Top Ten: World's Least Friendly Cities

Is your city listed?

When you think of friendly cities, images of smiling faces, well-behaved children, and quiet neighborhoods come to mind. However, the following top ten list contains the top least friendly cities!

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (Catholic Online) - This list of the world's least friendly cities comes courtesy of the Telegraph. Is your city on the list?

10. Cannes, France

A travel magazine listed Cannes, France number two as the world's least friendly city, surprising several citizens. Readers called Cannes "very forgettable" and a "European Vegas." Readers claim citizens were "disappointing" and "unfriendly."

Travel site Condé Nast writes, "Despite -or perhaps because of- the hype surrounding Cannes and its glitzy film festival, many readers seemed underwhelmed."

9. Las Vegas, United States

Despite Las Vegas' obvious shortcomings on being kid-friendly, it has ranked number nine in the world's top ten unfriendly cities list.

One writer on happierabroad.com said, "I went to this big community resort with a huge swimming pool ... The thing is, there were tons of people at the pool ... Everyone had an ice wall around them. There was no talking to strangers. It was kind of depressing and sad to see that ... What's sick is how you can be around so many people in a nice recreational environment, yet none of them want to talk to you. Everyone has this antisocial toxic vibe ... that is very uninviting."

8. Baltimore, United States

Online traveler newspaper Condé Nast Traveler asked its readers to rate a city's friendliness. One writer said Baltimore "is in desperate need of a renewal."
 
Even the city's regulations, high taxes and outsourcing has led to unfriendly business ventures and practices as reported by the Baltimore Sun.

7. Philadelphia, United States

The Fresh Prince might have been born and raised here, but apparently that is where the fun stops. Travel & Leisure's annual America's Favorite Cities survey revealed comments such as "The concept behind the City of Brotherly Love may have some limits."

6. New York, United States

Chris Heywood, a spokesman for NYC  Company, the city's tourism agency, was surprised to hear New York ranked six on the world's top ten least friendly cities. He said, "It really shocked me that we're ranked that way. Maybe the readers haven't been to New York City lately."

Travel & Leisure wrote, "Perhaps readers just can't forgive those brusque cabbies."
One voter told T+L that New Yorkers are "not exactly the kindest to strangers" while one claims "New York has everything -just don't ask a person in the street to help you find it."

5. Los Angeles, United States

Travelandleisure.com describes Los Angeles as a "legendary tangle of freeways, the infamous (but now less noticeable) smog and the epitome of American sprawl."

Apparently LA's citizens need to work on their people skills with one person saying Los Angeles was full of "Rude, unhelpful people trying to scam you for everything."

4. Marseille, France

Readers say the city is "unkempt and gritty," while Condé Nast reports comments like, "Although Marseille is a 'lovely historical city', crime seems to be a major concern for many visitors."

One person commented on the unfriendliness of the French. Simonflys said, "Very strange -I've always found French coffee to be just like the welcome -cold and bitter!"

3. St. Petersburg, Russia

Expatarrivals.com said, "For foreigners, living in Russia's big cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg, is a curious and contradictory interplay of invisibility and exposure. At times one may feel like they have disappeared altogether as people in the streets seem to look through each other."

The section continues, saying, "It's important to realize that this kind of unsmiling action is a result of the fact that Russian people have a public mask that is different from their private selves." With comments like that, it is with little wonder St. Petersburg made it to the third slot on the top ten list!

2. Atlantic City, United States

Atlantic City was described as "...fun -if you like to gamble and don't mind rude, fast-paced people."

T+L wrote, "Some readers wondered if the city, known these days for its less-than-lustrous casinos and boardwalk, was still reeling from the tragic blow struck by 2012's Hurricane Sandy."
Sorry Atlantic City, you were only beaten out by the number one unfriendly city in the world.

1. Moscow, Russia

The number one unfriendly city in the world is Moscow, Russia and writer Natalia Antonova, a writer for The Guardian, says it doesn't surprise her.

"It didn't surprise me to hear that Moscow, where I live part time, has been voted the world's most unfriendly city by readers," she wrote.

She further explains by saying Moscow "has a huge security-guard culture, which means that almost everywhere you go, including many restaurants and shops, you're likely to meet at least one hulking police academy reject who will stare at you as though you're a dangerous criminal and he's fully prepared to tear you limb from limb right there in the condiments aisle."

If hulking figures with fire in their eyes doesn't register as unfriendly to you, Antonova says the city is full of public, dramatic arguments. "The most recent [argument] I witnessed involved a shouting match over whether Sergei Yesenin was a great poet or a buffoon," she wrote.

Though her article's point is that Moscow really isn't as bad as it seems, the city nonetheless made it to the top of T+L and Condé Nast's lists of the world's least friendly city.

What do you think about this list? What city have you been to that was unfriendly? We want to hear your stories in the comments below!

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