cafe was excited to make for us "chicken-fried steak!", because we're from Texas (USA). We didn't ask for chicken-fried steak, haha, they were going out of their way to be hospitable. You remember such things. THANK YOU, this was interesting.

[BonafideShaunDent]

You mean if I go to Denmark people will leave me the hell alone?

[mygetawayart]

Thank you for the shoutout! As an Italian, i always try to make tourists feel welcomed, i ask about where they come from cause i love learning about other people's culture and how it differs from my own. If they are looking for information, i'm always happy to provide it, or to suggest to them to talk to someone specific who might help them.
I was in Florence for a concert last year and i ended up meeting two american tourists who wanted to know how to get to the Chianti area and i told them some tips and locations i knew.
I remember i was on the Circum-Etnea line (it's a light rail you can take from Giarre to Catania in the morning that takes you all around mount Etna, i wholly recommend the experience) and i met a group of Polish and German tourists and i basically did a whole tour guide experience for them, explaining some facts about the areas and towns we were passing through.
And i have lots more stories like these. As i said, i love making tourists feel welcome. I love my country and wish everyone could see it at least once.

[andrel.]

Sounds like Denmark is heaven for introverts. I'd probably love it.

[hothotheat]

Ireland and Canada are so friendly. I got lost in downtown Toronto as a teenager and was surrounded by a group of ladies who walked me back to my hotel and waited to make sure I got back to my parents.

[AletheAce]

I'm Swiss and I agree, even as a born citizen speaking the language it's extremely hard to make Swiss friends. I've also been to Denmark several times (Copenhagen x3, Aarhus x1) and the Danes are very kind, but you're correct, they are very communal. The entire country feels like a single community that looks out for each other. It's almost monocultural like a small village, which is interesting and rare to see in a modern nation-state.

[ckolsen]

I'm danish and you are spot on. We are very much minding our own business. We usually don't reach out, but if someone reach out to us, we are helpful - and then get on with our lives. It's strange, I'm the same way. It's not that we don't like other people - we just focus a lot on ourselves. I think this is more pronounced in Copenhagen, and less in Aarhus from personal experience, but compared to the rest of the world, I guess it applies to all Danes :)
One last thing - this is not especially towards tourist... it's towards other danes as well. But seriously... we don't bite, come visit us!

[DM-hkcw]

The people in Italy, to us, were very helpful and kind and it almost felt like home away from home: (I live in the U.S. in a small, Southern town) On a city bus in Rome one night, an elderly gentleman gave up his seat for my wife and then proceeded to show us pictures of his local church as he was so proud of it. He was kind as to point us to the street we needed to get off at for our hotel. He waved and smiled as we got off the bus like we were his life-long friends. A simple gesture, such as his, can make or break one's opinion of a country as a whole.

[Evan]

I was also surprised how friendly New Yorkers are given their reputation. Another surprise for me was Paris… if you know the rules of engagement/politeness, the Parisians are so friendly and helpful.