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Original poster

cities you've been disappointed with....

245 replies

brimfull · 13/02/2008 19:46

Barcelona was a big disappointment to me,couldn't see or feel the charm that everyone went on about.

Seattle also...was expecting a fab place that was voted number one place to live a while ago.Just another big city..nothing special imo.

What cities did you find disappointing?

OP posts:
Sunshinemummy · 14/02/2008 17:16

Ooh thanks Alibobster. Not sure. In a Hilton somewhere but DP has organised as a treat. Can you tell me what's worth doing/seeing?

chisigirl · 14/02/2008 17:28

Paris (so shoot me!)

LOVE Barcelona and Amsterdam, though, which have both been slated on this thread.

ggglmpp · 14/02/2008 17:30

Johannesburg (scary)
frankfurt (dull)
Burgos (shut for lunch - all day)
San Sebastian (unfriendly)
Bilbao (ditto)
Manchester (brash)
Durham (bloody freezing)
Prague (tourist, tourists)

KashaSarrasin · 14/02/2008 17:36

Hate: Paris (lived just outside for 2.5 years and got to know it quite well. It is soooo far up its own arse!)

Unimpressed: Dublin - good pubs but wasn't what I had expected from the hype.
Marseille - Crazy drivers and smelt of fish.
Naples - Crazy Italian drivers and smelt of fish....

Love: Helsinki
Prague
Strasbourg
Bruges
San Francisco

dejags · 14/02/2008 17:36

Beijing - dirty and sprawling
Kuala Lumpur - the towers are cool but otherwise it's boring
Sydney - not sure why, but we just didn't get one

lizandlulu · 14/02/2008 17:44

washingston. was really looking forward to it, but was very disappointed, no city centre, hardly any shops, had to travel out of town for malls which i know is expected now but at the time we thought they were all central. everything was really spaced out with not many good attractions.

evenhope · 14/02/2008 17:53

Very disappointed with Paris.

Hated Dallas (but that was 14 years ago to be fair).

But of the cities others hate, love Glasgow, Denver and Brussels.

CoteDAzur · 14/02/2008 17:58

bigspender - I created a thread where we can talk about your visit to Monaco.

MrsJohnCusack · 14/02/2008 20:09

lol at hating Durham (bloody freezing)
went to university there and it is a lovely city BUT there is no doubting that it's bloody freezing

I have been to Dallas 3 times for work and ended up quite liking it - it's a bit of a weird place though and suffers from not really having a centre, a heart.

I think that's what Auckland suffers from too

bran · 14/02/2008 21:04

Is there another thread somewhere for cities that we thought we'd dislike but were much better than expected?

AttilaTheMeerkat · 15/02/2008 10:43

Can agree with the remarks about finding Sydney somewhat disappointing. Some of it I did like (Manly and the Botanic Gardens) but it left me feeling a bit disappointed overall. Perhaps its also because it takes two days to get there so you somehow expect more. I liked Singapore very much (its clean and orderly for a start) but at times I did wonder how many shops do these people need?!.

Have also felt cold by Paris (the main problem with Paris is the bloody Parisians!!). Another place I would not want to visit again is Brisbane.

Alibobster · 15/02/2008 12:28

Hi Sunshinemummy, things to do:- alcatraz is a must although book before you go as it's hard to get tickets while you're there, we did a tour of the city on a motorised cable car, it lasted about 2 hours and was fantastic, takes you around all the sights. Ride the cable cars down to fisherman's warf, visit Ghiradelli square for the fabulous chocolate. There is a great piano bar just off Union Square on Geary Street called Lefty O'Douls - it's really good fun for night time and there's a lovely restaurant next to it called The Daily Grill. Oooo I'm so excited for you. I wish I was going!

davidsatthebar · 19/02/2008 13:34

Hanoi, Vietnam
Everyone is after your money, very unfriendly and nasty, cold weather.

GooseyLoosey · 19/02/2008 13:35

Dublin - everyone raved about what a fun place it was in advance. It didn't do anything for me at all.

Vancouver was also a huge disappointment after having been lead to believe that it was the next best thing to an earthly paradise.

davidsatthebar · 19/02/2008 13:39

I don't like KL, Koh Samui, or Pattaya either.

I LOVE Chiang Mai though.

TsarChasm · 19/02/2008 13:41

Blimey I'm not all that well travelled. Reading this I think I'll stay at home!

peacelily · 19/02/2008 14:03

Didn't like;

Dublin, totally overrated
Monte-Carlo, wierd stultified empty atmosphere
Geneva, boring, characterless
Leeds up it's own a**e

Love
Manchester
Barcelona
Nice
Bruges
New York
London
Paris ( but yes Parisiens aren't the most gracious!)

bettythebuilder · 19/02/2008 14:14

Amsterdam- got so fed up of being approached to buy drugs, we got an earlier flight out of there

Singapore- kept following leaflet guides to places of historical interest to find they hadn't been built yet!

Paris for the airport and the sheer volume of rude and grumpy people.

branflake81 · 19/02/2008 18:10

Used to live in Paris so it has a soft spot in my heart.

Thought Florence was a bit dull and Rome was too small and over run with traffic.

Lourdes - unless you're Catholic (which I am not) it just seems hideously tacky and - well, weird.

Really like Amsterdam - I thought it was lovely.

Barcelona was good in that there was lots to do but didnt think it was very pretty. In fact, lots of it smelled of wee.

Earlybird · 20/02/2008 03:30

Agree with Frankfurt, but never went anywhere but the sterile hotel to the sterile office and back again. And I never saw the appeal of Berlin or Cologne.

Brussels and Lisbon were disappointing, but not dreadful.

I didn't mind Helsinki or Stockholm, but only ever went there during the summer with radiant sunshine.

Places I saw via work, and wouldn't go back to for pleasure: Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Macau and Sao Paulo.

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