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.

I love city breaks. Not really had any total write offs. But there's a few that would be lower on my go back to list.

Lisbon was filthy and a little threatening. Love Porto though so maybe I'd try it again. Helsinki was just shockingly expensive. Loved the scenery etc in Iceland but there's not a lot to do in Reykjavik and it's stinky.

Lebanon was amazing but Beirut was so littered snd grubby.

Lille didn't really impress. Or Pisa.

I'm really suprised by some of these replies
Bratislava, Slovakia. Most boring city ever extremely expensive and really not much to see or do Are you joking? It's as cheap as chips! I love Bratislava. I went three times this year, twice by myself and once with DH. Loads to do. A national park is a short bus ride away and loads to do ( including a cocktail at the bar which rotates in the television tower. There's also the cable cars and mechanical bobsleigh.

Barcelona is my happy place and I have booked a flight for March with my cousin. She is nervous about pickpockets. I have never seen or had any trouble is the 20plus times I've been in over 20 years. However I guess i must look poor! I don't wear a watch or any jewellery and I carry an old battered rucksack with nothing of value in. I just try to blend in ( as I do in most countries) and stay alert. I guess my luck may run out one day but so far i've loved it.

I have been to Berlin 11 times in the last 6 years. sometimes with friends, sometimes by myself but love it to bits! A week, never mind weekend is never long enough.
Brussels? me and my friend often do it as a day trip if we get a flight cheap enough. It's alwaysgood fun.

It's some years ago now, TBF, but: Oslo. Appallingly expensive. Lots of 70s-style shopping precincts and apartment blocks. Locals with unironic mullets and stonewashed denim. Everything was shut on a Sunday, like small-town England in the early 80s
While I agree that Oslo is expensive I love that place! Well. love it in the summer time, it's not so great in winter for me. However in summer I love being at the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art and around that area on a lovely day, or reading a book in the Palace gardens. Fabulous place and great for a weekend.

My dull place is Szwcerin. However it is easy enough to get the bus over the border to Germany and go to Berlin instead.

I'm surprised at Edinburgh as well. Its only a couple of hours from where I live on the train so I go up there a lot. So many districts to visit, It's got everything from a beach nearby, cool bars, great charity shops, fantastic buildings, independent shops, lots of historic buildings and so on. There is always something happening that's cool.

My worse holiday destination was Jamaica. Montego Bay was intimidating, However it is my sister's favourite place.

I think London Edinburgh Glasgow Manchester and Liverpool are better to visit than most other cities!

Paris- yuk, dirty, really racially segregated, no green spaces, awful traffic, rude people, too crowded.

Amsterdam- no views, very monotonous, long queues, museums cost a fortune, inedible food, hate hate hate the drug and sex industries.

Krakow. Unwelcoming to the point of hostile. Couldn't wait to leave.

In contrast, Riga and Reykjavik could not have been more welcoming.

So much hate for Paris. Personally I think it’s out of proportion to the city’s flaws.

Kind of agree about Amsterdam though. The Dutch seem to feel they can iron out humanity’s vices by legalising them, and that everyone will surely accept their liberal values. It doesn’t always work out that way and they are seeing increased drug related criminality.

Paris- visited a few times and like quite a few pps, found the main tourist parts threatening and unfriendly. I know more people who have been mugged/assaulted as tourists there than any other city. Last time we stayed in a smaller town outside Paris which was lovely though.

Manchester- I used to work there and found it laid back and safe with great shops, restaurants, museums etc. Went recently and was shocked at the level of homelessness and drug abuse on the streets and the prevalence of heavy drinking, threatening groups of men out at night. I may have just been unlucky but it really put me off. Similar experience with Edinburgh. I used to visit regularly and loved it. Went this Summer with DD and although there are still lovely things to do the centre seemed to be full of pissed stag/hen parties even during the day. Dodging piles of vomit on the pavements really put me off.

Dublin- OK but expensive. The group of people I was with really hyped it up and insisted we went to all the touristy bars etc which was probably part of the problem- I might go back to explore the wider area.

On the other hand, I love York. Loads to do for a weekend, and for a longer stay there are tons of lovely places to visit nearby. Inverness was an unexpected joy- again probably only enough to do in the city for a day or 2 but fantastic countryside/walks etc nearby

Only place I’ve felt underwhelmed by was Dublin.

Managed to drop loads of cash on los ramblas and a lovely Spanish boy gave it back to me! Very lucky.

I visited Dublin in 1990 so it may have improved since then, I thought it was filthy and all the shops had metal shutters on them so you couldn't stroll around and window shop in the evenings.
There were quite a few women selling stuff from big prams who looked liked people we hadn't seen at home for decades.

😂 still true about the prams (in certain places) but there’s a charm to it. Do shops in the uk not have metal shutters down at night?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=s11BuatTuXk

but we love it.

Ignore me, that song is actually about Manchester, on further investigation!

I was underwhelmed by Barcelona too.

Loved Budapest, Prague, Krakow, Vienna and Salzburg.

Really did not enjoy New York, so dirty, and the amount of very unwell homeless people literally wanking and shitting on the streets was unbelievable.

Paris hated it so much stank dirty just couldn't understand the hype and appeal never again.

Love: Copenhagen, Hamburg, Cologne, Stockholm, Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp (Belgium is really underrated!), Pisa and Verona.

Hate: Barcelona (wild horses couldn't get me back there), Paris (dog shit everywhere and $$$!), Venice was a bit meh, I didn't really enjoy Amsterdam, either. If you're not into art, weed or sex, there's not much left to do.