Some of the worlds Smelliest travel destinations. Judged by my own fair nose.

I have been lucky to go to some smelly places in my time.

There are all sorts of causes of smells in a city, from general pollution by traffic etc to active thermal areas and truly offensive fruit.

Here are some of my experiences and “favourites” such as they are.

Venice, Italy –

Piazza San Marco Venice. Smelly in summer.

As cities go, you don’t get much more romantic than sitting in a Gondola with a gondaleer O Solo Mio’ing in the background. I actually went to Venice out of season in November and had not so much of the bad smell experience. Go in the height of summer  and the pongometer gets truly worked by the grand canal and its delights.

Pongometer rating 6/10

London, UK

London on an average day

Plenty of people will thoroughly agree or disagree with me on this one but I do find London pretty smelly, especially down by the Thames. The main tell tale sign for me is after a day in London you tend to  blow your nose and end up with all manner of black stuff coming out. Sad but true. Maybe not as smelly as some of the others but certainly more polluted.

Pongometer rating – 4/10, not blatantly smelly enough

Singapore – Especially Chinatown, April – September

Singapore opera house is shaped like a durian but not as smelly luckily.

Ah Singapore, the home of clean streets, free of chewing gum and litter, due to massive fines on the spot for throwing stuff down wantonly. What is that I smell though, wandering through the Chinatown night market? Kind of like a mix of a fruit and veg market gone bad or just downright rubbish, it would appear the Durian fruit is in season!!

This spiky fruit is the “king of fruits” in these parts, I would also call it the “king of smells”. Banned from many

Someone selling their smelly Durian wares.

hotels in Asia it is truly pungent. I did indeed think it was rotting vegetables the first couple of times I went to Singapore but have since been corrected. I’ve forgotten how many times I have been to Singapore and the Far east exactly but I even relish the Durian smell now and have tried this funky fruit a few times too. It has a lovely texture and I could only describe it as a sort of very sweet onion taste. Its much better than some “delicacies” I have tried, certainly, just not to be consumed with alcohol, apparently that can kill you.

Pongometer rating – 7/10

Rotorua, New Zealand

Rotorua thermal pools

RotoVegas as the locals call it due to the long strip of neon lighted motels on the strip leading into the city, not because of any particular gambling opportunities I saw?

This is in New Zealand’s Maori heartland and probably one of the best places to access Maori culture easily. It is also one smelly place, the smell of farty eggs pervades into your car as you approach the city limits. This is due to massive volcanic and geothermal activity underground.

There are various places to see geysers and volcanic activity here like Wai O Tapu thermal Wonderland.

Pongometer rating 9/10 This one tops my list purely because the smell is constant and unavoidable!  

Have you been to any smelly places, feel free to share!

Kaituna river Rotorua. Me rafting the highest commercially raftable waterfall in the world. (back right)