After spending a decade on the road and visiting all 197 countries, travel creator Drew Binsky says he’s developed a pretty strong sense of what makes a destination shine and what can make it tough to experience. In a recent video, he shared the four places that struck him as the dirtiest he has ever visited. The list is blunt, but it comes with a reminder that even the most seasoned traveler is still reacting to a snapshot in time.
Before naming names, Binsky stressed that travel is deeply personal and shaped by countless variables. What feels unforgettable to one person can feel uncomfortable to another, depending on timing, weather, local infrastructure, and even a traveler’s expectations. Still, his picks weren’t framed as casual complaints. They were presented as moments where waste, smell, and poor sanitation were so overwhelming they became the defining feature of the visit.
In fourth place, he put Tondo, a densely populated area in Manila in the Philippines, describing his first impression as water filled with rubbish. He pointed to dark, stagnant water that appeared almost fully covered in trash and said litter was everywhere. Binsky also mentioned seeing a large community living under a bridge during his visit, which reinforced the sense of neglect. It was the kind of scene that makes you realize how quickly everyday life becomes impossible when basic services fall apart.
His third spot went to Manshiyat Naser, a suburb of Cairo in Egypt often nicknamed Garbage City because there is no organized waste collection. Binsky said the entire local economy revolves around gathering and recycling trash from Cairo, and he described it as a place built on refuse. He also cited the scale of the problem, claiming that around 14,000 tons of garbage are dumped there daily. Even with what he called a high tolerance, he admitted the smell was extremely hard to handle.
The only European location on his list landed at number two, Stolipinovo, a neighborhood in Plovdiv, Bulgaria that is frequently described as a ghetto. Binsky said the most difficult part for him was the volume of trash, adding that he had never seen anything like it in Europe. He also noted that some people might expect Budapest to appear, especially after a luggage storage company called Radical Storage labeled it the world’s dirtiest city, but he did not include the Hungarian capital.
At number one, Binsky named Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, describing the experience as both unpleasant and dangerous. He said his route took him through areas controlled by gangs, and the UK’s Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to the country. In his footage, huge piles of garbage line roads and spill into them, while a local voice suggests the situation keeps getting worse. It’s a stark reminder that cleanliness is not just about aesthetics, but about safety, health, and stability.
Have you visited any of these places, or do you think a different city deserves to be on this kind of list? Share your thoughts in the comments.
