Which city break did you NOT enjoy?

[pinkfishbluefish]

Where’s overrated, and why? Looking at making a 2023 travel itinerary and curious.

I wasn’t fond on Rome.

I would love to try Amsterdam but worried about safety: wouldn’t be interested in any of the ‘popular’ activities that folk do there, or the red light district. I more like the look of the food, culture, boat trips and museums.

Probably not the best person to be contributing as I would rather be in the countryside and small villages than any city but i loathed the following :
Vegas
LA
Malta
Paris
San Francisco
Tel Aviv
Jerusalem
Haifa

Disliked:
Phoenix
Athens
Rome
Dundee
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Manchester
Birmingham
London
Washington
Dubrovnik (apart from the walls)

Liked:
Palma
Seville
Venice
Salzburg
Cologne
Dusseldorf
Bonn
Istanbul
Amsterdam

Bucket list:
Ghent
Antwerp
Rejkavik
Stockholm
Norway
Palermo

My favourite small European city was Granada in Spain. I haven’t been to Seville which have also heard good things about. I like parts of Barcelona, I would avoid Rambla. Gracia in Barcelona is nice.

Like others, I wasn’t blown away by Paris or New York although glad I have been.

A friend recently told me although they didn’t like Marrakech, Fez was wonderful. No one hassling you, charming architecture

Paris, was not what I expected at all.

When I was younger I travelled a lot but there was always an underlying sense of menace towards us young women in the following places : Amsterdam Jerusalem. Morocco Paris (got ripped off as soon as we arrived ) Mumbai Delhi many parts of Spain. Saw children begging in Dublin including a little girl with no underwear. Places where we felt safe : Stockholm Lucerne Vienna London Edinburgh. New York and Los Angeles

Hated:
Paris
Rome
Brussels

Loved:
Barcelona
Siena
Bruges
Amsterdam
Prague

Also seville and granada, gorgeous.
Couldn't find a place in Morocco I liked at all, awful

Hate Paris, been there lots of times and it’s never gotten better. Dirty, dirty, dirty. And considering I live in London, that’s saying something.

Also hated Budapest but that may have been because it was so cold when I went in February.

Vancouver also a massive disappointment. There’s nothing there.

My favourite cities are New York (East and West Village specifically, stay away from midtown), Madrid and San Fran. Would live in all 3 in a heartbeat.

I'm just back from San Francisco. Absolutely loved it and the weather was fantastic.
Did a few days in San Sebastian a few years ago, very dull place. Nothing to do.

Geneva -- sooo dull and incredibly, incredibly expensive. But the Patek Philippe watch and jewellery museum is exquisite.
Tokyo is amazing, it felt so foreign and fascinating but utterly safe. Fantastic food, and shopping, and gardens, and culture. Super clean and I adored the toilets, they are things of wonder. I have never felt so safe anywhere.
Hong Kong on the other hand is noisy, smelly, vibrant, exciting and very in-your-face. I loved it. Felt oddly quite safe too as a middle aged foreign woman. The bar girls were very friendly to me whilst accosting my husband.

Tunis however felt distinctly edgy and super crowded. (With men, very few women out and about, and only with their menfolk.)

Helsinki. Very expensive and although pretty, not much to do.

Loved Zadar (Croatia), Kator (Montenegro), Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Talin, Geneva. Parents went to Riga and loved it.

Really want to visit Dublin now!

Can't really think of many I didn't like

Reykjavik- not a lot to do but nice for a day,

Athens- hot and dirty, but again, good fir a day or so

Singapore- some nice bits eg raffles, parks, but found it a bit dull and so depressing to see a polar bear in the zoo

Loved

Stockholm - beautiful, gorgeous boat trips if you want a break from the city, great food (but sickeningly expensive)

Saville- hot in autumn, gorgeous old parts, not too expensive

Berlin - large and noisy, but so interesting, history at every turn, and fairly cheap by capital city standards

Krakow - beautiful, historic, cheap, friendly

Edinburgh - lived there for quite a time and loved it, my favourite city. Though visited last year and felt a bit disappointed for the first time - freezing wet, busy, expensive. Shows how changeable things like weather can really influence an opinion.

Nooo! San Sebastián is a wonderful, pretty seaside town with a lovely double bay and beach. It's a true foodie paradise. But it has a lively night-time vibe too and life is very much lived on the street (not between 1pm and 4 pm when everything shuts) But if you're not into food much it may not be for you.
The politics is interesting too. We wandered into a Basque nationalist bar once and it was decorated with loads of photos of Basque political prisoners who were mostly in prison - in France! (The French don't have much time for separatists.)
Bilbao is similarly a very civilised city with a fantastic museum, the Guggenheim, and spectacular architecture, but again, it's mostly all about the food. It has lots of lovely little bars offering smart cocktails with delicious little bites alongside.
We like to eat, if you hadn't guessed.

Theme park is exactly what I thought about Venice.
We walked and walked everywhere and found areas that were residential and normal but so much has been taken over by tourists I found it a strange place, and yes I was one of those tourists so who am I to talk?

Hated:

Dublin - felt really provincial, not much to do
Vienna - staid and boring
San Francisco - one of the places I so wanted to visit but god what a let down
Berlin - grey ugly city
Marrakesh - so hassly, I got to the point I just didn’t want to leave the (beautiful and peaceful) riad

Loved:
Stockholm, Copenhagen, Verona, Seville, Jerez, Lisbon (only on the 2nd visit), Porto, Santa Fe, Chicago, Ljubljana, Istanbul, Florence, Siena, Rome, Riga, Sarajevo, Bratislava

Ambivalent:
Dubrovnik
Cadiz
Bilbao
Oslo
Barcelona
Madrid

Love: York, Edinburgh, Barcelona (although a gentleman asked if I wanted any weed).

Hated: Paris, dirty and got mugged (kinda) never again!

'Lived there'? for 6 weeks 😂

I hated Stockholm - lived there for 6 months - horrible, dull, sterile, joyless place - missed the summer months when apparently the city comes to life.

@Suboptimalsitch oh I’d forgotten how dreadful Malta was. I really was not impressed at all.

We went on holiday there and then afterwards so many people admitted that they hadn’t said anything before we went because they didn’t want to put us off, but they didn’t like it either. Then friends went the week after us and they didn’t like it at all either.

My favourites:

Beirut
Barcelona
Rome
San Francisco
New York
Miami

Don't mind:
Paris
Florence
Lagos
Luxor
Parts of LA
Dublin

Hate:
Cairo
Bangkok

Bucket list:
Seville
Havana
Stockholm
Budapest

I think a lot of visitors to Dublin just go to Temple Bar. Locals never go there, it’s just full of pubs overcharging tourists. Dublin is made up of lots of small villages outside the city centre and locals stay local.

Loved: Venice, Edinburgh, Rome, Seattle, Bruge, Copenhagen, Chicago, Bordeaux, Sydney
Meh: New York, Dublin, Paris, San Diego, Amsterdam
Hated: Vancouver, Barcelona, Denver

Loved:

Florence
Venice
Vienna
Tromso
Alesund
Stockholm
Tallinn
Wurzburg
Montreal
Taormina
York (old York, right on the doorstep)
Athens (but only because of the Acropolis)
Key West

Take or leave:

London
Paris
Dublin
Rome
Dubrovnik
Copenhagen
Jerusalem (wonderful city, but w. obvious political issues/divisions)
Istanbul (beautiful but has intrusive, misogynistic culture)
St. Petersburg

Never want to go back:

Cairo
Alexandria (filthy)
Thessaloniki
Naples
Miami

Bucket List

New York (due to visit)
San Fransisco
Tokyo
Alice Springs
Budapest
Moscow (but perhaps not right now)!

It’s Marmite. People either hate it and can’t wait to go home or love it and go back again and again. We’re in the second category but never recommend it to anyone for that reason.

What's nice about Malta?