I'm a solo traveler and these are 5 scary cities women should stay away from — I survived kidnap and mugging scares

Yahoo

16-06-2025

Women with wanderlust, be warned.
A self-described 'solo female traveler' has taken to TikTok to reveal the five most dangerous cities she's visited — and is urging other globetrotting gals to remain vigilant should they venture there.
Andrea Elliott shared the list of the five frightening locales in a viral video that has recently resurfaced ahead of the summer travel season.
'If you are a solo traveling woman like me, or if you plan on solo traveling somewhere this summer, I would watch this video in its entirety for the list of destinations that I will never travel to again as a solo traveling woman,' the intrepid tripper told viewers.
First, the TikTokker urged ladies to stay away from Manila in the Philippines, saying it was 'definitely not safe' in the area where she stayed.
'My hotel wouldn't even let me go to the ATM outside,' Elliot alleged.
'They told me to put more clothes on, not to wear a tank top because there were so many men outside and it just wasn't safe for me to walk alone,' she added.
Secondly, the globetrotter told viewers that she would never set foot in Paris, France, again.
'I was literally almost mugged twice while on the subway,' she explained. 'And mind you, there are police walking around with guns, like a lot of police and law enforcement walking around, but yet I was still nearly mugged while on the subway in Paris.'
'I was also cautioned about pickpockets and advised not to go out alone at night,' she further dished.
Third on Elliot's list of scary cities: Cartagena, Colombia.
'Overall, I really loved Cartagena, even though the men were pretty aggressive,' the content creator claimed.
'The reason why Cartagena is on this list is because when I initially got there before I got into the walled city, I was taking a video from my taxi and stuck my arms slightly out of my taxi window,' she recalled.
'The cops then pulled up next to me in a scooter and told me to stick my arm back in — that it wasn't safe to have my cell phone out like that and just to be very cautious with my cell phone and my belongings.'
Also on Elliot's list: Caye Caulker, Belize.
'Unfortunately, the men are very, very aggressive,' she told her virtual audience. 'So much so that I had to pepper spray a man who was literally touching my person, touching me physically, just to get me to come into his restaurant.'
The fifth and final frightening locale, according to Elliot, is San Salvador, El Salvador.
The bruette sensationally claimed she was almost kidnapped by two men while she traveling alone there.
'These were construction workers because they were in a flatbed truck, and they had wired spool in the back of their truck,' she recalled. ' They pulled up next to me… both of them grabbed me by my arms and were pulling me inside of their truck.'
'Luckily, there were restaurants nearby, heard me screaming, people heard me screaming and came outside and were like, 'Déjala! Déjala! Leave her alone. Don't touch her. And the guys got in their truck and sped off.'