Cities You Haven't Enjoyed Visiting?

byronicle6 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:13 am

What cities or countries have you disliked travelling to?

canoecarrier · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:20 am

Memphis is pretty high on that list, if not at the top. A large sprawling city that is full of 2 story buildings. Little Rock, Jackson, MS also cities I'm not very fond of. Rounding out the US, Albuquerque, LA, Oakland and Gary, Indiana are places I won't go unless I have to again.

Saskatoon is my least favorite city in Canada. I like just about all of the rest of the Canadian cities though.

BMI727 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:44 am

Quoting byronicle6 (Thread starter):
What cities or countries have you disliked travelling to?

Rome. Hot (that changes obviously), cramped, and dirty. Southern Italians (I've never been to Northern Italy) just don't seem interested in cleaning or maintaining things. It's kinda hard to tell what things are ancient Roman ruins and which are newer things they just didn't bother to take care of.

I didn't see much of Naples, but it looked like more of the same, if not worse. The airport is a bit small, but kinda cool in a throwback way. Sorrento is quite pleasant though, and is just a graffiti covered train ride away.

A lot of the American south is pretty awful, but special mention goes to Branson, MO. The place is like Las Vegas, just without all the cool stuff. The people are not only hillbillies, but they are proud of it for some reason. And it's filled with old people looking to buy slacks.

Peoria is a lot of ghetto. The surrounding areas are nice, but the city itself is kinda like South Gary. Actually, if you must go to Illinois stay north of I-80. You'll be much happier that way.

I also didn't like Ocean City, Maryland. Typical crummy tourist traps with low rent spring break type hotels. I didn't care for it at all. I didn't spend much time in Virginia Beach, but it seemed similar.

I also once had the misfortune of spending the better part of a week in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. It's hard to get anywhere and the whole place smelled like mildew.

Braybuddy · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:51 am

Las Vegas: tack-o-rama on a grand scale, and there's something sad about a city founded on gambling.

Singapore: a sterile shopping centre.

Dubai: as above, albeit a very wealthy one, although it does have the Burj Khalifa, which is something positive, I suppose.

kiwiinoz · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:51 am

Hamilton, NZ
Brisbane, AUS
Rome, ITA
Naples, ITA
Birmingham, UK
Saigon, Vietnam
Berne, SWI
Dalian, (sp?) China

All I need to enjoy a city is that it has a soul of it's own. Of these cities, either they didn't have one, or I failed to connect with it.

byronicle6 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:05 am

Forgot mine:

London, UK
Hamilton, New Zealand
Invercargill, New Zealand
Los Angeles, USA

NZ107 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:22 am

Tijuana, Mexico. The only place in Mexico I have been to and didn't enjoy it one bit! Then again, I was only 12 at the time and it was just after 9/11 but it wasn't very nice.

Superfly · Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:26 am

Quoting canoecarrier (Reply 1):
Gary, Indiana are places I won't go unless I have to again.

Oh come on, I was born & raised in Gary, Indiana and look at how I turned out.

My dislike list;
Tijuana, Mexico
Fresno, California

nighthawk · Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:33 am

Quoting Braybuddy (Reply 3):
Las Vegas: tack-o-rama on a grand scale, and there's something sad about a city founded on gambling.

Gonna have to disagree with you on this one! Vegas is an amazing city, and one of the few places ive been back to. Great selection of bars and restaurants, and always plenty to do. But each to their own.

Quote:

Dubai: as above, albeit a very wealthy one, although it does have the Burj Khalifa, which is something positive, I suppose.

Completely agree on this one though. As a friend once said "Dubai isn't a city, it's a collection of shopping malls". I was really disappointed by Dubai, there's bugger all to do there!

kiwiinoz · Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:44 am

Quoting byronicle6 (Reply 5):
London, UK

Interesting, can I ask why?

Braniff747SP · Wed Jul 25, 2012 8:18 am

Los Angeles, Califo... wait, I live there. Doesn't count, does it?

Las Vegas, in general. That's a place where you can see everything of interest in a day. In general, it's not a nice place to go.

dc9northwest · Wed Jul 25, 2012 8:33 am

Cities I haven't enjoyed visiting?

Um... Er... Hmmmm... None?

Sure, some parts of Athens looked depressing, some parts of Paris were annoying, some parts of Rome look very sketchy... But I don't think there's a place I didn't enjoy visiting. I wouldn't enjoy many places in the States due to a lack of efficient/good/any public transportation though. Unless someone else is driving, of course!

On the other hand, I didn't like living in Kansas City, though. For the same reason given above.

richcandy · Wed Jul 25, 2012 8:51 am

Hi

There are few cities that I have really not liked and would not be keen to visit again. However there are a couple:

Buzios, Brazil
Cape Town, South Africa

There are also a few cities that I would go back to but they would not be at the top of my list.

Los Angeles
Kuala Lumpur
Perth
Dunedin

Its funny some people least favourite cities are other peoples favourites.

Alex

sturmovik · Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:13 am

Detroit, Bombay.

filler.

aerorobnz · Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:23 am

Prague. I have been there twice and it just hasn't grown on me.
Ho Chi Minh. I didn't enjoy it, all the locals seem hell bent on parting you from your money and ripping you off. The Traffic was fine, but the people drained me

joffie · Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:50 am

Los Angeles - Overrated - Too many people, pushing everywhere.
Hong Kong - People spitting on the street - Too many tailors trying to pull you in. Liked the train system though
Melbourne - Overpriced, too many metrosexuals, crap customer service in department stores.
Las Vegas - Boring walking through all the hotels.
KL - Been there so many times now I find it boring
Canberra - Yawn
Sydney - Seriously, a bridge.
Istanbul - Yes, I would like an overpriced carpet please. I am more than happy to pay $60 to enter your country, last year it cost only $20 for the visa...
New York - Too many people. People look like they are too good for eachother all walking around on their cell phones lol.

Maybe i am just a misrable old cow

[Edited 2012-07-25 03:51:11]

Kiwirob · Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:06 am

Quoting joffie (Reply 15):
Istanbul - Yes, I would like an overpriced carpet please. I am more than happy to pay $60 to enter your country, last year it cost only $20 for the visa...

Odd considering us Kiwi's can enter Turkey visa free, I guess we made a better impression at Gallipoli than you lot did.

I can't stand Baku, it's a complete turd of a city, it's all smoke and mirrors, looks nice in places but underneath it's a different story. Thank christ they weren't shortlisted for the Olympic Games.

NZ107 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:16 am

Quoting joffie (Reply 15):
Hong Kong - People spitting on the street - Too many tailors trying to pull you in.

You're bound to hate mainland China then. I guess you chose the wrong areas because in my experience, spitting isn't nearly as widespread than in China. And with the tailors - there are places where there aren't any!

Quoting kiwirob (Reply 16):
Odd considering us Kiwi's can enter Turkey visa free, I guess we made a better impression at Gallipoli than you lot did.

Hahahaha. I feel it might be because Australia charge other countries for visas whereas NZ is still free.

na · Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:26 am

Lima, Peru. The most dreadful agglomeration of slums I´ve seen.
Guayaquil, Ecuador. Miserable place. Slums and gated communities. Sad.
Cairo, Egypt. God, how can someone live there without being a millionaire?
Agra, India. Huge, dirty, cramped. Not as depressive as Lima mentioned above though. And it has some of the most beautiful sights as well (Taj Rahal, Red Fort).

Not that I hate those, but the following are a mix of good and very bad:
LA, USA. Just big. Just boring.
Birmingham, UK. Just boring.
Naples, Italy. Dirty, ugly, neglected - but with some big-scale beauty added.
Mumbai, India, Fascinating it is, but what a huge pile of mess!
Dubai, UAE. Awesome in parts, but feels wrong and artificial.
Singapore. Antiseptic capital of boredom.
Tunis, Tunesia.

TransIsland · Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:31 am

Memphis, TN - I think I met Jim Crow.
Geneva, CH - Boring with a price tag.
Sydney, NSW - CBD's architecture reminds me of Gotham City.

Pyrex · Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:39 am

Bucharest, Romania - was there a few days for work (but with enough time to see something of the city) and not impressed at all.

Also, not sure it fits the definition of city, but was underwhelmed by Arles (in France) as well, Same for pretty much the whole state of Mississippi.

dc9northwest · Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:18 pm

Quoting Pyrex (Reply 20):

Bucharest, Romania - was there a few days for work (but with enough time to see something of the city) and not impressed at all.

Curious, what season were you here? Anyway, as someone living here 3 months a year, I'm neutral towards it. Which is good cause it's very easy for me to rank places.

OK, if we're talking about cities we dislike, I'll actually add some cities that are on my negative scale (that I've visited/lived, not just passed through):

Kansas City (shopping centers, houses and ghettos, mostly the latter)
Los Angeles (the best thing about LA is leaving LAX)
Ft. Lauderdale (nothing there)
Atlanta (Coca-Cola World and ATL, but that's it)
Seville (blazing hot and horrible food)
Athens (blazing hot, great food, but I think the choice of neighborhood affected the experience negatively)
Paris (yeah, you know, just didn't like it that much, but it's worth a visit)

That said, I don't regret visiting any of these cities. I just rank them below Bucharest. Might've missed a couple.

WestJet747 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:48 pm

Charleston, West Virginia: A boring city that gave me a really eerie feeling the entire time I was there. The locals I encountered were...odd.

Surat Thani, Thailand: I had to fly here on my way to another part of Thailand. I can't think of another time I've been so depressed while travelling. We drove through a majority of the area and it was just pure poverty the whole way through. What is sad is that you can tell that once upon a time it was beautiful, bustling town, but now all the infrastructure is just crumbling away.

Quoting kiwiinoz (Reply 4):
Brisbane, AUS

I love Brisbane! You're the first person I've heard say otherwise.

fr8mech · Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:56 pm

Athens, Greece: dirty, indifferent, congested.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: dirty, bad feeling about the place.
Paris, France: too many reasons to post.
Miami, Florida: too glitzy and annoying. Crowded.
Hong Kong: crowded, noisy, annoying.

A few others.

Now, this is not to say I wouldn't visit again (except maybe, Baton Rouge & Paris), just didn't enjoy my visit at the time.

Flighty · Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:16 pm

Las Vegas and Atlanta are not pleasing to me. Omaha wasn't a place I would go again necessarily.

As a whole, the US urban areas are trending well. Fine food and good architecture are both happening.

klmcedric · Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:45 pm

Lots of people put LA on that list.

The first couple times I was in LA I had that same dissapointment.

Now I've been there about 20 times, met locals who showed me around and became friends, and I can honestly
say it belongs to my favourite cities in the world.

I love LA.

I just can't believe that people are mentioning cities like NY,Sydney,Hong Kong, Cape Town, ???

Seriously, what have you been doing there?

danielmyatt · Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:25 pm

*shakes fist at anybody that says Birmingham*

Anyway, I don't like;
Paris, people are rude and it's just dull really
New York, see above, but it's not dull. Too big, too loud.
Liverpool, a hole of a city.
Middlesbrough, see above.
Leige, nothing to do.

EZEIZA · Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:36 pm

Lagos, Nigeria.
I hated everything about it except for a few friends I made, but the place itself ... I would never go back there unless I really had to.

Kiwirob · Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:41 pm

Quoting danielmyatt (Reply 26):
*shakes fist at anybody that says Birmingham*

15 years ago I would have said Birmingham, today it's a completely different city, a vast improvement.

desertjets · Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:45 pm

Most of Florida for me. I've been to Orlando, Tampa/Clearwater, the Space Coast and Jacksonville. The best parts were Clearwater Beach (having not been to many beaches in my lifetime one of the best that I've been to. Just sucks that it was in winter) and I surprisingly liked Jacksonville, but I was at a downtown hotel.

Las Vegas. Been once, wandered through a good chunk of the south strip hotels, ate at a buffet or two. Not being a big fan of gambling, drinking, crowds or clubs makes the novelty wear off fast. And now that the Star Trek experience at the Hilton is long gone there is little reason to go back.

Atlanta. Though this is a maybe. I'd be willing to go back if I had somebody to show me around. There were parts I liked and parts I hated. It didn't help that I was trapped most of the time in a Marriott adjacent to the freeway and an office park. I was mostly disappointed by downtown. I thought on a nice summer evening there would be more to do.

seb146 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:45 pm

Quoting Superfly (Reply 7):
I was born & raised in Gary, Indiana and look at how I turned out.

Yes, because you had the good sense to leave!

Quoting WestJet747 (Reply 22):
The locals I encountered were...odd.

That's because they are all related.

We were just on a road trip to Wall, South Dakota. My list is:

Spokane, Washington: Exactly like Paris without the class, charm, history, art, or whimsy.

Lewiston, Idaho: On the bridge crossing the Snake River from Clarkston, there is one sign saying how to get out of town. The next sign is at the interchange 6 miles away. If you miss the turns between the two, good luck getting out! I am convinced the people who live in Lewiston are stuck there driving around endlessly trying to get to Pullman or Missoula. It took us about an hour to get out of a town of less than 40,000.

sw733 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:55 pm

Paris and Rome are the two most overrated cities on Earth. I've been to both multiple times and really don't enjoy them very much. Dubai is also quite a bit overrated in my opinion - another place I've been to multiple times and only go because the boss tells me to.

Other cities I have been to that are not enjoyable were expected - Lagos isn't terribly nice, nor are Bamako, Bangui or Niamey (though the latter is probably the best out of those four).

In the US, I am not impressed with Los Angeles.

In Australia, Brisbane is a snooze fest.

Quoting na (Reply 18):
Naples, Italy. Dirty, ugly, neglected - but with some big-scale beauty added.

So true! I was there during a garbage strike too, so it was even worse. Not a pleasant place. Decent pizza, though

Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 21):
Kansas City (shopping centers, houses and ghettos, mostly the latter)

You really hate KC, don't you? I've been here for 10 years and love it.

ajd1992 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:56 pm

I hated Geneva in Switzerland. Just dull, drab and I got mugged by a "questionable character of a foreign ethnicity" shall we say by the main train station. Phone and camera stolen, although thankfully my passport was OK.

I'm going to be a tad bit controversial now but.... Monte Carlo.

I've just come back from Nice and we spent a few hours in Monte Carlo, driving and walking around. It's shown as this glam place with money everywhere when in fact it's full of snooty dickheads who are incredibly vain. The tunnel next to the harbour (yes, the tunnel that is in the F1 race) has a McDonalds above it, for God's sake. Seeing all the nice Ferrari's and Lamborghini's was pretty cool but everywhere else was just full of vain people. Really did not enjoy it apart from driving around the track.

STT757 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:01 pm

Lake Placid NY.

Beautiful natural scenery, but the people I talked to who lived there were desperate to get out. Very depressing.

zckls04 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:07 pm

Quoting kiwirob (Reply 28):
15 years ago I would have said Birmingham, today it's a completely different city, a vast improvement.

I cannot recommend you (and anybody else) watch this film enough, especially the view that took Telly's breath away:

http://www.baimfilms.com/clips/telly-savalas-looks-at-birmingham/

Maybe it will change your mind about the Birmingham of years past. Probably not though.

Flighty · Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:15 pm

Phoenix, Arizona. But I hear that Yuma is worse.

moo · Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:22 pm

Jo'berg - I never once felt safe there, even in a locked guarded compound. There were five shootings within 500 yards of me in the three days I was there and someone else on the flight home two weeks later had been carjacked but luckily not hurt.

Maverick623 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:22 pm

Quoting Flighty (Reply 35):
Phoenix, Arizona. But I hear that Yuma is worse.

There are 3 types of people that live in Yuma: Mexicans, meth-heads, and Marines. Phoenix can be miserable during the summer, but the winters are the real reason to live here. Just stay out of Maryvale and South Phoenix and you'll be fine... and don't grab the attention of the MCSO if you're not white. Just sayin'....

And for all the people who said NYC: there's more to it than Manhattan. Just sayin'...

UltimateDelta · Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:54 pm

Oberammergau, Germany.

Don't me wrong, the location is beautiful, but otherwise it's extremely overhyped. I'm sure there's a lot to do in the area (hiking, etc), but my travel group last year didn't do that and as a result the three hours we spent there were thoroughly uninteresting. It's a nice enough place to stop and look around or maybe eat on a longer tour, but otherwise there's little else to offer (especially in off-years for the Passion Play).

dc9northwest · Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:59 pm

Quoting SW733 (Reply 31):
You really hate KC, don't you? I've been here for 10 years and love it.

Well, there's good food, at least. I'll give it that. Hmmm... that's pretty much it.

But living there? No way; having to have a car decreases my quality of life tremendously... And I hear there are much worse places in the USA. Don't like the people there, either, I have to say.

Yeah, typical American suburban towns/cities=no way!

It's not even about crime; Chicago's perfectly fine, aside from the weather...

northstardc4m · Wed Jul 25, 2012 5:33 pm

Hated 3 cities i've visited:

Miami, FL - find it dirty and except for Miami Beech nothing really I liked, also drinking the water ALWAYS makes me sick.

Detroit, MI - nice city core that gets abandoned by 7pm with a patchwork of suburbia, run down industrial and empty warzone looking areas around it.

Spokane, WA - boring, US version of Saskatoon or Regina...

And my it's a nice city but it's not me:
Montreal, PQ - Never feel quite right when im there. Maybe im just used to Toronto but i find Montreal to be pretending to be many things and not quite being any of them.

rampart · Wed Jul 25, 2012 5:44 pm

It's very difficult for me to find a location that I haven't enjoyed at least something while visiting. I even found Topeka, Kansas interesting. I was underwhelmed by Charlotte NC, however. And Houston hasn't given me reason to stay more than a few hours. I wouldn't mind seeing Galveston or even the Johnson Space Center, however.

lewis · Wed Jul 25, 2012 5:52 pm

Brussels - Was fine for a day trip but after 5pm I felt that I was the only person walking outside. Everything looked kind of dead and there was not much to do other than walking around and enjoying the architecture.

Las Vegas - Tackiest place on earth. It was extremely hot when I was there, once I saw most of the hotels I was done and ready to leave. Those people with the prostitute cards all over the place were very very annoying.

Houston - I was there for work. The city was vast, reminded me of LA - without the nice weather and all the fun things to do. The BBQ was good - that's about it.

GrahamHill · Wed Jul 25, 2012 5:56 pm

It's funny, I have been to many places (Paris, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Sydney, Valletta, New York, Montreal, Quebec City, Chicago, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Geneva, Nagasaki, you name it) and there is not one city I have disliked.

I guess I find it refreshing being outside of my daily environment (not that I don't like my daily environment, of course!).

Confuscius · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:05 pm

Manila, Philippines. It's hot, humid, dirty, and half the day you're stuck in traffic. BTW, I'll be there in September but I will enjoy it because I'm having my teeth pulled.

Perhaps the cleanest place in Metro Manila...

sw733 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:16 pm

Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 39):
Well, there's good food, at least. I'll give it that. Hmmm... that's pretty much it.

But living there? No way; having to have a car decreases my quality of life tremendously... And I hear there are much worse places in the USA. Don't like the people there, either, I have to say.

Yeah, typical American suburban towns/cities=no way!

It's not even about crime; Chicago's perfectly fine, aside from the weather...

Fair enough. I'm just trying to defend the city I live in and love.

zckls04 · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:26 pm

The places I least want to return to:

Houston
Toulouse
Las Vegas (although I've been 3 times I'm pretty much done with it now)
Naples
Samara

This poorly-titled article has a few others:

http://www.gadling.com/2012/01/06/wo...laces-you-do-not-want-to-visit-in/

Superfly · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:30 pm

Quoting seb146 (Reply 30):
Yes, because you had the good sense to leave!

Actually my parents did. I was still a kid when we moved.
The neighborhood I grew up is trying to leave Gary and become it's own city - Miller Beach.
It's still relatively nice and has great beaches, large custom homes on large lots, lots of trees and the sand dunes.

Quoting klmcedric (Reply 25):
I just can't believe that people are mentioning cities like NY

I have a love/hate view of New York.
The part I like of New York is the Caribbean parts of Brooklyn. The people there are friendly, down to earth with lots of random greasy spoon restaurants and I like the illegal taxis that run up & down Atlantic bl.
The part of New York I can't stand is the part that everyone goes to visit - Manhattan.
It's unnecessarily abrasive, people are full of themselves, arrogant, the place is dirty and very expensive. I can deal with it for about 2 days and that's about it.

canoecarrier · Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:32 pm

Quoting SW733 (Reply 31):
You really hate KC, don't you? I've been here for 10 years and love it.

I'm with you on that. I really like KC, more so than St. Louis. I suppose if you spent your time in KC on Troost and Prospect you'd hate it, but the people are nice and every point but southeast of the city center is decent.

Quoting seb146 (Reply 30):
Quoting Superfly (Reply 7):
I was born & raised in Gary, Indiana and look at how I turned out.

Yes, because you had the good sense to leave!

You beat me too it. He loved it so much he moved out of the country to get away from Gary.

dc9northwest · Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:05 pm

Quoting canoecarrier (Reply 48):
I'm with you on that. I really like KC, more so than St. Louis. I suppose if you spent your time in KC on Troost and Prospect you'd hate it, but the people are nice and every point but southeast of the city center is decent.

The city doesn't really have a positive personality to it. The southeast side certainly has a negative personality attached, but what about the rest? Suburbia is bland no matter where in the world it is.

I just don't see its redeeming qualities! What neighborhoods would you like to take a walk through in KC? To see some architecture, for example? All you have, really, is downtown, which wasn't exactly the place to be when I was there... Plaza? Just an open-air shopping mall. Then again, that's not something only against KC, it's about most of America. Westport?

Boring...

Quoting SW733 (Reply 45):
Fair enough. I'm just trying to defend the city I live in and love.

I'm glad you live some place you enjoy. KC ate up 4 years of my life, 4 years that I haven't enjoyed too much... It's not the city's fault but it sure didn't help.

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