Lonely Planet's top Countries for 2011

[Kitschum]

Besides Albania as #1 and Vanuatu at #6 (I guess they must really like their Kava), take a look at #9:

9. Syria

Heard the one about Bashar al-Assad and the US Ambassador? Well it’s no joke. After five years of cold-shoulder treatment relations have thawed and Syria is officially off the naughty step. There’s a definite upwardly-mobile attitude taking over the streets, thanks in part to the state-controlled economy slowly being overhauled and the noose of the ‘Axis of Evil’ tag no longer hanging around the nation’s neck. Savvy tourists can lord it up like a pasha, staying in lovingly restored Ottoman palaces and sipping cappuccino after shopping it up in the souq. But with all this modernisation it’s good to see some things are still the same. Out east the Bedouin still herd their scraggly sheep and welcome strangers into goat-hair tents for tea. Aleppo and Damascus’ Old Cities remain mazes where the best maps won’t work, and the countryside is still a vast open-air museum, strewn with the abandoned playgrounds of fallen empires. With hospitality still a national obsession, the attitude to visitors hasn’t changed
either.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/travel-tips-and-articles/76164

I'd say.

And at #10? Apparently this is the year to visit Japan...

[Lorizael]

Uh... my girlfriend's best friend is a Peace Corps volunteer in Albania right now... and let's just say she'd disagree with this list.

[Kitschum]

That makes sense. In the Balkans which is the most backwards and rural part of Europe, Albania is the most rural and backwards of them all.

Positives are that it's relatively untouched and there must be SOME nice parts along their Mediterranean/Adriatic coast.

[C0ckney]

i read a book written by someone who travelled in albania a few months before the collapse of 1997, it was called the 'cursed mountains' or something like that. it was very good.

[Lorizael]

She doesn't deny that it's beautiful. She just wishes there was a little more in the way of air conditioning/heating/reliable internet/clean water/grocery stores/rivers without dynamite/people with all their teeth/cars younger than she is/etc...

[Kitschum]

And they still do this:

In line with Albania's social code known as Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit or simply Kanun (English: The Code of Lekë Dukagjini), someone is allowed to kill another person to avenge an earlier murder or moral humiliation. Gjakmarrja (literally "blood-taking", i.e. "blood feud") or Hakmarrja ("revenge") refers to this practice.

According to some reports[1], there has been a revival of instances of Gjakmarrja, due to the lack of state control, since the collapse of communism, in remote parts of Albania (mainly in the North of the country) and in Kosovo. The Albanian Helsinki Committee considers one reason for the pervasiveness of the blood feud to be the malfunction of the judicial structure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjakmarrja

[OneFootInTheGrave]

bah - if you want "civilization" go to Spain on holiday, and if you want unspoilt nature, Albania is an interesting choice, close but "exotic". For an active tourist, it can be an excellent destination for sure a lot less issues than in Africa, and plenty of people go there on holiday.

Also - out of Lori's points, one question - Where is she in Albania that clean water is an issue?

Depends how much you want to spend (overall a lot less than in the west), you can get the service that fits the bill

Other than that,Syria is poor choice due to current political instability, otherwise it is a country with rich history and I'd love to visit.

[Lorizael]

Also - out of Lori's points, one question - Where is she in Albania that clean water is an issue?

They literally throw their trash in the local river. And dynamite it to catch fish.

[Traianvs]

I've been to Syria before. Strongly recommended.

Damascus is a wonderful city, without exaggerating I could live there. The summary is spot on about hospitality too. I came from Jordania and boy was that a difference. Despite their supposed international isolation, most of the people are quite open minded. Then again I only stayed for 10 days or so. But still, got good memories of the place.

[onodera]

I wish more LP-toting backpackers go to Syria and get killed there. They're the worst kind of tourists.

[The Mad Monk]

Plan on hitting Japan some time in the next year or two. Kyoto, Osaka, Nagasaki, maybe Hokkaido.

edit: not sure where in Hokkaido, a few of the national parks, certainly

[Traianvs]

I wish more LP-toting backpackers go to Syria and get killed there. They're the worst kind of tourists.

Somehow I think tourists staying at resorts their entire stay are the pinnacle of ****ty tourism.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

Somehow I think tourists staying at resorts their entire stay are the pinnacle of ****ty tourism.

most people lack either or both interest in and appreciation for what lies beyond taking pictures of tourist honeypots.

it's the ultimate pre-packaged holiday: spoon-fed experiences that can easily be digested, and bragged about to the chavs next-door.

[onodera]

Somehow I think tourists staying at resorts their entire stay are the pinnacle of ****ty tourism.

Greasy-haired backpackers visiting the same places "off the beaten path" are just as bad and much more arrogant.

[Traianvs]

In my experience, Brits/Germans/Russians in resorts are the worst. They often feature that sweet combo (drunk, loud and disrespectful towards natives) we've all come across in our travels.

But feel free to have your opinion on the matter