Cities you'd never return to

suicide_circus

PowerToWait wrote: »

I'm away to Barcelona on Sunday morning.

If I'd not been before and had a blast I'd be v. apprehensive reading the posts on here.

I'll take the standard preventative measures I take in other large cities and I'll have a ball.

I love Barcelona but I have to say you need to take MORE precautions than you would in your average european city, the pick pockets are everywhere 24/7

sexyfirepants

Athens is one that I definitely won't be going back to. Potholes and rubbish everywhere, majority of restaurants trying to apply hidden charges in the plaka area and the smell

MillField

JohnCleary wrote: »

Have you actually been there? I have and looking forward to going back on another tour

Have you really? I'd like to see it. Looks really interesting.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

AndyBoBandy

Madam wrote: »

Perhaps only dreary people see other cities this way? Me? I have yet to go to a city and not find something to like about it.

No, I'd be similar to yourself, I can usually always find something to like about a city, but Glasgow is just a shíthole, I'm sorry to have to say it, but it's the only city, of hundreds I've visited, that I absolutely despise! at least in Doha my hotel had a beach, and it was warm!!

karma_

Baltimore... was not impressed at all.

GDK_11

Seen some strange criticisms (in my opinion). I may be biased about London as that's where I lived most of my life but I absolutely love it, always something to do and so much history. Munich is also a great city, very spread out but both times we had great fun.

Cities I was not impressed with
Adelaide
LA
Bali

Also nothing wrong with Dublin, ignore the junkies, they are in every city in the world to some extent.

podgemonster

GDK_11 wrote: »

Seen some strange criticisms (in my opinion). I may be biased about London as that's where I lived most of my life but I absolutely love it, always something to do and so much history. Munich is also a great city, very spread out but both times we had great fun.

Cities I was not impressed with
Adelaide
LA
Bali

Also nothing wrong with Dublin, ignore the junkies, they are in every city in the world to some extent.

Bali is an island.

GDK_11

podgemonster wrote: »

Bali is an island.

Denpasar then.

Madam

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

No, I'd be similar to yourself, I can usually always find something to like about a city, but Glasgow is just a shíthole, I'm sorry to have to say it, but it's the only city, of hundreds I've visited, that I absolutely despise! at least in Doha my hotel had a beach, and it was warm!!

Perhaps I can show you around the best parts of Glasgow - no city in my opinion is beyond finding something interesting about it. Glasgow being a city of Empire has a lot going for it (shopping the best outside of London, great bars and nightclubs, the friendliest people on these here Islands, architecture to my mind better than Dublin or any city in Ireland). Weather can be a bit dreary though.

Rippington

Hello Boards .First post :-)

Stavro Mueller wrote: »

Barcelona - I can't quite put my finger on why I disliked the place but I did.

Was there for a few years ago on a day trip , more like two hrs and I didn't see enough of the city to make an overall impression but I do remember the grumpy old taxi driver who most obviously wasn't very tourist friendly and last week I read that the biggest grump of Barcelonan's now is that there are to many to tourists .

mg1982

Madam wrote: »

Perhaps I can show you around the best parts of Glasgow - no city in my opinion is beyond finding something interesting about it. Glasgow being a city of Empire has a lot going for it (shopping the best outside of London, great bars and nightclubs, the friendliest people on these here Islands, architecture to my mind better than Dublin or any city in Ireland). Weather can be a bit dreary though.

The architecture in Irish cities and towns is piss poor compared to in Britain and Europe. Never been to Glasgow so cant comment on it but my sis used to live in Edinburgh and thought it was a beautiful city.

Freddiestar

JohnCleary wrote: »

Ah FFS, i've Budapest booked for October. Anyone i've spoken to (irl) has said it's a brilliant place.

What's the problem with it?

The rudest people you'll ever come across. Once in a restaurant I asked the waitress for an ashtray. When she came back an eternity later she threw it like a Frisbee across our table, one example of many in a long weekend

bodhrandude

scdublin wrote: »

I'm sure I've already posted this but, Egypt. Dirty, disappointing (gorgeous sites ruined by fast food places built far too close to them) and really pushy rude people. My little sister was about 7 at the time and they were even harassing her...she was terrified.

Egypt is a country dude. :pac:

Yamanoto

I found Las Vegas a quite sorry place overall.

There's admittedly hell of an initial wow factor - the surreal architecture, raucous atmosphere on the strip and the feeling of finding yourself in an adult Disneyland of sorts. But there's also a palpable undercurrent of desperation, transience, addiction and that all pervasive corporate grubbiness that stalks your wallet 24/7.

Couldn't get outta there quick enough tbh.

Cienciano

Some fairly naive people on here if they think street crime is the same in Dublin as it is in Barcelona!

Las Vegas. The most overrated place, an artificial and surprisingly boring place that drains your wallet more than anywhere else.

Apart from spending a fortune gambling (which you cannot escape except maybe for when you're taking a sh*t), you don't really have much options for things to do but see Celine Dion or Blue Man Group.

You can't spend any time outdoors unless you want to fry to death, so going for a meandering walk to 'get lost' is not really an option.

There seems to be a groupthink/herd mentality where to criticise Vegas makes you a 'buzzkill' but that is a lazy accusation. I love to get drunk as much as anyone, but I like to have the option of doing outdoor activities, exploring cities, finding off the beaten track restaurants, seeing high quality sport. You can't do any of those things in Vegas save for getting hammered (which you can do sitting in your living room anyway).

Cienciano

Deleted User wrote: »

Las Vegas. The most overrated place, an artificial and surprisingly boring place that drains your wallet more than anywhere else.

Apart from spending a fortune gambling (which you cannot escape except maybe for when you're taking a sh*t), you don't really have much options for things to do but see Celine Dion or Blue Man Group.

You can't spend any time outdoors unless you want to fry to death, so going for a meandering walk to 'get lost' is not really an option.

There seems to be a groupthink/herd mentality where to criticise Vegas makes you a 'buzzkill' but that is a lazy accusation. I love to get drunk as much as anyone, but I like to have the option of doing outdoor activities, exploring cities, finding off the beaten track restaurants, seeing high quality sport. You can't do any of those things in Vegas save for getting hammered (which you can do sitting in your living room anyway).

I think its worth a visit. But plenty of people hate it, I'm not sure if I liked it, but I was impressed by it.
I heard of people going over on stag nights, personally I couldn't think of many worse stag destinations. Riyadh maybe

Schadenfreudia

Cairo...toxic sludge pool, now even worse than it was before.

Yamanoto

Yamanoto wrote: »

I found Las Vegas a quite sorry place overall.

There's admittedly hell of an initial wow factor - the surreal architecture, raucous atmosphere on the strip and the feeling of finding yourself in an adult Disneyland of sorts. But there's also a palpable undercurrent of desperation, transience, addiction and that all pervasive corporate grubbiness that stalks your wallet 24/7.

Couldn't get outta there quick enough tbh.

Damn just realised you'd posted this about 3 posts before mine. You put it a lot more articulately than I did, it would have been easier for me to just 'Thanks' your post :pac:

lemmno

LA.....half of it is unsafe, the other half obnoxious.

Katgurl

Kuala Lumpur: sexist, airless, racist, sterile, dull. Yuck. And then of course the borderline prostitutes everywhere.

ETA - also that weird smelly fruit is everywhere, I think it's called durian fruit

elprincipito

Long Beach and Oakland California(which is funny coz I was born and brought up there until I was 7)

elprincipito

Long Beach and Oakland California(which is funny coz I was born and brought up there until I was 7)

I don't get the hate for Vegas, amazing place.

ArnoldJRimmer

Deleted User wrote: »

Las Vegas. The most overrated place, an artificial and surprisingly boring place that drains your wallet more than anywhere else.

Apart from spending a fortune gambling (which you cannot escape except maybe for when you're taking a sh*t), you don't really have much options for things to do but see Celine Dion or Blue Man Group.

You can't spend any time outdoors unless you want to fry to death, so going for a meandering walk to 'get lost' is not really an option.

There seems to be a groupthink/herd mentality where to criticise Vegas makes you a 'buzzkill' but that is a lazy accusation. I love to get drunk as much as anyone, but I like to have the option of doing outdoor activities, exploring cities, finding off the beaten track restaurants, seeing high quality sport. You can't do any of those things in Vegas save for getting hammered (which you can do sitting in your living room anyway).

I know people who spend a whole week or two in Vegas every single year and I don't understand it. Its not for the gambling that they are going, but the city. Its definitely worth seeing and experiencing, and its a good spot for a stag/ hen. But the expense, noise, smoke and overwhelming tackiness of the place gets old very quick. If you want to go and have a party on holidays, give me New Orleans any day

elprincipito

It has its place, I don't get making the thousands of miles journey every year to just do Vegas though. I've been 3 times, always like to go but wouldn't go to America only for a trip to Vegas, but the city has this effect on you, its just surreal.

donegal_man

Been to Vegas and enjoyed my time there but a couple of days were enough for me and it's definitely a city I have no desire to go back to.

Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker

Cienciano wrote: »

I think its worth a visit. But plenty of people hate it, I'm not sure if I liked it, but I was impressed by it.
I heard of people going over on stag nights, personally I couldn't think of many worse stag destinations. Riyadh maybe

I love Vegas. One of my favourite spots for a break! There's a knack to doing it though, and it's definitely not for everyone. I go with the wife and we spend the first couple of days tolerating timeshare presentations, then the rest of the week hoovering up all the freebies we were given for going to them. Shows, grub, concerts, tours - it's all there to be had for the princely sum of turning your brain off while a salesman waffles for an hour

Fozzie Bear

+1 for Vegas. We went there just to say we had as we were on hols along the west coast. Its grand but unless you are a gambler or like picking up hookers there isn't a whole lot more to do. We went for a helicopter ride in the Grand Canyon and walked around some of the hotels and seen a show. Thats about it, wouldn't go back. The heat is unbareable, its expensive and tacky.

JohnCleary wrote: »

Ah FFS, i've Budapest booked for October. Anyone i've spoken to (irl) has said it's a brilliant place.

What's the problem with it?

Nothing much from any other large city that I'm aware of. We were there in 2007 and loved it. Actually watched the Ireland England rugby game in Croker there. Only thing we could fault with it was the Graffiti. Its everywhere and ruins many streets and buildings. We walked around late at night and during the day without any hassle. Anywhere we went or ate was fine too with lovely people. My in laws go there every 2 years for dental work/check ups and love the place so much they bought an apartment over there.

fullstop wrote: »

It's fine. One piece of advice though, do not get into a random taxi either at the airport or elsewhere or you'll get massively ripped off. Avoid all taxis if you can, they all seem to drive like they have a death wish. Contact wherever you're staying and ask them to arrange one from the airport if you have to get one.

If you use a reguilar taxi you will be fine. There is a Kiosk at the airport with English speaking employees. We had no hassle in Budapest in that regard or booking one to the airport. Rang the same taxi crowd when going home, told them where we where staying and our taxi arrived no hassles.

Mind you we got rode in Prague at the train station. First time there, early morning, very tired, just off an overnight train from Krakow and yer man seen us coming. All the other taxi cabs where parked on a rank and this chancer walked up to us before we got to them. He was parked just before them, had a taxi sign on roof and shoved a card in our hand with his "rates".

Anyway long story short we got charged about 3 times what we should have and he gave us our change in about 4 different currencies. Didn't cop it until we checked later in the day after some sleep. Live n learn....

Straight Talker

I wouldn't blame this man if Dublin is a city he wouldn't want to go back to.

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/opinion-dublin-random-violence-gardai-2231721-Jul2015/

I was in Liverpool last week and the difference between there and Dublin was like night and day.Sure Liverpool has it's bad element as well but there isn't any no go areas in the city centre like you have in Dublin with O'Connell Street and scumbags and thugs do not hold it's busiest streets to ransom.Although i like Dublin especially around St Stephens Green and the georgian area it's just that the O'Connell Street area is a place i prefer to avoid.

syklops

Thundering_Sky wrote: »

Probably Prague, I just didn't like it at all seemed so dark and dingy. The freezing weather and snow didn't help either; for me it's a place I've seen once and that's enough.

You really need to go there in Summer.

Dublin, CA. If I never see that place again I'll be happy. Despite being named after Dublin, theres about 5 pubs in the place, nearly all plastic paddy type places. All thats there are strip malls and bargain outlet stores selling mostly tat.

dfx-

Southampton - I was there for a week in the college in the height of Summer and 30 degrees...there was nothing to do. Even the hotels were together in a business campus/shopping centre complex style set up

Monaco - very dull place. Lots of tower blocks and no-one around.

lertsnim

Paris is a city I genuinely hated. It was dirty and the people were ignorant. People complain about the prices of things in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. That has nothing on some of the places in Paris.

BMJD

dfx- wrote: »

Southampton - I was there for a week in the college in the height of Summer and 30 degrees...there was nothing to do. Even the hotels were together in a business campus/shopping centre complex style set up

I thought Southampton was quite pleasant tbh, it's a bit boring but it's a lot cleaner and nicer than some English cities

Detroit is one place I'd rather not go back to, although I have some close friends living there so I probably will :pac:

Schadenfreudia

Fozzie Bear wrote: »

[Budapest]
We were there in 2007 and loved it. Only thing we could fault with it was the Graffiti. Its everywhere and ruins many streets and buildings. We walked around late at night and during the day without any hassle. Anywhere we went or ate was fine too with lovely people.

Was there the same year! - it was during the Celtic Tiger property boom (just before the crash landing) and it was often assumed, when it was known we were Irish, that we were over scouting for property!

The graffiti was everywhere and awful; otherwise it was safe and I liked it and the locals.

Wonder if they've cleaned it up a bit since?

mg1982

I see Paris been mentioned here a lot. Been to Paris many times and never remember it being dirty, sure the parisians arent the most friendly bunch and it is pricey in the tourist areas. But its one of the great cities of the world and has stunning architecture and history.

Mesrine65

Doha, Qatar a city with a lot of modern, new development going on...just didn't do it for me.

The city has been given new life, but hasn't yet acquired a soul IMHO

JacquesSon

Lurgan

I'm not sure if it's a city but they seem to make one a year up there to keep people happy.

Divided town with health hazards for people with the wrong accent in the wrong bar.

Southerners should stay Courthouse side of town.

dreamers75

Warsaw its like the Cork of Poland.

Gerinspain

Acapulco...smelly and not very glamorous. We were travelling through Mexico and I remembered seeing Acapulco in the movies and it was where the glitterati went. I really wanted to see the cliff divers but that was a big disappointment...unless you paid through the nose you couldn't get close enough to see them.

suicide_circus

dreamers75 wrote: »

Warsaw its like the Cork of Poland.

Shìte?

Schadenfreudia

dreamers75 wrote: »

Warsaw its like the Cork of Poland.

Is that good or bad IYHO?

Naples - I was there during its ten year (or whatever) Mafia bin strike; amazing piles of rubbish, surreal when you think it was in a G7 country!

It was like taking a trip in the local rubbish dump - before we closed them all down.

Cody montana

Straight Talker wrote: »

I wouldn't blame this man if Dublin is a city he wouldn't want to go back to.

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/opinion-dublin-random-violence-gardai-2231721-Jul2015/

I was in Liverpool last week and the difference between there and Dublin was like night and day.Sure Liverpool has it's bad element as well but there isn't any no go areas in the city centre like you have in Dublin with O'Connell Street and scumbags and thugs do not hold it's busiest streets to ransom.Although i like Dublin especially around St Stephens Green and the georgian area it's just that the O'Connell Street area is a place i prefer to avoid.

How was the bus trip?

madaboutdogs1x

Pigalle in Paris! Haha mind you I was about ten when I went there, was such a tacky place Probly still is too ..

dd972

Heerlen in the Netherlands, a big Slough full of drug tourists, the Dutch hate it as well.

JacquesSon

dd972 wrote: »

Heerlen in the Netherlands, a big Slough full of drug tourists, the Dutch hate it as well.

Tell me more.

Slough is underrated. A Dutch Slough might just be the new adventurous Blackpool.

dan1895

It's not my favourite place but anyone saying Paris probably hasn't traveled much further than Paris.

JacquesSon

dan1895 wrote: »

It's not my favourite place but anyone saying Paris probably hasn't traveled much further than Paris.

True words.

I won't ask you for a favourite, but what's your medium recommended City?

dan1895

JacquesSon wrote: »

True words.

I won't ask you for a favourite, but what's your medium recommended City?

Hard to answer. I've been to some fantastic places but both Rome and Madrid are places I've been to numerous times that I like a lot but wouldn't be in my top 5 places.

Cody montana

dan1895 wrote: »

It's not my favourite place but anyone saying Paris probably hasn't traveled much further than Paris.

I wouldn't say it's crap but I wouldn't return in a hurry.