My wife and I have been lucky enough to travel to 26 countries around the world, what cities did u hate or was disappointed in and loved, I didn’t like London, Los Angeles, but loved New York, Paris, Rome, Venice. What’s yours.
London, Chicago, Tokyo, New Orleans, New York, Las Vegas, Rome, and Venice are some of the most beautiful and fascinating places I’ve ever been. If someone offered me a guaranteed, full-time job at a middle-class income in any of those cities, I would move there tomorrow.
Paris, to me, was “meh.” Other than sitting atop the Sacre Couer at dusk and watching the sun set and the lights come on (which was breathtaking), I found it kind of dull.
I found Amsterdam and Florence similarly dull; mostly art museums on a city-wide scale.
Osaka is probably awesome, but it was super cold and I was in a bad mood when I was there, so that has clouded my view.
Madrid and Sevilla were “meh,” but they hold a special place in my heart because, down to the last person, the Spaniards were exceptionally warm and friendly.
Orlando (the city itself, not the surrounding tourist attractions) is pretty dull, too. And super hot. And the traffic!
My top three faves:
Cape Town is heavenly. Set like a jewel between mountains and sea, it feels young and vibrant. Love it! Probably my favorite city.
I loved Beijing. I happened to be there on a rare blue-sky week with good weather, so that helped. Beijing seethes with history, while still feeling young and hip.
Pondicherry in India is a beautiful place. Good food and a nice promenade by the sea. It’s hard to complain.
I can’t think of many places I don’t like. I spent a few hours in Bordeaux and it seemed seedy. Geneva is boring and far too restrained. And Chongqing is a festering post-apocalyptic wound on the Earth.
I adore London and think it’s one of the greatest cities on Earth. Possibly the greatest.
I had a great morning in Ghent one year on Easter Sunday sitting in a square and listening to the church bells start tolling across the city.
On the other hand, in Cairo I had terrible allergies the entire time and, while the pyramids and such are astonishing, I was ready to leave pretty quickly.
I’ve been to 87 countries.
Loved:
- Esfahan, Iran
- Sana’a, Yemen
- Male, Maldives
- Tbilisi, Georgia
- Istanbul, Turkey
Didn’t Like (hate is too strong):
- Bratislava, Slovakia
- Belgrade, Serbia
- London, England
- Cochin, India
- Tunis, Tunisia
I didn’t see much of Tunis itself, but loved the Bardo mosaic museum, and of course, the Carthage excavations.
Agreed. Tunis itself was a disappointment though. I did like that the trian made it easy to get to Carthage.
Cities that have surpassed my expectations include London, Paris, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, and Hangzhou.
Cities that underwhelmed me include Venice, Los Angeles, Macao, and Suzhou.
Los Angeles was the biggest disappointment for me, all my life i wanted to go , but no glitz and glamor , I’ll tell u that, very dirty city, but i loved New York so much, probably my favourite city in the world to visit then Paris.
Venice could sink into the Adriatic tomorrow and I would care in the least. Hated that city. Athens didn’t do much for me either, although I absolutely love the rest of Greece and most of the rest of Italy.
Domestically, they could nuke Miami and I wouldn’t blink.
Cities I absolutely love include London, Paris, Vienna, San Antonio, San Diego and Las Vegas.
Love Kyoto and Denver.
Hate Philadelphia and KC.
New York and Tokyo are OK I suppose but I’m in no rush to go back.
Best:
Florence, Sienna , Lucca,
Vienna, Munich ,Nuremberg ,
York, Chester , Dublin, Edinburgh, Prague , Dubrovnik,
San Francisco, Chicago, Madison, Wisconsin, Boston , Seattle , Portland, Maine.
Marrakech , Seville Christchurch NZ
Worse:
Ryaidh , Yambu, Damamm(KSA)
Gladstone, Australia , Naples , Tangiers ,
Nashville, Atlanta , Houston
I’m sure there are others …
Like/Love:
Cleveland (best location, in the nation!)
NYC
Chicago
Toronto
Esfahan
Washington, DC
New Orleans
San Francisco
Pittsburgh
Las Vegas
San Juan, PR
Ann Arbor
Minneapolis
Montreal
Meh:
Denver
Detroit
St. Louis
Orlando
Columbus
Los Angeles
Windsor, ON
St. Paul, MN
Yuck:
Gary, IN
Indianapolis
Cincinnati
Atlanta
Tuscaloosa
It’s no coincidence that my favorite cities are usually great food cities. Among my favorites:
Chicago, Istanbul, Singapore, Budapest and Tallinn.
My least favorites were probably Bangkok, Novosibirsk and Indianapolis.
I lived in London for a college semester abroad and just loved it. (“When you’re tired of London, you’re tired of life,” quoth Dr. Johnson). So much history, great architecture, high-stakes politics, culture, arts, music, etc.
I always enjoy visiting Washington, D.C. for much the same reasons. Gives me a little patriotic shiver down my spine every time.
Had a long weekend with a college friend in Paris and liked it, too.
New York City is much better since the Giuliani years. I’m always happy to visit.
Cleveland and Pittsburgh are similar towns (sports rivalries aside) and have a lot to offer. Chicago is them on a grand scale; my family had a great visit there a few years ago.
Vancouver, B.C. and Portland, Ore. struck me as very clean, beautiful cities during brief visits there a few years ago.
Hated? Well, I lived just outside of, and worked in, Detroit for awhile during the 1988 Presidential campaign, and it sucked. I hear it’s gotten no better since.
I’ve been to Italy many times, and this is surprising even to me, but my favorite city there is Trieste. The architecture of the piazza, the layout of the city (on a mountainside along the sea, very steep hills), its very colorful history, its cathedral with Byzantine mosaics…I just love it. Its wiki page states, “In 2012 Lonely Planet.com listed the city of Trieste as the world’s most underrated travel destination.” Not a surprise. I’ve been all over Europe and the US, and it’s probably my favorite city I’ve ever visited.
(Although I loved living in Boston. That’s my favorite US city.)
Least favorite city I’ve ever been to is Las Vegas. One giant strip-mall.
I love love love Naples. It’s not picture taking pretty, but it has stolen my heart. I love Rome as well. I do imagine neither would be easy to actually live in, though. I also like Amsterdam, but I’m Dutch and probably see different parts of it and in a different way.
I’m currently living half an hour from Venice and therefore have figured out ways to avoid it driving me insane. It’s stunningly beautiful, but I can also see that on the wrong day (heat or pouring rain) and in the wrong places (Venetians are not shy about taking the tourist buck) it could be aggravating.
I don’t like Dublin. People are friendly and Guinness is a good thing, but I think it’s not particularly beautiful, there’s not all that much to see or do compared to similarly sized European cities and it’s very expensive - can never figure what all the tourists are doing there.
Cities I loved:
Paris
Cuzco, Peru
Quito, Ecuador
Antigua, Guatemala
Granada, Nicaragua
Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Cape Town, South Africa
Cities I hated:
Lagos, Nigeria :eek:
New Delhi, India
Lima, Peru
Caracas, Venezuela
Mexico City
Guatemala City
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Like a few people in the thread, I didn’t care much for Venice. Maybe good to visit for a day for the novelty of it but the city itself did nothing for me and anything over a day is too long. Rome was a little disappointing, very dirty and every available surface covered in graffiti. Domestically, neither my wife or I much enjoyed Boston when we were there. I can’t pinpoint a reason although it didn’t help that everyone we met seemed to have a chip on their shoulder about something.
I enjoyed Florence, Paris and London.
Loved
San Francisco
New York
Sydney
Aspen
London
Aberdeen
Helsinki
St. Petersburg ( Russia )
Vaitape
Hated ( maybe too strong a word. )
Houston
Phoenix
Bangkok
Miami
Rio de Janeiro
Lagos
Mumbai