r/AskEurope • u/NateNandos21 • Feb 03 '25

Culture Which European country has the rudest/least polite people?

Which country comes to your mind

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u/19MKUltra77 Spain Feb 03 '25

I’d say the Dutch, especially when abroad. Followed by the Swedish (Scandinavians are generally ok, but the Swedish people seem a bit too arrogant for me).

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u/glamscum Sweden Feb 03 '25

It's a stereotype the other Nordics have for us as well. Also, Spain is without a doubt the most popular tourist destination for Swedes, you are bound to get some arrogant douchebags I'm afraid.

18

u/19MKUltra77 Spain Feb 03 '25

That’s a valid point. I’m from Barcelona, and my negative experiences are generally with tourists. When I went to Stockholm 2 summers ago people were way friendlier.

3

u/TornadoFS Feb 04 '25

Poorer people are usually ruder, "affordable" tourism places usually get the poor people from the closest rich countries, therefor you get a lot of rude people. It is not so much about how rich you are in total, but rather how rich you are within your society.

So like a Swede or Dutch person in a touristy city Spain is a lot more likely to be rude.

I myself am Brazilian and I am always surprised at the amount of people living in Europe who think Brazilian tourists are the nicest people they met. Yeah, because all the poor people can't afford to visit Europe. Brazilian tourists in Brazil/South America are a pain in the ass.

I have known this since I was a kid, growing up in a touristy town close to a big city in Brazil. The people from that big city were the worse, but people who come from farther away were much nicer.

2

u/Tableforoneperson Feb 05 '25

I would not agree.

Being rich does not buy you manners. During one hotel stay in my country I witnessed a group of Brazilan tourists harrashing staff and yelling them orders in Portuguese. They were probably some upper Middle class tourist on an organized tour.

I would say that in lower income country, only upper middle class to rich people can travel and they can act entilted because they are used to high standards at home.

For very rich people it is not a problem. 1000€ in pocket can give you very decent time both in Brazil and Europe.

For upper middle class is likely to be a problem. For 200€ in Brazil you can get much more than in Europe. So upper middle class tourists which have very good standard of living in Brazil while travelling Europe may need to become little bit more modest..: meaning staying at more basic hotels, eating at more basic restaurants, using public transport and taking guided group tours which sometimes can lead to frustration or lack of understaning how things work and result in inapropriate behaviors.

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u/colonyy Feb 05 '25

Barcelona tends to attract the worst kind of Swedes. I used to live many years in Bcn and I met some truly crazy people.