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What's are the most dangerous countries or cities you visited?

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  • 26-04-2015 6:42pm
    #1
    Irishguy16
    Registered Users Posts: 76 ✭✭


    Top of my list would be Capetown, South Africa, when we visited only a couple of years after the apartheid ended! One morning we decided to walk from our hotel to the downtown region, got slightly lost, waved down a taxi, and he had a right go at us, telling us not to walk around these areas, explaining to us that the streets and shops were still slightly segrated, unknown to us, we were tourists! We got a couple of awkward looks from the natives, luckily no racial offenses. We were lucky at the time, but I heard from aquintances that SA is general is a very dangerous place, even now!

    I'd go for one of the American cities next, Baltimore, Maryland is extremely run down, with gun violence an everyday occurrences, robberies, and so on, plus whites are in their minority. Stayed there for a while a few years ago, literally heard gun shots one or two of the nights. In my own estimate, 70-80% of the city is just full of ghettos with huge drug problems and weak infrastructure!

    Next, probably Manila. The Philippines. We got scammed once or twice throughout our trip, roads were very dangerous, beggars everywhere looking for pesos, even following us for large parts of the trip. it's a city with limited resources and horrible roads!!!!!


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    #2
    helimachoptor
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 21,648 Mod ✭✭✭✭helimachoptor


    Kosovo, on my way to work there was a park that had landmine warnings around it.

    Also for non military personnel going out after dark was not the safest


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    #3
    galwayjohn89
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,930 ✭✭✭galwayjohn89


    Irishguy16 wrote: »
    Next, probably Manila. The Philippines. We got scammed once or twice throughout our trip, roads were very dangerous, beggars everywhere looking for pesos, even following us for large parts of the trip. it's a city with limited resources and horrible roads!!!!!

    Surprised about that. Had no issues at all in Manilla. Can't say I've ever really felt unsafe whilst travelling, especially in Asia. Only time I can remember was in Berlin being chased by two very strange lads.


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    #4
    nosietoes
    Registered Users Posts: 536 ✭✭✭nosietoes


    When we went São Paulo, my parents' friends wouldn't let us walk anywhere after dusk.

    Mexico City felt a little dodgy too.

    I found Cape Town grand about 10 years ago.


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    #5
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,360 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    Jo'burg looks like a scary place, didn't see a single white person walking on the streets. High fences with spikes and/or barbed wire around most houses with signs showing pictures of Alsatian dogs and guns indicating the response that could be expected if you paid them an unexpected visit.


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    #6
    Fred Swanson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21,730 ✭✭✭✭Fred Swanson


    This post has been deleted.


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    #7
    annoyedgal
    Registered Users Posts: 769 ✭✭✭annoyedgal


    Belize City, looks like one big ghetto , lots of dodgy types hanging around street corners. Didn't want to get out of the taxi at the bus station as it looked so run down 😅. weird experience getting on the bus where we were sure our bags were bring nicked! probably looks worse than it is but I hear it's v dodgy.
    also drove though Guatemala City and was happy to keep driving. guys on the back of jeeps with guns seemed the norm!


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    #8
    stefanovich
    Registered Users Posts: 5,490 ✭✭✭stefanovich


    Manila can be dangerous, depends on where you are I suppose. Armed guards outside Starbucks. Metal detectors in the entrace to malls. Absolutely crazy roads. Lots of shootings and political assassinations. Hotel I stayed in had a tank driven through the front of it and all the guests taken hostage a couple months later...

    Israel, was only in Tel Aviv. The city itself seemed safe even at night but the danger is external with suicide bombers and rockets. Beach is world class though. Fantastic holiday destination.


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    #9
    Irishguy16
    Registered Users Posts: 76 ✭✭Irishguy16


    stefanovich wrote: »
    Manila can be dangerous, depends on where you are I suppose. Armed guards outside Starbucks. Metal detectors in the entrace to malls. Absolutely crazy roads. Lots of shootings and political assassinations. Hotel I stayed in had a tank driven through the front of it and all the guests taken hostage a couple months later...

    Israel, was only in Tel Aviv. The city itself seemed safe even at night but the danger is external with suicide bombers and rockets. Beach is world class though. Fantastic holiday destination.

    Jesus, what part of Manila were you staying in? When did this happen?


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    #10
    stefanovich
    Registered Users Posts: 5,490 ✭✭✭stefanovich


    Irishguy16 wrote: »
    Jesus, what part of Manila were you staying in? When did this happen?
    I was staying in the Manila Penisula. It was an armoured military personnel carrier actually, not a tank.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Peninsula_siege


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    #11
    gypsy79
    Registered Users Posts: 1,784 ✭✭✭gypsy79


    I have been Manila, Cape Town, Jo'burg and Kosovo and never really felt particularly threatened with an exception to Jo'burg

    But then again I went on holiday to Goma by choice 6 weeks after a ceasefire was declared. I loved the place and people were so friendly. They just learn to deal with war and natural disaster.I think sometimes people bring fear onto themselves and confidence is the best defence


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    #12
    endofrainbow
    Registered Users Posts: 2,614 ✭✭✭endofrainbow


    Caracas - by a country mile


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    #13
    quad_red
    Registered Users Posts: 5,561 ✭✭✭quad_red


    Strangely enough, in terms of our actual experience, Acapulco.

    Took taxi from hotel into city and he locked the doors and drove us into a closed courtyard that had allot of 'merchandise' for us to buy. Gates were locked and got serious borderline aggressive pressure to buy stuff. Didn't respond with aggression but was getting worried when a heavier guys appeared asking us why we wouldn't support 'local people' and refusing to accept that we didn't have money on us to buy stuff.

    Eventually got out and just found the city to be a dirty, unfriendly dump. Didn't experience anything like that anywhere else in Mexico including Mexico city.


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    #14
    Yamanoto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,489 ✭✭✭Yamanoto


    Manila didn't possess an air of menace for me tbh & you'll often encounter what we would consider a heavy security presence at many public spaces like malls, restaurants & hotels across different parts of SE Asia.


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    #15
    stefanovich
    Registered Users Posts: 5,490 ✭✭✭stefanovich


    Yamanoto wrote: »
    Manila didn't possess an air of menace for me tbh & you'll often encounter what we would consider a heavy security presence at many public spaces like malls, restaurants & hotels across different parts of SE Asia.

    Yeah, I felt safe, the people I was staying with were worried about me though. If I went out on my own they kept telling me to be careful. That I could be kidnapped. Apparently everyone texts the taxi number to a friend when they take one.

    I attracted a crowd of child beggars in downtown Manila. Being tall and white I got a lot of attention. Heads would turn, people would point. I felt special :P


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    #16
    schemingbohemia
    Registered Users Posts: 5,606 ✭✭✭schemingbohemia


    Fred Swanson wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.

    I didn't find DC like that at all, was there twice a few years ago and found it fine.


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    #17
    errlloyd
    Registered Users Posts: 12,603 ✭✭✭✭errlloyd


    Manila had terrorism problems more than crime. While there I was it wasn't like I had a medium chance of being mugged or robbed, it was more a tiny chance of being taken hostage and held ransom.

    The only time I was there we were at a university competition with 800 people all staying in the sofitel. The security was so tight we weren't allowed to use the stairs. In fact there were no public stairs between floors. 6 lifts, 8 floors. At mealtimes it was so hard to get a lift people on the first floor would get in on the way up, and a full lift would stop twice at every floor, up and down. Once took me an hour and 15 minutes to bring 6 cans from my room to my mates 3 floors below.

    Joburg was the other kind of fear. Constant fear of petty crime.


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    #18
    adrian522
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 16,109 Mod ✭✭✭✭adrian522


    Lima - OK in miraflores but definitely fairly sketchy in the centre at night time
    Colombia - Various cities, had a bad reputation but I generally found it ok, again city centre after dark wasn't a great place to be.
    San Pedro Sula, Honduras - Very dodgy, wouldn't wander around after dark at all.
    Belize City - As above, very bad vibes in this place, arrived too late to get a boat out of there, ended up staying in a dodgy gues house, not pleasant.
    Beirut - Found Beirut ok actually, didn't venture into the more dangerous parts of it though, city centre was fine even at night.
    Syria - (This was 2005) found it to be ok, was very friendly for the most part, saw one or 2 dodgy incidents, but if you kept your head down you were fairly ok.
    Manila- fine, never had any problems there, same with the rest of the far east from what I can remember. Cambodia was fine too even though that had a bad reputation at the time.
    Morocco - I had a bad experience there but think I was just unlucky.

    Overall central America was the worst. Parts of South America too but for the most part if you're smart/careful you shouldn't get into trouble.


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    #19
    stefanovich
    Registered Users Posts: 5,490 ✭✭✭stefanovich


    errlloyd wrote: »
    Manila had terrorism problems more than crime. While there I was it wasn't like I had a medium chance of being mugged or robbed, it was more a tiny chance of being taken hostage and held ransom.

    The only time I was there we were at a university competition with 800 people all staying in the sofitel. The security was so tight we weren't allowed to use the stairs. In fact there were no public stairs between floors. 6 lifts, 8 floors. At mealtimes it was so hard to get a lift people on the first floor would get in on the way up, and a full lift would stop twice at every floor, up and down. Once took me an hour and 15 minutes to bring 6 cans from my room to my mates 3 floors below.

    Joburg was the other kind of fear. Constant fear of petty crime.
    Well, locals I knew there would dress down to avoid being a target. One was robbed at gunpoint on a bus. There are shooting incidents outside bars often. I would consider it moderately safe. As I said, worst thing that happened to me was being hassled by beggars.


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    #20
    Balmed Out
    Registered Users Posts: 4,713 ✭✭✭Balmed Out


    Most dangerous Ive felt would have to be Belize city or another city in Belize I cant think of the name. The vibe there was terrible. Worth it if only to pass through on the way to the islands.
    Of other places mentioned parts of South African cities are very dodgy but no where near the same extent, only spent a few hours in Guatemala city and it didnt seem too bad,and Caracas felt very dangerous.
    The Belize cities though are something else altogether.


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    #21
    54and56
    Registered Users Posts: 7,647 ✭✭✭54and56


    Definitely Nairobi would be my #1 most dangerous city followed by Jo'burg and Sao Paulo. I also spent a fairly dodgy football related weekend in Manchester a few years ago where some ticket tout threatened to stab me in the eye because I didn't want to buy a ticket for the match from him!!


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    #22
    Ally Dick
    Registered Users Posts: 12,679 ✭✭✭✭Ally Dick


    schemingbohemia wrote: »
    I didn't find DC like that at all, was there twice a few years ago and found it fine.

    I thought DC was shocking. Vagrants on every seat on Pennsylvania Avenue. I was trying to find the White House at around 10.30 at night. Thick Paddy that I am ! We were staying in a Days Inn in Maryland. Didn't see any white people walking from there to the train station on any of the three days I was there. We went to the reception in the hotel on the first morning and a truck had reefed the hotel roof off at the front entrance! We didn't have any trouble though to be honest. Just felt very much in the minority race. The vagrancy was a shocking sight to behold though. Only thing that impressed me was the underground rail system which was very space agey !


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    #23
    Amirani
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,521 Mod ✭✭✭✭Amirani


    São Paulo is probably the most dodgy I've been to. Wasn't particularly bad, but just had a worse vibe than most places I've been.


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    #24
    HalloweenJack
    Registered Users Posts: 7,084 ✭✭✭HalloweenJack


    Was in Rio for a few months and was staying on the edge of a slum called Dona Marta. Would say it's the most dangerous place I've been as a whole but I never sensed any danger in the area I was. Only time I had any kind of a bad experience (more down to poor Portuguese on my part) was in Copacabana beach after dark.

    I lived in Madrid for a while and in six months three people were killed in my street. That was arguably a more visible danger than anything I've had in other places but I wouldn't say that it was a dodgy place. It's a part called Delicias for anyone that's familiar with the city.

    I've also been in parts of other cities (like the Gypsy ghettos in Brno and Cordoba and a run down part of Cordoba which'd be the equivalent of Ballyfermot in rep) where locals told me I was mad to be but nothing ever happened to me and I didn't feel like anything would happen to me.

    I think it's just a matter of common sense when in these kinda places. I will admit it probably helps me that I have the build of a rugby player so I don't look like an easy target.


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    #25
    keithclancy
    Registered Users Posts: 9,222 ✭✭✭keithclancy


    Dublin is fairly bad, junkies hanging around by ATMs, Tram stops. Drunk people staggering around with anti social behavior being common.

    Petty theft is fairly rife with shoplifting, pick pocketing and muggings being fairly frequent.

    There's also a large homeless problem with people sleeping rough on the streets.

    To make things worse the Gardai don't have the resources to deal with it and the people that commit these crimes know that in all likelyhood they'll get away with it.

    It's not even possible to smoke in public without hearing "Gizz a faaag will ya bud"

    Never had a problem walking home late at night in Amsterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Munich, Berlin, Antwerp ... in Dublin you either experience or see something happening to someone else.


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    #26
    A Primal Nut
    Registered Users Posts: 5,949 ✭✭✭A Primal Nut


    I was stopped by military police in Sao Paulo. Put my phone in my pocket and they must have thought it was something else as they were driving by. The hopped out and pointed their guns at me; shouting in Portuguese. I just put my hands in the air and shouted that I only speak English, because I had no idea what they wanted me to do. Anyway they searched me, checked my ID, mumbled something that I think translated as "It was just a phone" and left.

    I suppose it shows how dangerous it is there given that there are military police everywhere and they are so on edge.


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    #27
    54and56
    Registered Users Posts: 7,647 ✭✭✭54and56


    A Primal Nut wrote: »
    I was stopped by military police in Sao Paulo. Put my phone in my pocket and they much have thought it was something else as they were driving by. The hopped out and pointed their guns at me; shouting in Portuguese. I just put my hands in the air and shouted that I only speak English, because I had no idea what they wanted me to do. Anyway they searched me, checked my ID, mumbled something that I think translated as "It was just a phone" and left.

    I suppose it shows how dangerous it is there given that there are military police everywhere and they are so on edge.

    IIRC there are two police forces in Sao Paulo, the civilian police who are fairly toothless and corrupt and the military police who take no $hit from anyone. Totally different foces with different command structures and political oversight etc.

    Mad Ted.


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    #28
    54and56
    Registered Users Posts: 7,647 ✭✭✭54and56


    A Primal Nut wrote: »
    I was stopped by military police in Sao Paulo. Put my phone in my pocket and they much have thought it was something else as they were driving by. The hopped out and pointed their guns at me; shouting in Portuguese. I just put my hands in the air and shouted that I only speak English, because I had no idea what they wanted me to do. Anyway they searched me, checked my ID, mumbled something that I think translated as "It was just a phone" and left.

    I suppose it shows how dangerous it is there given that there are military police everywhere and they are so on edge.

    IIRC there are two police forces in Sao Paulo, the civilian police who are fairly toothless and corrupt and the military police who take no $hit from anyone. Totally different forces with different command structures and political oversight etc.

    Mad Ted.


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    #29
    stefanovich
    Registered Users Posts: 5,490 ✭✭✭stefanovich


    Tel Aviv, not sure if I felt unsafe but there was evidence of danger. Had dinner in a restaurant next to the US embassy it was only after I noticed the memorial outside. There had been a suicide bomb attack there few years back.

    In the shopping mall in the Azrieli centre. Next door is a military base where a lot of youngsters do their military service. 18/19 year old girls in uniform carrying automation weapons eating Mc Donalds and clothes shopping.

    Holocaust memorial day, air raid sirens ring out over the city and everything stops. Cars on the freeway pull over and the passengers get out. Quite unsettling.

    Beggar displaying open wounds on the street. Heroin addict I think.

    Certain part with a large illegal immigrant population from Africa, thought Israel would have stricter border control! Was the only area I felt a little unsafe.


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    #30
    schemingbohemia
    Registered Users Posts: 5,606 ✭✭✭schemingbohemia


    Ally Dick wrote: »
    I thought DC was shocking. Vagrants on every seat on Pennsylvania Avenue. I was trying to find the White House at around 10.30 at night. Thick Paddy that I am ! We were staying in a Days Inn in Maryland. Didn't see any white people walking from there to the train station on any of the three days I was there. We went to the reception in the hotel on the first morning and a truck had reefed the hotel roof off at the front entrance! We didn't have any trouble though to be honest. Just felt very much in the minority race. The vagrancy was a shocking sight to behold though. Only thing that impressed me was the underground rail system which was very space agey !

    So you're saying that black people scare you? :rolleyes:


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    #31
    Uno my Uno.
    Registered Users Posts: 905 ✭✭✭Uno my Uno.


    Je_suis_Jean wrote: »
    Definitely Nairobi would be my #1 most dangerous city followed by Jo'burg and Sao Paulo. I also spent a fairly dodgy football related weekend in Manchester a few years ago where some ticket tout threatened to stab me in the eye because I didn't want to buy a ticket for the match from him!!

    +1 for Nairobi, I have vistied a few times (before the terrorist activity started) and it is by far the most dangerous place I have been. Its not safe to walk more than a small distance even during the day and not safe anywhere at night. A group of us decide to walk about a hundred meters from one bar to the next one night, it was a big mistake, we were followed the entire way and if the bouncer at the second bar hadn't seen us coming I'm sure we would have been attacked. they might have Just taken our wallets or they might have killed us, there is no way of knowing in a place like Nairobi.

    I spent a good bit of time traveling around Kenya and the rest of it is pretty dangerous too. Aside from petty crime which is to be expected the roads are terrifyingly dangerous. they are in terrible condition, there are no rules and people drive exceptionally recklessly. Add into that that there are essentially no emergency services and no hospitals and it is a quite dangerous country to travel in.


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