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"From 31 to 41 Countries Visited: )"
(set 7 days ago)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by botticelli
Is Amsterdam "overrated"? I never had any interest in it. Especially when I heard everyone in Amsterdam speaks perfect English. I wouldn't want to visit such a city (same applies to Oslo, Stockholm etc.)
Not having been to all your "underrated" ones, but the Portuguese cities are definitely underrated. Everyone who has been to Madrid rave about it, most like it better than Barcelona. I probably will check it out it as well as Lyon later this year.
I met someone on a train who just visited Budapest and his opinion was a "meh". Outside the most touristy areas the city is pretty rundown according to him. I personally have been to Milan - not bad but really too pricey for what it actually offers. We went to it only because flight back to Paris was much cheaper than from Venice.
People from North America probably talk too much with anything Amsterdam related. Occasionally getting too much attention at times. Visitors says nightlife doesn't reach the epic reputation, architecture lacks Baroque or Nouveau favorite versions of European architecture, and obnoxiously too much chain stores in the wrong city. Independent Store Scene sometimes get interrupted, and the Independent Cafe scene is not enough of a ubiquitous phenomenon.
I feel the same on not wanting to encounter too much English when I am traveling to another country. What is your native language outside of English? I am technically bilingual with English, and Romanian.
Madrid in retrospect has more respect, and thought highly of when people visit each city Madrid or Barcelona if someone is not too magnetically drawn to the beach city atmosphere. Decentralized cities are sometimes making cities even more worthwhile outside of the main tourist zones. Extremely mixed opinions on Budapest.
I wonder what Turin Italy is resembling compared to Milan Italy, and how identical or separate they are in reality when visiting.
Just got back from Prague for the first time and I wasn't very impressed overall.
Where to begin? Besides the crushing amount of tourists and all the tacky shops and museums looking to extract every koruna out of them, pricey admission to historic sites like the Castle and the Jewish Quarter, mobs of obnoxious drunken kids(Brits seemed to be the most represented), groups of Segway riders zipping recklessly out of nowhere, Thai massage shops in the center of medieval historic districts, "absinthe" shops that were basically head shops that sell things like cannabis lolipops, prostitutes and shady looking guys hanging around Wenceslas Square after midnight...but honestly, the worst thing was the amount of tourists.
As a positive note, the architecture of the place is absolutely stunning. I expected the medieval stuff and it was nice, but I was floored by the amount of Art Nouveau achitecture in the city. It's the most ornate city I've been to so far by quite a stretch. The service was also not too bad. I've heard Czechs can be quite difficult but most seemed quite friendly despite dealing with thousands of tourists.
I enjoyed the Mucha Museum although the price of admission was a little high for such a small museum. The Jewish Quarter was interesting but again, I'm not sure it was nearly worth the $20 price of admission when you can see religious sites in other cities for free. The Castle was ok. St. Vitus was stunning. Still, at about $15 not really much else worth seeing. Food isn't too terribly cheap as I learned after paying $10 for a bowl of potatoes, kraut, and ham(it was good though). Beer is cheap though. Literally cheaper than water. And there are a handful of cool bars.
I prefer Budapest by far. The tourists don't overpower the city and I would love to live there. Paris is a better value, even with higher lodging costs. The Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, and Les Invalides are without question worth their prices of admission.
Just got back from Prague for the first time and I wasn't very impressed overall.
Where to begin? Besides the crushing amount of tourists and all the tacky shops and museums looking to extract every koruna out of them, pricey admission to historic sites like the Castle and the Jewish Quarter, mobs of obnoxious drunken kids(Brits seemed to be the most represented), groups of Segway riders zipping recklessly out of nowhere, Thai massage shops in the center of medieval historic districts, "absinthe" shops that were basically head shops that sell things like cannabis lolipops, prostitutes and shady looking guys hanging around Wenceslas Square after midnight...but honestly, the worst thing was the amount of tourists.
As a positive note, the architecture of the place is absolutely stunning. I expected the medieval stuff and it was nice, but I was floored by the amount of Art Nouveau achitecture in the city. It's the most ornate city I've been to so far by quite a stretch. The service was also not too bad. I've heard Czechs can be quite difficult but most seemed quite friendly despite dealing with thousands of tourists.
I enjoyed the Mucha Museum although the price of admission was a little high for such a small museum. The Jewish Quarter was interesting but again, I'm not sure it was nearly worth the $20 price of admission when you can see religious sites in other cities for free. The Castle was ok. St. Vitus was stunning. Still, at about $15 not really much else worth seeing. Food isn't too terribly cheap as I learned after paying $10 for a bowl of potatoes, kraut, and ham(it was good though). Beer is cheap though. Literally cheaper than water. And there are a handful of cool bars.
I prefer Budapest by far. The tourists don't overpower the city and I would love to live there. Paris is a better value, even with higher lodging costs. The Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, and Les Invalides are without question worth their prices of admission.
The OP here. I went back a second time, and all of the negatives you mentioned, are what I strongly felt the second time. I had the exact opposite feel about the city when I went back a second time.
It is still a great place, but, yeah, everyone trying to overcharge, AND definitely all of the shady characters who start walking around everywhere the moment the sun goes down.
Last time in Prague, had one of those shady characters threaten to kill me if he saw me again, simply for the reason that I didn't stop to hear his prostitute or drug sales pitch. Sheesh, do I really need that kind of threat, when I'm not interested in either. Can't I just walk around and look at stuff?
I also went to change money, and in fine print, they took an enormous amount of 'exchange fee', almost like open legal robbery. I think I might have posted about that a year ago or so in this thread, but it was something like 35 euro charge when exchanged a 100 euros. It was written on the wall in English, like on line #20 of a ton of other languages. One of those things you'd ignore, then whey you protest, it says no refunds, etc. etc.
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