25 Of The Most Miserable Places People Have Had The Misfortune Of Visiting

When we travel, we dream of experiencing the world’s incredible beauty. We plan itineraries packed with scenic vistas, iconic landmarks, and awe-inspiring landscapes. Yet, reality often falls short of our expectations, leaving many travellers disappointed.

#1

Image source: BomberRURP, Vyacheslav Argenberg / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)

Varanasi, India. Don’t get me wrong, it was of course culturally interesting and all that but the poverty was pretty intense even relative to other parts of India. Also the dogs eating body parts out of the river and having human ashes raining down on you was… intense .

#2

Image source: OzMedical80, Ahmed Al.Badawy / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)

Cairo Egypt. It was so hot, crowded, chaotic, and full of scammers and children trying to constantly either sell me something or steal my stuff. So many buildings were literally crumbling and falling apart.

Like many places in that part of the world no one seemed to understand the concept of waiting in line, everyone just crowded around and tries to eventually push their way to the front.

I couldn’t get out of that city fast enough.

#3

Image source: punksmostlydead, Nicola Zhukov / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Dachau.

We went on a tour when I was stationed there. Maybe 40 of us, mostly single twentysomething soldiers.

I don’t believe in an afterlife, or in the supernatural in general…but I could not deny feeling the awful psychic *weight* of the souls snuffed out in that place. Near a quarter million, as I recall. And Dachau was a work camp, not an extermination camp.

Within those fences, it was weirdly silent. There was no sound of birds, or bugs; not so much as a stir of breeze. I remember the term *unhallowed* occurring to me.

The 2+ hour bus ride back to base was also as silent as the grave. 40-odd young, single soldiers, and no jokes, no laughter, *barely* any conversation.

Every adult human on earth should visit one of those camps at least once. I’m glad I did, and I’ll never, ever go back.

#4

Image source: yt_nom, WeaponizingArchitecture / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)

American here. Been to over 50 countries across 6 continents but for me it’s gotta be Mobile, Alabama. I could literally feel the hate in that city. Sorry to anyone from there. It just left a bad taste in my mouth.

#5

Image source: Autobahn321, Antoine GIRET / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

A garbage dump in Haiti, where a heartbreakingly high number of people live.

#6

Image source: Kooky_Membership9497

Mos Isley Space Port.
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

#7

Image source: hockeynoticehockey, Yoni Rubin / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)

I do not think I will ever visit a worse place than Port au Prince. It is hard to describe a failed nation one step away from complete anarchy. By far the most dangerous city I’ve ever been to, there are no “good” parts of the city.

#8

Image source: Positive-Ad-3748, Salah Darwish / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

A refugee camp. It changed how I see comfort forever.

#9

Image source: beccadahhhling, Bruno Guerrero / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

I used to deliver Meals on Wheels in Indiantown, FL. I’m talking people living without electricity (wasn’t wired), no running water besides a few wells and literal dirt floors.

They only got better after the hurricanes came through in the early 2000s and destroyed most of the older buildings so FEMA was forced to put up “temporary trailers” that they never took back because the people had pretty much ruined them too much to be used elsewhere. They were still nicer than anything these people had ever owned.

Yet after all is said and done, I’ve never encountered anyone in that town that was as nasty as the general population of Louisville, KY. I once had a gun pulled on me for throwing trash in a public bin outside of a Walmart. And just so many random street fights.

So if you mean the place, Indiantown. If you mean the people, Louisville.

#10

Image source: swomismybitch, Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

I dont know the name of the place but it was within a days ride from Bangalore India.

I was doing a tech transfer to the Indian subsidiary of the multinational I worked for. I had a car and a driver so at the weekend we took a trip with a couple of indian colleagues.

We went to some place that had a temple on top of a hill. Nearby was a place making big metal pots. We had a look inside and it was hellish. Lots of people bashing away at metal, working with flaming furnaces. After a few minutes i realised most of the workers were children.

We ascended a lot of steps to the temple. One of the indian colleagues was sweeping the ground so that he didnt accidentally step on an ant.

When we came down the other side we found a young boy begging. He was on something like a skateboard. His thighs ended in bloody stumps. I gave him some change I had and that’s when I noticed all his fingers ended in stumps. The money was snatched by a guy who was selling postcards anyway.

This was very upsetting, I had sons of about the same age. My indian colleague told me that the kid was likely mutilated deliberately.

I had to cut short my trip. I can remember the relief walking through the door of the British Airways plane.

Although I did have to work in Chennai years later I have no wish to visit India as a tourist.

#11

Image source: EddieEssen88, Richard Lu / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

A shanty town in the slums of Jamaica. It was the only time ever, I feared for my life.

#12

Image source: avenueroad_dk, Fotis Fotopoulos / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Puerto Plata in the early 80’s.  3 girls going into “town” from the resort.  We were advised by cab driver to go change out of our shorts for long pants.  He stayed with us from store to store.  Huge guy, coolest ever.  Boys literally tried touching us and he swatted them off.   It was very strange. I assume its better now. .

#13

Image source: ConstantinopleSpolia, Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located. Holy hell that was a terrible place. Parts of Delhi were rough, but Agra was awful. Just filthy with trash.

#14

Image source: vpuq

Inside Makala Central Prison. The Main Prison in Kinshasa, Congo. Built for 1,500 People. Alledgedly over 10,000 people inside.

#15

Image source: HankScorpioPR, Mohammad Husaini / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Southern Afghanistan. I know there was some prosperity around Kabul and a few other places pre-2021, but there was none of that where I was. Just severe, severe poverty. Little kids with flies in their eyes like you would see in National Geographic.

#16

Worst in a western civilised country would have to be Tennant Creek NT Australia.

Got stuck there back in 2020 for a week with a broken down car. Weeks prior some local kids burned down the only grocery store so we had to shop at a makeshift grocery store end of town near the last fuel station.

45 degree heat that didn’t go down to low 20s till early morning.

The aboriginal kids are feral up there. The elders let them do anything l, rob anyone and view it as a “white man” problem. Would suggest not visiting the pub after dark in that town.

I did have to chase a bunch of youths from our caravan park and saved a French tourist from having his passport stolen.

Second worse is Alice Springs. Same issues but 100x worse now. We were there multiple times during our time in Australia. Don’t have anything of value out, don’t be out by yourself in the CBD area after dark etc. Tons of violence and other issues in that town.

Image source: The_Dutch_Canadian

#17

Image source: PotatoPortal123, Nathan Dumlao / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Skid Row, LA. Was eye opening as I had never seen homelessness on this scale before. The contrast between the Hollywood area and Skid Row was pretty jarring.

I stayed with a friend in Graz, Austria for a while and we would walk through this park during the day as a shortcut. We made the mistake of using this shortcut after dark one day and I was honestly fearing for my life. There were so many men hanging around drinking, trying to talk to us and blasting music. As 2 young women it was terrifying. Imagine like a scare maze but in real life. People getting in your face and laughing and shouting.

#18

Image source: ImInJeopardy, Ntsimp / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)

I don’t know the name of the town, but it was a small rural town in Utah. Me and my family stopped there to get something to eat on our way to Capitol Reef National Park.

The City Hall building was about the size of a trailer, with a sign that literally has letters missing because they fell off. You could see the silhouette where the letters used to be. Went to a small burger place and, just like in a movie, everyone turned to look at us when we walked in. A tv behind the counter was playing episodes of Little House on the Praire. There were rifles on the walls, and posters that said stuff like “We don’t call the police.” with pictures of guns under the text. Needless to say, quite a few MAGA amd Blue Lives Matter merch too (the irony is not lost on me).

We’re from Puerto Rico and we usually speak Spanish, but I told my wife we should probably speak English while we’re there… Just in case. This was only a few months ago, so speaking Spanish could’ve probably gotten us in a bit of trouble. We still got plenty of dirty looks from some of the customers and one of the waitresses. We ate as fast as we could!

Edit: the town is called Sigurd, Utah. If you look it up on Google right now, you’ll get a photo of the town hall and you can see the “D” in Sigurd is nearly falling off. By the time we were there, it had fallen off completely.

#19

Gorakhpur.. Had to spend a night around the station waiting for a train. Rats everywhere, groups of people would follow us everywhere without talking to us, and no place would serve us food. Felt stalked and unwelcome.

Image source: NielsB90

#20

Image source: Individual_Access969, Michael Barera / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)

Durant, Oklahoma. It was for a youth group retreat. The entire town seemed to have collectively drank from a mutant pool. .

#21

Image source: CurvyTornado

Charlie De Gaulle Airport. It is my idea of hell.

#22

Image source: Jolly-Vanilla-443, Ryan Porter / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Memphis TN, 1986

My husband and I had pulled off the freeway to get gas and made a wrong turn. It was daylight. As we drove down the block, everyone, all on their porches, turned to look at us. Driving to the next block, everyone stood up and walked to the end of their porches, staring at us. At the third block, the biggest, meanest-looking guy we’d ever seen walked to the sidewalk with an expression on his face that said, “Half block further, and you’re mine.”
I told my husband to hang a U and get us the hell out of there!

I have lived in Venice Beach and driven with just my dog in the car in Fruitvale (granted he was a 200 lb mastiff and looked like a bear) and never feared for my life like I did driving those 2 1/2 blocks.

#23

Image source: Rooatno8, Highways Agency / Wikipedia (not the actual photo)

Got detoured once under Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham. I’d never seen such a grim place and I’d lived in Asia. Filthy dirty with about 4ft of rubbish piled up at the roadside. There was a small row of houses situated overlooking the underpass, right next to this garbage and horrendously busy road.

I couldn’t believe anyone could live there without being on max strength anti-depressants.

#24

Image source: Judge_Bredd3, Anderson Schmig / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Gallup, New Mexico. The only thing open after 6 is the Walmart, every window had bars on it, and I nearly ran over a guy passed out on the highway wearing all black.

#25

No haters please but New York is nasty/dirty. Just couldn’t handle crowds bumping you when walking and not saying excuse me or anything, as rats were running through sidewalks filled with trash. Ugh.

Image source: Existing_Bedroom_496