My Countries Tier List! (After visiting them)

This summer, I finally visited my 40th country and I decided to make a tier list! This tier list is ranked by how strong I'd recommend someone to visit a country, which is based on my experience visiting the country and it will be biased. Peaceful discussions about my ranking are encouraged :)

Explanation on my rating system:

As mentioned, the countries are ranked by my strength of recommendation. Which means there is a slight bonus on more obscure countries. (Because I don't really see a reason to highly recommend France for example.)

S: Exceptional country I highly recommend to visit and would love to visit again.

A: I do recommend, but there are also many other nice countries.

B: Don't get me wrong. It's really nice there and had really nice experiences. I just had to choose some countries to make the tier list a bit more interesting so that not every country falls under A.

C: It was not bad, but I think people would complain, if I'd recommend them these countries (this country). I'd give a second chance visiting the country.

D: A bit boring I think to recommend, so I won't.

F: I absolutely do not recommend and don't really want to go back there.

Note:

* I only included JetPunk recognized countries with the exception of Hong Kong and Macao. Not because of political reasons, but putting a China flag instead wouldn't really represent it well (since I also believe that China is a very epic country to visit).

* My own country is included.

* The order of the countries within the group doesn't matter. They are just sorted alphabetical

* The flag you see is Monaco, not Indonesia.

I'd like to elaborate my reasoning on some countries on the list, especially the ones in S Tier.

Georgia is definitely the most underrated country I've been to and I'm happy explain why. Because this country has everything it needs to be on S Tier.

First of all, the country can offer something to any type of traveler. To ones who enjoys nature, who likes to do city trips, enjoy culture, cuisine, art or history, who likes to spend their time on the beach or even just to gamble. The nature varies a lot in Georgia, with beautiful high mountains in the north where mountains look smooth, because trees are not growing on them. Dry landscape in the eastern Kakheti region, where they are producing wine and in the west it becomes more wet, either endlessly flat landscapes or beautiful hills / mountains with high vegetation and unique looking trees.

Even though Georgia was under the rule of the Soviet Union, their culture is well preserved. They have their own distinct cuisine, music, dances and art, the most notable painter being Niko Pirosmani for example. When walking around in Tbilisi, you can see that Georgians value art a lot, seen by all the sculptures, art galleries, graffitis and architecture (even modern ones) in the city. They also speak a unique language, which is even its own language family, so it's not closely related to any other language in the world!

Since the country as a tourist destination is commonly only known to Russians, it doesn't seem too touristy like in some other european cities. No place is overcrowded, no need to wait in line to get in some kind of museum and not everything has an entrance fee.

Highly recommended!

Nature: 20 / 20

Architecture / Vibe: 20 / 20

Culture: 20 / 20

Cuisine: 15 / 20

Cost: 8 / 10 (The higher the cheaper)

Safety: 8 / 10

Total: 91 / 100

Yes, I admit, this country is not for every type of traveler. A country where travelers either love or don't like at all. There is apparently nothing in between.

I guess it's obvious on which side I am on. I love India so much that I've now been there twice! And I would love to visit there a third time! Even though it can mean a lot of inconvenience, like fighting for a space inside the train and not outside (Yes, these trains exist). India is just a world in itself, there is a lot of stuff we foreigners don't know about, a different way of thinking, a different way of living. I believe a lifetime is just not enough to explore all of India, but a single visit will definitely widen your horizon by a lot.

What I really love about India is the cuisine. Even though I admit, I still prefer Chicken Tikka Masala, I tried to try many different stuff other than curry. Aloo Gobi and Dosa I really enjoyed, also some local street food in Mumbai, like Dahi Puri, Vada Pav or Pav Bhaji were my favourites.

If you are an adventurous person, you will for sure love India!

Nature: 17 / 20

Architecture / Vibe: 20 / 20

Culture: 20 / 20

Cuisine: 20 / 20

Cost: 10 / 10

Safety: 7 / 10 (includes road accidents and diseases)

Total: 94 / 100

I've heard people say that Japan is overrated but I absolutely don't think like that. I find it fascinating how one culture can be that successful, historically being preserved from the Mongols and the Europeans, but also nowadays in for example entertainment or any high quality products. Even when looking at posters in Japan or tv shows, they have a way of communicating with humour, which I've not seen much anywhere else.

Japan has a variety in nature, even tall mountains and all types of climate from north to south, but I feel like even on the countryside, it feels quite urban, so I think it'd be hard to find a place you can feel freedom and pure nature. Still, hills and mountains are always nearby, which makes the landscape pretty intersting.

Nature: 18 / 20

Architecture / Vibe: 20 / 20

Culture: 20 / 20

Cuisine: 20 / 20

Cost: 6 / 10

Safety: 10 / 10

Total: 94 / 100

Even though Vietnam is bustling and full with motorcycles, it still feels like a very peaceful place. The people are very friendly and they especially really like to help others I felt like (Not just because we're tourists).

I really like the nature, even though I've not been to the north yet! (Assuming it's beautiful there, so I just give 20 points for Nature) Just the vibe in general, it feels relaxed and exciting at the same time.

When it comes to food, I believe the vietnamese cuisine is the healthiest cuisine that is tasty in the world. There is not much salt, yet very flavourful so it tastes really natural. After having traveled all around eastern Asia, I think Phở is the noodle soup I have the highest respect for. I'm actually often disappointed when I go to vietnamese restaurants in my hometown, since they use too much salt to appeal the foreign guests.

Nature: 20 / 20

Architecture / Vibe: 20 / 20

Culture: 20 / 20

Cuisine: 20 / 20

Cost: 9 / 10

Safety: 7 / 10

Total: 96 / 100

Now after I've described my favourites, I will briefly describe the other countries, why I ranked them they way they are ranked. At the end you will also see in detail why I didn't like the UAE so much...

A:

Albania: Underrated and Beautiful

Armenia: Incredible Nature, S Tier candidate

Austria: My own country bias, beautiful nature

Bosnia: Beautiful towns / nature and culturally interesting

Croatia: Has everything for any type of traveler

Czechia: I like Prague more than my hometown Vienna

Estonia: Tallinn is what I used to recommend before I went to Tbilisi

France: Probably S Tier worthy if it wasn't already the most popular tourist destination

Fiji: A lot of pacific culture and nature can be found there, since it's a larger island country. Also I like indian culture so. (third of population are indians)

Italy: I've only visited the most touristy part of Italy so hard to judge.

Jordan: I'd have said Jordan is underrated, but tourism is blooming there in the recent years. Petra is nice but don't miss out Wadi Rum! Amman itself is also very interesting.

Kenya: So many different cultures in each tribe, and Nairobi is a mix of everything, including Ethiopians and Somalis. A very eye-opening experience that changed my world view completely. I believe it would be a waste to only go on a Safari there.

Kosovo: Prizren is beautiful and I like the vibe in Pristina. There is an obscurity bonus.

Montenegro: The slavic version of Italy, beautiful nature.

Netherlands: Amsterdam is a beautiful city.

Singapore: I was very positively surprised, it's not just a business city, you can also find a lot of culture here. And the cuisine is just incredible!!

Slovenia: Our beautiful neighbour :)

Sweden: Great Vibe, Nature and Mentality.

Switzerland: Nature is the only thing that fascinates me there but it's enough to be A Tier!

Taiwan: One of the first asian countries I visited. I really love the vibe, the culture and everything.

Thailand: Beautiful architecture, interesting culture, unique nature!

UK: I've only been to London but I believe the rest is also great. The country has a vibe I like.

USA: Gotta say, it's an epic country to visit, but as an European, I miss public transport.

B:

Belgium: Beautiful cities, really. Deserves A Tier.

Finland: Nature is really nice, but can seem boring since there are basically just trees everywhere. And Helsinki I don't really recommend, sorry Finland!

Germany: I've only been to the depressing looking cities but not to the beautiful parts which I know exists.

Hungary: Budapest is nice, I just like other cities more.

Hong Kong: Deserves A Tier...

Israel: Interesting to see the cluster of religions in Jerusalem. I'm just not that much interested in religion.

Latvia: Riga is really beautiful and I'd recommend, but maybe there is not much to do there

Liechtenstein: Beautiful valley, but that's it.

Macao: One of the most interesting cities to visit, the northern half is historic and the southern half full with casinos. Would be A Tier if I would have won some money in their casinos. jk

Monaco: Well, you can see how rich people live. Would have been C Tier but it's actually a really beautiful place, so it survived!

South Korea: For some reason, I don't quite get the culture, I'm sorry. Also the cities look a bit depressing because of copy paste buildings.

C:

Serbia: Even though I think Belgrade is interesting, it's not really the city I'd recommend to visit. I've done a lot of research, traveling around Serbia but didn't really catch me that much. I'd give a second chance visiting the country tho!

D:

Vatican City: As I said, I'm not really interested in religion. The cathedral although is epic and makes you wonder how people built it back then.

And now for my F Tier... I think I want to explain it a bit more in detail.

I've been to the UAE twice, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and maybe it's not fair to judge by only having visited the cities, but I don't really want to give a second (third) chance. I also probably didn't have the best experience visiting there only in summer and didn't move around in a car the whole time, so I ended up walking for hours in +40°C heat (104°F). The benefit although is since then, humid heat doesn't seem hot to me anymore.

Even if I had all the comfort, the things you can do here is not that exciting to me. Everything seems artificial and the Sheikh Zayed Mosque is big and impressive and stuff, but it just feels like you're in someone's minecraft creative world. The good thing although was that the entrance was free.

For anything else you usually need to pay an expensive entrance fee for all the attractions. In the end it's a resort, an amusement park, which is not necessarily my type of traveling.

I don't think I have to talk much about nature... it's sand. And the local food I ate here wasn't really impressive. I guess you can have something more delicious when you also pay more for it. Since the country is a mix of foreign workers, it's not easy to find local culture. And I believe if I really want to explore the muslim culture, I think it's better to visit other muslim countries.

Since I don't want to just complain, I will show what was the most fun to do for me in the UAE.

Dubai has many "souk"s where you can buy many oriental products and practice your negotiation skills, which is quite fun to do. For example I bought a perfume, with the "original price" of 20$, for just 2$. Or an UAE Flag for my collection for 1$ instead of 5$ etc.. Here are some tips I can give you while negotiating:

* When they ask you where you are from, say any country but a rich one.

* When you're looking for a specific item, never let them know! Because when you ask for it, they're less likely to go down with the prices. Let the shop owner guide you to the item and pretend, as if you're buying it spontanously.

* Try to delay saying your own price as long as possible. The ultimate method is to just say that it's too expensive and pretend to leave.

When you're in Abu Dhabi only for transit, I'd recommend only visiting the big mosque I mentioned earlier. But when you have 12 hours of transit time, you can go all the way to the center of the city which takes 1 hour from the airport by bus. From there it takes another 20 to 40 mins to get to the Mina Market, which you can see on the picture. A large fish market with actually impressive amount of different types of fish and size. You can also buy a fish here and take it to the food corner, where they cook it for you. Prices here are reasonable and I've also seen many locals come here.

Even though this was exciting, the total points goes as follows:

Nature: 4 / 20

Architecture / Vibe: 10 / 20

Culture: 5 / 20

Cuisine: 5 / 20

Cost: 6 / 10

Safety: 10 / 10

Total: 40 / 100

I believe reflecting past experiences is an important part of traveling. I'm happy to have an opportunity to share it here. As you probably could guess, I'm interested in different cultures and its cuisines around the world, which gives new perspectives on how you see the world you live in.

Thank you for reading this far.