Name a world famous city you've visited where you cannot seem to find what is so great about it? (price, shop)
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Exceeded Expectations:
Madrid (absolutely stunning, comfortable, vibrant city with cheap prices. I even found a local restaurant and became obsessed with Madrid culture not even 4 days into trip… now in Day 15 i dont want to leave… )
Lisbon
Barcelona
Oporto
Munich
Dublin
Vienna
Innsbruck
Salzburg
Öbersalzburg
Bilbao
Brisbane
Savannah GA
San Diego
Buffalo (i thought it was a dead city like SYR. Nope.)
Met expectations: (range from Amsterdam where i thought very highly of it and was equally as impressed to Dallas where I wasn’t expecting much and left feeling the same way)
Amsterdam
Prague
Berlin
Köln
Düsseldorf
Frankfurt
Rome
Seville
Valencia
Sydney
Beijing
Los Angeles
Chicago
Philadelphia
Boston
Miami
Atlanta
Charlotte
Dallas
To name a few… but im more skewed to Iberian cities since im Iberian American and bilingual in Spanish and learning Portuguese and German (hopefully by 2025 i will be fluent. Its a goal..) i prefer non anglo countries and cities to anglo ones. But again, personal preference. I also have a weird kink for anything German
But if you want my top 5 cities in the world id move to tomorrow if i could, they would be:
1. Lisbon
2. Munich
3. Madrid
4. Chicago
5. Berlin, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Köln, or Oporto (oportos airport is a holdback though…)
In the next 12 months I plan on visiting Athens, Hamburg and maybe Scotland depending on how things work. So we shall see.
So, it seems like you're a fan of mid-sized to somewhat large cities.
What did you find about Lisbon or Munich that was so much superior to New York City or London?
So, it seems like you're a fan of mid-sized to somewhat large cities.
What did you find about Lisbon or Munich that was so much better than New York City or London?
I like New York, Paris and Beijing. New York I dont love to the hype it gets, but its a place i do like. I just think, generally, Mid Size cities generally have more quality than the big cities. In other words, the best of the best ive seen.. have been larger mid size cities.
For Iberian cities.. a combination of late lifestyle (9/10pm dinners), style of buildings/layout/topography/culture, And the price of things were a fraction of what they were in NYC or Londres. I could eat+buy more for a fraction. I ate at a 4.9/5 restaurant that served the best Italian ive ever had in Madrid.. the meal was €12. I just find the food, wether it be on the go.. or casual dine in, be a lot better in Munich and Madrid (and Lisbon). Munich, i love the insanely high quality of life.. cleanliness of the city and just overall vibe. The transit system in both Madrid and Munich make me want to live in a train.
It shall be noted I dont really care for paying $25+ for a meal. I did that enough growing up in Boston and visiting a few places for work, and value cheaper eats and local spots. Michellin means nothing to me.
But I think its hard to ask what about Lisbon and Munich over London and New York. Since both Lisbon and Munich are very different places.. as are NYC and London. I guess the umbrella answer would be that I appreciated the cities not being ridiculously priced to enjoy more of what the city has to offer and the high quality of life some cities provide… coupled with cleanliness and culture they have. There are a couple of other factors like sterilization /corporate takeover of a city. The more local the better.. and how awesome the people are too
1. London (Boring... expensive, I found it to be dull and the food was not that great. And no, I am not going to a Michelin star restaurant or upscale dining for good food. I did not enjoy London on all 4 visits. I go out of my way to avoid it now. Im sure it has some redeeming qualities like its great architecture and plays/threatres, but its underwhelming.)
2. Shanghai (I found it sterile and westernized with all the bad qualities of Western culture. Much prefered Beijing... food was atrocious here and extremely dirty. I did like Nanjing. HOWEVER leaving downtown Shanghai, it gets pretty cool.)
3. Brussels (Probably 1 of 3 cities I genuinely do not like. Its lower on the list because there is less clout and fame over London or Shanghai. But this is one of my worst experiences travelling from getting screamed at in a McDonalds by homeless people for not giving them money to a random kid also yelling at passerbys for money to being so filthy.. its Europe's Philadelphia to me.)
4. San Francisco (It id decline... every time I visit it seems to decrease it rank for me. 5 years ago I would have given it a 9, now its a solid 5.)
5. New York City (Overrated, I live in/around it now ... nothing special. Its the definition of quantity over quality. Its dirty, large swaths of land have no access to transit which is frequently delayed, the airports are atrocious and are only accessible by airtrain, the city needs work. Its also sterilizing and becoming less unique over time. I do like it, but its just overhyped by groupthink)
Honorable Mention: Zurich
Ive enjoyed about 90% of where I have visited now that ive been to about ~40 countries and 200+ cities...but the top 3 on the list I genuinely do not like.
I largely agree:
OVERRATED:
LONDON: Very pretentious, expensive and just average for a city that constantly tell itself how great is. I always have a feeling when in London that they are trying to be better than Paris by imitating aspects of NY but it falls flat because it still lacks the charming chaos of Paris, and the eclectic factor of NYC.
SHANGHAI : Imitation of the western world, I agree.
SAN FRANCISCO: Dirty, pretentious, elitist, boring, champagne socialist.
TORONTO: Feels a bit sterile, just another north American city with a waterfront, full of glass skyscrapers and a grid street system.
------------------------------------------------------------------ UNDERRATED:
MEXICO CITY : A city the magnitude of NYC or London that has tons of art, culture, history, architecture, food, yet it rarely registers on the radar.
BUENOS AIRES : What Western Europe was before it got so globalized and multikulti.
In the USA ironically, EL PASO out of all places it's one severely underrated city.... it is full of culture, nice architecture, beautiful weather, quite safe, excellent top notch local food, tons of art and culture, and affordable.
-----
Why is London overrated?
expensive
the culture it offers is largely artificially constructed and based on myths largely pushed by the tourism industry.
- Pay an exorbitant amount of money to see the jewelry of the Royals.
- Visit the otherwise average street that inspired a famous piece of literature.
- Cross the zebra line where the beatles got a picture taken in the 60's.
- Visit the building that is mentioned in the novel of Charles Dickens....
London is like that obnoxious loud person that cannot shut up about how great it is, but everyone else is like MEEEH!!!
It is just so damn fake and pretentious I cannot stand it!
Compare that to Rome or Mexico city which actually offers ruins and a window into cultures that are long gone!!
On top of that, the british are pretty annoying with their "YOU MUST BE TROLLING, ONE CANNOT POSSIBLY NOT FIND LONDON UNBELIEVABLE!!!"
Definitely San Francisco, I always heard stories about how it was the most beautiful city in America, but when I visited I was extremely disappointed.
Terrible traffic, awful weather (it rained during most of my stay), mediocre architecture, etc. Besides I prefer cities that are flat.
Las Vegas was disappointing as well.
I’ve only been to San Francisco once, and I think that I built it up in my head as THE city in CA.
I can’t put my finger on it, but I guess that the word would be underwhelmed, but as I said, I can’t really say why I felt that way, but to be fair, L.A. didn’t knock my socks off either.
These things are all subjective, or one man’s meat is another man’s poison, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why or how anyone could be disappointed with London.
I wouldn’t claim it to be the gastronomical capital of the world, but we have some fantastic restaurants here.
Madrid probably doesn’t have as many five star restaurants, but Christ, their good ones are world beaters.
As far as I’m concerned, restaurant wise, nowhere can hold a candle to Paris, but you can find Cordon Bleu cooking all over France, Toulouse, Lyon, Bordeaux, Rennes, or if you stumble into a little town in Vienne, or Tarn et Garonne, it’s dollars to doughnuts that you’ll find an excellent bistro.
I have to say that I’ve loved NYC since 1976, but my favourite city in the U.S. is Savannah GA.
Back to your thread title, OP: Name a world famous city you've visited where you cannot seem to find what is so great about it?
If a city is world famous then the problem is with you, not the City. Some travellers are just born boring, and malcontent. Nothing excite them, especially things that are "not like back home".
Most of those people are just disinterested in the world other that their backyard. They don't understand architectural styles, the museums expositions, world history, local politics, customs and different lifestyles.
They spread negativities just about everything: houses too old, streets too narrow, food not tasty, crowds too smelly...
Such travellers will only look and appreciate things that are familiar. They will travel overseas to dine at McDonald's and everything will seem to weird and expensive.
Back to your thread title, OP: Name a world famous city you've visited where you cannot seem to find what is so great about it?
If a city is world famous then the problem is with you, not the City. Some travellers are just born boring, and malcontent. Nothing excite them, especially things that are "not like back home".
Most of those people are just disinterested in the world other that their backyard. They don't understand architectural styles, the museums expositions, world history, local politics, customs and different lifestyles.
They spread negativities just about everything: houses too old, streets too narrow, food not tasty, crowds too smelly...
Such travellers will only look and appreciate things that are familiar. They will travel overseas to dine at McDonald's and everything will seem to weird and expensive.
Quite sad...
Not really.. some cities are just overhyped from groupthink and leaves other cities seen as “less than” which is also quite sad. People were told cities like London or NYC were the best, but younger generations like myself.. challenge that.
Tokyo by a mile. We always read how Tokyo is a Mega-AlphadogAAA+++ city and it is super awesome in so many ways and yet utterly fails in one important area. For reasons that I can't comprehend our Tokyo brothers and sisters during heavy rains (3 or 4x per year) allow storm water run off to mix with sanitary sewage and with practically no other effort allow that junk to flow into Tokyo bay.
Yes it stinks. Yes it smells like a long clogged toilet. Apparently some 2021 Olympic swimming will take place on that cesspool.
'
US's most overrated cities IMO
1. LA
2. Sante FE
3. Miami and much of South Florida
4. Seattle
Most underrated US cities IMO
1. Pittsburg
2. Nashville - although the cat is significantly out of the bag at this point.
3. Steamboat Springs - push with Jackson Hole
4. And with a little geographical cheating there's nothing quite like Vancouver BC + Whistler/Blackcomb being about 90 minutes away.
Tokyo is a great city, but it's not a great travel destination.
For many industries, more than half of the top jobs are in Tokyo. Tokyo also has the best schools, the most power(it's the de facto capital), probably the best restaurants, etc.
Tokyo wasn't built by Disney to cater to tourists, it's where things happen in Japan.
Do you want to travel to Silicon Valley for pleasure? Neither do I, but Silicon Valley is great.
Back to your thread title, OP: Name a world famous city you've visited where you cannot seem to find what is so great about it?
If a city is world famous then the problem is with you, not the City. Some travellers are just born boring, and malcontent. Nothing excite them, especially things that are "not like back home".
Most of those people are just disinterested in the world other that their backyard. They don't understand architectural styles, the museums expositions, world history, local politics, customs and different lifestyles.
They spread negativities just about everything: houses too old, streets too narrow, food not tasty, crowds too smelly...
Such travellers will only look and appreciate things that are familiar. They will travel overseas to dine at McDonald's and everything will seem to weird and expensive.
Quite sad...
Don't worry it's just Irene and co putting the boot in.
London has nearly 20 million overseas visitors, which is more than it's rival cities, and it is a great city.
As for being very pretentious, what a load of nonsense, Londoners have had to huddle in bomb shelters together, have the cockney East End and the city was always considered more down to earth than other cities I could mention.
The culture also not largely artificially constructed and based on myths largely pushed by the tourism industry, it;s actually called history Irene, and you will find a lot of it in other cities such as Paris, whilst New York is far more exposed on the international stage and in movies and television.
In terms of food, there is some fantastic food and food markets such as Borough Market, and there is a constant list of activities, festivals and events.
London also has fantastic infrastructure, and anyone attacking the food, or infrastructure/architecture, hasn't even visited London or doesn't know the city well at all, although Irene seems to have scurried back under her rock when it comes to that one.
Perhaps they didn't like the Indian restaurants on Brick Lane, or Bagels, or Turkish and Greek food in the Green Lanes area, perhaps the food in China town wasn't good enough, or the Italian restaurants or French or Spanish restaurants or multitude of other restaurants from virtually every nationality you can think of just weren't good enough, and the same goes for the markets and street food.
Then again as you rightly point out, some travellers are just boring, as are some trolls like Irene.
Last edited by Brave New World; 07-17-2021 at 04:05 AM..
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