Best country to go on holiday to: the first debate; what's missing?

[Sporting]

First places:

Argentina 13
Bhutan 15
Brazil 11
Canada 14
Croatia 12
Ecuador 8
Greece 13
Iceland 12
Italy 14
Laos 12
Madagascar 14
Mexico 12
New Zealand 14
Peru 13
Portugal 13
Slovenia 11
Spain 14
Tanzania 13
Turkey 16
Vietnam 14

Second places:

Albania 10
Bahamas 9
Bulgaria 8
Chile 11
Czech Republic 7
Egypt 8
Georgia 11
India 11
Japan 13
Lebanon 9
Malaysia 10
Mongolia 10
Nepal 9
Poland 9
Russia 12
Seychelles 8
Sri Lanka 13
Thailand 13
UK 13
USA 13

Highest scoring losers:

South Africa 11
China 10
Australia 9
Germany 9
Indonesia 9
Iran 9
Norway 9
Romania 9
Uzbekistan 9

Nul points:


Afghanistan
Bahrain
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Chad
Comoros
Congo
Dominica
Guinea
Gabon
Iraq
Guyana
Lithuania
Micronesia
Niger
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE

[Sporting]

So we have 49 countries left. Divides nicely into 7. Each group winner will qualify for the quarter finals along with the highest scoring second.

In this stage please put, in each group, your three faves in order. 1st gets 5 points, 2nd 3 points, 3rd 1 point. Whatever criteria you want (bucket list, next holiday, honeymoon, whatever). Comments as ever more than welcome.

Group 1:

Argentina
Bahamas
China
Brazil
Czech Republic
Germany
Iceland

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Group 1.

1. China
2. Brazil
3. Argentina

[Sporting]

1. Argentina
2. Germany
3. Iceland

[elguapo4]

1. Germany

2. Brazil

3. China

[MsD]

1. Bahamas - Just looks gorgeous, a beautiful multi-island country. Junkanoo looks mad and I’d like to see just how funky Nassau really is.
2. Brazil - interesting, diverse and huge.
3. Argentina - ditto, almost edged it over Brazil as I speak some Spanish.

[San Bernardhinault]

1 - Argentina. Glaciers, Patagonia, Pampas, Tierra Del Fuego, the Andes, Mendoza and the wine. And apparently Buenos Aires is cool, too.

2 - Germany. I love being in Germany. I love tootling up the Mosel Valley, the roman ruins of Trier. Hanging out in Koln and going up the cathedral. Eating bratwurst in Thuringia. Driving round the black forest with friends. The train down the Rhine Valley. And there's so much in the south and east I've not seen

3 - Iceland. Mostly volcanoes and geysers and hot springs, but also barrenness.

Brazil doesn't cut it for me because the cities seem a little crowded, and I'm not a huge fan of the whole rainforest thing. China, like most of east and south-east Asia, has never been much of a draw for me - probably unfairly. Czechia's nice enough but a bit overwhelmed by this competition. Bahamas is down at the bottom here, not even particularly interesting to me by the standards of small Caribbean islands.

[Balderdasha]

1. Brazil
2. Iceland
3. China

[S. aureus]

1. China
2. Czech
3. Germany

Frankly I'm finding this particular set somewhat uninspiring.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

1. Argentina
2. China
3. Iceland

[Greenlander]

1: Iceland - was only there 8 months ago and badly want to go back again and see the bits I missed and try and take a bit more time. You can never get enough waterfalls, glacier, general emptiness. And th northern lights.
2: Germany - especially Berlin
3: Argentina - just over Brazil. Wouldn't mind seeing a Boca - River match

[Stobart]

Argentina
Brazil
Iceland

[White No Sugar]

1. Brazil
2. Argentina
3. Iceland.

[ad hoc]

Brazil
China
Iceland

[via vicaria]

China
Iceland
Germany

[Sporting]

13 votes in so far. I'll leave voting open until this evening, in 12 or so hours.

[Sam]

Given that my Brazil boycott is still in place ...

1. Argentina
2. China
3. Iceland

[tee rex]

1. Brazil
2. Iceland
3. Argentina

With money no object I'd happily spend forever "doing" South America (I assume I have guides who are a cross between David Attenborough and Jason Bourne, keeping me well informed safely).

I've never been to any part of the continent, whereas with China and much of Europe I'd just be a total bore, muttering "wasn't like this 30 years ago, no queues then, so untouristed, blah blah".

[pebblethefish]

All very close. None of my top favourites in there, but nowhere that I wouldn't want to go.

1. Bahamas (I'm a lazy sod)
2. Brazil
3. China

Also- what evil kind of group must Lithuania have been in to get zero points???

[Sporting]

Given that my Brazil boycott is still in place ...

What boycott was this?

[slackster]

1. Germany 2. Argentina 3. China

[Levin]

Oooh.

1. Germany
2. China

first two are pretty easy. I love Germany and there is so much to see. China has thousands of years of history to see and explore.

3. Czech Republic?

[jwdd27]

1. Argentina
2. Brazil
3. Czechia

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Nul points:

Afghanistan
Bahrain
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Chad
Comoros
Congo
Dominica
Guinea
Gabon
Iraq
Guyana
Lithuania
Micronesia
Niger
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE

Interesting. If I were to choose three countries from the nuls, I'd go for (not in any order):

Gabon
Dominica
Micronesia

[Sporting]

Nul points:

Afghanistan
Bahrain
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Chad
Comoros
Congo
Dominica
Guinea
Gabon
Iraq
Guyana
Lithuania
Micronesia
Niger
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE

Interesting. If I were to choose three countries from the nuls, I'd go for (not in any order):

Gabon
Dominica
Micronesia

A losers' contest is in the offing.