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Columbia is a small city, not a large metro, nor even mentioned in terms of desirability with Charlotte, Orlando or Tampa. Not sure why to even bring it up? Florida is also much more desirable than NC. What would somebody do in the middle of South Carolina? I could do Charlotte, Orlando or Tampa if it came down to it for a couple of years. I'd rather live in a van down by the river than live in Columbia, probably lots of people feel this way also. It's something like Athens combining with Atlanta, yeah, they combined, so what. They are both small time SEC football cities.
I live in Orlando. This place is overrated by far. It gets it hype from Disney, which is alright IMO. There's some nice areas like downtown and Winter Park and UCF. But overall it's a large suburb with pretty bad traffic, unless you're on a tollway. Still, I think Orlando is better than average, just overhyped because of Disney.
Overrated - in general, Florida. Orlando. It's the people that are the problem in FL. Too many bad attitudes, usually not from native Floridians.
Underrated/Unnecessarily hated - Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta, Charlotte. Most people show up with some predetermined bias about these places (no walkability, Southern culture, sprawl) and then just find some thing within the city that confirms it. Yes, these places do have all of those things, but you should be trying to find something you like in the city. People are constantly commenting on stuff that they saw one time when they drove through/visited on a business trip/landed at the airport. I've been to every city but Charlotte and there are parts in each that can compete with any US city.
Saying Tampa/Orlando is like saying Baton Rouge/New Orleans. Tampa is 80 plus miles away from Orlando and New Orleans is the same with Baton Rouge. They should all stand alone. I also don't see how Tampa is underrated.
Underrated/Unnecessarily hated - Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Atlanta, Charlotte. Most people show up with some predetermined bias about these places (no walkability, Southern culture, sprawl) and then just find some thing within the city that confirms it. Yes, these places do have all of those things, but you should be trying to find something you like in the city. People are constantly commenting on stuff that they saw one time when they drove through/visited on a business trip/landed at the airport. I've been to every city but Charlotte and there are parts in each that can compete with any US city.
I grew up in Arizona, and I go back a couple time a year to visit friends and family, and IMO there is nothing worth while about Phoenix. The Coronado district and a couple blocks in Tempe are okay, but really that's all. There's nothing there but bad weather from April through October, chain restaurants, crabby Midwesterners, indoor shopping malls, retirement communities, and gulf courses.
Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa, and --yes-- even Charlotte are all far more interesting, far more more diverse, and far more so cultured places to visit and live.
I grew up in Arizona, and I go back a couple time a year to visit friends and family, and IMO there is nothing worth while about Phoenix. The Coronado district and a couple blocks in Tempe are okay, but really that's all. There's nothing there but bad weather from April through October, chain restaurants, crabby Midwesterners, indoor shopping malls, retirement communities, and gulf courses.
Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa, and --yes-- even Charlotte are all far more interesting, far more more diverse, and far more so cultured places to visit and live.
Eh. I disagree. I thought that about Phoenix before I went there and I surprised when I visited. Personally, I think bad weather exists in the winter months (I can deal with heat), so Phoenix is excellent between October and April. The underrated parts about Phoenix are Scottsdale and the natural environment. Scottsdale was the perfect mix of urban and suburban for me, plus the amenities there were perfect as well. Then there are so many things to do around Phoenix that don't get talked about for some reason: hiking, camping, biking, and Flagstaff/Grand Canyon being 2-3 hours away. Tampa and Charlotte definitely aren't more interesting than Phoenix IMO. Tampa has very little culture if any (sorry people from Tampa), and I've met enough crabby non-native Floridians in Central FL already that I don't even notice them in Phoenix. I would agree that Houston and Dallas are more cultured than Phoenix, but I lived in Texas for 18 years and got tired of it. Atlanta is also underrated but the traffic is what has me at odds with the city. Also, all of the cities listed have a high number of chain restaurants, but I found great Hispanic food (my favorite) in Dallas, Phoenix, and Houston.
Eh. I disagree. I thought that about Phoenix before I went there and I surprised when I visited. Personally, I think bad weather exists in the winter months (I can deal with heat), so Phoenix is excellent between October and April. The underrated parts about Phoenix are Scottsdale and the natural environment. Scottsdale was the perfect mix of urban and suburban for me, plus the amenities there were perfect as well. Then there are so many things to do around Phoenix that don't get talked about for some reason: hiking, camping, biking, and Flagstaff/Grand Canyon being 2-3 hours away. Tampa and Charlotte definitely aren't more interesting than Phoenix IMO. Tampa has very little culture if any (sorry people from Tampa), and I've met enough crabby non-native Floridians in Central FL already that I don't even notice them in Phoenix. I would agree that Houston and Dallas are more cultured than Phoenix, but I lived in Texas for 18 years and got tired of it. Atlanta is also underrated but the traffic is what has me at odds with the city. Also, all of the cities listed have a high number of chain restaurants, but I found great Hispanic food (my favorite) in Dallas, Phoenix, and Houston.
With the exception of a wide variety of high-end shopping, the northern suburbs of Tucson (Catalina Foothills) have everything that Scottsdale has but are much closer to far bigger mountains. In terms of outdoors stuff, the Tucson area offers so much so much more than Phoenix, from hiking to horse racing to vineyards to skiing, and for that reason, I've always found Phoenix to be overrated, especially in regards to nature.
I do agree with your comment on Tampa, when I wrote my earlier post I had let me profound love for Cuban food outweigh rationality. But, yeah, Tampa's pretty bad.
Houston is both the most underrated yet severely hyped city in the country right now. For one it gets literally no cred in the mainstream media, it's as though it doesn't even exist in popular films and tv unless a stereotype is invoked. Its a major cosmopolitan city that's bourgeoning on becoming world class.
Now with that being said, there are those boosters who already think Houston has arrived. They tout how world class it is now but the city clearly has a long way to go. Its great for young professionals and families right now but it's lacking in a lot of things that make a world class city. For now it's still stuck in that practical city stage.
I'm not sure about underrated, but Atlanta is certainly the most overrated major city in the South. Aside from strip of tall buildings in the center city the rest of the MSA very boring and sprawled out. And to be honest downtown isn't even that fun unless you like spending money and/or partying. I was surprised the first time I realized what they considered the metro Atlanta area to actually consist of, because many of the outer counties in the MSA have an abundance of farmland and don't even seem to fit.
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