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Dubai has got to be THE most overrated destination in the world. There is absolutely nothing to do there, except shop, eat, shop, eat, shop and eat until either you go broke or your liver fails, whichever is first.
Istanbul is probably the only place I'd consider - mostly for all the gorgeous mosques and in general the architecture. Culturally, the ME is not a place I want to be.
I am debating travel to the Middle East in the next 1 or 2 year.
I have already visited a few countries in North Africa so not looking to do that.
Obviously not going anywhere with an active war going on so Syria is out. Not interested in visiting Isreal as too much drama ove the tiny bit of land.
Anyone have any suggestions on best places to visit in regards to things to see and do?
P.s. I am a women. I would be travelling with my husband and child.
Thanks in advance : )!
Israel. The drama is in the anti-Semitism dressed up as sophisticated academic talk. They are a normal Western democracy.
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Originally Posted by NDak15
Call me overly cautious but I think I would avoid the whole region. Too unstable. Sad really. The history is incredible.
They are almost all pretty safe, aside from the obvious ones like Yemen/Iraq/etc. where they aren't really any western tourists anyway.
People are just too much panties, seriously how many tourists get killed in the Middle East? Jordan, Turkey, and Israel get tons of tourists, Egypt still gets over 5 million per year. People are really worried enough to route their travel plans to avoid these places because they might be one of the rare one-in-a-million of tourists that get wacked, despite there being far greater danger just being in a vehicle on a highway.
It's like that one poster in here who said Thailand is dangerous because of sex tourism, as if some ping-pong ball is going to fly out of a performer and hit him in the head causing injury as he walked by on the street.
If you're planning a brief trip, Petra is incredible to see. Now is a good time to go, because tours and tourists are avoiding Jordan (and, in fact, a lot of other places), because of fear of terrorist attacks. But Petra is really only worth two full days, if you are able-bodied. There's also Wadi Rum to take a jeep tour, and you could go to the Dead Sea on the Jordanian side, although going to the Dead Sea, especially at this time of year, is mostly about soaking in the Dead Sea water indoor hot pools at luxurious spa hotels on the Israeli side - I have no idea what the hotels are like on the Jordanian side. And you could go see Amman and Aqaba. So I'm sure you could make a week or ten day trip there, especially with your husband speaking Arabic.
I speak Arabic, and I've been to Jordan, and lived and studied in Egypt and in Israel. Certainly, the antiquities in Egypt in the South are very much worth seeing. Again, if you are traveling with your husband who speaks Arabic, I think you could safely travel anywhere in Egypt and Jordan right now, and tourism in both countries is dead because of fear of terrorist attacks, so it would be cheap and uncrowded. I would recommend that you avoid tour buses, and any place that caters to large groups of Westerners, since this is where you'd be most likely to encounter a terrorist attack.
Oh, look! Syria's open for tourism again! And it certainly wouldn't be crowded - after all, over half a million dead, and over 5 million internationally displaced refugees, certainly means fewer crowds.
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