Most boring places you've visited

Hibernicis

Ireland: most of the counties starting with the letter L; Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Louth. All dull as ditchwater.

England: almost all medium size cities are boring as hell. Twee little bits of preserved medieval buildings and mainly drab post war architecture. No soul or spirit. Awful pubs with one armed bandits that play accursed jingles and talk at you repetitively.

US: it has to be Tampa. Runner-up has to be any city in Texas other than Austin.

Far East: Singapore. Sterile with a hint of big brother menace.

Australia: Canberra by a mile. The Aussies couldn’t decide whether Sydney or Melbourne should be the national capital so they picked a greenfield site and built a new city. In its hundred years of existence it has failed abysmally to develop any character or charm. They should have left the green field alone, it was probably a lot more interesting.

New Zealand: Dunedin. Went into recession about 1915 and hasn’t emerged since. Dismal kip.

The Universe: it has to be Hull, more properly known as Kingston upon Hull. Absolutely definitely the most boring place ever. Most boardsies will never have been there and for very good reason. Has the distinction of being the most badly bombed city in UK during WW2 and it has never recovered. A soulless, depressed and repressed dump with absolutely nothing going for it.

alchemist33

feargantae wrote: »

Weed.

That's about all there is to get

Amsterdam has the best museum I've ever been to, the Rijksmuseum. Also a very pretty city

Hibernicis

alchemist33 wrote: »

Amsterdam has the best museum I've ever been to

Not this one ?

pauliebdub

Dusseldorf and Frankfurt were both very dull cities that I wouldn't return to. In Frankfurts case the nearby city of Mainz was much nicer.

Thelonious Monk

As beautiful as France is, it's so unbelievably dead at night outside of the big cities. Always found it funny how you cross the border into Spain and it's the complete opposite.

josip

How have so many people spent time in Holyhead?
Did ye all take a boat trip over to see it for the day(s) ?
I've only ever passed through, and then along the road to and from the terminal.
Usually driving considerably faster on the way back.

Lemon Davis lll

Another vote for Frankfurt.

I spent over ten years travelling Australasia, US & Europe with work and only Douglas in the Isle of Man and Batam in Indonesia came close to it.

Larbre34

josip wrote: »

How have so many people spent time in Holyhead?
Did ye all take a boat trip over to see it for the day(s) ?
I've only ever passed through, and then along the road to and from the terminal.
Usually driving considerably faster on the way back.

Yes.

In the 80s it was something we did in the summer.

Load up the cousins and meet at the morning Sealink boat in Dun Laoghaire. Get the breakfast and catch some rays on deck on the crossing over. Spend 4 or 5 hours in Holyhead to get lunch and the Mammies would hit Woolworths and Boots for the exotica not to be found in the Dublin of the time.

On the way back, the Dads would raid the duty free and all the kids would be laden down with slabs of Fosters and whatever toys we had selected in Holyhead.

Simpler times.

IrishLad90

OP the cities in your first post suggest you were on n a tour to discover the routes of Techno..
I have been told by Germans that Hannover not Berlin is the birthplace of the movement and glorified in the likes of Amsterdam and Prague..
A trip i had planned to do last summer before COVID disrupted life as we knew it

Brian?

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Malmö.

Holyhead wasn’t great either. Thankfully, wasn’t stuck there for too long.

I had to spend 6 hours in Holyhead once. Ended up parking the car in the ferry port and falling asleep. Hole of a place.

The US: Albuquerque

Europe: Brussels

Fiery mutant

Some of the places mentioned here are my favourite places ever. Bratislava I have been to loads, lovely city and If you make the effort with the language the people are great.

Brussels was a huge surprise for me, walked it for days on end and loved it to bits. Will definitely return.

Vienna, again walked for days on end and loved every step. The history and museums, architecture are phenomenal, friendly people who love to talk, and lovely restaurants made it so memorable for me.

forumdedum

Has anyone used the term 'dive' to describe a place on this thread yet?

Melanchthon

Suprised so many people mentioning Bratislava. The place has decent and cheap Nightlife.

Venice is odd, it's completely dead at night which is cool in its own way but there is actually a bit of nightlife in one of the squares near the university (I think).

McGinniesta

Warsaw is a horrible city.

I went to an Ireland match there and was very badly disappointed.

RandomViewer

MyLove4Satan wrote: »

Galway (the city). Not only the most over rated tourist destination in the world, but a place you can see and do everything there is to do there in about 15 to 25 mins.

IT IS CRAP. To the point whereby if someone tells me 'Galway is amazing' I assume that they have either never been anywhere else, or think that the totality of human experience revolves around a few pubs and not much else.

Galway is actually a national embarrassment and no one wants to admit it. Like a family member we all know is a loser but service their self-delusions out of kindness.

Went to Galway for a few day's in 2019, the crusties hanging about was off putting but it's nowhere near as boring as any of the Midland towns

Mad_maxx

RandomViewer wrote: »

Went to Galway for a few day's in 2019, the crusties hanging about was off putting but it's nowhere near as boring as any of the Midland towns

Nobody rates midland towns ,everyone gushes over Galway

josip

McGinniesta wrote: »

Warsaw is a horrible city.

I went to an Ireland match there and was very badly disappointed.

Yes, the only city we left early when Interrailing back in the 90s.

EmmetSpiceland

Mad_maxx wrote: »

everyone gushes over Galway

Too many liberals?

McGinniesta

josip wrote: »

Yes, the only city we left early when Interrailing back in the 90s.

It's a horrible place. To make matters worse I couldn't get a flight home from Warsaw and had to drive to Lodz.

That's worse.

If there was a ever a city caught in a time warp then it is Lodz.

McGinniesta

Glasgow is dreadful.

It's remarkably dreary.

Anybody been to FIJI?
Time seems to stand still

Brian?

josip wrote: »

How have so many people spent time in Holyhead?
Did ye all take a boat trip over to see it for the day(s) ?
I've only ever passed through, and then along the road to and from the terminal.
Usually driving considerably faster on the way back.

I was driving back from Glastonbury, booked a late ferry to be sure I'd make it after 5 days absolutely caning it. Made it very very early.

daheff

School tour to poulaphuca power station. Absolutely not what 3rd class boys have any interest in.

Hamachi

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Too many liberals?

Give it a rest FFS.

Back on track. Galway is great fun for a night out.

I’m from the Whest, but would never move back. It just rains too much for my liking.

Lola40

Bratislava was horrendous. The food and the people were as boring as the place itself. You couldn’t find any sort of atmosphere for love or money.

Side note: have to agree with people who said New Zealand as a country. I lived there for 6 months and found it like a crapper version of Ireland.

Gavlor

Great thread!

Rotterdam in the winter is the answer. Misery.

Leeds on a Sunday evening is up there too.

Church on Tuesday

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Nobody rates midland towns ,everyone gushes over Galway

It's a vastly overrated place.

I lived there for a few years and really there isn't much to do outside of drinking in old man pubs.

If you're a tourist visiting for the first time you will have everything done in about 2-3 hours. It's the cinemas or pub/restaurant/bowling after that but any half decent town has that. The theater is an option I guess.

Best to try visit when a festival is on.

Look, it's a grand enough looking small city and it has a certain charm but it's expensive and only getting worse and basically it rains all the time.

pauliebdub

pauliebdub wrote: »

Dusseldorf and Frankfurt were both very dull cities that I wouldn't return to. In Frankfurts case the nearby city of Mainz was much nicer.

Went to Düsseldorf on a stag a few years back, thought it was great fun with loads of bars, that said I’m not sure it would be great if it wasn’t a drinking trip.

It was a little bit on the rough side as well, a bit edgy I guess you could say

As a few others mentioned Adelaide is incredibly boring. It’s actually a lovely city, very clean, nice parks, lovely cricket ground but it’s just a bit soulless.

Beechwoodspark

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Bratislava is a kip alright, richman sandwiches, a chicken fillet roll is better

Yeah. Was on a stag few years ago there. The local tour guide kept praising this rich man sandwich “you MUST try this wow”. We were expecting great things with all the talk of it

They go on about it as if it some great gourmet food you are lucky to have a chance to experience

It’s basically a Chicken fillet roll like you get in spar but with loads of Mayo and shredded garlick cabbage

My one was drowning in an awful dill sauce

Muck. Never again.

EmmetSpiceland

Hamachi wrote: »

Give it a rest FFS.

Back on track. Galway is great fun for a night out.

I’m from the Whest, but would never move back. It just rains too much for my liking.

Whoa, cool the jets there, amigo.

I don’t mind Galway, was just repeating something that user had said previously about the “place”.

Been there for a couple of stags, always had fun. I mean, would be great if more of the “crusties” took a wash more regularly but that’s only a minor detail.

Fr Tod Umptious

tommybrees wrote: »

Anybody been to FIJI?
Time seems to stand still

I really don't think cities or countries in "the developing world" should be included in this.

I've been to Suva the capital of Fiji.
It's dead at night, but equally The Lonely Planet advises people not to walk the streets at night.
And in reality there is little to do at night that would be comparable to a "first world" city.

I was in Port Morsbey, Papua New Guinea for a week.
I just shuttled between hotel and work.
The advise was not to go out of the hotel grounds for safety reasons, but at the same time there was nothing in the city that would be of any attraction to a western visitor.

Same with India, amazing country in many aspects, but don't expect European city life day or night.

Parachutes

Thought Prague was very rough and overpriced. Wouldn’t go back again way better European cities to go and see.

lintdrummer

Don't get the hate for Vienna many here have expressed. I was there years ago in July for a few days and we had a great time. There was a park near our hotel and for 3 months solid it was used as a free open air festival of sorts. Loads of pop up bars and food stalls from all over the world and at the end an open air cinema showing various movies and concerts every night. Had a blast.

Toronto is up there as most boring place I've been. Was only transiting through but had a night to kill there both ways and it was terribly dull. Seemed to be nobody on the streets and the only place we found a decent bar was in a shopping centre.

Hartford Connecticut takes the biscuit though. The city centre is just a business district for the insurance industry and I literally couldn't even find a café to get breakfast until I discovered one on Tripadvisor that was essentially a cafeteria in an office building. West Hartford was decent for food and drinks in the evening but it's a good spin in an Uber. The only interesting thing I found to do was the museum under the city hall. That had an oddball collection of some interesting stuff and killed an hour or so.

josip

Lola40 wrote: »

Bratislava was horrendous. The food and the people were as boring as the place itself. You couldn’t find any sort of atmosphere for love or money.

Side note: have to agree with people who said New Zealand as a country. I lived there for 6 months and found it like a crapper version of Ireland.

Spent 3 months travelling around from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
We found the South Island was strongly influenced by Scottish Presbyterian settlers, not known for their mad social life.
The North Island has more influence from the Islanders, but that brings an edginess in certain places, especially if there’s alcohol around.

The places where we had friends really helped to liven up somewhere that would otherwise be very boring.
Eg. Hamilton on a Wednesday night you wouldn’t expect much from, but if you knew which pub had the stripper from Auckland in that night playing strip pool for the evening, you’d have a fairly good laugh. Better than watching some Australian Rugby League on the pub TV anyway.
Also places where we stayed in hostels we had a more social time, both in the hostel itself and from recommendations.
Places we stayed in hotel/motel it was always harder to get in touch with local activity.

Lived in Queenstown for 6 months over autumn and winter and there were 3 social scenes there.
Tourists passing through for a few days hell bent on living to the max.
Transient workers like ourselves there for a few months/years who had a very good social life.
Long term locals whose highlight of the week would be a new product appearing on the shelf of the local supermarket or a shopping trip up the road to Cromwell.

completedit

Parachutes wrote: »

Thought Prague was very rough and overpriced. Wouldn’t go back again way better European cities to go and see.

Hmmm. Depends where you go. It's still cheapish but if you're in and around the tourist spots its pretty expensive. Also, it can be a bit shady depending on where you are in the city. But it is my favourite city in the world. Letna park in the summer is just the perfect drinking spot.

Mad_maxx

Lola40 wrote: »

Bratislava was horrendous. The food and the people were as boring as the place itself. You couldn’t find any sort of atmosphere for love or money.

Side note: have to agree with people who said New Zealand as a country. I lived there for 6 months and found it like a crapper version of Ireland.

the South Island of New Zealand is incredibly beautiful but the people are incredibly dull , mostly Scots Presbyterian stock , North Island is better in that sense.

Mad_maxx

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

It's a vastly overrated place.

I lived there for a few years and really there isn't much to do outside of drinking in old man pubs.

If you're a tourist visiting for the first time you will have everything done in about 2-3 hours. It's the cinemas or pub/restaurant/bowling after that but any half decent town has that. The theater is an option I guess.

Best to try visit when a festival is on.

Look, it's a grand enough looking small city and it has a certain charm but it's expensive and only getting worse and basically it rains all the time.

fully agree , you also forgot to mention the awful traffic , worse than Dublin considering the size of the place.

Galway city is incredibly self satisfied

Mad_maxx

Deleted User wrote: »

Went to Düsseldorf on a stag a few years back, thought it was great fun with loads of bars, that said I’m not sure it would be great if it wasn’t a drinking trip.

It was a little bit on the rough side as well, a bit edgy I guess you could say

As a few others mentioned Adelaide is incredibly boring. It’s actually a lovely city, very clean, nice parks, lovely cricket ground but it’s just a bit soulless.

Adelaide is very english , very polite , tidy , prim and proper , Christchurch is the NZ version of Adelaide

gmisk

lintdrummer wrote: »

Don't get the hate for Vienna many here have expressed. I was there years ago in July for a few days and we had a great time. There was a park near our hotel and for 3 months solid it was used as a free open air festival of sorts. Loads of pop up bars and food stalls from all over the world and at the end an open air cinema showing various movies and concerts every night. Had a blast.

Toronto is up there as most boring place I've been. Was only transiting through but had a night to kill there both ways and it was terribly dull. Seemed to be nobody on the streets and the only place we found a decent bar was in a shopping centre.

Hartford Connecticut takes the biscuit though. The city centre is just a business district for the insurance industry and I literally couldn't even find a café to get breakfast until I discovered one on Tripadvisor that was essentially a cafeteria in an office building. West Hartford was decent for food and drinks in the evening but it's a good spin in an Uber. The only interesting thing I found to do was the museum under the city hall. That had an oddball collection of some interesting stuff and killed an hour or so.

Toronto is a fantastic city tonnes to do, good shopping, amazing food, good bars, sound people, baseball, football etc. Literally one of my favourite cities I have been too. Good day trips as well to places like Niagara Falls/Niagara on the lake. I don't think a stopover for a night gives you much of a flavour of a place as big as Toronto.

Totally agree with you on Vienna though.

KaneToad

The Eagles wrote: »

Budapest. Very nice city to look at but didn't seem to be much of a nightlife. Bars were dead and the only action going were the clipper joint scam girls. Maybe I just unlucky?

Second night I was there I went back to the hotel early. Called up a prostitute and had a decent ride so the weekend wasn't a total washout.

From your perspective...

Tony EH

Florence.

Without a doubt the most boring place I've been to. Once you get the Duomo, Uffizi and the Ponte Vecchio off of the list, it's as dull as dishwater.


Naples.

Edgy and dangerous at night. There's a great museum of Roman statues in the city and outside you have Pompeii and Herculaneum. It's a short hop to the islands too. But Napoli itself...ugh.


San Francisco.

Not so "boring" as much as it's an awful shitehole. It's a horrible place and the homeless everywhere just reinforces everything that wrong with America. The only thing I got any interest out of was the Pompano.

Strumms

Brian? wrote: »

I had to spend 6 hours in Holyhead once. Ended up parking the car in the ferry port and falling asleep. Hole of a place.

The US: Albuquerque

Europe: Brussels

I don’t think you’ll ever see or hear a comment regarding Holyhead along the lines of... “ we need to come back next year, a unique, enlightening and fun experience “. A very strange, dullsville dump of a place.

Das Reich

Cairo. It have the traffic and the grey air very polluted that gives you just few hundreds metres of visibility, very dirty and there is no sight of any woman. I had lived in Rio de Janeiro which I (and any Brazilian) consider a sh*t place to be, but Cairo it just like Rio but only with the favelas and no rich areas. If there is any city in the world worse than Cairo please type here.

Ger Roe

Tony EH wrote: »

Naples.

Edgy and dangerous at night. There's a great museum of Roman statues in the city and outside you have Pompeii and Herculaneum. It's a short hop to the islands too. But Napoli itself...ugh.

I had forgotten about Naples, probably deliberately. Took a train trip there once from a holiday base at Sorrento and found it to be a total dump. Dirty streets and buildings and a bad feeling about the place. Straight out of the train station there were two dead rats on the kerb and rubbish blowing gently down the street. All I saw was an impression of neglect and disinterest in the place.

I had heard the phrase, 'see Naples and die'... so I got out before it might have happened.

Hamachi

Tony EH wrote: »

San Francisco.

Not so "boring" as much as it's an awful shitehole. It's a horrible place and the homeless everywhere just reinforces everything that wrong with America. The only thing I got any interest out of was the Pompano.

Have to disagree with you on this one. I’ve been to San Francisco many times and always have a blast. Certainly, the homeless situation is appalling and Market Street is a disgrace as the main downtown artery.

However, it’s a great city to go for very long walks. The uniqueness of each neighborhood creates a very vibrant patchwork of urban villages. You have places like the Marina (rich, white, preppy) vs. Chinatown vs. Haight Ashbury (hippy) vs. the Mission (Latino) vs. the Castro (gay). It’s fascinating to just wander around and people watch.

One of my favourite things to do there is to rent bicycles in North Beach, cycle across the Golden Gate, stop for lunch in Sausalito, and finally get the ferry back to SF from Tiburon. It’s a great way to spend a day out there.

Das Reich

Ger Roe wrote: »

I had forgotten about Naples, probably deliberately. Took a train trip there once from a holiday base at Sorrento and found it to be a total dump. Dirty streets and buildings and a bad feeling about the place. Straight out of the train station there were two dead rats on the kerb and rubbish blowing gently down the street. All I saw was an impression of neglect and disinterest in the place.

I had heard the phrase, 'see Naples and die'... so I got out before it might have happened.

I find strange that some people goes there without knowing its reputation among Italians. Saying that Naples is dirty and danger, who doesn't know that? The interesting things are all around, the islands of Ischia, Procida and Capri, the towns destroyed by the 79 a.d. eruption, the Vesuvio, Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano... But Naples?

Naples is the only city in Europe I’ve felt genuinely unsafe in. Absolutely fantastic food though.

MyLove4Satan

Deleted User wrote: »

Id say a tourist could get a good two authentic days out of dublin

But you will find that most cities are the same. Not everywhere can be New York, Paris or Hong Kong.

Dublin provides what one expects from a city that size.

alchemist33

Hibernicis wrote: »

Not this one ?

I went to that one too!

MyLove4Satan

A lot of Italian cities if you take away the history/culture are fairly bleak places. I love Turin. It is a city about the size of Dublin with incredible architecture in the shadow of the Alps. But after 7PM it literally becomes a ghost town. Like an actual switch is turned off. I see the same in so many Italian cities.