Cities you'd never return to

Glenbhoy

dan1895 wrote: »

Oh dear. Spent one night there and was bored out of my mind. Everything was closed before it even got dark.

Depends what you want, but restaurants, pubs and clubs are all open to the early hours. If you're there over a weekend during the football season, you can take in a game at pretty cheap prices mostly, Lake Como is 30 mins away on a cheap regional train. During the summer, people tend to laze around in some of the many local parks and avail of the pools therein etc
Also, some fantastic open air nightclubs particularly suited to the summer months, come to think of it, I might go back some time (although, I've maybe outgrown the night clubs, or more truthfully, couldn't handle the massive shots they hand out for the price of a single).

Cienciano

Long Time Lurker wrote: »

Wouldn't go that far. I found Munich very clinical and oh so dull. Plus the Germans themselves call Frankfurt "Bankfurt' Sums it up really. Have you ever gone out in a banking city. Its either old foggies or w@nkers.

If you found Munich dull, it says more about you tbh. Never been to Frankfurt

dan1895

Glenbhoy wrote: »

Depends what you want, but restaurants, pubs and clubs are all open to the early hours. If you're there over a weekend during the football season, you can take in a game at pretty cheap prices mostly, Lake Como is 30 mins away on a cheap regional train. During the summer, people tend to laze around in some of the many local parks and avail of the pools therein etc
Also, some fantastic open air nightclubs particularly suited to the summer months, come to think of it, I might go back some time (although, I've maybe outgrown the night clubs, or more truthfully, couldn't handle the massive shots they hand out for the price of a single).

It was summer when i was there. Luckily Florence, Rome and Verona saved the trip. All great places.

Being from cork i was only waiting for someone to suggest my beautiful city and of course there was a stammering of "cork kip" probably limerick people...jealous of us...seriously Though i say Moscow...dangerous kip

8-10

Milan
Basel
Kansas City (it's not even in Kansas)
Malmo
Nottingham
Waterford
Valencia

Fred Swanson

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Jesus...went following ireland team and the locals were pricks..one fella was pulled in by police for singing on street and we had to give them money to let him go..very menacing..went to tallin in estonia as well and it was beautiful and folks were great...

Cienciano

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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My mate was there, he was robbed by the police. They actually took his shoes! He reckons the locals were sound, just keep away from the police. That was about 10 years ago

Tipperary animal lover

Backpacked through Kenya Tanzania and Zanzibar a good few years ago, these countries maybe nice booked with a safari company but not independent, the cities of Nairobi Mombasa and dar Es Salaam are right shi*e holes, you couldn't let your guard down at any time, but have to say Zanzibar was beautiful.

shamrock55

Cork,limerick,Dublin, if I had the choice I'd never go back,I'm from County Cork btw

Very good...i think its just cities you don't like..seeing as you emphasis the "county" in your location...country boys cant cope with the big ****ty...not a typo

shamrock55

Marcc wrote: »

Very good...i think its just cities you don't like..seeing as you emphasis the "county" in your location...country boys cant cope with the big ****ty...not a typo

No mate, I love city life,I lived in both London and ny for a while, the reason I said I lived in County Cork was that even though I do I hate Cork city and our paths will cross regularly even though if I never saw the place again it would be too soon

Fair enough...it has its downside thats true but i dont think id say i hate it..thats just me anyway...

nibtrix

afkasurfjunkie wrote: »

Edmonton in Canada. The most boring, drab soulless city I've been in yet.

Did you go to Winnipeg? It's Edmonton x 100 when it comes to drab and boring!!

Pink Fairy

Have to admit, being in Paris on Nov 13th doesn't exactly fill me with an overriding need to hurry back to the city

AtomicHorror

Glasgow. Did a bus tour. Highlight was a cinema which the tour guide described as "formerly the tallest cinema in Europe".

Would also add a vote for Frankfurt, about which I remember very little, aside from a public transport fiasco whereby I could not use notes to pay for a U-Bahn ticket in the machines and the one human being in the station would not give out change or sell tickets. Or speak English.

JackHeuston

Milan. Jesus, coming from an Italian town in the countryside, you really can't breathe with all the pollution around, especially in summer. People also recommend so much about having an 'aperitivo' along the Navigli, like if it's the best experience you'll ever have in your life since everyone who's *someone* in Milan does it. I don't see how eating while being stormed by mosquitoes is considered cool.

Freiburg, Germany

Louisville, Kentucky. The city (or town?) is okay and I really appreciated the architecture of some buildings, but you're going to find every southern American stereotype possible.

Frankfort, capital of Kentucky. Just nothing to see, only the Capitol Building which is probably as big as the whole town.

Lansing, capital of Michigan. Really nothing to see or do there.

Gary, Indiana. I stopped by because I was going to Chicago and I knew Michael Jackson's house was there. I didn't find his house and the atmosphere in that town is that someone's about to murder you if you ever stop your car.

Belfast. There's nothing really interesting.

First Up

AtomicHorror wrote:

Glasgow. Did a bus tour. Highlight was a cinema which the tour guide described as "formerly the tallest cinema in Europe".

Glasgow has its weak spots but its a cracking place, humming with creativity and energy.

AtomicHorror wrote:

Would also add a vote for Frankfurt, about which I remember very little, aside from a public transport fiasco whereby I could not use notes to pay for a U-Bahn ticket in the machines and the one human being in the station would not give out change or sell tickets. Or speak English.

Aw shucks. Maybe foreign travel isn't for you.

kefir32

Paris, loved it as a child but on subsequent visits in my adulthood it always felt like the drab sister compared to the cool britannia vibe of London. Although as a victim of its own success and popularity its so damn expensive now in London, think I paid 40 quid for return ticket on heathrow express this month :eek:

Mister Vain

I wouldn't go back to Lisbon. Very dull and boring with unfriendly locals. Lots of drug dealers hassling you on the streets.

I wasn't mad about Amsterdam either. The Dutch people are very friendly though.

AtomicHorror

First Up wrote: »

Glasgow has its weak spots but its a cracking place, humming with creativity and energy.

I'm sure the same could be said of most of the cities named in this thread. When you only have a short time to visit a place, it's easy to miss the hidden gems. I had a couple of days in Glasgow (most of which was dominated by a conference) and didn't find anything to encourage me to return. That doesn't mean there was nothing good there, it just means I didn't find it.

It's not an insult to you, or a contradiction of your own experience. Try to take it in the curmudgeonly spirit of this thread.

First Up wrote: »

Aw shucks. Maybe foreign travel isn't for you.

Seriously, what's the matter?

I'm sorry I insulted Glasgow. We good?

First Up

AtomicHorror wrote:

It's not an insult to you, or a contradiction of your own experience. Try to take it in the curmudgeonly spirit of this thread.

No problem, but maybe a bus tour isn't the way to get an insight into a city.

AtomicHorror wrote:

Seriously, what's the matter?

Blaming a clerk in a German train station for not speaking your language?

kefir32

kefir32 wrote: »

Paris, loved it as a child but on subsequent visits in my adulthood it always felt like the drab sister compared to the cool britannia vibe of London. :

Seriously?

Paris drab, London great?

Don't get me wrong, I love London. But I would never describe it as more attractive than Paris. I appreciate you are talking vibe more than architecture, and perhaps that's where London does pull ahead. But I certainly would not put Paris down as drab or a place I wouldn't go back to.

AtomicHorror

First Up wrote: »

No problem, but maybe a bus tour isn't the way to get an insight into a city.

Surely it is isn't, but I was travelling on business and rather than leave Glasgow with no memories but the inside of a hotel room and a conference centre, I figured I'd use the bit of free time I had to see as much of the city as I could.

I also did some shopping and had a nice coffee.

First Up wrote: »

Blaming a clerk in a German train station for not speaking your language?

I'm not blaming anyone for that, I'm relating a bad experience that had a lot of contributory factors.

They all spoke German in Berlin and Munich too and I loved those cities.

Any time you feel like getting with the spirit of the thread would be just fine.

kefir32

Deleted User wrote: »

Seriously?

Paris drab, London great?

Don't get me wrong, I love London. But I would never describe it as more attractive than Paris. I appreciate you are talking vibe more than architecture, and perhaps that's where London does pull ahead. But I certainly would not put Paris down as drab or a place I wouldn't go back to.

architecturally yeah paris has the edge over UK capital but in terms of overall experience and culinary wise London now towers over Paris. It now exceeds paris in terms of overall visitors.

tayto lover

Feck sake !! Is there anywhere enjoyable at all?
I think i'll stay in Dundalk.

Roselm

tayto lover wrote: »

Feck sake !! Is there anywhere enjoyable at all?
I think i'll stay in Dundalk.

You inspired me to create a thread where people can list all their fav. cities

The_Valeyard

tayto lover wrote: »

Feck sake !! Is there anywhere enjoyable at all?
I think i'll stay in Dundalk.

Sure with your 66million you can go anywhere now

First Up

AtomicHorror wrote:

Any time you feel like getting with the spirit of the thread would be just fine.

As in making blanket statements about places based on unrepresentative experiences and your own failings?

Fair enough.

For Forks Sake

shamrock55 wrote: »

Cork,limerick,Dublin, if I had the choice I'd never go back, I'm from County Cork btw

And the award for least surprising revelation of the day goes to ....

stevedublin

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Sure with your 66million you can go anywhere now

It was won in Waterford

OldMrBrennan83

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Rippington

London .Take away the whole image of the bobby on then beat , red post boxes ,buses , royalty etc and you discover the city is as English as Bombay .

CruelCoin

Manilla.

The sewer of the Philippines.

Dirty, seedy, beggers everywhere, nasty fleshmarket bars, etc etc.

Everywhere else in the Philippines has been brilliant, but **** manilla man.

JohnCleary

CruelCoin wrote: »

Manilla.

The sewer of the Philippines.

Dirty, seedy, beggers everywhere, nasty fleshmarket bars, etc etc.

Everywhere else in the Philippines has been brilliant, but **** manilla man.

Going to the Philippines in the next year hopefully. Heard not many good things about Manilla. But like Bangkok, feels like a place you just have to see with your own eyes. That said, Bangkok sounds like a clean place compared with Manilla.

tayto lover

Rippington wrote: »

London .Take away the whole image of the bobby on then beat , red post boxes ,buses , royalty etc and you discover the city is as English as Bombay .

I just love London.

yermanoffthetv

Brussels Belgium.I know im not alone on this one. I thouroughly hated every minute I was in this city. It was blanketed in fog the whole time I was there making it unbareably humid as the heating in every building was set to 11. Food was the worst I have ever had anywhere in the world and to top it off I found many of the locals to be rude and unhelpfull.

Cologne Germany, apart from the impressive (if rather dank) cathedral I found little else of interest there. It felt like I was walking around in the 80's, everything had a dull concrete vibe.

Phnom penh Cambodia, frightfull bleak place.Just have to look out over the city at night to know what I mean. Cambodians themselves where lovely friendly people but the only reason anyone goes there is as a stop off while heading on to Siem reap.

Canberra Australia, It looks and feels like a larger version of the Shannon Industrial estate if you got rid of the airport and replaced it with the Australian Parliament building (which is not particularly impressive either) There is absolutely no reason to visit here.

wakka12

I really didnt like Prague. It was pretty Ill admit, hard to say otherwise, but to me the buildings all looked so fake. Like so much unnecessary decoration, I hate sounding so fussy but I felt like I was on a fake movie set in disneyland the whole time. I feel bad putting down a city over the weather but I was expecting a beautiful blanket of snow when I visited just after christmas but it just pissed rain.

Scammer taxi drivers and salesmen. Unnecessarily rude locals, and I mean really ****ing rude. Theres cold/unfriendly, then theres outright rude prague locals.
The city was also eerily quiet which I found uncomfortable, a lot of streets in the city centre have NOBODY on them at nighttime, and Id say 50% of the people I met/saw in the daytime were foreign tourists.
This homophobic asshole in one of the clubs also gave me and boyfriend some trouble and it just really upset me seeing as it has never happened me in dublin or any other european city before, I don't even know if he was czech but sadly it put quite a big downer on my memories of the city overall as it occurred on our last night there.
I visited Edinburgh, Paris, Prague, Vienna and Budapest on my trip and Prague was by far my least favourite. Enjoyed the other 4 cities a lot actually

RDM_83 again

Rippington wrote: »

London .Take away the whole image of the bobby on then beat , red post boxes ,buses , royalty etc and you discover the city is as English as Bombay .

Is that a bad thing

RDM_83 again

Rippington wrote: »

London .Take away the whole image of the bobby on then beat , red post boxes ,buses , royalty etc and you discover the city is as English as Bombay .

Is that a bad thing or a good thing

CruelCoin

JohnCleary wrote: »

Going to the Philippines in the next year hopefully. Heard not many good things about Manilla. But like Bangkok, feels like a place you just have to see with your own eyes. That said, Bangkok sounds like a clean place compared with Manilla.

I've never seen such a collection of human misery and filth in one place before.

The city planners and mayor should be lined up and executed. It's truly appaling.

Other than that, i've been to cebu island and bohol island, both have been great. Rent a moped and cruise bohol, stunning place.

Adorable

I quite like most of the cities I've been to, and if I ever had the chance to go again for a visit, I probably would. But if I had to pick, two places I wasn't overly fond of would probably be Nigeria (I know it's not a city) and Galway.

I was pretty young when I lived in Nigeria (I think that's where I lived) and only stayed for a few months. As someone who's biracial, I got a lot of stares and rude remarks. Children refused to play with me and even the teachers would hit me for absolutely no reason at all and would call me things like "tomato" and "albino" instead of my real name.

Same thing for Galway, really. I lived there for a good few years as I child and I don't think a day went by without people staring at me with shocked and/or disgusted faces. Grown men and women would literally gawk at me with their mouths wide open. The N word was passed around quite a bit and a lot of people would come up to my mum and ask her if she adopted me (!?). There were also the odd few people who would go as far as telling her that what she did "was not right".

They're not exactly at the top of my "To Go" list but maybe things have changed now, who knows. :P

uck51js9zml2yt

The tourists spot for many...Estoril. Nothing there but apartments and a hotel and a very small beach.(I'm a regular visitor to the Lisbon area)
Beira in Mozambique, the only 5 star hotel ( that I know of) to never open and become home to the masses.

First Up

Tripp Angry Self-destruction wrote:

The tourists spot for many...Estoril. Nothing there but apartments and a hotel and a very small beach.(I'm a regular visitor to the Lisbon area) Beira in Mozambique, the only 5 star hotel ( that I know of) to never open and become home to the masses.

A bit harsh on Estoril. Its a suburb of Lisbon and I can think of worse suburbs.

cowboyBuilder

Las Vegas - absolute kip

Only went there as part of a southwest USA national park tour.

Tacky and offensive

cowboyBuilder

Las Vegas - absolute kip

Only went there as part of a southwest USA national park tour.

Tacky and offensive

Stephen15

Bari in italy. Not an awful lot in it seems to be just a seafront and an old town which is not as pretty as other old towns in italyour. I wouldn't say it's an absolute dive just a bit boring. The restaurants there don't seem to as good as other places in Italy.

Chiparus

Delhi, scamming tourists is an art form there.

wakka12

RDM_83 again wrote: »

Is that a bad thing or a good thing

Some people think a lot of diversity is a positive thing. I think London is an example of a city with too much diversity and has started to lose any english identity as a result. Some diversity is good. The majority of a cities population being a first or second generation immigrant is not a good thing in my opinion/

wakka12

Adorable wrote: »

I quite like most of the cities I've been to, and if I ever had the chance to go again for a visit, I probably would. But if I had to pick, two places I wasn't overly fond of would probably be Nigeria (I know it's not a city) and Galway.

I was pretty young when I lived in Nigeria (I think that's where I lived) and only stayed for a few months. As someone who's biracial, I got a lot of stares and rude remarks. Children refused to play with me and even the teachers would hit me for absolutely no reason at all and would call me things like "tomato" and "albino" instead of my real name.

Same thing for Galway, really. I lived there for a good few years as I child and I don't think a day went by without people staring at me with shocked and/or disgusted faces. Grown men and women would literally gawk at me with their mouths wide open. The N word was passed around quite a bit and a lot of people would come up to my mum and ask her if she adopted me (!?). There were also the odd few people who would go as far as telling her that what she did "was not right".

They're not exactly at the top of my "To Go" list but maybe things have changed now, who knows. :P

Thats horrible! but of course they have changed, even in galway :pac: