Cities you'd never return to

mallards · 20-04-2014 11:29AM

pow wow wrote: »

Derry.

I was there for the fleadh and thought it was a very friendly place. Great craic in the pubs and wouldn't hesitate to go back when it's on again. Might be different otherwise though? Couldn't agree more about Naples though, dirty hole. I'm in Brussels at the minute and I can't see what the other posters are complaining about? Granted you wouldn't spend anymore than a long weekend here, but the beer and food is good and there's enough entertainment for a couple of days, helps that the weather is class.

Daveysil15 · 20-04-2014 11:37AM

dj jarvis wrote: »

sorry , but that's either a lie or you have REALLY stupid mates , so one got done and all your other mates did not take precautions to prevent it happening to them ???
bull**** coming from another sad Dublin hater :-(

Truly sad

It's not like they noticed it one by one. Now when I say group, there were four of us in total. There was a woman with a baby who came over and started pulling out of us begging for money. Another suspicious guy approached us and started asking stupid questions. My mates didn't realise they were pick pocketed until we went in to a sports shop some time later. It happened quickly and looked like a coordinated effort.

I've seen it happen on a few other occasions too and have heard plenty of other stories of people getting pick pocketed in Dublin so its not bull**** pal - it does happen. I'm not a Dublin hater, but pick pocketing is rife there.

Kettleson · 20-04-2014 11:41AM

Blitzkrieger wrote: »

Delhi – so many friggin’ beggars, and I don’t know what scam that old guy at the bus station wanted to pull on me, but he quickly became the most psycho nutter I’ve ever met when I would only speak as gailige….

.

Ooh,oh,o,oooh, I wish I was back home in Delhi.

dj jarvis · 20-04-2014 12:05PM

Daveysil15 wrote: »

It's like they noticed it one by one. Now when I say group, there were four of us in total. There was a woman with a baby who came over and started pulling out of us begging for money. Another suspicious guy approached us and started asking stupid questions. My mates didn't realise they were pick pocketed until we went in to a sports shop some time later. It happened quickly and looked like a coordinated effort.

I've seen it happen on a few other occasions too and have heard plenty of other stories of people getting pick pocketed in Dublin so its not bull**** pal - it does happen. I'm not a Dublin hater, but pick pocketing is rife there.

as i said b **** - and i am not an idiot , i know pick pockets operate in Dublin , just not to extent you are dreaming it is , you are not in a performance of Oliver " you gotta pick a pocket or two :rolleyes: " , and saying that Dublin is worse than Barcelona for pick pockets ???? dream land fairy tail stuff PAL !!!

and anyway , if YOU KNOW that Dublin is SO bad for pick pockets , you would go armed with this info , and never get picked again , so what the problem ???

as i said - another AH Dublin hater

I give you ..........................
"Many European cities are dubiously characterized by a strong presence of petty crime (particularly against tourists), but arguably none have earned this distinction more than Barcelona. The gorgeous seaside metropolis attracts millions of tourists every year, and many of them encounter pickpockets — though most won’t notice until it’s too late. A 2009 survey of TripAdvisor editors and complaints registered by site users found Barcelona was the ‘worst city for pickpockets’, and local authorities have been unable to quell this long-standing problem in the city. According to travel advisories issued by the U.S. State Department, the areas of Barcelona with the highest rates of theft include: Las Ramblas, El Prat Airport, Sants train station, Metro stations, Sagrada Familia, the Gothic Quarter, Park Güell, Plaza Real, and Olimpic Park, as well as all of the city’s popular beaches."

MissFlitworth · 20-04-2014 12:07PM

It sure ain't a city but Cala D'or in Majorca is a kip of ginormous proportions. If you every want to spend a week in a depressing, failing tourist town that smells like every restaurant in the place has a vat of elderly ribs on the boil 24/7 (because they do) then I have the place for you. It was the one time my cheap-but-amazing-Recuperative-Week-in-the-sun finding formula failed me (pick warm place, search tripadvisor for reviews bitching about 'too many germans', 'no entertainment' & 'nowhere for a full english/irish/roast dinner'. Filter hotels in over germanned, no entertainment, no yorkshire puddings resort to ones with reviews bitching about a steep hill up to the door. Bonus points if they say 'buggy unfriendly')

It's one of the only places I've ever been that I wouldn't accept a free trip back to

ElChe32 · 20-04-2014 12:12PM

Daveysil15 wrote: »

It's like they noticed it one by one. Now when I say group, there were four of us in total. There was a woman with a baby who came over and started pulling out of us begging for money. Another suspicious guy approached us and started asking stupid questions. My mates didn't realise they were pick pocketed until we went in to a sports shop some time later. It happened quickly and looked like a coordinated effort.

I've seen it happen on a few other occasions too and have heard plenty of other stories of people getting pick pocketed in Dublin so its not bull**** pal - it does happen. I'm not a Dublin hater, but pick pocketing is rife there.

It does sound far fetched that they all noticed one by one....but thankfully the hero of this fairytale wasn't pick pocketed because he was a man of great wisdom and tight jeans.

Mollyd90 · 20-04-2014 12:12PM

Inverness expensive ****hole
Not a city but granton on spey in Scotland the words one and horse and town.
Limerick

Scaglietti · 20-04-2014 12:13PM

Rory Gallagher wrote: »

Galway is easily the most boring waste of space I've ever had the misfortune to visit.

Galways lovely

biko · 20-04-2014 12:13PM

Rijeka. Was there before the fall of Yugoslavia and it was incredibly depressing and scary.
Haven't been back since.

Cienciano · 20-04-2014 12:22PM

Diego Simeone wrote: »

Train Stations everywhere in mainland Europe are pretty bad for attracting the dregs of society. I've always found Copenhagen to be pretty great (prices aside).

Yeah, almost every european city the no go area is near the train station.

adamski8 · 20-04-2014 12:40PM

biko wrote: »

Rijeka. Was there before the fall of Yugoslavia and it was incredibly depressing and scary.
Haven't been back since.

I was planning to go this year, only city in croatia i havent been to. Hopefully its moved on in 20 years. I heard it was a great city, very artistic and liberal.

carlmango11 · 20-04-2014 12:59PM

Regarding pickpockets in Dublin. Lived here my entire life and never been pickpocketed or even heard of anyone being pickpocketed.

EDIT: And to even compare it to Barcelona is just ridiculous

Madam · 20-04-2014 01:02PM

I seem to like all the cities cited on here Paris and San Francisco being favourites and dare I say it I love Cork and Dublin equally(different cities but culturally the same - kind of)):( Milan is a city I just couldn't warm to and that is really unusual for me as I tend to find something to like wherever I visit.

20-04-2014 01:09PM

Candie wrote: »

It's fine to do the touristy spots on a two day trip, but if that's all you see and you don't like it, then don't write off the place when you haven't actually had time to see it.

Maybe just let people have their opinions? I wouldn't get so bothered about it

grimm2005 · 20-04-2014 01:18PM

Have to say I'm also pretty surprised to hear any pick pocketing stories from Dublin. Have lived here basically my entire life and I'm in the city centre several times a week. Have never been pick pocketed and have never heard of someone being pick pocketed from locals and tourists a like. The city has problems for sure but an abundance of pick pockets definitely isn't one.

I'm going to Barcelona next week and I've heard dodgy stories everywhere so I'll make sure to be on high alert. Have also heard it's a great city though so I'll just keep my wits about me! I got an email from the hostel I'm staying at outlining the most common scams so I suppose I have a head start on what to look out for.

Deise67 · 20-04-2014 01:20PM

Krakow, unfriendly place, air of menace in bars , guy tooled up like a stormtrooper on the door of Mickey Macs ! wont b back !

The Drunken Destrier · 20-04-2014 01:21PM

BarryLyndon wrote: »

Amsterdam. It doesn't really have anything you wouldn't see in most other northern Euro capitals.

I think the same thing, every time I'm drinking Belgian beer in the sun while watching the canal boats float by in London, Paris, Berlin, Dublin, Madrid etc.

Electric Sheep · 20-04-2014 01:25PM

grimm2005 wrote: »

Have to say I'm also pretty surprised to hear any pick pocketing stories from Dublin. Have lived here basically my entire life and I'm in the city centre several times a week. Have never been pick pocketed and have never heard of someone being pick pocketed from locals and tourists a like. The city has problems for sure but an abundance of pick pockets definitely isn't one.

I'm going to Barcelona next week and I've heard dodgy stories everywhere so I'll make sure to be on high alert. Have also heard it's a great city though so I'll just keep my wits about me! I got an email from the hostel I'm staying at outlining the most common scams so I suppose I have a head start on what to look out for.

I've lived in 5 big cities on two continents and the only place I was ever pick pocketed (actually, handbag grabbed) was in dublin.

seamus · 20-04-2014 01:36PM

Really can't believe how much I hated Los Angeles. From arriving there and taking nearly an hour to drive 2 miles to the hotel, everything about the place just irked me.

- Pretentious, vacuous assholes everywhere. Nothing but posers, as far as the eye can see.
- A beautiful pool in our hotel, nobody using it. Everyone just lying around it, posing.
- We ask the concierge for walking directions to Hollywood Blvd. Aghast, she was, that you would even think about walking in LA. So we drove 3 blocks and paid $5 to park a 15 minute walk from our hotel.
- Hollywood Blvd is a short street and a cinema. There's literally nothing else. Once you've spent ten minutes looking at people's names in the sidewalk, there's nothing else to do but buy overpriced merchandise.
- Are there are tours of the sights, we asked. There's a "homes of the stars" tour bus. No, that's a bit creepy. No tour bus around LA? Apparently not. I guess there's nothing to see unless you're into social decay.
- Dead streets. Like, nobody around. Plenty of traffic, practically no pedestrians. It's creepy and intimidating.
- Less than 48 hours there and we see a hit and run. Cars smashes into another and then drives off, tyres screaming. Nice.
- I didn't tip the valet the last time I got my car because I had no cash on me. So on the day we left they left us standing there for 15 minutes until they literally couldn't ignore us any longer. Tipping culture == passive-aggressive extortion.

Did I mention that I think LA is a ****hole?

blade1 · 20-04-2014 01:39PM

Borderfox wrote: »

Prague, beautiful city but the people in it are wan**r's!!

Agree totally.
I was walking down the street one day minding my own business and this old woman came up screaming in my face.
She was just short of spitting at me, I'd say.

Another day, I was buying bread and yer man behind the counter keep telling me "No No! Other bread"
He wanted me to take bread that was out of date with a week.
Told him to go f*ck himself.
He wasn't too happy then..:pac:

Sarz91 · 20-04-2014 01:45PM

Mine would have to be Brasov. Lovely countryside apart from the Hollywood esque sign on the mountain (mt Tampa I think.) as you enter the city. It looks so tacky. Incredibly dodgy place as well (from when I went with a few mates a few years back.). Definitely a city I'd never go back to.

Spring Onion · 20-04-2014 01:50PM

Budapest, unfriendly and boring.

Duck's hoop · 20-04-2014 01:54PM

seamus wrote: »

Really can't believe how much I hated Los Angeles. From arriving there and taking nearly an hour to drive 2 miles to the hotel, everything about the place just irked me.

Spent a few days there about 15 years back after lots of wilderness type shenanigans in Utah and Arizona. I liked it.

But we confined ourselves to Santa Monica and around. Great big freak show really. Something different.

Baron Kurtz · 20-04-2014 02:05PM

anto9 wrote: »

I loved both places ,but maybe it helps that I speak German and understand Dutch .

Really, Anto, Really?:)

Ann Landers · 20-04-2014 02:23PM

seamus wrote: »

Really can't believe how much I hated Los Angeles. From arriving there and taking nearly an hour to drive 2 miles to the hotel, everything about the place just irked me.

I'm like a broken record, but seriously, I have never heard of any place getting as much bad press as LA gets.

Nobody who goes there likes it. There's not many places that I'd never have any interest in visiting but I'm quite happy to say I never want to visit LA.

I think the negative reviews are because we all hear so much about Hollywood, whether we want to or not, so people seem to be shocked at what a kip it is. There's so much expectation attached to the place, it seems.

Daveysil15 · 20-04-2014 02:34PM

dj jarvis wrote: »

as i said b **** - and i am not an idiot , i know pick pockets operate in Dublin , just not to extent you are dreaming it is , you are not in a performance of Oliver " you gotta pick a pocket or two :rolleyes: " , and saying that Dublin is worse than Barcelona for pick pockets ???? dream land fairy tail stuff PAL !!!

and anyway , if YOU KNOW that Dublin is SO bad for pick pockets , you would go armed with this info , and never get picked again , so what the problem ???

as i said - another AH Dublin hater

I give you ..........................
"Many European cities are dubiously characterized by a strong presence of petty crime (particularly against tourists), but arguably none have earned this distinction more than Barcelona. The gorgeous seaside metropolis attracts millions of tourists every year, and many of them encounter pickpockets — though most won’t notice until it’s too late. A 2009 survey of TripAdvisor editors and complaints registered by site users found Barcelona was the ‘worst city for pickpockets’, and local authorities have been unable to quell this long-standing problem in the city. According to travel advisories issued by the U.S. State Department, the areas of Barcelona with the highest rates of theft include: Las Ramblas, El Prat Airport, Sants train station, Metro stations, Sagrada Familia, the Gothic Quarter, Park Güell, Plaza Real, and Olimpic Park, as well as all of the city’s popular beaches."

Whatever dude. That's just been my experience. Not sure why you're getting into a hissy fit over it but I'll leave you to it.

ElChe32 wrote: »

It does sound far fetched that they all noticed one by one....but thankfully the hero of this fairytale wasn't pick pocketed because he was a man of great wisdom and tight jeans.

Sorry I meant to write "its not like they noticed one by one." As I said it happened very quickly and they didn't notice until they went to pay for their stuff at the till. I was just lucky. Maybe it was the cargo pants. :rolleyes:

20-04-2014 02:34PM

Friend and I were laughing that we couldn't get into a shop in LA because you had to walk into the car park and go in through there. Literally no other entrance from the main street

But yeah, dump

padma · 20-04-2014 02:43PM

MonstaMash wrote: »

Freetown, Sierra Leone...still have nightmares, dangerous kip.

I loved freetown..all the reggae clubs...poor as anything but great people beyond the roughness....

AlekSmart · 20-04-2014 02:47PM

Olive8585 wrote: »

This constant 'North Africa' regarding Brussels thing seems a bit racist to me, though. I lived there for the best part of a year and never had any negative experiences with a North African. Worked with 3-4 who were all lovely.

Brussels is the Only place I've seen an Albino Negro......really superb dancer he was too....Now what does that do to my chances of being seen as a "bit racist" I wonder ?

Olive8585 · 20-04-2014 02:59PM

AlekSmart wrote: »

Brussels is the Only place I've seen an Albino Negro......really superb dancer he was too....Now what does that do to my chances of being seen as a "bit racist" I wonder ?

What are you on about?

I fail to see how complaining that a place is 'full of North Africans', without specifying why exactly that was an issue, is anything but racist. Just comes across as 'I didn't feel safe because there were too many dark people around'. What do you think racism IS?

Cities you'd never return to

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