have i or did i?

Octoberman1. Never in my life have I visited such a beautiful country.

2. Never in my life did I visit such a beautiful country.

which one is correct? and please could someone tell me, why (!) because this is one of my still remaining weaknesses.

1. You are now in a place that you find beautiful.

Octoberman
1. Never in my life have I visited such a beautiful country.

2. Never in my life did I visit such a beautiful country.

which one is correct? and please could someone tell me, why (!) because this is one of my still remaining weaknesses.

Although the 2^nd sentence is considered informal and sounds odd as Phil

I'm agree with Philip and would use either Present or Past Perfect.

Well, in the sentence

"I have never visited such a beautiful country before..."

have visited is used to describe your experience, so I think the first sentence is correct.

How could you explain the usage of the past perfect??? It looks really odd, as it goes to describe an action prior to some action in the past. Can you, clarify, please?

Doris Mayit goes to describe an action prior to some action in the past. Can you, clarify, please?

"I really enjoyed my trip to London. Never before had I visited such a beautiful city!"

Can you see the clue now?

the action in the past - the trip to London
the action prior to that - the experience of visiting other cities