If you choose a city as a holiday destination what do you expect to 'do' there?

[NonHighStreetClothes]

I read the regular 'worst places to visit' threads with a morbid fascination & i'm always amazed at how many posters say they've visited x, y or z city & found it 'boring' with 'nothing to do'.

I find it incredibly hard to relate to this as its never been my experience. So it got me wondering- if you decide to visit a city what do you look for?

What 'things' do you want to do there?

I've been to 160 cities in 30 countries across 4 continents (I have an app). Some places I've been to once but many I've been to multiple times as I travel quite a bit for work.

I have never once found a city boring.

Certainly there are some i love more than others. Some i adore spending time in but would never want to live in - I'd live in Paris in a heartbeat but I wouldn't consider living in London though I love to visit regularly.

I'll start - when I plan a visit anywhere, particularly if its my first time its usually because I am especially interested in something related to thst place & in my case that usually means writers, artists, Historical figures.

Things I look for:
I read about the history of that city
Museums
Art galleries
If in Europe I love to look up the oldest 'Grand Cafe' & make sure to havea drink there
Historical walking tours - we've done brilliant ones in London, Dublin, Prague, Budapest, Trieste, Krakow etc
The best wine bars
The key attractions (i'll only usually do this once & once ive seen them i focus on other stuff on subsequent visits)
Booking tickets to an event - opera, performance, exhibition etc
Churches/ cathedrals etc
I've often read a book thats inspired me to visit a place or an area in a city so ee love mapping that out & locating it

We love sitting at streetsife cafes soaking up the atmosphere & people watching

Then at night we love research the oldest traditional bar, a jazz bar, a cocktail bar, the best place for steak or seafood etc depending where we are

Every city ive ever been to has all of these elements + more

So...I'm curious- if you've found places boring & couldn't find anything to do - what is it you look for?

I also research places before I go and know exactly what I want to do and see when I get there, but I'd say that you and I other keen travellers like us are reasonably unusual. The lack of curiosity that I've encountered in other people before they go somewhere is quite astounding to me, but it's very common. I think a lot of people just rock up somewhere with no clear idea of what there is to do there or what they might enjoy. I used to work in tourism and the number of people who didn't even know about their hotel's facilities was quite large. I've been complained to umpteen times that a hotel doesn't have X or Y facility when the hotel's website clearly doesn't show it having that facility.

@cheezncrackers I actually did wonder if people literally arrived off the plane & started wandering around expecting all the 'main attractions' to be lined up ready for them? Like the strip in a resort?

I always google “what to do in x” which will give plenty of ideas.
From there, I’ll usually book a walking tour and, if appropriate, a boat tour.
But I’m usually going somewhere because it’s got some historical place I want to visit , and I will have researched it in advance.

Very similar to you, almost always do a walking tour, sometimes a food tour if the food is very different. A museum, sometimes smaller ones if the big museums are likely to be heaving. I’ll google and see if there is music or theatre in the evening in English or subtitled.

I love a rooftop bar or terrace. Will always do a park or botanic garden. Hiring a bike and cycling if there are safe routes.

DH and I live fairly rurally so I bloody love a city break. And we have similar interests and also know each other well enough that we can put up with in my case a military history museum knowing that the pay off will be cocktails in a nice bar or a poke round the back streets looking for old buildings (my fave thing to do).

I’ve loved New York, Cairo, Mexico City, Lima, Zagreb, Addis Ababa, Miami, San Francisco, Moscow and more. I wouldn’t want to live in many of them but bloody loved visiting them. The only place I’ve not particularly loved, and it’s weird as it’s probably the most beautiful city in the world, is Paris. Been many times and it just doesn’t click…my bad not it’s.

I'm the same as you two - I book a trip somewhere because I already know what I want to do there and have a reason to visit that specific place.

I cannot understand spending time and money on a trip without already knowing what you will be able to do there and whether you will enjoy that! Surely, the natural starting point should be picking a destination based on it fulfilling what you want from your holiday?

Ha we are the opposite and do next to no research. We might Google the top ten things to do in x place on the first morning to give us an idea or two. In most well known cities it’s hard to see how you’d get bored. There are plenty of people just marauding about. Even just taking in all the new sights and sounds is interesting. A funicular is usually top of our list. We tend to clear of museums and galleries but that’s why cities are such good destinations, plenty to suit all tastes.

So you just book trips to random cities without knowing anything about them? How do you choose the city?

I am very much a planner and researcher so your approach fascinates me!

I do a lot of research and generally have a rough idea of what we want to do. I do love an aperol on a terrace - rooftop, by the sea, nice square etc - so do a lot of that around the sight seeing. If it's summer and by the sea we would normally have a beach day - as long as there are sunbeds and umbrellas. I am reading the disappointing places thread and I always struggle as I wouldn't go somewhere if there was nothing there that interested me.

I'm not fussed for art galleries or museums, unless it happens to be the subject of a particular interest.
Walking round churches or cathedrals bores me to tears.
I don't drink so don't tend to enjoy wine bars, cocktail bars etc.
Architecture is nice to look at if there's a nice skyline but walking round lots of ruins or old buildings doesn't interest me.

Love city breaks for a number of reasons, though.

LOVE experiencing local food. Almost sure I spend most of my time on these sorts of holidays trying new foods. We've usually spent hours before we go narrowing down a list of where we want to try for the best pastries, best coffees, best steak, best pasta house, whatever the local cuisine is. We tend to have fairly early nights (10pm ish) on holiday compared to our friends but we get up a lot earlier, enjoy walking round when it's quieter and cooler.

Also love markets on city breaks. Especially when there are lots of different ones every day.

Also probably unusual and my family laugh at me for it but I love going to the supermarket in different cities. I bring back local crisps flavours, chocolate bars, drinks, sweets. I always find it interesting to see what the prevailing trend is abroad. Visited Norway last year for the first time and from what I saw in the supermarkets they aren't a crisp nation. Lots of plain or paprika flavours. Loved bringing home chocolate from Germany and Belgium. Syrops and cakes from France. Some redbull cans from Amsterdam and Norway that we can't find here. From various places in Asia I've brought back drinks, packaged treats we don't get here, different ramen noodles. Just something I enjoy doing.

I enjoy the supermarket thing too. It's fun to get a glimpse into everyday things that are different and trying things we don't have at home.

What is the app you are using? I too love city breaks and have been to many but like you I do research before I go. I would be bored on a sun holiday just flying and flopping so city breaks are ideal for me.

Museums, galleries, historic or cultural buildings, churches, archaeological sites.
Cafes (especially lingering at an outdoor cafe and people watching) and restaurants.
Maybe one-off things like a sports event, theatre trip or concert.
Parks and outdoor spaces, walking by the river etc.
Sometimes something a bit quirkier, depending on the city (eg Moscow - sadly off limits now- where we had a fantastic tour of the amazing underground stations).
Bit of window shopping maybe, or actual shopping (eg stationery in Rome and Venice).
Wine tasting or tours.
It's endless - people who are bored on a city holiday just baffle me.

Not necessarily in this order but:

Food
Drink (Wine, spirits or cocktails or whatever the place is good at)
Coffee (especially in Italy!)
Museums/castles/churches
Art galleries
Parks/green spaces/river walks
River trips
Chocolate/cakes/confection (especially if the place is noted for it)
Markets - food and any crafts the city is famous for

Otherwise just taking in that particular vibe of being somewhere else and that sort of energising disconnect from the familiar.

Love that I'm not alone in this!

Wow you’ve been to loads of places!

I grew up in and like cities. I just look up the popular things to see and do and pick things. Wander around a bit. Work out transport options.

I also like food, drinks, shopping, swimming and running, so might look up good places.

I don’t do much art/museums/music/theatre so would probably only look those things up if was going somewhere well known for those things.

DH might say he finds most cities ‘boring’. in his case I think he really means that he prefers more rural places and that all the positive things about cities don’t, for him, outweigh the negatives or beat his other holiday options.

I love food so always look for a food tour - Culinary Backstreets are the best and have visited several cities specifically to do their tours. Love a food market or local taverna or restaurant. Sometimes will head for a Michelin place if it looks interesting. DH will always look for places to have good wine and coffee. Sometimes I will book a cookery class with a local, Traveling Spoon have some great ones.

I love art galleries and museums and historical buildings so will always try to visit those.

Also shopping - I don't do loads but I will research if there are any local crafts or artisans selling particular things, so for example in Florence I bought some beautiful paper and I came home from Hyderabad with lots of gorgeous fabric for sewing.

I'll also look for opportunities to do things I love at home eg is there a lake or lido I can swim in, is there anywhere I can do riding or bike tours etc.

I absolutely love a city break, bit curtailed at the moment thanks to small children but I'm thinking maybe I should book a UK one with them and give it a try! I'd love to go to Birmingham so that's top of the list.

Museums and galleries
Historically buildings, castles, places etc.
Parks and gardens.
Churches, cathedrals, temples, shrines etc.
I am quite partial to a zoo.
Eating local foods.
I also just love wandering around with my camera taking pictures of buildings, bridges etc.

I prebook tours, depending on the city (Rome it was the Colosseum and Palatine Hill and a day trip to Mt Vesuvius and Pompeii, the rest of the attractions we could just walk to and practically Every corner had an interesting church to explore). Less familiar places like Bergen we booked a four hour walking tour and really got the history of the place. Somewhere like Bruges you could just get away with walking around, maybe taking a little boat tour. Amsterdam we did a canal cruise, picked a couple museums to visit and walked.
I mean surely the reason one visits a city is to see X, YZ? NY we visited the Statue of liberty, Ellis Island, took in a show, took a rickshaw ride through Times Square! Only the last one was spontaneous.

You are all my travelling people ❤️
We do pretty much all of the above too.

But i really want some of the people who say they've been to various cities & found nothing to do & it was boring, to come & tell us what they like to do in a city.

Dublin is a PRIME target for this accusation yet I have have never ever found it to be boring!

We visit a lot as have friends & family there & always find wonderful things to do - recent examples over the past couple of years include

A literary walking tour
Visited the tenement museum 14 Henrietta Street
The Little Museum of Dublin
The National Gallery
Cocktails in Peruke & Periwig
The crypt at St Michans - Bram Stoker buried there
Fantastic food in Nanettis & wine in the ely wine bar etc

I do very similar stuff to you OP. I wonder if part of the problem is that people feel obliged to visit certain places on city breaks just to tick them off, even though they’re not things they enjoy.

For example I really enjoy art galleries so will usually visit a few if I go on a city break. And I have enough knowledge and experience to know which ones I’ll enjoy most, which exhibitions to see etc.

On the other hand my parents are not into art, and would never choose to visit an art gallery in the UK. But in Paris they spent a day in the Louvre because, well, that’s what you do in Paris! But then afterwards they were telling me they didn’t particularly enjoy it, and found it a bit boring.

So I think there’s something about being true to yourself - you’re not going to change into a different person with different interests just because you’re on holiday.

The app i use is called 'places been'
It's probably not the best one but its a bit of fun. My main gripe is it only let's you record each place once where as ive been to Venice 15 times etc but it shows as once.

I just instinctively know where I want to visit! For example I want to go to Malaga but not so bothered about Madrid without knowing that much about either. I knew I wouldn’t think much of Brussels before I went. Occasionally a place surprises me, for the better (Lyon for example) but mainly I get what I’m expecting. I’m from London and love city life so as long as a place has a bit of scale I’m not getting bored. (But Brussels is dull).

I guess you hear stuff about places, from friends or news articles.

Hi OP,
Your thread has inspired me to list the cities I have been to. It works out as 52 (25 in UK, 27 in Europe). Same as you, some of them I have visited more than once. I also often use a city as a base to explore other towns/cities nearby so I have seen more than 52.

We plan in advance and end up with a ‘menu’ of things we want to do and then decide once there which we are going to do. On the whole the things we do fall into three categories: history, science and nature. We love zoos, science/technology museums, historic buildings and history museums. We also go to the theatre, sports events etc, love to try local food.

Of the places I have visited there are only two that I wouldn’t recommend/return to. One is Sophia in Bulgaria which I am afraid has nothing to recommend it. The other I am afraid is Dublin. I find it massively overpriced with very limited attractions. I think it might be good for a party weekend but I don’t drink so that does nothing for me. Belfast on the other hand is fantastic. I have been three times including spending a week there and I would still go back. There is plenty to do and it is a great base for exploring the rest of Northern Ireland (you could even make a day trip to Dublin if you really wanted to!).

Depends what the city is, the weather, who I'm with, how long im there for, what i actually do.

but yeah I agree witb you, I've travelled quite a bit and have never once found a city boring or with nothing to do.

I dont really understand people who say that, they must be very bored in their everyday lives because at a bare minimum literally every city will have a park, at least museum or cultural place, a cinema, a theatre, shops, somewhere to walk around and a few pubs and restaurants. If you can't entertain yourself for a day or two in those (even more so now with a phone that can entertain you with anything you can read or watch) what more do you do every day at home?

I'm fascinated by this really because as I said I visit Dublin several times a year & I've also been to Belfast several times & I would 100% rate Dublin over Belfast.

I love being in both but for me there's far more to do / see / experience in Dublin.

I find Belfast more limited. We enjoyed The Titanic Experience (though I was vaguely disappointed in it & felt it was dull in parts) & the science museum.

We visited Belfast City Cemetary which i enjoyed

My first trip to Belfast was in around 1995 waaaaay before The Good Friday Agreement & it was a frightening place then.

It has come on do much in the intervening years

We stay in the Cathedral Quarter & once stayed in The Merchant Hotel which was lovely.

Beyond that I'd love to know what attractions Belfast has that Dublin doesn't?

My observation from MN is that by & large British people seem to favour Belfast over Dublin & i wonder if its a certain familiarity?