Cities you'd never return to

Dietsquirt · 21-04-2014 10:45PM

Deise67 wrote: »

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

What?

Olive8585 · 21-04-2014 10:56PM

darkdubh wrote: »

I met the rudest woman ever in Valencia Spain.I bought a T-shirt off her at a market,she diden't say a single word during the transaction and fixed me with this look of complete contempt the whole time.I wasen't drunk or anything and was polite,you'd swear I'd personaly insulted her by buying the bloody thing off her.

I met a lot of incredibly rude people in Spain. I did my Erasmus there and the day I arrived went to buy some bedding. I asked for a single duvet and your one in the shop looked at me like I was an utter retard and asked me what size, like how many centimetres. I had never been asked that before, said I didn't know, but any 'single' one should be grand and she made me feel like the biggest idiot in the entire world. Never figured out what her problem was. Left without buying anything.

gemini_girl · 21-04-2014 11:17PM

Sydney, very over rated & dirty
LA & Hollywood ... Kip
Miami ... felt unsafe
Johannesbourg .... felt terrified!
Perth ... Boring but nicer than sydney

Have to say that the australian people themselves were super friendly. Strangers saying hello & super friendly shop assistants.
Knysna on the garden route in sth africa was also a lovely place & didnt have groups of people shouting Umlungu (whites) at us ...

SoulTrader · 22-04-2014 01:15AM

Great to see so many diverse opinions on this read, and lots of good travel advice for the future. Kudos to the OP!

As for me, there's nowhere I really hated but given the multitude of choice in where to holiday nowadays, I can't see myself going to the following:

Cancun: Just a big trashy outpost of America, nothing authentically Mexican about it all. Feels like the whole place is just trying to shake you down for a pound. If you love Joe's crab shack, Starbucks, Hard Rock Cafe etc... you can just get them in the US, where it's also cheaper.

San Fran: Felt sad with all the homeless and mentally unstable people walking around. Was approached on numerous occasions by 'characters'. Didn't feel safe in the very centre. Pretty enough city and some good tourist spots but nothing to go back to really. On the other hand, I actually quite enjoyed LA.

Some others have been mentioned on this thread that I really liked: Paris, Budapest and Rome in particular. Love NY as well, have visited about 15 times and I'm always finding new things to see and do. London's a great city to visit but didn't enjoy living there.

Miami is a strange one. Quite a few people have mentioned it and I didn't like it that much at all my first time. There were a lot of hoodlums parading South Beach and it felt very dangerous. Was back a 2nd time and stayed downtown and it seemed safer. Was back for a 3rd time recently in South Beach and everyone was really friendly in shops and restaurants etc, although there was one area we went to that again felt quite dangerous at night. Still, overall, I'd probably go back again.

Knob Longman · 22-04-2014 01:40AM

Antwerpen,Seriously needs paint.

Knob Longman · 22-04-2014 01:48AM

Pearlstone wrote: »

Miami. Got lost there twenty odd years ago. Took a wrong turn just ten minutes from the airport and ended up spending nearly an hour trying to get out of what can only be described as the scariest place I have ever travelled through.

Spent 5/6 of the longest hours of my life at the airport waiting for a lift as we were diverted there, Lost 40 dollars there too..

Fort Pierce up the coast was some shíthole, After we heard about tourists getting shot in a convenience store a few weeks before we decided our curiosity was not worth it and got the fúck out of there..

Rory Gallagher · 22-04-2014 02:55AM

I can't believe I have seen Moscow and St.Peterburg on here.
I've never been to either but when I get out school I would love to finally get to see Moscow,St.Petersburg and Chicago.

greeno · 22-04-2014 03:12AM

Naples, the place was filthy and the locals looked like they were lining up to mug you. Intended spending a day here but went to Pompeii came back to the city and left immediately

Graham_B18C · 22-04-2014 03:20AM

Was in a place in Borneo called Semporna that was an absolute kip. Lovely Islands less than an hour from there but Semporna is literally a dump. Full of beggars and sea gypsies.

BetterThanThou · 22-04-2014 03:37AM

I was only there for a day, but Barcelona was the most boring place I've ever been to in my life. Santa Cruz in Tenerife wasn't great either. I may just not be a fan of Spanish lifestyle, because I'd pay not to go back to either of these cities.
Edit: I just remembered, the one positive thing about Barcelona was the beautiful fountain light show, I'd return to the city if I was passing by just for that, but I wouldn't go near the rest of the city.

dimcoin · 22-04-2014 03:49AM

Chicago. I have been to many cities in more than a dozen countries, yet I never felt as unsafe as I did in Chicago.

AlanS181824 · 22-04-2014 06:35AM

homemadecider wrote: »

What? Do you mean 'close proximity'?

That's the one!
Sorry it was really late when I posted.
Even though I live in the town in Ireland there is still a sense of personal space whereas when I was in New York everyone felt so on top of each other.

Balmed Out · 22-04-2014 06:39AM

dimcoin wrote: »

Chicago. I have been to many cities in more than a dozen countries, yet I never felt as unsafe as I did in Chicago.

Location Washington, if thats DC then surely its far more dangerous then Chicago which I dont remember being dodgy at all

Balmed Out · 22-04-2014 06:45AM

KCC wrote: »

I love this thread - it's very informative!

Nope theres a lot of crap written about some brilliant places by people who often spent just one weekend or less in them and happened to be having their period at the time.

KCC wrote: »

I found Berlin to be boring and of all the places I really never wish
.

Its a very interesting city with a fascinating history though it isn't the prettiest. The main reason people like it so much is its a contender for city with best nightclubs in the world.

Graham_B18C · 22-04-2014 06:54AM

Balmed Out wrote: »

Nope theres a lot of crap written about some brilliant places by people who often spent just one weekend or less in them and happened to be having their period at the time.

+1, there's some amount of crap in here that I couldn't disagree more with but haven't because it's all opinions. It's just a real shame some people may avoid good places because others didn't like something silly about certain places

keano_afc · 22-04-2014 07:44AM

Have no desire to go to Bangkok again. Smelly, seedy kip. Was there for 3 days and that was more than enough.

whisky_galore · 22-04-2014 07:45AM

keano_afc wrote: »

Have no desire to go to Bangkok again. Smelly, seedy kip. Was there for 3 days and that was more than enough.

Apparantly, one night there makes a hard man humble, or so I was told.

whatsername42 · 22-04-2014 07:54AM

Miami...fascinating place for the art deco etc but South Beach was an utter kip and anywhere else in Miami felt dingy and unsafe.

wuffly · 22-04-2014 07:55AM

Bassfish wrote: »

Re: Dubai, the buildings are impressive but there's just no sole to the place. Twenty years ago the place was a strip of sand and when their oil deposits start to dwindle it will be again.

There's plenty of culture if you choose to look for it.
71% of UAE's total GDP comes from non-oil sectors. Oil accounts for only 2% of Dubai's GDP. Its not a perfect place by any means but there's a lot more to it than big buildings and malls.

force eleven · 22-04-2014 07:56AM

Cairo. Dusty, hot & overcrowded, with suicidal drivers.

turnikett1 · 22-04-2014 08:00AM

Pretty much anywhere in Germany outside of east Germany (ie Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden). Apart from history, Germany is boring and Germans are just as dull and unexciting. Nice people, for sure, but so so dry. Especially Bavaria and ESPECIALLY Munich, I fúcking hate that place. People were so rude and openly snobs towards me and my partner.

Wont be going back to Barcelona, its a great city but Ive been there 2 more times than I wanted to be and its lost any magic it ever had to me.

Ideally I wouldn't go back to Mumbai if I was to return to India, but if I HAD to I guess it wouldnt be the worst. Same goes for Dharamshala, its a lovely place with great potential but unfortunately its been ruined and gentrified by unholy mix of Israelis/Western hippies/super rich Punjabis. Only so much weed you can smoke in a western cafe paying rip off prices for extremely low quality western food hanging out with a bunch of pseudo-hippy ****. There are a lot of parts of India that are like this unfortunately. I much prefer eating real Indian food in Indian cafes and fitting in with the locals and then occassionally running into another westerner. Different story altogether though.

Don't think I'd go back to Casablanca either. Quite dodgy and apart from 1 or 2 sites, very little to do or see.

I'm sure there's a few more! These are the main ones though. Thankfully there's a million more places I would go back to in a heartbeat

Pinch Flat · 22-04-2014 08:18AM

turnikett1 wrote: »

Pretty much anywhere in Germany outside of east Germany (ie Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden). Apart from history, Germany is boring and Germans are just as dull and unexciting. Nice people, for sure, but so so dry. Especially Bavaria and ESPECIALLY Munich, I fúcking hate that place. People were so rude and openly snobs towards me and my partner though.

I lived in southern germany for a while, worked there 2 summers and went back to do my erasmus year I loved it so much. Lots of germans I met loved ireland and many had visited - generally interesting people, many who invited me ti their homes to meet their family and have dinner. In my experience the people in Munich are more friendly than the northern germans - had some great nights in the hofbrau house with some random germans who were great fun. Bavaria itself is a stunning provence.

Leslie91 · 22-04-2014 08:21AM

Guayaquil in Ecuador. Never felt as unsafe as I did for 1 night in that kip.

ivytwine · 22-04-2014 08:33AM

Rory Gallagher wrote: »

I can't believe I have seen Moscow and St.Peterburg on here.
I've never been to either but when I get out school I would love to finally get to see Moscow,St.Petersburg and Chicago.

I've not been to Russia but my mother has, she said apart from the Kremlin and St Basil's Moscow is not that great. St Petersburg is supposed to be beautiful on the other hand.

She went in the USSR days, she's got some great stories from it

bear1 · 22-04-2014 08:49AM

I just remembered another city, Podgorica.
Absolutely zero to look at, a dust bowl. To balance that though, Montenegro is beautiful.
Another is Shkoder in Albania, if you want to ever get a hint of what Baghdad would look like then go there. What a kip and you have to pay 2e when you want to leave the country...

Blitzkrieger · 22-04-2014 08:49AM

Vojera wrote: »

Also the older generation were quite snippy that I wasn't fluent in Portuguese, often shouting "La língua!" at me.

Fook that - like I'm going to learn the language of every little country I spend a weekend in? I do speak more than one language but to learn the language of every country I've been to would have been impossible. Have these people not heard of a flight for a penny?

whisky_galore · 22-04-2014 08:51AM

Blitzkrieger wrote: »

Fook that - like I'm going to learn the language of every little country I spend a weekend in? I do speak more than one language but to learn the language of every country I've been to would have been impossible. Have these people not heard of a flight for a penny?

It wouldn't kill you to know small phrases and words like 'please' and 'thank you'.

swimming in a sea · 22-04-2014 08:58AM

New York, was there last November, it was too cold, crowded, expensive and boring...

I might have had a different opinion if I was rich but its not a place for the shoestring tourist.:)

higglepiggle · 22-04-2014 09:01AM

The lingering smell in Hong Kong would put anyone off a return visit!!

pundy · 22-04-2014 09:03AM

London.
it's a horrible kip. Keep our hipsters. we dont want them.

Cities you'd never return to

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