12 Extremely Popular Travel Destinations That Are Totally Unworthy

While many people aspire to travel the world in search of peace and happiness, what if it doesn’t live up to their expectations? A user asked the forum, where do you NEVER want to go again? Here are the top responses. 

MANILA, PHILIPPINES

“Manila. I loved the other places I visited in the Philippines, but Manila was awful. Child poverty was heart-wrenching due to the air quality, traffic, garbage, and abnormal proliferation of air-conditioned shopping malls. A good wake-up call for a privileged Westerner, but not one I want again.” 

DUBAI, UAE

“Dubai. Long story short, I ended up unexpectedly spending eight days there. Never been to a more vacuous, culture-deficient place, and all it has is shopping and vast inequality and oppression of people experiencing poverty. Oh, and it’s hotter and sweatier than Satan’s balls.”

FREEPORT, BAHAMAS

“Freeport Bahamas. The beaches were foul, and I just felt like I was in a shipyard. They also have a problem with feral dogs. They were everywhere. It broke my heart to see the skin and bone dogs. 

I guess so many of them starve they cannot keep up with the body pickups. I saw too many decaying dogs to count. Seriously, I would NEVER go back.”

KUTA BEACH, BALI

“Kuta Beach, Bali. Had such high expectations, but there was just trash everywhere.”

“Completely agree! It was pretty horrible, and add in the street vendors that would physically grab you and pull you into their store, and I did not have a good experience. Other parts of Bali are beautiful.”

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE

“Belize City. Belize was one of our stops for the cruise we were on. I always heard about how gorgeous Belize was (and I’m sure there are beautiful parts of Belize), but Belize City was an absolute bad”

“They pretty much dropped a majority of white US citizens and thought it would be okay to let us roam a city that was torn by local civil war. The city was full of armed military guards standing at street corners, and the city canals and streets were incredibly polluted.

I live in Baltimore and have seen some bad neighborhoods, but Belize City seemed way worse than anything I’ve seen. Many stores had armed guards who would unlock the door to let you in, and once you were inside, they would lock the door behind you.

We didn’t experience any issues with the violence, but it was the strangest feeling getting stared down from every angle. We stayed for about an hour and then decided it was time to get out.

As we were leaving, three people were standing near the port. They looked at us and said, “Welcome to the real world.”

Once we got back to the ship, we strolled past the lobby. There may have been 4 or 5 employees working the customer service desk. Each employee had a deep line, and the chatter was all centered around angry complaints about dropping us off at Belize City.

Needless to say, that same cruise line took Belize off their itinerary soon after.”

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

“Somalia. I went there in the Navy and spent some time on the shore looking at pits full of corpses and kids with machine guns. Hate that place.”

GARY, INDIANA

“Came off the exit immediately into a neighborhood that looked like it was hit by some natural disaster before and never recovered, but no, they’re just too broke to fix their roads.

We tried to cut through the neighborhood as fast as possible, but the potholes made us not go over 25. We finally got to a gas station, and the guy at the register said, “Yeah, you all should get out soon; it’s about time when they start robbing people.” Advice taken; got out of there.”

LAPA, RIO DE JANEIRO

“The city is perilous; if you wanna avoid getting mugged, don’t wear what you normally do. A basic T, old tennis shoes and some jeans will do you fine. Never confront a criminal there for your safety. Just hand it all over.

Oh, and in stop-and-go traffic, windows should be going up.”

PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

“I don’t imagine anyone has spent time in Port Moresby. It has the dubious honor of being in the world’s top 5 most dangerous cities, plus the murders that happen there are generally way more random than hellish, drug-infused places like Honduras or Guatemala.

Port Moresby is also interesting since there is a high probability that you will not only be killed mercilessly but you will also be eaten. I spent a week there one night.”

“I’ve been there for work, and we must ride in armored vans between hotels and offices and can’t leave the hotel compounds. The scariest things are when people start crowding. They have an eye-for-an-eye culture.

If you are driving down the road and a kid runs out chasing a ball in front of your car, and you kill him, the locals will drag you out and kill you. We had an incident where a colleague had precisely this happen, and the first thing the driver did was speed away from the scene to the local police station, where they sent out a “community leader” to calm the crowd and pay them for the death.

I’ve also got a good Australian friend who grew up in PNG. It’s a crazy place. Even if you lock the doors, they will rob you with machetes.

But, there’s a load of gas and gold there, so we keep returning.”

VICTORIA FALLS, ZIMBABWE

“Went there to see Victoria Falls. We stayed at the Victoria Falls Hotel to be within walking distance. People were standing everywhere with just two or three carved trinkets they were trying to sell.

There were no buyers. Looked like something out of a Twilight Zone show. They first asked when you got close to them if you’d sell them your shoes. No kidding, every single one.”

YAKIMA, WASHINGTON

“Yakima, WA. They might call it the Palm Springs of Washington or “Yakivegas,” but it’s the worst thing—the highest rate of carjacking in the country and rife with violent crime.

I had a friend that went there for a soccer match when he was in high school, and the game was canceled because one of the kids on the other team was a gang member, and some stupid people drove by and shot at the players on the field. Luckily nobody was hurt, but it gives you an idea of what sort of special place Yakima is

That said, the Yakima Valley makes some fantastic fruit and hops. If you’ve ever had a Washington apple or a craft beer from anywhere in the US, there’s a very high chance that the apple or the hops came from the Yakima Valley.”

ANYTHING SYRIA

“Syria. I hitch-hiked from Alexandria to Istanbul, through Jordan and Syria, before the Arab Spring. Syria was a beautiful and historically fascinating country, naturally fertile and prosperous, with delicious food and friendly people. But it was backward, closed-minded, poor, and seedy because of a corrupt, paranoid, authoritarian government. Now it’s a warzone and a humanitarian disaster, which is far worse.” 

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