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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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Cody montana

Milton Keynes
Brussels
The Midlands
Darwin

[Deleted User]

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

I believe he thinks Galway has “too many liberals” residing in it.

How many times have you posted that now? Dog and bone come to mind..

Mad_maxx

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Grand so. Il be back again after your next 100 posts complaining about the place to ask why you have such an odd obsession with it and where you come from yourself

no problem , chalk this post down as number one in the count towards one hundred

orangerhyme

I see Brussels mentioned a lot but I thought it was cool. Great beer, food, museum ,pubs etc. Beautiful city centre.

I think culturally it's much better than Dublin, not sure about nightlife.

My great idea for Dublin is to convert the BOI on College Green into a museum of Irish culture with live shows and changing exhibits. I think it'd be world class, could cover everything from trad music to cinema

vriesmays

RoscommonTom wrote: »

Waterford, nothing to do there and you can hardly understand any thing they say with the accents,

There are loads to do in Waterford: visit an airport with no planes, join a protest march for a 3rd-rate university, walk along Willkins Street and Summerville Avenue (the Bill Kenneally way).

EmmetSpiceland

orangerhyme wrote: »

I see Brussels mentioned a lot but I thought it was cool. Great beer, food, museum ,pubs etc. Beautiful city centre.

It’s a nice spot for a “flying visit”, there’s some nice old bars and a few spots of interest but once you go a little bit outside the tourist area it’s a grim place.

Bruges is a much nicer place for doing the Belgian “touristy” stuff. Actually, anywhere outside Brussels is.

breezy1985

Hulk Hands wrote: »

I love Limerick and spent years living there but you can't compare Limerick nightlife with Galway. It's lively for students but generally dead on the weekend and has little in the way of big summer festivals. It does have more touristy things to do though and a bigger city centre.

Cork is a proper city so you can't really compare. I never thought Corks nightlife was exceptional for its size but certainly not bad. I do think it's underrated as a destination in Ireland terms

Im confused which one are you saying
" It's lively for students but generally dead on the weekend and has little in the way of big summer festivals. It does have more touristy things to do though and a bigger city centre. "
Galway I assume but I wouldn't say it has a bigger city centre just more compact and easier to navigate which is great for a tourist. Ide say Limerick looks awful drab to a tourist at first glance

orangerhyme

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

It’s a nice spot for a “flying visit”, there’s some nice old bars and a few spots of interest but once you go a little bit outside the tourist area it’s a grim place.

Bruges is a much nicer place for doing the Belgian “touristy” stuff. Actually, anywhere outside Brussels is.

Fair enough. Different perspectives. Saw comic book museum, Magritte museum, took mushrooms in the atomic building.

breezy1985

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

It’s a nice spot for a “flying visit”, there’s some nice old bars and a few spots of interest but once you go a little bit outside the tourist area it’s a grim place.

Bruges is a much nicer place for doing the Belgian “touristy” stuff. Actually, anywhere outside Brussels is.

I loved Brussels but that's mostly down to the beer and saucy chips but it does look grim in parts.
Spent ages walking through grim looking suburbs to get to Cantillion brewery and was surprised how run down it looked. Belgians are pretty similar to ourselves in the sense that most parts are historically pretty poor and underdeveloped

orangerhyme

breezy1985 wrote: »

I loved Brussels but that's mostly down to the beer and saucy chips but it does look grim in parts.
Spent ages walking through grim looking suburbs to get to Cantillion brewery and was surprised how run down it looked. Belgians are pretty similar to ourselves in the sense that most parts are historically pretty poor and underdeveloped

I think in Dublin our city centre can be a bit run down but the some of the suburbs are lovely.

I always think you can see the historical wealth in countries such as Spain, Belgium, Holland etc countries that have been wealthy for centuries as opposed to ireland which just got rich in the late 90s

snowstorm445

lawred2 wrote: »

Struggling to understand why so many mentions for Holyhead!? Is it advertising itself as anything other than what it is? A small coastal town with a ferry port? What were people expecting?

Funny seeing it mentioned alongside global cities like Milan and Singapore.

Honestly I can't think of any ferry town that I've been to which felt memorable. Larne in Northern Ireland, Troon in Scotland, Roscoff in France - they were all pretty dull as far as I can remember.

I suppose Dun Laoghaire is an exception but I've never taken a ferry from there and I think they stopped running it a few years ago?

Fatnacho

Anywhere in Germany on a Sunday. The only things open are the petrol station and the kebab shop.
Birmingham is very grim. For a 2nd city with such a large population there is very little to see or do. The highlight is an oversized shopping centre attached to a train station surrounded by poundshops and curry restaurants. Convinced the surroundings is the reason why the Brummie accent is so glum.

Rustyman101

vriesmays wrote: »

There are loads to do in Waterford: visit an airport with no planes, join a protest march for a 3rd-rate university, walk along Willkins Street and Summerville Avenue (the Bill Kenneally way).

did someone from Waterford steal your wife,girlfriend or pocket money, you obsessed with the place ! having been banned from said forum your still ranting about the place....counselling maybe...

IsosKramer

breezy1985 wrote: »

I really like Dublin. For a big city and a nationxal capital it's very compact and easy for a tourist

In an Irish context Dublin is a very big city alright but it has to do a lot of geographical gymnastics (traipsing around from Ballbriggan to Kilcock to Greystones at the very minimum) to turn its half a million population into 1 point whatever to rival a Uk/European provincial city. Being a capital, however, gives it a certain caché and removes the possibility of it being among the most boring places visited!

orangerhyme

I will say that Irish people are extremely friendly, it's not just a stereotype.
It's the only country where I regularly strike up conversations with strangers. Literally everywhere.
If you need help with anything, people are happy to oblige.

[Deleted User]

Fatnacho wrote: »

Anywhere in Germany on a Sunday. The only things open are the petrol station and the kebab shop.

Don’t forget the train station! When I was finding my feet there, before I had a girlfriend and friends, I used to go to the train station, buy a newspaper or magazine, and sit in the cafe having a beer or a coffee to pass the afternoon.

Grim, but it was either that or sit at home brooding on life.

batman75

Holyhead is grim though I got my best ever fry there for £5. Strabane is truly a ****hole. Surprised to see Vienna, Stockholm and Salzburg crop up on the boring list. I can see why people might find Canberra boring but I enjoyed it. I thought St Louis downtown had some lovely architecture. Edmonton is very sterile right enough. Coventry is grim.

Muahahaha

Been in a few boring places over the years

-Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei, a tiny country about he size of Leinster. Nothing to do there, nothing to see. The highlight of a 2 day stay was going to see the Sultan of Bruneis collection of Ferraris outside his palace- from a distance of about 300 metres away

-Malaysia and especially Kuala Lumper I found boring though that was probably because having just come from a month of hedonism in Thailand anything would be boring. We stayed on the Perhentian Islands and they wouldnt serve us beer after 10pm so we didnt stay long. A few people have said Singpore but I loved it for 3 days after the bore that was Malaysia

-Bratislava, spent 3 days there after a snowboarding trip in Slovakia. Saw all of it on the first day, you can walk around the old city in about half an hour and then thats it. We left after day 2 and went to Vienna which was superb in comparison, bad mistake not spending all our time there in the first place

-Santiago, Chile. Out of all the South American capitals its easily the most boring, its just nowhere near as lively as places like Buenos Aires or Bogota. Santiago is pretty expensive too compared to everywhere else.

-Adelaide, a city of 2 million should have good night life but it just doesnt, the population there seem to be mainly elderly people and a friend from there said once you finish school most young people head for Sydney or Melbourne. Darwin too another boring place,its so hot and humid there and you cant ever swim in the sea because of the saltwater crocodiles

Coventry, was visiting a friend who lives there and had 3 hours to kill till he finished work. The highlight of Coventry is the Museum of Transport where you can see the open topped double decker bus that ferried the football team around the town when they won the FA Cup in 1987, thats as good as it gets

Milan, once youve had your strict 15 minutes to view da Vincis Last Supper theres really is feck all else to do. We were so bored we got tickets for the famous La Scala Opera House but because it was an opera that was boring too.

breezy1985

orangerhyme wrote: »

I will say that Irish people are extremely friendly, it's not just a stereotype.
It's the only country where I regularly strike up conversations with strangers. Literally everywhere.
If you need help with anything, people are happy to oblige.

I hate talking to strangers. My favorite thing about living in London is no one talks to you unless you are friends. Irish friendliness and noseyness are too similar for my liking

[Deleted User]

orangerhyme wrote: »

I will say that Irish people are extremely friendly, it's not just a stereotype.
It's the only country where I regularly strike up conversations with strangers. Literally everywhere.
If you need help with anything, people are happy to oblige.

Truth. Irish people are generally very helpful and obliging.

Not sure about conversations with strangers though. I guess it depends if you enjoy that kind of interaction. Some people aren’t into small talk with randomers. Doesn’t mean that they or the culture is unfriendly.

PHG

I see sheep wrote: »

I've never fancied going to any of these places (apart from the replay in the Hyde in 1998 we'd a great day there )

Why did you go to these places when there's hundreds of great places to go?

They were not like weekend breaks all longer.

Pisa - was a base and we did the majority of the west coast of Italy which is unreal and still one of my favourite trips outside Cuba. Should have based ourselves in Florence
Rejkavik - was a base again. Used it while doing the rest of Iceland which again highly recommend but the town is poor. Remember walking between houses and seeing the tree of year 2016, which looked dead
Northern Sardinia - was a fund restricted vacation and saw a deal
Roscommon was explained.
Cancun was living in London at the time and had to take a rushed vacation as was starting a new job. We it all 5 stars did some unreal trips but Cancun the town is meh and full of American and English chavs.

Sam Quentin

GT89 wrote: »

I just don't know what people see in Berlin. Of course it probably depends on what your into but I've been there twice (not by choice) and thought that it was very dull and drab and seemed to lack any decent restaurants and the like everywhere looked like it was geared towards crusties.

Also the locals seem to be very unfriendly and customer service in shops, hotels and restaurants etc. is awful it's like no one can crack a smile they don't even say danke.

fryup wrote: »

well they did start two WW's ...it's not like they have a track record in joviality in fairness

Funniest post/reply of this thread :pac:

donegal_man

Riyadh, there is literally nothing of any interest to recommend it. Spending a month there for work really made me appreciate pretty much everywhere else on earth.

orangerhyme

breezy1985 wrote: »

I hate talking to strangers. My favorite thing about living in London is no one talks to you unless you are friends. Irish friendliness and noseyness are too similar for my liking

Over the years with work I've found myself in random pubs and lots of people would start talking to me and inviting me to join them. It's warm and friendly. I've even experienced this in Dublin.

I think we're a relatively safe country with low crime rates so strangers aren't perceived at threatening.

I think in terms of grim, boring cities the cities in Midlands and northern england seem like that. Leicester, Norwich, Ipswich, Bradford, Stoke, Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham etc.

Cork and Galway would be smaller but livelier.

NSAman

MyLove4Satan wrote: »

Absolutely! I was amazed at some the comments about Athens on this thread. Athens is a pulsating and energetic city filled with life. I do not care about the graffiti! It is pure energy. What kind of pussies are made frightened by graffiti in the 21st century FFS!

While I think Athens is great for a night or two. Living there becomes a drag. The constant attitudes, the mess, the lack of civility, the “can’t do” attitudes, become tiresome.

Do I still Go to Athens? Absolutely!do I like having to go there for a few weeks at a time? Nope..:)

If you check out the immigrant (I hate calling them ex-Pat) forums it’s funny... people thinking the same about the food, the hysteria of finding something other than Greek food. While I agree that it has improved over the last number of years, the simple facts are... feta is king, oregano is a staple. Apart from the new TGI fridays you can rarely find a burger that doesn’t contain oregano...

Hey it’s the small things....:)

Ash.J.Williams

Parts of England are incredibly boring

breezy1985

orangerhyme wrote: »

Over the years with work I've found myself in random pubs and lots of people would start talking to me and inviting me to join them. It's warm and friendly. I've even experienced this in Dublin.

I think we're a relatively safe country with low crime rates so strangers aren't perceived at threatening.

I think in terms of grim, boring cities the cities in Midlands and northern england seem like that. Leicester, Norwich, Ipswich, Bradford, Stoke, Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham etc.

Cork and Galway would be smaller but livelier.

The midlands ones know they are a bit dull but the worst thing about the Yorkshire ones is they think they are mad craic and way more fun than London.

Milan on a Sunday was the biggest ghost town I've seen. It's cultural I think and they just don't work on Sunday even the corner shops and cafes. Even after the match in the San Siro the place was dead

hahashake

Second time I went to Milan, I stayed in Bergamo and spent half the time around Lake Como. Much more pleasant and unique than Milan itself.

Mad_maxx

castletownman wrote: »

Medjugorje.

Only a whistle-stop visit out of pilgrimage season on the way to Mostar, but it just seemed void of anything to do apart from commercialised Catholic merchandise shops. I know a few people who go over every year (in normal times), and I just cannot see how you could stay any longer than the length of a mass there.

I was impressed by the toilets at the grotto though.

sounds like Knock without the tinkers ?

orangerhyme

I haven't really been around the middle east but surely they must be the worst.

Not Lebanon, or Egypt but more like Saudie Arabia, Oman, UAE.

Parts of eastern europe have very low birthrates and very high youth emigration so must be pretty grim. Regional cities in Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova etc.

Croatia in the winter might be Brutal.

I've seen Glasgow mentioned here but it may be grim on the surface but once you know your way around theres loads going on. Lots of students, live music, indie stuff, lots of community organizations etc. If you were just visiting for a weekend you could miss all of that.