Which capitals should I steer clear of?

September 6, 2007 7:47 AM

Which Capitals Cities don't have McDonalds?

So last year I was in Ulan Batur, the capital of Mongolia, and I was shocked to find there was no McDonalds. (I know, I mean, what was I supposed to eat?)

Anyway I was wondering how rare this phenomena of a capital city without a McDonalds was. I thought perhaps it might be extremely rare (just the capitals of Chad and Nepal perhaps), but this year I was in Yerevan in Armenia, and no golden arches there either. So perhaps it is less extraordinary than I thought.

Anyone?

posted by greytape to Travel & Transportation (22 answers total)

This wikipedia page listing countries with/without franchises is a good start. It doesn't go as deep as you'd like (just does country level), but it's something.
posted by inigo2 at 7:51 AM on September 6, 2007

Well, I personally think of those places as gastronomically unspoilt but whatever. There is no McDonald's in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Here's a description of the first time this Kyrgiz had a McBurger in Prague: My first time ever to McDonald's. It is cool, but will never be as cool as the Uzbek cousine.
posted by lucia__is__dada at 7:58 AM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The capitals of these countries:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Gabon, Gambia, the Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, the Holy See, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, the Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

according to ask yahoo in 2006
posted by bunglin jones at 7:58 AM on September 6, 2007

NOTE: I've given you a list of places without McDonalds, certainly NOT a list of places to steer clear of
posted by bunglin jones at 8:00 AM on September 6, 2007 [2 favorites]

That Ask Yahoo list may be less than perfectly accurate.
posted by box at 8:03 AM on September 6, 2007

Oops--I may have spoken too soon. That Mickey D's is in Bangkok, not Hanoi.
posted by box at 8:04 AM on September 6, 2007

There is no McDonald's in Montpelier, VT, making it the only US state capital without a franchise.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:04 AM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Alright then, there is no McD's in Iqaluit, making it the only Canadian provincial/territorial capital without access to a filet-o-fish.
posted by doublesix at 8:10 AM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Accra, Ghana, as of summer 2003.
posted by mdonley at 8:10 AM on September 6, 2007

The list above doesn't include Cuba, but I think it's extremely unlikely that Havana has a McDonalds.

Lucky Havana.
posted by taz at 8:15 AM on September 6, 2007

Ghana definitely doesn't go by "the Ghana" as the Ask Yahoo thing calls it. But mdonley is right: as of last month, there was still no McDonald's in Accra. Trust me, I looked. (I'm normally not even a McD's fan, but two weeks of eating chicken and rice at hotels makes it sound really good.)

There's also no Friendly's in Ghana, but there is a "Friendly" Internet cafe with an extraordinarily similar logo.
posted by fogster at 8:27 AM on September 6, 2007

There are no Maccas in Nuku'alofa, Tonga.
posted by barnacles at 8:31 AM on September 6, 2007

Mrs. Muhonnin here--There weren't any in Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Rangoon, Burma) when I was there a few years ago.
posted by muhonnin at 8:32 AM on September 6, 2007

Jamaica is surprising, given the amount of tourists it attracts.
posted by afx237vi at 8:49 AM on September 6, 2007

Yerevan, Armenia doesn't.
posted by k8t at 9:43 AM on September 6, 2007

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan doesn't either.
posted by k8t at 9:43 AM on September 6, 2007

Havana definitely doesn't have one.
posted by number9dream at 9:52 AM on September 6, 2007

There IS a Burger King, Subway and Pizza Hut in Baghdad - if the Green Zone and associated FOBs count as Baghdad - and probably a couple of other chains on other bases, but I don't think there's a McDs.
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 10:29 AM on September 6, 2007

Alright then, there is no McD's in Iqaluit, making it the only Canadian provincial/territorial capital without access to a filet-o-fish.

I once saw a pile of Big Macs for sale in the fridge at the Newviq'vi grocery store in Kuujjuaq, QC, flown in from Montreal. That was kind of weird.
posted by KathyK at 10:45 AM on September 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I have heard anecdotally that Montpelier, VT is the only US state capital without a McDonald's - although there is one in nearby Barre, VT.
posted by Andy's Gross Wart at 1:09 PM on September 6, 2007

The most important thing to remember is " Countries with McDonalds do not go to war with each other" (Thomas Friedman on globalization). There are a few exceptions--Serbia was bombed . Regardless, the proliferation of this particular franchise seems a small price to pay for world peace--even at 1200 calories per meal--but, hey, almost no trans fats.
posted by rmhsinc at 2:28 PM on September 6, 2007

There must be at least five in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. As to Sudan, there's no problem with the Sudanese government, but McDonald's corporate isn't interested. Or at least wasn't a few years ago.
posted by tesseract420 at 3:10 PM on September 7, 2007