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It's true that Memphis, and Nashville to an extent, have more niched tourist experiences. Atlanta I can understand if you spent most of your time downtown; most folks don't get to experience the real Atlanta which can be found in Midtown and the surrounding neighborhoods but for many of those who do, they are impressed with what they experience. The Inner Harbor in Baltimore is quite touristy but I'm not sure what there's to do for tourists beyond that and certain areas of downtown.
Very true about Memphis and Nashville. Also, I'm in Atlanta all the time and I'm sorry, but I just don't see it as a very touristy city. I can see reasons why people might want to live there, but nothing really jumps out to specifically make one visit or spend a vacation there, and it's not necessarily a city I would live in. And as far as Baltimore, the Inner Harbor area is really the ONLY tourist friendly area that I am aware of, and no offense to people who love Baltimore, but beyond having that one tourist area, it's not even a city most people would want to live in.
I guess for me, if a city is a very livable city to me personally, it doesn't have to necessarily be a touristy city, because I can find plenty of things to enjoy about it regardless. So like I said, a lot of it depends on the person and the things they like (and dislike) about a city when they visit.
No Baltimore isn't a tourist attraction, I don't see why anyone in there right mind would think otherwise. It's a nice city and I personally have an attachment to it being from DC and all. The Baltimore aquarium is pretty cool and I used to go as a kid. Besides that.... No Baltimore isn't a touristy city. It's a place where people live and work, no one comes from another country to see Baltimore.
Also Memphis and Nashville are very much an acquired taste. It really caters to one type of setting.
Very true about Memphis and Nashville. Also, I'm in Atlanta all the time and I'm sorry, but I just don't see it as a very touristy city.
It's not touristy in a NOLA, Vegas, Orlando sort of way, but with all of the attractions it has amassed over the years (CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park, Georgia Aquarium, World of Coke, Center for Human and Civil Rights, College Football Hall of Fame, SkyView), plus things like the King Center, Carter Library, Stone Mountain, and Six Flags, and all of the huge events it hosts throughout the year (DragonCon, Gay Pride, TomorrowWorld, various sporting events, etc.), it's pretty touristy in that sense. And then there's the fact that it's the largest city within a 500 mile radius and attracts tons of people throughout the region for shopping, nightlife, weekend getaways, etc. But for the people who mainly stick to the downtown area, I can see how they might be bored since there's not a lot of nightlife or after hours pedestrian activity apart from the Pemberton Place (COP/WOC/aquarium) area. But if they venture to Midtown, Edgewood, Virginia-Highland, Little Five Points, Inman Park, etc., they'll have a lot more options in terms of things to do.
I've never been to San Jose, but it seems like the epitome of a boring city. At least it's close to San Francisco.
It's basically a giant suburb with one kinda cool outdoor shopping center called Santana Row. Besides that, it's all houses and downtown has basically nothing going on. "Close" is relative there. It's still a minimum of around like 45 miles from SF. Depending on how far south you are in SJ, it can be like 60 miles from SF. In traffic that can be like 2 hours. On the train, depending which train you can take, that is also around 2 hours, probably more.
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