Where are the nicest people in the world?

By Carlo Alcos On April 20, 2010 · 68 Comments

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If you’re basing your next trip on the hospitality of the locals, check this out.

EVERY TRAVELER HAS their own personal stories about some extremely nice treatment they received in the most dire of circumstances. One that sticks out for me was when our campervan broke down in Sicily on the highway, by coincidence on a national holiday (they weren’t even answering their SOS emergency phones).

We had no idea where we were and dusk was setting in, and as we walked along the shoulder trying to find a telephone a taxi driver stopped and asked if we needed help. He ended up driving us to a phone, then to our campervan to wait for the tow truck. Although we insisted on giving him some money, he didn’t expect anything.

The world’s most hospitable nations

We came across this article at TravelViVi.com that listed the world’s five most hospitable nations:

Photo: futureatlas.com

5. Georgia
4. Iran
3. Canada
2. Australia
1. Ireland

Their criteria isn’t clear, but they do reference some studies in their conclusions.

Another method?

A good measure of hospitality is how welcoming people are in their homes, and a great resource to get an idea of what countries are the most welcoming is CouchSurfing.org. According to their statistics, the top five CouchSurfing nations are:

1. United States
2. Germany
3. France
4. Canada
5. United Kingdom

Of course, this is going by absolute numbers and is not relative to the country’s population (when I have more time, maybe I’ll figure out couch surfers per capita). And, of course, poorer countries don’t have the same access to the Internet, so naturally a developing country won’t have as many folks signed up. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting point to ponder.

I won’t pretend to have enough experience to create a list of my own, but in my own travels, Cuba would be right at the top.

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Which countries do you think are the most hospitable?

We would love to hear some of your experiences. Share them below in the comments.

About The Author

Carlo Alcos

Carlo Alcos is the editor of Brave New Traveler and co-founder of Confronting Love. He blogs about his travels and life in general at Vagabonderz.com. You can also find him at the yoga studio and tweeting away as @vagab0nderz.

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http://thoughtfulnomad.wordpress.com/ Kristen

From my experiences, people in Ireland were very friendly and helpful. More than once, people randomly walked up to me and offered suggestions or help with bus routes and things like that. Also, when I was really sick while in Rotterdam, a person I had met only hours before helped me back to the hostel and even used her own punch card to pay for me on the tram. Because of the circumstances, I hate to even think what would have happend if she had not been there to help me. Because of these random acts of genuine kindness, I’d have to put Ireland and The Netherlands at the top of my list.
http://www.ritztours.com Travel Package Deals

Wow, that’s a tough list to create because I think it’s quite subjective. From my own experience, I’d put Brazil on that list. But from what we hear from some of our clients, Thailand has some of the nicest people.
Erin K

For me, Scotland is top on the list–people were unfailingly friendly and welcoming. Complete strangers chatted with me while waiting for the bus, sitting at a high school concert, browsing in a store, strolling down a deserted road.

The Sherpas in the Khumbu region of Nepal are second. After being constantly harassed all over Southeast Asia to buy something, take a tour, give money, I was hiking to the Everest Base Camp and people kept stopping me on the trail simply to welcome me to their country and ask where I was from. A lodge owner stored my laptop in his personal safe and locals invited me into their family kitchens. Trekking solo in the Himalayas, I never once felt alone.

…I also thought the Irish and the Dutch were delightful.
http://alyssacmartino.com/blog Alyssa

Has anyone read “The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s for the Happiest Places in the World”? (http://www.amazon.com/Geography-Bliss-Grumps-Search-Happiest/dp/0446580260). I’ve been wanting to check it out from the library and would love an opinion.

I figure, happy people=nice people! At least it seems it would work that way…
Melissa

I’ve been to 24 countries and I would still say that I found the friendliest people right here in my own country–Canada. Not the entire country though….the prairies and the east coast, particularly Newfoundland. If you’ve been there, you know exactly what I am talking about!
Ross

I’m gonna say my top three would be (1) Colombia, (2) Thailand and (3) Canada.
http://carlo-alcos.com Carlo Alcos

This is going to sound strange, but one of the friendliest cities I’ve ever been to (city, not country) is New York. I’ve been here 10 days now and the friendliness is astounding.

Other than Cuba, France would be up there too (although not Paris).
michelle belisle

Australia tops my list. I was good mates with an aussie family I met while completing the required 3 months of fruit picking. I go into a pretty heavy car accident and couldnt continue my travels and going home was out of the question, since I had not seen the reef and the rain forest yet. I lived with my aussie family for almost 5 months while I healed. They brought me to physio and specialist appointments and all. Needless to say, It would have been an even tougher experience without their help.
http://www.501places.com Andy Jarosz

I enjoyed this article, Carlo. Nice people can be found everywhere. It’s often us who need to be sensitive to local customs and cultures to appreciate this. I agree with those who’ve found nice folk in New York, Scotland, Oz, France (even in Paris) and I would even say London. In fact, I challenge anyone to say where people aren’t inherently nice. There are places where people are less inclined to smile, or where they are less extrovert and take longer to drop their defensive barriers. But not nice? I don’t believe it.
I wrote a post on this topic recently and received some great comments: http://www.501places.com/2010/03/why-a-top-10-friendliest-countries-list-is-nonsense/
http://www.sophiesworld.net Sophie

I’d say pretty much anywhere in the Middle East. And Canada. And Denmark.
http://www.detome.com Michael

It’s a three way tie for me: Czech Republic, New Zealand, and France. In America we always here about the “rude French” and I thought they were such helpful and generous people which totally destroyed the stereotype.

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/vagabonderz Carlo Alcos

Damn that travel! Always breaking down stereotypes

http://www.backpackfoodie.com Daniel Roy

The Couchsurfing.org Top 5 is a really silly way of measuring hospitality… It just means these are the five countries in the world with the most active members, and there are questions of language, proximity to Western culture and independent travel, etc.

Bottom line, in my opinion: every country in the world can be incredibly hospitable, regardless of where you go. That’s the beauty of traveling. What usually reduces perceived hospitality is cultural gaps, and language barriers… but then you encounter that one person who doesn’t speak your language, and will treat you like a king in their home.

http://carlo-alcos.com Carlo Alcos

Thanks Daniel, I know it’s not really an indication, as I stated after I listed the top 5. It was merely food for thought.

In the end you and Andy Jasrosz are absolutely right. I believe in the good in people, and I think most people are inherently nice and friendly, it’s just too bad that we tend to remember the bad experiences more. In Cuba, most people on the streets looked hard, some even menacing. But all it took was a smile and an “hola” and they’re faces completely changed.

Aubree M

The Dutch continually surprise me with how friendly and fun they are. I love the Netherlands!
http://www.wandereverywhere Caitlin

I like the article! It’s a silly question, of course, but sometimes silly questions are the most fun. There are wonderful people and a few jerks everywhere, of course. But if I had to say the place that seemed the most in-your-face friendly that I’ve been to was Jordan. (Of course, I had no clue what anyone was saying!)
http://itchyfoot.tumblr.com Sara C.

Does anybody ever go anywhere and come home talking about how the locals were mean?

I’m not all that well-traveled in comparison to others here at Matador, but I have to say that, in every country and US region I’ve visited, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the kindness of the people I met.

I’m tempted to write about how amazing all the Indians I met in my travels were, but it would turn into a novel.
http://www.etstudio.net Emily

I think you find what you look for, if you expect friendliness you find it and if you don’t, you won’t. In my experience, if you need help, New Yorkers are the nicest people in the world. and Parisians. Once I had a French couple invite me to sleep at their apartment because I was stranded at a train station alone at ten at night, and my travel mate didn’t show up. They fed me too.
So much of it is your attitude. Body language speaks volumes and if look like we are expecting to find friendliness , I think we will communicate that and find it.
happy travels!
http://www.nileguide.com/destination/dublin Vourneen Taylor

I am delighted to see that Ireland had been mentioned as a friendly destination, in regards to the couchsurfing list it is important to remember that this is highly slanted towards countries with bigger populations, obviously they will have more surfers. If you did a comparison as a % of population interestingly Ireland would beat United States for surfers, however not sure if that means we are friendlier or not?

Ireland has a population of 4.4 million with 11, 715 surfers (.26 %). US has a population of 307 million with 406,038 surfers (.13% ).

Bhutan has a Gross National Hapiness I wonder should there also be a Gross National Friendliness indicator also? Interesting topic however.
http://www.bohemiantraveler.com Stephen Bugno

Great post, Carlo. I have met incredibly hospitable and friendly people a lot of places I have traveled…Central Asia and the Middle East esspecially.

Syria really stands out in my memory as a hospitable nation. And although I have never been to Brazil, I have never met a Brazilian abroad that I didn’t like. And it always amazes me when I back home in the States how friendly people are here.

@Alyssa The Geography of Bliss is an awesome read!
http://www.vagabondquest.com/ Dina VagabondQuest

I think it’s tough to say because it depends on which city we go, what’s our mood and circumstances. But I think in general, Canadians are among the friendliest. Other people steps on our foot, and it’s us that apologize. Always greet people in elevator, at least by eye contact. Smiles and nods to each other a lot too.
http://www.passedports.wordpress.com Sarah

MALAWI. By a mile. I’d put Thailand and Middle East countries like Jordan at a very distant second. Thanks to everyone who chimed in for NYC – we always get such a bad rap for being rude!
http://grantourismotravels.com/ lara dunston

Interesting… I’m Australian, and while I’d say Aussies in the country/outback are very friendly and down-to-earth, you can’t say that for all Australians.

Without a doubt, people from the Middle East are the friendliest in my experience. Hospitality is so central to their culture and way of life. I’m going to agree with Sophie and Stephen and say that Syrians would top the list followed by Lebanese, Jordanians and pretty much anyone else.

The Turkish are also lovely people. On a road trip once we wound down the window and asked a man in the car beside us for directions to a turn-off. He indicated that we should follow him and we did for a few kilometres – he drove us right to that turn-off and then once he pointed to the sign with a smile, we saw him do a u-turn and drive all the way back again to where we’d come from! Sweet!

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/vagabonderz Carlo Alcos

After living in Australia for two years I agree For example, customer service is a bit of a foreign concept there.

Great story about the directions, Lara. When our campervan broke down in Sicily (as mentioned above), it was brought to this garage, and when we picked it up after it was fixed, the owner sent one of his workers on a scooter to lead us the couple of kms back to the highway. On top of that, him and all his staff stood at the door and waved us goodbye as we left.

Kirsten

On my very first trip alone and abroad at age 18, my first stop was Ecuador. I met some Swedish girls and we traveled to Banos together and one day set out to find the infamous hot springs at the edge of town. We missed the bus so decided to trek it…following guidebook instructions in a town we’d never been to. We ended up in a semi-rural grassy treed area that looked like it was going nowhere, and found ourselves stuck with a river to cross. Finally we opted to go to a nearby home and ask directions. A mother came out with her 4 young children and offered to show us- they took us to a part of the river that had rocks to cross on, then the mother rolled up her pants and *walked into the river*, holding out her hand. She guided each of us across as we hopped from rock to rock, her holding us for support and balance as she stood in the icy water, then sent us off with her 6-year-old son to show us the trail and where to go.

I felt numbed with thanks to their efforts (walking us 10 minutes from the house to the river crossing, then helping us cross AND guiding us further up the trail), but knew that they were most likely doing it for a few dollars. No problem, of course, we needed their help and it was kind of them to offer! So as the 6-year-old turned back once we were on the right path, I held out a few bucks and thanked him and asked him to thank his mother, but he took one look at the coins and shook his head with a smile and said “ciao!” before running back to join his family. I was completely shocked. I had been so trained by hearing stories of people going “out of their way” to help and then demanding sums of cash that I’d never even considered they were just a kind family willing to help some lost tourists.

That was my first week traveling EVER and a beautiful, wonderful introduction to South America and Ecuador; I’ll never forget it

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/vagabonderz Carlo Alcos

Beautiful story Kirsten, thank you for sharing.

Neville

I would have to be FIJI !!!!! LOve them !!!
http://budgettravelerssandbox.com Nancie (Ladyexpat)

In Asia I would give it to the Thais.

I’m from Nova Scotia, Canada, and you won’t find anyone friendlier than a east coaster.
http://www.scenebylaurie.com Scene by Laurie

Carlo,
Being a proud New Yorker, I’m psyched it made the list and I hope very much to be able to comment on Cuba friendliness first hand some day.

Until then my vote goes to the very lovely happy partying people in Spain. Everywhere I traveled in the Spain the people were friendly and helpful, didn’t mind my gringa accent and were very inclusive. I absolutely fell in love with their love for life and good times.
http://www.oldworldwandering.com Iain

I’m with Stephen and Lara — Syrians are the most hospitable people, as a group, that I’ve come across. Everybody wants you to drink tea with them, to the point of making it difficult to get from A to B. It’s sometimes difficult to not be a little suspicious of such unassuming friendliness.
Lauren

Surely. I’ve heard plenty of people complain about the attitudes of Parisians, though honestly I’ve always found them quite friendly and helpful. The Latvians I’ve met were never exceptionally friendly, though I don’t take it personally in light of their Big Brother past. And, according to this article, Ethiopian children aren’t too fond of cyclists!
http://www.hikebiketravel.com Leigh

From my own very subjective travel experiences I would vote for New Zealand and Canada. I concur with Ladyexpat about the hospitality of Canadians in the east. In fact once I was given the keys to a car so I could drive to dinner on a rainy night by the host of our small B&B in Newfoundland.
http://yahoo.com jerryjosepisawis

why is that the philippines is not on yhe list.we are also nice but maybe not enough to be on the list i hope philippines is also on the list!!peace on earth LOL
Carl

Philippinos are very nice people. I think most have never traveled there and maybe that’s why no responses there. I would have to say right here in the U.S is where my friendliest experiences were. I made a trip to Houston one time and was blown away by the friendly people there. Everyone was so helpful and went out of their way. Nicest people I’ve seen yet. I was very disappointed in Italy. I really thought we would receive much more hospitality there but I think too many tourists has jaded them. I felt they were mostly brisk and curt and impatient, when they weren’t openly drooling over my beautiful blonde wife!

http://vagabonderz.com Carlo Alcos

I hear you on the Italy thing. We traveled there for a month in our campervan and found most Italians we dealt with to be rude. It was a shock, not what we expected at all. And this was also in the non-touristy areas. The most hospitality we received was in Sicily when our van broke down (as stated in the article). I think it gets better the more south you get.

Conversely, once we crossed into France it was a breath of fresh air, they were so lovely. We anticipated the opposite: Italians=nice and friendly, French=arrogant and rude. Not the case (from our experience that is).

Jan Glorieux

Taiwanese people very hospitable, friendly and helpful.
mark

in my personal opinion, we can not just say that we are the most hospitable or nicest people, because there are some countries who were not given much attention while conducting this survey, everyone of us of course is claiming to be one of them,so my point here is be more accurate and be more considerate…it is not about travelling or dealing with the people that we can say a certain __________ is that ________.could i ask raise a question….what are the criterias you consider to come up with these results……tanx…..

http://vagabonderz.com Carlo Alcos

Hi Mark…it’s a good question, and one I can’t answer. We didn’t make these results, only reported them. As stated in the post, the criteria that was used to make the list wasn’t very clear. Regardless, it was a good launching point for discussion, especially for the validity of lists like this, like you’re questioning now. So good on you for bringing that up.

As far as the Couchsurfing stats, those are just simply based on the number of members of each country. I know it’s not a good indication of “friendliness” but, again, thought I would throw it out there as a discussion point.

Cathy

Africans are such nice people. Warm, friendly, smily and generous. They have little, but will always share it with you. Tanzanians, Southern Sudanese and Togolese top that list.
http://neverendpeaceandlove.blogspot.com Monica

NEPALI people, no doubt about it!!! Nepal, aaah, Nepal. And Nepali women, Nepali men, nepali smiles… overwhealming and absolutely the best in the entire world!!!!!!!!!!!
darrach

dia duit mo charas(hello friends) as thalamh an eisc(from newfoundland).and no offense intended to other like minded newfoundlanders and labradorians.i love my home province and dearly miss her.but i find it in my own conscience very un fitting to continue saying that newfoundlanders the friendlisst people around.that is not to say that we are not friendly.i just want to add that my girlfriends people are philipino.and those people are like the newfies on that side of the world,and are the same kind of decent people as the ones in me own province that came over from ireland so many years ago.they mostly are very poor,and never turn a person out the door.if your from canada you would think you were st patrick.and if you are from newfoundland they think your almost like a god.these people are the same as in me own mnative newfoundland.im not knocking newfies,just saying there is good and bad everywhere as might be expected as the good lord above made us all equally.generally speaking people in cities,yes even newfie cities,arent as nice.as they are busier most the time.people in rural areas are nicer,as they have time most times to say hello to the people who are standing out,and pure curiosity if nothing else makes them compelled to say hello.5 secs after they make first contact,the tourist says gees hes a friendly fellow.well guess what,he was curious,and friendly at same time.hope this makes sence lol.chow

nella

geez dude what the heck are you saying no one is gonna want to read all that
nella

geez dude what the heck are you saying no one is gonna want to read all that

John Pierce

I can’t believe Lebanon wasn’t even in the top 5 countries. Honestly, I’ve visited Lebanon twice, and people were soooo friendly there. Bravo Lebanon!

sophia

Yes I agree Lebanon is great I am from there and everyone is so happy and nice!!!
sophia

Yes I agree Lebanon is great I am from there and everyone is so happy and nice!!!
Panther6170

You are so stupid. The Lebanese people are the most vicious maniacal people on the planet if you can even call them people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nightmare-Rex

defananly not U.S.A too meany gangs and mean peaple.
Sweetjawad420

Pakistanis are most hospitable nation in the world.you can try…just meet pakistanis.
Sweetjawad420

Pakistanis are most hospitable nation in the world.you can try…just meet pakistanis.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1719688152 Andre Ayala Smith

United states the nicest? Bullshit, I have never felt so unwelcomed in that country and I have been three times. Never again, Indians are way more hospitable

lol

maybe youre just a bitch
lol

maybe youre just a bitch
lol

maybe youre just a bitch

No

I find the usa has alot of crime in it because everynight i am watching the news and there is always someone getting charged with something and they are all from the usa
No

I find the usa has alot of crime in it because everynight i am watching the news and there is always someone getting charged with something and they are all from the usa
Alleypooches

Bullshit !!! Ireland????? R u kidding me? Germany??? RAcist places those people have permanent frown on their faces. South Africa the best
Alleypooches

Bullshit !!! Ireland????? R u kidding me? Germany??? RAcist places those people have permanent frown on their faces. South Africa the best
Emilsecher7

colombia has some of the nicest and most welcoming people i have ever met in the world . even due to all the stereotypes they are always smiling and will say hi even if you just walk by them.
movementtherapist

If you exclude Vancouver, then I could say Canada is friendly. But Vancouver is not – very snotty and generally stand offish. I haven’t been everywhere, but I do overall, find people from West Africa (folks from Ghana are especially friendly!), India, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Phillipines, Brazil, Portugal, El Salvador, Afghanistan, Poland, Taiwan, Belgium, Scotland and some parts of Russia to be authentically friendly. I also have found people from Korea to be friendly and warm once you get to know them but it is sometimes difficult to tell if is real or not. Sometimes I know it is but other times I’m not certain. Germans are much, much warmer than they get credit for and I have not met an American I did not like. I am an East Coast Canadian who has been called very friendly.
Cbrown59

By the looks of the comments, it would appear that the whole world is very friendly and welcoming… but I still detects some haters… Calm down y’all. Maybe it would be best if we are all equal in this one, with no one vying to be Number One. Maybe it could be the beginning of world peace.
Cbrown59

By the looks of the comments, it would appear that the whole world is very friendly and welcoming… but I still detects some haters… Calm down y’all. Maybe it would be best if we are all equal in this one, with no one vying to be Number One. Maybe it could be the beginning of world peace.
Cbrown59

By the looks of the comments, it would appear that the whole world is very friendly and welcoming… but I still detects some haters… Calm down y’all. Maybe it would be best if we are all equal in this one, with no one vying to be Number One. Maybe it could be the beginning of world peace.
Cbrown59

By the looks of the comments, it would appear that the whole world is very friendly and welcoming… but I still detects some haters… Calm down y’all. Maybe it would be best if we are all equal in this one, with no one vying to be Number One. Maybe it could be the beginning of world peace.
Cbrown59

By the looks of the comments, it would appear that the whole world is very friendly and welcoming… but I still detects some haters… Calm down y’all. Maybe it would be best if we are all equal in this one, with no one vying to be Number One. Maybe it could be the beginning of world peace.
Merciditacabagte

what about philippines?people are always smiling even suffering of poverty…
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NDKMX5U5APADMNGHTCIN24FWCE Robert

Definitely not australia. This is a country of racists, thugs, vandals, extremely mean and self centered people.
Whereever you plan to go, just don’t go to australia! You’ll regret it, trust me, I live here.
Santa

the nicest people by country is Canada. not only does canada have the nicest people. canadians are the best looking people on earth. have the hottest women and rule the planet. the great white north dominates the world. everyone wants to immigrate to canada because it is the best. point blank:)

Where are the nicest people in the world?

The world’s most hospitable nations

Another method?

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