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Most boring places you've visited

snowstorm445

While we're all reminiscing about places we'd like to go back to after COVID subsides, is there anywhere you've been to that you found totally forgettable?

My own contender is Hannover in Germany - stopped there once out of curiosity on the way from Amsterdam to Berlin and I was pretty familiar with the name from history etc. Apart from an impressive city hall, and some nice palace gardens outside the city (pretty modest by German standards though), it was basically just filled with shopping streets. A few Germans I've talked to since told me it's a big hub for people travelling around Germany by train, but there's pretty much nothing there. And like a lot of German cities, it's historic parts were gutted by bombing in the war, and only some reconstructed facades remain.

Closer to home, I was in Sligo for the first time about two years ago. The county is lovely (Ben Bulben, Strandhill etc.) but Sligo town is pretty unremarkable tbh. Not shockingly boring, but not very memorable either. Plenty of Midland towns have a reputation for being fairly forgettable as well, but then that's fairly well known. :pac:

Any other nominations?

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Fiery mutant

Some of the places mentioned here are my favourite places ever. Bratislava I have been to loads, lovely city and If you make the effort with the language the people are great.

Brussels was a huge surprise for me, walked it for days on end and loved it to bits. Will definitely return.

Vienna, again walked for days on end and loved every step. The history and museums, architecture are phenomenal, friendly people who love to talk, and lovely restaurants made it so memorable for me.

forumdedum

Has anyone used the term 'dive' to describe a place on this thread yet?

Melanchthon

Suprised so many people mentioning Bratislava. The place has decent and cheap Nightlife.

Venice is odd, it's completely dead at night which is cool in its own way but there is actually a bit of nightlife in one of the squares near the university (I think).

McGinniesta

Warsaw is a horrible city.

I went to an Ireland match there and was very badly disappointed.

RandomViewer

MyLove4Satan wrote: »

Galway (the city). Not only the most over rated tourist destination in the world, but a place you can see and do everything there is to do there in about 15 to 25 mins.

IT IS CRAP. To the point whereby if someone tells me 'Galway is amazing' I assume that they have either never been anywhere else, or think that the totality of human experience revolves around a few pubs and not much else.

Galway is actually a national embarrassment and no one wants to admit it. Like a family member we all know is a loser but service their self-delusions out of kindness.

Went to Galway for a few day's in 2019, the crusties hanging about was off putting but it's nowhere near as boring as any of the Midland towns

Mad_maxx

RandomViewer wrote: »

Went to Galway for a few day's in 2019, the crusties hanging about was off putting but it's nowhere near as boring as any of the Midland towns

Nobody rates midland towns ,everyone gushes over Galway

josip

McGinniesta wrote: »

Warsaw is a horrible city.

I went to an Ireland match there and was very badly disappointed.

Yes, the only city we left early when Interrailing back in the 90s.

EmmetSpiceland

Mad_maxx wrote: »

everyone gushes over Galway

Too many liberals?

McGinniesta

josip wrote: »

Yes, the only city we left early when Interrailing back in the 90s.

It's a horrible place. To make matters worse I couldn't get a flight home from Warsaw and had to drive to Lodz.

That's worse.

If there was a ever a city caught in a time warp then it is Lodz.

McGinniesta

Glasgow is dreadful.

It's remarkably dreary.

[Deleted User]

Anybody been to FIJI?
Time seems to stand still

Brian?

josip wrote: »

How have so many people spent time in Holyhead?
Did ye all take a boat trip over to see it for the day(s) ?
I've only ever passed through, and then along the road to and from the terminal.
Usually driving considerably faster on the way back.

I was driving back from Glastonbury, booked a late ferry to be sure I'd make it after 5 days absolutely caning it. Made it very very early.

daheff

School tour to poulaphuca power station. Absolutely not what 3rd class boys have any interest in.

[Deleted User]

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Too many liberals?

Give it a rest FFS.

Back on track. Galway is great fun for a night out.

I’m from the Whest, but would never move back. It just rains too much for my liking.

Lola40

Bratislava was horrendous. The food and the people were as boring as the place itself. You couldn’t find any sort of atmosphere for love or money.

Side note: have to agree with people who said New Zealand as a country. I lived there for 6 months and found it like a crapper version of Ireland.

Gavlor

Great thread!

Rotterdam in the winter is the answer. Misery.

Leeds on a Sunday evening is up there too.

Church on Tuesday

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Nobody rates midland towns ,everyone gushes over Galway

It's a vastly overrated place.

I lived there for a few years and really there isn't much to do outside of drinking in old man pubs.

If you're a tourist visiting for the first time you will have everything done in about 2-3 hours. It's the cinemas or pub/restaurant/bowling after that but any half decent town has that. The theater is an option I guess.

Best to try visit when a festival is on.

Look, it's a grand enough looking small city and it has a certain charm but it's expensive and only getting worse and basically it rains all the time.

[Deleted User]

pauliebdub wrote: »

Dusseldorf and Frankfurt were both very dull cities that I wouldn't return to. In Frankfurts case the nearby city of Mainz was much nicer.

Went to Düsseldorf on a stag a few years back, thought it was great fun with loads of bars, that said I’m not sure it would be great if it wasn’t a drinking trip.

It was a little bit on the rough side as well, a bit edgy I guess you could say

As a few others mentioned Adelaide is incredibly boring. It’s actually a lovely city, very clean, nice parks, lovely cricket ground but it’s just a bit soulless.

Beechwoodspark

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Bratislava is a kip alright, richman sandwiches, a chicken fillet roll is better

Yeah. Was on a stag few years ago there. The local tour guide kept praising this rich man sandwich “you MUST try this wow”. We were expecting great things with all the talk of it

They go on about it as if it some great gourmet food you are lucky to have a chance to experience

It’s basically a Chicken fillet roll like you get in spar but with loads of Mayo and shredded garlick cabbage

My one was drowning in an awful dill sauce

Muck. Never again.

EmmetSpiceland

Hamachi wrote: »

Give it a rest FFS.

Back on track. Galway is great fun for a night out.

I’m from the Whest, but would never move back. It just rains too much for my liking.

Whoa, cool the jets there, amigo.

I don’t mind Galway, was just repeating something that user had said previously about the “place”.

Been there for a couple of stags, always had fun. I mean, would be great if more of the “crusties” took a wash more regularly but that’s only a minor detail.

[Deleted User]

tommybrees wrote: »

Anybody been to FIJI?
Time seems to stand still

I really don't think cities or countries in "the developing world" should be included in this.

I've been to Suva the capital of Fiji.
It's dead at night, but equally The Lonely Planet advises people not to walk the streets at night.
And in reality there is little to do at night that would be comparable to a "first world" city.

I was in Port Morsbey, Papua New Guinea for a week.
I just shuttled between hotel and work.
The advise was not to go out of the hotel grounds for safety reasons, but at the same time there was nothing in the city that would be of any attraction to a western visitor.

Same with India, amazing country in many aspects, but don't expect European city life day or night.

Parachutes

Thought Prague was very rough and overpriced. Wouldn’t go back again way better European cities to go and see.

lintdrummer

Don't get the hate for Vienna many here have expressed. I was there years ago in July for a few days and we had a great time. There was a park near our hotel and for 3 months solid it was used as a free open air festival of sorts. Loads of pop up bars and food stalls from all over the world and at the end an open air cinema showing various movies and concerts every night. Had a blast.

Toronto is up there as most boring place I've been. Was only transiting through but had a night to kill there both ways and it was terribly dull. Seemed to be nobody on the streets and the only place we found a decent bar was in a shopping centre.

Hartford Connecticut takes the biscuit though. The city centre is just a business district for the insurance industry and I literally couldn't even find a café to get breakfast until I discovered one on Tripadvisor that was essentially a cafeteria in an office building. West Hartford was decent for food and drinks in the evening but it's a good spin in an Uber. The only interesting thing I found to do was the museum under the city hall. That had an oddball collection of some interesting stuff and killed an hour or so.

josip

Lola40 wrote: »

Bratislava was horrendous. The food and the people were as boring as the place itself. You couldn’t find any sort of atmosphere for love or money.

Side note: have to agree with people who said New Zealand as a country. I lived there for 6 months and found it like a crapper version of Ireland.

Spent 3 months travelling around from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
We found the South Island was strongly influenced by Scottish Presbyterian settlers, not known for their mad social life.
The North Island has more influence from the Islanders, but that brings an edginess in certain places, especially if there’s alcohol around.

The places where we had friends really helped to liven up somewhere that would otherwise be very boring.
Eg. Hamilton on a Wednesday night you wouldn’t expect much from, but if you knew which pub had the stripper from Auckland in that night playing strip pool for the evening, you’d have a fairly good laugh. Better than watching some Australian Rugby League on the pub TV anyway.
Also places where we stayed in hostels we had a more social time, both in the hostel itself and from recommendations.
Places we stayed in hotel/motel it was always harder to get in touch with local activity.

Lived in Queenstown for 6 months over autumn and winter and there were 3 social scenes there.
Tourists passing through for a few days hell bent on living to the max.
Transient workers like ourselves there for a few months/years who had a very good social life.
Long term locals whose highlight of the week would be a new product appearing on the shelf of the local supermarket or a shopping trip up the road to Cromwell.

completedit

Parachutes wrote: »

Thought Prague was very rough and overpriced. Wouldn’t go back again way better European cities to go and see.

Hmmm. Depends where you go. It's still cheapish but if you're in and around the tourist spots its pretty expensive. Also, it can be a bit shady depending on where you are in the city. But it is my favourite city in the world. Letna park in the summer is just the perfect drinking spot.

Mad_maxx

Lola40 wrote: »

Bratislava was horrendous. The food and the people were as boring as the place itself. You couldn’t find any sort of atmosphere for love or money.

Side note: have to agree with people who said New Zealand as a country. I lived there for 6 months and found it like a crapper version of Ireland.

the South Island of New Zealand is incredibly beautiful but the people are incredibly dull , mostly Scots Presbyterian stock , North Island is better in that sense.

Mad_maxx

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

It's a vastly overrated place.

I lived there for a few years and really there isn't much to do outside of drinking in old man pubs.

If you're a tourist visiting for the first time you will have everything done in about 2-3 hours. It's the cinemas or pub/restaurant/bowling after that but any half decent town has that. The theater is an option I guess.

Best to try visit when a festival is on.

Look, it's a grand enough looking small city and it has a certain charm but it's expensive and only getting worse and basically it rains all the time.

fully agree , you also forgot to mention the awful traffic , worse than Dublin considering the size of the place.

Galway city is incredibly self satisfied

Mad_maxx

Deleted User wrote: »

Went to Düsseldorf on a stag a few years back, thought it was great fun with loads of bars, that said I’m not sure it would be great if it wasn’t a drinking trip.

It was a little bit on the rough side as well, a bit edgy I guess you could say

As a few others mentioned Adelaide is incredibly boring. It’s actually a lovely city, very clean, nice parks, lovely cricket ground but it’s just a bit soulless.

Adelaide is very english , very polite , tidy , prim and proper , Christchurch is the NZ version of Adelaide

gmisk

lintdrummer wrote: »

Don't get the hate for Vienna many here have expressed. I was there years ago in July for a few days and we had a great time. There was a park near our hotel and for 3 months solid it was used as a free open air festival of sorts. Loads of pop up bars and food stalls from all over the world and at the end an open air cinema showing various movies and concerts every night. Had a blast.

Toronto is up there as most boring place I've been. Was only transiting through but had a night to kill there both ways and it was terribly dull. Seemed to be nobody on the streets and the only place we found a decent bar was in a shopping centre.

Hartford Connecticut takes the biscuit though. The city centre is just a business district for the insurance industry and I literally couldn't even find a café to get breakfast until I discovered one on Tripadvisor that was essentially a cafeteria in an office building. West Hartford was decent for food and drinks in the evening but it's a good spin in an Uber. The only interesting thing I found to do was the museum under the city hall. That had an oddball collection of some interesting stuff and killed an hour or so.

Toronto is a fantastic city tonnes to do, good shopping, amazing food, good bars, sound people, baseball, football etc. Literally one of my favourite cities I have been too. Good day trips as well to places like Niagara Falls/Niagara on the lake. I don't think a stopover for a night gives you much of a flavour of a place as big as Toronto.

Totally agree with you on Vienna though.

KaneToad

The Eagles wrote: »

Budapest. Very nice city to look at but didn't seem to be much of a nightlife. Bars were dead and the only action going were the clipper joint scam girls. Maybe I just unlucky?

Second night I was there I went back to the hotel early. Called up a prostitute and had a decent ride so the weekend wasn't a total washout.

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