cities you've been disappointed with....

[brimfull]

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?

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?

Paris (so shoot me!)

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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

I LOVE Chiang Mai though.

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

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!)

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.

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.

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.