Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Italy as a whole is pretty awful...except Florence, I really liked that city.
Poor infrastructure.
High prices for no reason, 5 Euro a day tourist tax for my room...no other country I've EVER been to has done that. I've been to 24 countries.
Generally really rude.
The siesta is really from 1-5pm since everyone takes it at different times. Spain is pretty set between 2-4pm.
All the touristy stuff is filled with add ons. Won't allow photos at alot of museums but you can buy photos at the gift shop, F off Italy.
My experience was totally opposite. We drove all around Tuscany, cinque terre, Rome, Venice and others. We found the food good and cheap and the people very friendly. We never encountered a rude Italian. We had no issues with their siestas. And I don't do museums much, so that was not an issue.
Regarding the hotel tax, you must have never stayed in expensive hotels. Five euros is cheap. It's quite common to pay 12% - 17% tax on hotel rooms here in the US. So that would be $36 - $54 on a $300 hotel room. Also, most hotel rates in Europe include a huge tax. In the UK it's 20%. In Ireland it's 22%. You are paying it but you just don't see it.
Quote:
Austria as a whole is super underrated. They focus on WWI history which is very refreshing compared to the rest of Europe.
Austria is the most expensive country in eastern europe by a wide margin. Fine dining was about double what we paid in Krakow. That was off putting for us.
Austria is the most expensive country in eastern europe by a wide margin. Fine dining was about double what we paid in Krakow. That was off putting for us.
I would expect prices of almost everything in wetern Europe
to be about double what they'd be in any city in Poland.
Austria is the most expensive country in eastern europe by a wide margin. Fine dining was about double what we paid in Krakow. That was off putting for us.
Maybe because Austria is obviously Western Europe?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greysholic
This so much. It just won't stop raining it's ridiculous.
Just chiming in to say that I still didn't like London that much when it wasn't raining. It's so ridiculously expensive - much more so than other cities of its own league, id est Paris. It's not even about GBP being a lot stronger than Euro, I just don't get why many of the sight-seeing spots charge that much.
Oh and the public transportation is just as unreasonably pricey: the metro system, while pretty decent, is so, so, so, so expensive. Don't even get me started on the trains to somewhere else(eg Cambridge), it was like 3 times as expensive as the ones in France.
I guess I'm just on some sort of hating-London rampage. Sorry if anyone here is a big fan of the city.
And I don't think I'll ever visit Switzerland or Norway. London is bad enough, I don't need some Zurich or Oslo prices. Ew.
Last edited by Greysholic; 08-21-2015 at 04:50 PM..
I am proud to say I love London. I have spent over several weeks there at different times over the last few decades and have been completely satisfied with every trip. Yes it can be pricey just like many big cities, but doing a little work ahead of time can make it a pretty affordable trip.
Other cities that get my vote are; Brussels, Salzburg, Munich, Dublin and Rome.
I've been to expensive hotels, I know Las Vegas does the "tourist" tax but it really felt like "foreigner" tax. And they wanted to take my hotel room key when I left the hotel for the day. Huh? No, I don't want to check in every single time I do something outside the hotel.
Went to get pizza, the restaurants only made pizza for dinner. They kept insisting I order pasta instead even though I really wanted pizza and pasta cost 5 euros more.
I can go on and on with Italy.
Milan is crazy boring.
Pisa is where I saw gypsies throw a fake baby in the air and attempt to see a purse from Japanese tourist.
Rome's public transport is the worst. They charge you for every little thing at the historic places. Fee to get in, fee for a map, fee for a guide.
Venice and Naples are completely disgusting.
Prices are nearly as high as France even though its nowhere near as strong financially.
People were very rude.
Americans have some weird love affair with Italy, I don't get it. Every time I say Italy is by far my least favorite country, it shocks people.
London (greatest city in the world), New York, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Dublin, Hong Kong, Boston, Seattle, Edinburgh
Worse:
Tokyo, Toronto (boring except for the amazing Chinese food), Guangzhou, Dallas, Minneapolis, Birmingham (UK), Helsinki, Bratislava
Special cases: I expect Paris to be paradise, but it's just pretty good
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
London Defender
