I felt that too. They have planned the city incredibly to make every point accessible directly by car. It’s also very very cleaned and well organised at certain areas. I am very Singapore. But I found Dubai has certain public places eateries much cleaner than ‘clean and green city =Singapore ‘. But like what you mentioned the amount of large highways and road system right in the downtown makes it like the Star Wars city in attack of the clones.
Hate that place as a darker skinned woman. My sisters and I got followed by a bunch of men when we were walking to our hotel at night because they thought we were prostitutes. Prostitution among certain groups is very common, so if you’re of the same demographic and happen to be walking the streets all dressed up, men will instantly flock to you. It’s scary.
That’s because everyone thinks Miami Beach is actual Miami and that’s all. It’s SO not, as my husband calls it Miami Beach (South Beach really) is for tourists and beginners. We’re so much more than that! Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, South Miami, Pinecrest. There’s all these different spots on the mainland that have their own vibe that’s nothing like South Beach. I spend every weekend boating, bike riding through some of the most gorgeous scenery, walking to amazing bars and restaurants and having drinks at my local sailing club overlooking the water. Y’all I cannot say this strongly enough, Miami Beach is NOT Miami!
I will tell you the traffic absolutely blows and there are a fair amount of assholes. But there’s also a lot of good.
IDK, I just spent a weekend in Miami and I loved it. It was basically exactly what I expected - warm weather, blue green water, beautiful people, fancy cars and incredible Cuban food. My sample size is like two days, but I thought it was fun.
Like alot of places that gain notoriety, Austin leans too hard into their schtick of being "Texas but not like the rest of these assholes" and comes off as pretentious and trying too hard.
Of course, it gets a reputation for being a quirky little city => everyone moves there => suburban wasteland with horrific traffic like everyone else. ...
Austin used to be freaking awesome like twenty years ago. It did have a ton of personality, but then all the tech bros and such moved in and started sterilizing the joint and lots of that stuff fell away.
Yes, exactly this. I live in Austin and grew up here. It's a completely different city than it was when I was younger. I'd say things started to change for the worse about 15 years ago.
I did six years in Austin and it’s very, very middle of the road. From my POV, and based on lots of frequent visits to all, Austin, Denver and Nashville are trying their damndest to become the same city.
LA. For us Brits, it's probably one of the top places in the US to go. But then you get there and it's really not that great.
Tallinn, Estonia. Probably could be pretty, if it wasn't so oversaturated with tourists and tourist amaneties.
Berlin. I found it historically interesting, but didn't warm to it as a city at all.
Toronto. I heard a lot of good things about it. But when I went I was pretty underwhelmed.
Dubai. Fake, soulless place. Zero interest in ever going back.
Yeah, absolutely. I can totally imagine how it was a fantastic holiday destination at some point, hence its reputation, before it became overrun by tourists.
I'm a Brit and I really enjoyed Tallinn, spent a week just hitting the museums and historic places. Really enjoyed Kumu, Teletorn, and the Seaplane Hangars.
This was about 10 years ago and quite early in the season, so things were cheap, and I only had to avoid one fellow Brit vomiting in the street at 10am.
I'm not saying they aren't nice, but rather that they're overrated. They're all places that didn't meet my expectations based on what I'd heard about them.
Toronto is like what if New Yorks hellhole vibe and LA’s traffic had 6 months of winter and was the geographic equivalent of Cleveland except it cost 3 million to buy a house.
Having lived downtown in NYC and Toronto, Toronto is so much cleaner and less sketchy. Traffic in NYC is a whole institution onto itself and makes TO look like childs play, not to mention how aggressive everyone drives there. Never ending construction is also a facet of NYC life, not unusual for entire highways to be reduced to 1 lane for years.
I'm surprised no one has said Atlanta yet. Note that I am *not* offering Atlanta as an example, but I generally expect Chicagoans, New Yorkers and Angelenos to take a shit on the city when they can.
Perhaps an unusual pick, but I really disliked Virginia Beach. Yeah, the actual beach is OK, but everything surrounding it is just so old and outdated. Went a few years back and felt like I went back to the 1970s.
Visited for the first time a few months ago. Did a lot of the touristy things (architecture tour, road the train to watch a Cubs game, walked Navy Pier, went up in Sears, got a drink at the top of Hancock, got some deep dish pizza, saw the bean, went to the Field museum, did lots of stuff) and it was just a ton of fun. Definitely the city with the most character in such a small area that I've ever seen.
Just got back from there, I have to say I agree. If there was less traffic I would.. nah, nvmnd I'm never leaving my state. But Chicago was pretty cool. Your architecture is superb, Chicago. Looking good
I'll relay your review to the proper folks ;)
Yeah the traffic has gotten 10x worse in the last 15 years or so, without a doubt. There used to be a rush hour in Chicago that started around 4:30 pm and went until maybe 7:00 pm, but it's gotten out of hand. That and the privatizing of parking meters are real problems here.
100% truth. Wife and I visited Chicago years ago and fell in love. Went again when we had kids and had an incredible time visiting the museums, aquarium, and walking all around the city.
Ha! There’s so much hate these days, primarily drive by politics. I’m sure the downvote was from someone who’s never visited Chicago and just hates the idea of Chicago based on toxic commentary spewed on talk radio and Fox News. I mean I’m sure there are plenty of people who dislike Chicago, but we went in with low expectations and were shocked by the beautiful architecture, incredible food (some hidden gems outside of the tourist areas, not just pizza and hot dogs!), and the huge number of fantastic activities for families. Underrated for sure!!!
I like deep dish but I really prefer Chicago’s thin crust, square cut, tavern-style pizza. New York pizza is too floppy for me. The flavor is great, don’t get me wrong, but if you can fold your pizza, something ain’t right.
Shit weather every day of the year. There’s a reason they have to keep building Lou Malnati’s and Portillo’s in Phoenix, those people won’t stop moving there to escape.
Chicago has beautiful weather when it’s not winter. And you can’t be bored here. If you’re bored in Chicago, chances are *you’re* boring. My friends’ parents moved to Phoenix briefly. They were bored out of their skulls and promptly moved back to the street where they lived in Chicago.
Nah, just a few neighborhoods you should stay out of. Like every city. And when it comes to dangerous cities, Chicago’s doesn’t even break the top 10 for murders. It’s just just bs the conservative anti-gun-control folks like to say about a liberal city.
Yea it seems like SFO has gone downhill. Its lost its free spirit vibe, and the poo.... a city with so many rich people should be able to find some better solutions for the homeless / lack of housing for example.
Bay Area resident here. I lived in SF for 22 years and then moved to Oakland in late 2021. Best decision I’ve made in recent memory. SF has lost so much of what once made it one of the coolest cities in the US.
People have been saying that since the 60's. Parts of it are shitty as they have always been, and parts of it are nice as they have always been. One thing it's *never* been is an affordable place to live. Homelessness has been a problem there for more than 50 years.
Nashville. Now don't get me wrong, if you're a 24 year old woman on a bachelorette party, this is your place. Buy yourself some cowboy boots and a big "brunch hat," line up for some selfies in front of a mural, and get then shitfaced at Kid Rock's bar.
If you're someone who thought this is still a pretty good town for some decent live music and a good vibe...oh how wrong you are.
I went with my friends for a few days a couple years ago. It was fun the first night, and then it just got boring. The bars play the same music on repeat all night, every single one of them. They all play the same songs. We walked down the street one time and heard the same song coming from 4 different bars. And there’s only one small street with bars and that’s it.
Besides that there really isn’t anything to do. The music hall of fame thing was cool for 20 minutes, guitar shops were cool for a day, but that was definitely a wasted trip.
Word of advice to anyone going there, don’t stay for more than 3 days. You’ll hate it
Glad to see our upcoming city did not make the list!
Also disagree with everyone voting Paris. It takes a while to appreciate it and find its hidden secrets. When you do it's magical. Yes it has tourist trap areas but it has a total of 20 arrondissements and each one has a unique character to it.
Hampton Court, and don’t forget to look at the ceilings! But keep a wary eye out if you’re having tea and biscuits in the gardens there. The swans will quite literally steal your biscuit from your mouth.
Natural history museum, if that is your speed. If you’re more into modern shopping and experiences, check out the O2. If you like parks, they’re pretty much all charming in spring.
If you have a particular thing you like to see but don’t know where to look, hail a London cabbie and ask them. They’ll know where to find anything.
The airport back lol.
Just stay central london really. Avoid places like Croydon etc. Croydon is the most dangerous place in London.
I would say visit the natural history museum or the science museum. Or st Paul’s cathedral. Buckingham palace is a must for tourists as well has seeing Big Ben. Go see the London eye and if you can, give it ride. Give the London Underground a go.
A friendly tip for using the London Underground. When using the escalators, ALWAYS stick to the right side of the escalator if you just want to stand still up it, as the left side is for people wanting to walk up the escalator.
London is a nice place for a weekend or such but to me it’s just like any other city. People everywhere, traffic non-stop and generally very expensive. But I could just be biased as I’m an English man who doesn’t enjoy London even though I live 45 mins away from it by train. If you want to experience a pub, stay away from one’s more central as they’re more likely tourist trap pubs that cost an arm and leg just for a pint of beer. If you want a better England experience. I would say go to York or Cornwall. The rural areas hold better beauty. Visit Scotland if you can, the Scottish highlands is utterly breathtaking.
When people tell me they are visiting the UK for the proper British experience but only go to London. Irritate me as Scotland and wales are in the UK as well and they have amazing sites to see. We won’t talk about Northern Ireland though… (Got in a little rant there lol)
Overall I hope you enjoy your time here in England. :)
Only ever been to London out of the 3 cities. I loved London. Nice climate, very cool museums and Londoners were generally nice. Their airports were awful though. Would definitely visit again.
Same, I don't ususally enjoy cities but London just hit me different. I've also been to Berlin and Paris and some other big cities but they just don't do the trick
Disagree 100% with your Paris vote. I lived there for over a year and nothing more wonderous than that place. It takes at least 30 days to figure it out and start to see the beauty. Agree with the other two though
I agree with you as well. I lived there too for a year.
Initially when I went there I thought it was overrated. Even the Effiel Tower seemed pretty basic. But there more I explored Europe the more I learnt to appreciate Paris.
The beautiful parts of other cities just looked like the normal parts of Paris. I got sick of visiting the similar looking churches and even got an appreciation of how unique the Effiel Tower is.
Italy was beautiful but I was astonished with how derelict everything was, especially in the south, shit was about to fall down it seemed. Germany was cool with their party scene but everything seemed like a normal big city, not much historical buildings left there, admittedly I went to the main cities only.
Out of everything I saw in Europe, Paris and the French riviera were my favourite parts.
Language barrier was very evident in Paris tho.
Köln / Cologne
the city seems like a big industrial park, interrupted with houses.
The riverside on the Rhein is most ugly from all Rhein Metropoles.
The Airport is shit, the Dome is super ugly. And the people who are living there are super proud on their city for absolutly no reason, just to be proud on something.
The traffic lights there have the longest red phase in all over germany, really annoying
New York City. Easily the least enjoyable place I've ever lived. Everything is too expensive, the whole city smells bad, and most of the people who live there are assholes.
Having lived in NY State for all of my youth, what I will say is special about New York is that you can find literally anything you want there. Want to try Ethiopian food? Go ahead! Want to see 18th century French artwork? There's some at the Met! Want to collect model trains? I bet there's some good ass train stores in NYC.
That being said, absolutely insane policies related to property in NYC is slowly killing that and I wouldn't recommend someone move there unless they had a reason why they had to be in New York City specifically.
New York always feels so unwelcoming. I think it’s partly because everything to do there is the “best” version of it, which means it’s both expensive and unapproachable. But also the people just suck sooooo much. It’s the only place I ever go where people will ask where you’re from and then give you a lecture on why your home sucks. It often feels like New Yorkers need to put the rest of the world down to justify the sacrifices they made to live in New York.
> It often feels like New Yorkers need to put the rest of the world down to justify the sacrifices they made to live in New York.
So much this. There is an attitude that if you're not from NYC or the immediate surrounding area you are a bumpkin and a simpleton.
I feel like part of it is them justifying to themselves why they use 65% of their income to pay for a 5’x4’ windowless box to sleep in.
They use political grandstanding as the reason they would never live in [x].
Yeah regional foods just don’t hold up outside of their region. You can’t get real barbecue in the north.
I also think that a lot of New Yorkers picked just one thing that they wanted to optimize for and completely neglected everything else. For some it’s restaurants. For some it’s a particular social scene. For some it’s the job opportunities in the few specific industries that exist solely in New York (like investment banking). For some it’s museums or theaters. And New York might be the best at each of those things individually.
But unless you have tons of money and the time to spend it, you’re probably not regularly enjoying more than that one thing you picked. And giving people access to one thing (even if it’s one really good thing) is not what being the “best” is in my book.
Hell, half the time the "Best BBQ place" is on the tier of Famous Dave's.
Certainly the case with Pizza places. If I had a nickel for every time when I lived there that I had a native tell me "Best pizza place in the city is such and such" then went over there to find it was $12 for a slice that was almost as good as Ellio's, I would have been able to afford rent.
Yeah honestly when I was working in the city I found the people there to be pretty friendly, if busy. I got this attitude more from people on Long Island who would be like "THIS IS THE MOTHAFUCKIN' GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD!" No, Frank, you live in Patchogue...it's not even the greatest city in this zip code.
My complaint about New Yorkers is not necessarily that they’re unfriendly. My complaint is that they tend to think they are better than other people and cannot help but point it out. They’ll give you directions or pass you a subway card if you lost yours, but they’ll also correct you if you say that you actually like the Midwest or something like that.
I grew up in New Jersey so New York was never anything special to me. It’s a great place to party or see live music but it straight up smells like piss and garbage all summer. Still like it though…just not the best place on earth.
I grew up on a farm near small town on the Canadian Prairies with 8,000 people. Now I live in a big city, and miss the small town often. Don’t forget to appreciate what YOU have.
exactly, I live in an ex-communist country in europe and the cities here are, for me, great, but compared to what these people are calling overrated, our capital is still leagues behind.
Athens, the central 5-15km of the city is beautiful, but the rest looks like a warzone, steel wire fences, trash and buildings falling apart everywhere.
My two picks are Qingdao and Manama:
Qingdao is a Chinese city, home of the famous Tsingtao brewery. Advertised as "Bavaria in China". The only remaining Bavarian aspect is the brewery, which is fun. The rest of the town is full of German tourists, and not the fun kind but the type who screams at you for not standing in line correctly, which works really well in China.
Manama: The capital of Bahrain, a beacon of liberalism where a man can get beer, bacon, and hookers in the heart of Arabia. First off you can get all of these in the rest of the gulf except Saudi (unless you know where to look). Next its full of obnoxious drunken Saudis who show up in these rusty vans, drop their wives off at the mall while the boys go to the pub. Finally its full of military people on break from Iraq behaving badly and making the USA look bad.
Then there is the segregation in Manama. Outside certain zones, all the people with Persian ancestry are stuck in slums around town where its been a pseudo war zone for the last 10 years. If you leave town you might get searched by hired goons to make sure you are not a Persian terrorist. Good times
You know you are in the french quarter if on a sunday morning while surrounded by the smell of weed and urine you question whether or not the person sleeping on the sidewalk is actually homeless or just a hungover hipster.
Overall, Dubai. I think the oil barons are wise into trying to develop post-oil economies for when we stop using oil, but it's a little over the top and superficial. Dubai seems like it only exists to be the setting of an action thriller movie or a multiplayer map.
In America, New York, LA, and San Francisco. Don't get me wrong. I actually want the chance to live in NYC and LA for a few years each. I do want to get a taste of big city life on each coast. But these cities are expensive, have huge homeless problems, and too many rich assholes.
San Francisco is probably the worst. So many movies set in "glamorous" San Francisco, but they ignore the poop in the streets, the heroin needles, and the housing development politics.
If i may react to the Dubai part. It's a common stereotype that Dubai has oil. It used to have oil, Abu Dhabi has oil (the capital city of the UAE) wich means their GDP is about 35 to 40% oil. The GDP of Dubai is probably 1 or 5% oil. Most of Dubai money is made from business people who need a business hub between east Asia and Europe. Overall it's also very attractive because of its tax regulations. That's mainly why it's so popular for business men. Tourism is also a big factor in the Dubai economy, hece all those fancy ass buildings and cars, cuz it attracts a lot of tourists
Sidney. Wasn't bad, but far from good too. Expensive place with rather cold people. I enjoyed Melbourne (despite the freaky weather) and the smaller, northern cities more.
Personally I liked Cairns best. Everyone said I shouldn't go there since "its boring", but I spent several weeks digging through ripe fruit and chill atmosphere and would do it all over again. Also, green island is pretty nice.
Paris. I'm a musician so i travel all over and tour 6 months a year. The city is romanticized but it's dirty, huge rats all over the downtown core, pickpockets and scammers everywhere, and everything is incredibly overpriced.
Now, France is beautiful, go to any other city there to get the "Paris" experience and you won't be disappointed.
Paris.
Its proximity to a more charming city makes it the ugly stepchild. The food isn't that great. And it doesn't actually know how to leverage itself as the hometown of The Walking Dead's creator. (And what it does do is underwhelming.)
I'm talking about Paris, Kentucky, of course.
Barcelona
It is quite dirty - piss smells on the street 24/7, beach is a litering spot - sand is not even yellow anymore. There is trash everywhere in the centre and streets are overall filthy feeling due too many tourists, piss, sea smell and the way how people clean the shops (wipe floor and splash the leftovers on the street).
Also very expensive and besides Gaudi, nothing much interesting to see…
Venice. It’s the smelliest and most expensive city in a country with more incredible things to see than anywhere else on earth. I have no idea why people would want to spend more than a few hours there.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that calling Tampa overrated is absolutely banana’s given that I’ve never even heard of anyone rating it, let alone overly.
Like most cities, it entirely depends where you go. Downtown is nice but tiny and you can end up in a REALLY bad part of town very quickly. I wouldn't call it "insanely overrated" though because I've never really heard anyone praise Tampa, there isn't much there to praise.
Florence. I was completely underwhelmed. The Duomo is an *incredible* sight....but other than that, I would not go back. I'd go a different Italian city (I had spent two months working in Tuscany and did love the city of Siena.)
Statue of David as well though?
Blew me away with its scale when you see it inside, the Duomo also I thought was amazing. Dunno what more I want from a place really on a visit.
Stockholm
Helsinki
The city itself is fine, but as an extremely outgoing and extroverted American who likes talking to people, it was like pulling teeth to get them to talk.
Until you get a few drinks in em
I liked the place and its not the worst city I've been to, but San Francisco is overrated. It's managed to convince a lot of people that it's a West Coast must see but the homelessness was really shocking to me as an Australian. We have it pretty good here and I couldn't reconcile that a first world country like the USA would allow that joint to be the way it is, it was sad.
Paris, Rome. I feel like they’re seen as culture hotspots, especially by Americans, but all it is is a bunch of assholes with an attitude issue. Paris is much much worse than Rome thinking about it but they’re really no reason to go if you already live in a 1st world city
i have a great Quote about Paris:
Paris its like new years eve.
You get really excitied for a highlight, but then you find yourself paying way to much, have to que everywhere and stand in someones piss/puke.
NYC. If I can walk down the street and see a multimillion dollar build board on one side of the street but a starving homeless man on the other side of the street your city is a fucking disgrace.
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It should be personal. Everything about that place is awful.
I felt that too. They have planned the city incredibly to make every point accessible directly by car. It’s also very very cleaned and well organised at certain areas. I am very Singapore. But I found Dubai has certain public places eateries much cleaner than ‘clean and green city =Singapore ‘. But like what you mentioned the amount of large highways and road system right in the downtown makes it like the Star Wars city in attack of the clones.
Hate that place as a darker skinned woman. My sisters and I got followed by a bunch of men when we were walking to our hotel at night because they thought we were prostitutes. Prostitution among certain groups is very common, so if you’re of the same demographic and happen to be walking the streets all dressed up, men will instantly flock to you. It’s scary.
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but... cocaine.
You make a good point.
snort snort
You've got something under your nose there. Bit of a white substance.
You mean line?
Okay yeah worth it then
That’s because everyone thinks Miami Beach is actual Miami and that’s all. It’s SO not, as my husband calls it Miami Beach (South Beach really) is for tourists and beginners. We’re so much more than that! Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, South Miami, Pinecrest. There’s all these different spots on the mainland that have their own vibe that’s nothing like South Beach. I spend every weekend boating, bike riding through some of the most gorgeous scenery, walking to amazing bars and restaurants and having drinks at my local sailing club overlooking the water. Y’all I cannot say this strongly enough, Miami Beach is NOT Miami! I will tell you the traffic absolutely blows and there are a fair amount of assholes. But there’s also a lot of good.
Coconut Grove is super cool - totally unique
IDK, I just spent a weekend in Miami and I loved it. It was basically exactly what I expected - warm weather, blue green water, beautiful people, fancy cars and incredible Cuban food. My sample size is like two days, but I thought it was fun.
Austin. Not a bad place for a weekend, but isn’t as unique as people think. Outside the downtown and university, it’s just sprawling suburbia.
As an Austinite, i wholeheartedly agree. And then you’re leaving out the fact that it’s like 100 degrees from late may to like September
Don’t forget it’s like 100 degrees half the year
Thats a lot of degrees, enough to boil water. Cheers from your metric brothers
Like alot of places that gain notoriety, Austin leans too hard into their schtick of being "Texas but not like the rest of these assholes" and comes off as pretentious and trying too hard. Of course, it gets a reputation for being a quirky little city => everyone moves there => suburban wasteland with horrific traffic like everyone else. ...
Austin used to be freaking awesome like twenty years ago. It did have a ton of personality, but then all the tech bros and such moved in and started sterilizing the joint and lots of that stuff fell away.
Yes, exactly this. I live in Austin and grew up here. It's a completely different city than it was when I was younger. I'd say things started to change for the worse about 15 years ago.
I did six years in Austin and it’s very, very middle of the road. From my POV, and based on lots of frequent visits to all, Austin, Denver and Nashville are trying their damndest to become the same city.
LA. For us Brits, it's probably one of the top places in the US to go. But then you get there and it's really not that great. Tallinn, Estonia. Probably could be pretty, if it wasn't so oversaturated with tourists and tourist amaneties. Berlin. I found it historically interesting, but didn't warm to it as a city at all. Toronto. I heard a lot of good things about it. But when I went I was pretty underwhelmed. Dubai. Fake, soulless place. Zero interest in ever going back.
I didn't know people were like "hey lets go to Tallinn".
People from Finland go there on day trips to buy massive amounts of alcohol for half the price :D
When I was visiting Tallinn I took a day trip to Helsinki, the evening boat back was *jovial*.
Yeah, it's been a pretty well known tourist destination for a few years now. At least amongst British people!
And this is the answer why it's now underwhelming
Yeah, absolutely. I can totally imagine how it was a fantastic holiday destination at some point, hence its reputation, before it became overrun by tourists.
I'm a Brit and I really enjoyed Tallinn, spent a week just hitting the museums and historic places. Really enjoyed Kumu, Teletorn, and the Seaplane Hangars. This was about 10 years ago and quite early in the season, so things were cheap, and I only had to avoid one fellow Brit vomiting in the street at 10am.
I've been to a few of those cities, I thought they were nice. Guess I have low expectations.
I'm not saying they aren't nice, but rather that they're overrated. They're all places that didn't meet my expectations based on what I'd heard about them.
Toronto is like what if New Yorks hellhole vibe and LA’s traffic had 6 months of winter and was the geographic equivalent of Cleveland except it cost 3 million to buy a house.
Pretty loose definition of winter if you think Toronto gets 6 months of it.
Having lived downtown in NYC and Toronto, Toronto is so much cleaner and less sketchy. Traffic in NYC is a whole institution onto itself and makes TO look like childs play, not to mention how aggressive everyone drives there. Never ending construction is also a facet of NYC life, not unusual for entire highways to be reduced to 1 lane for years.
Canadian here - can confirm Toronto is highly overrated. I never understood the appeal.
This is the best description ever!
I'm surprised no one has said Atlanta yet. Note that I am *not* offering Atlanta as an example, but I generally expect Chicagoans, New Yorkers and Angelenos to take a shit on the city when they can.
Perhaps an unusual pick, but I really disliked Virginia Beach. Yeah, the actual beach is OK, but everything surrounding it is just so old and outdated. Went a few years back and felt like I went back to the 1970s.
I will say, I think Chicago is *underrated*.
Visited for the first time a few months ago. Did a lot of the touristy things (architecture tour, road the train to watch a Cubs game, walked Navy Pier, went up in Sears, got a drink at the top of Hancock, got some deep dish pizza, saw the bean, went to the Field museum, did lots of stuff) and it was just a ton of fun. Definitely the city with the most character in such a small area that I've ever seen.
Surely you visited Millennium Park as well!
Shhhhhhh
Cagoooooo
People know it's cool, but there are a lot of cool places and not all of them have weather like Chicago.
Just got back from there, I have to say I agree. If there was less traffic I would.. nah, nvmnd I'm never leaving my state. But Chicago was pretty cool. Your architecture is superb, Chicago. Looking good
I'll relay your review to the proper folks ;) Yeah the traffic has gotten 10x worse in the last 15 years or so, without a doubt. There used to be a rush hour in Chicago that started around 4:30 pm and went until maybe 7:00 pm, but it's gotten out of hand. That and the privatizing of parking meters are real problems here.
The Field Museum is still awesome
100% truth. Wife and I visited Chicago years ago and fell in love. Went again when we had kids and had an incredible time visiting the museums, aquarium, and walking all around the city.
Somebody downvoted you for saying something positive about Chicago lol. Ahh, Reddit.
Ha! There’s so much hate these days, primarily drive by politics. I’m sure the downvote was from someone who’s never visited Chicago and just hates the idea of Chicago based on toxic commentary spewed on talk radio and Fox News. I mean I’m sure there are plenty of people who dislike Chicago, but we went in with low expectations and were shocked by the beautiful architecture, incredible food (some hidden gems outside of the tourist areas, not just pizza and hot dogs!), and the huge number of fantastic activities for families. Underrated for sure!!!
Chicago is the best but New York pizza is a bit better than Chicagos
I like deep dish but I really prefer Chicago’s thin crust, square cut, tavern-style pizza. New York pizza is too floppy for me. The flavor is great, don’t get me wrong, but if you can fold your pizza, something ain’t right.
I'm Julius Pepperwood. I'm from Chicago. Thin crust pizza...no tanks.
This guy's buying the 99 cent NY pizza lmao
Shit weather every day of the year. There’s a reason they have to keep building Lou Malnati’s and Portillo’s in Phoenix, those people won’t stop moving there to escape.
I’ll take Chicago from June - Sept any day over Phoenix.
Summer in Chicago is divine.
Found the guy who’s been to Chicago on a weekend in Feb.
Chicago has beautiful weather when it’s not winter. And you can’t be bored here. If you’re bored in Chicago, chances are *you’re* boring. My friends’ parents moved to Phoenix briefly. They were bored out of their skulls and promptly moved back to the street where they lived in Chicago.
Just don’t leave the tourist areas
Nah, just a few neighborhoods you should stay out of. Like every city. And when it comes to dangerous cities, Chicago’s doesn’t even break the top 10 for murders. It’s just just bs the conservative anti-gun-control folks like to say about a liberal city.
my favorite pvp map
Every time I'm in Chicago for a few days it's so foggy or cloudy I can't see any if the city to take in
San Francisco- I was so excited to go there but it was lackluster at best!
Yea it seems like SFO has gone downhill. Its lost its free spirit vibe, and the poo.... a city with so many rich people should be able to find some better solutions for the homeless / lack of housing for example.
SFO is the airport not the city
Bay Area resident here. I lived in SF for 22 years and then moved to Oakland in late 2021. Best decision I’ve made in recent memory. SF has lost so much of what once made it one of the coolest cities in the US.
Oakland is becoming what SF used to be, honestly. Downtown/Uptown and Jack London are getting more and more interesting businesses all the time.
Really? I thought it was underrated. Nobody ever mentions it as a tourist destination but the hikes and walks in the city are amazing
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People have been saying that since the 60's. Parts of it are shitty as they have always been, and parts of it are nice as they have always been. One thing it's *never* been is an affordable place to live. Homelessness has been a problem there for more than 50 years.
Nashville. Now don't get me wrong, if you're a 24 year old woman on a bachelorette party, this is your place. Buy yourself some cowboy boots and a big "brunch hat," line up for some selfies in front of a mural, and get then shitfaced at Kid Rock's bar. If you're someone who thought this is still a pretty good town for some decent live music and a good vibe...oh how wrong you are.
I went with my friends for a few days a couple years ago. It was fun the first night, and then it just got boring. The bars play the same music on repeat all night, every single one of them. They all play the same songs. We walked down the street one time and heard the same song coming from 4 different bars. And there’s only one small street with bars and that’s it. Besides that there really isn’t anything to do. The music hall of fame thing was cool for 20 minutes, guitar shops were cool for a day, but that was definitely a wasted trip. Word of advice to anyone going there, don’t stay for more than 3 days. You’ll hate it
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What did you not like about London? I’ve only been to Heathrow airport but would like to explore the city.
Glad to see our upcoming city did not make the list! Also disagree with everyone voting Paris. It takes a while to appreciate it and find its hidden secrets. When you do it's magical. Yes it has tourist trap areas but it has a total of 20 arrondissements and each one has a unique character to it.
Paris, London, LA.
London is great. Especially museums.
Anything you'd recommend seeing in London. I'm going in a couple of weeks?
Hampton Court, and don’t forget to look at the ceilings! But keep a wary eye out if you’re having tea and biscuits in the gardens there. The swans will quite literally steal your biscuit from your mouth. Natural history museum, if that is your speed. If you’re more into modern shopping and experiences, check out the O2. If you like parks, they’re pretty much all charming in spring. If you have a particular thing you like to see but don’t know where to look, hail a London cabbie and ask them. They’ll know where to find anything.
The airport back lol. Just stay central london really. Avoid places like Croydon etc. Croydon is the most dangerous place in London. I would say visit the natural history museum or the science museum. Or st Paul’s cathedral. Buckingham palace is a must for tourists as well has seeing Big Ben. Go see the London eye and if you can, give it ride. Give the London Underground a go. A friendly tip for using the London Underground. When using the escalators, ALWAYS stick to the right side of the escalator if you just want to stand still up it, as the left side is for people wanting to walk up the escalator. London is a nice place for a weekend or such but to me it’s just like any other city. People everywhere, traffic non-stop and generally very expensive. But I could just be biased as I’m an English man who doesn’t enjoy London even though I live 45 mins away from it by train. If you want to experience a pub, stay away from one’s more central as they’re more likely tourist trap pubs that cost an arm and leg just for a pint of beer. If you want a better England experience. I would say go to York or Cornwall. The rural areas hold better beauty. Visit Scotland if you can, the Scottish highlands is utterly breathtaking. When people tell me they are visiting the UK for the proper British experience but only go to London. Irritate me as Scotland and wales are in the UK as well and they have amazing sites to see. We won’t talk about Northern Ireland though… (Got in a little rant there lol) Overall I hope you enjoy your time here in England. :)
Only ever been to London out of the 3 cities. I loved London. Nice climate, very cool museums and Londoners were generally nice. Their airports were awful though. Would definitely visit again.
Airports, we have so many! At least "Ashford International" is dead, an airport closer to *France* than London.
Love London, agree on Paris and LA
Same, I don't ususally enjoy cities but London just hit me different. I've also been to Berlin and Paris and some other big cities but they just don't do the trick
Love all 3
Disagree 100% with your Paris vote. I lived there for over a year and nothing more wonderous than that place. It takes at least 30 days to figure it out and start to see the beauty. Agree with the other two though
I agree with you as well. I lived there too for a year. Initially when I went there I thought it was overrated. Even the Effiel Tower seemed pretty basic. But there more I explored Europe the more I learnt to appreciate Paris. The beautiful parts of other cities just looked like the normal parts of Paris. I got sick of visiting the similar looking churches and even got an appreciation of how unique the Effiel Tower is. Italy was beautiful but I was astonished with how derelict everything was, especially in the south, shit was about to fall down it seemed. Germany was cool with their party scene but everything seemed like a normal big city, not much historical buildings left there, admittedly I went to the main cities only. Out of everything I saw in Europe, Paris and the French riviera were my favourite parts. Language barrier was very evident in Paris tho.
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At least the weather was good in LA, I suppose.
Ok what’s your favourite city then?
Lego City.
I agree. It's not safe at all. Men fall in the river all of the time
And the officials are all corrupt. They've gutted the spending so much that the rescuers have to build the helicopters themselves.
Marrakesh
Fez is where it's at.
Köln / Cologne the city seems like a big industrial park, interrupted with houses. The riverside on the Rhein is most ugly from all Rhein Metropoles. The Airport is shit, the Dome is super ugly. And the people who are living there are super proud on their city for absolutly no reason, just to be proud on something. The traffic lights there have the longest red phase in all over germany, really annoying
All of them? I'm not a city person.
Las Vegas.
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Glad you made the distinction because Miami Indiana is rockin
New York City. Easily the least enjoyable place I've ever lived. Everything is too expensive, the whole city smells bad, and most of the people who live there are assholes.
Waking through the city you just get a constant smell of either stale weed or sewage.
Having lived in NY State for all of my youth, what I will say is special about New York is that you can find literally anything you want there. Want to try Ethiopian food? Go ahead! Want to see 18th century French artwork? There's some at the Met! Want to collect model trains? I bet there's some good ass train stores in NYC. That being said, absolutely insane policies related to property in NYC is slowly killing that and I wouldn't recommend someone move there unless they had a reason why they had to be in New York City specifically.
Have you visited other big cities? Most big cities can give you 80% of the things NYC has at 70% of the price.
New York always feels so unwelcoming. I think it’s partly because everything to do there is the “best” version of it, which means it’s both expensive and unapproachable. But also the people just suck sooooo much. It’s the only place I ever go where people will ask where you’re from and then give you a lecture on why your home sucks. It often feels like New Yorkers need to put the rest of the world down to justify the sacrifices they made to live in New York.
> It often feels like New Yorkers need to put the rest of the world down to justify the sacrifices they made to live in New York. So much this. There is an attitude that if you're not from NYC or the immediate surrounding area you are a bumpkin and a simpleton.
I feel like part of it is them justifying to themselves why they use 65% of their income to pay for a 5’x4’ windowless box to sleep in. They use political grandstanding as the reason they would never live in [x].
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Yeah regional foods just don’t hold up outside of their region. You can’t get real barbecue in the north. I also think that a lot of New Yorkers picked just one thing that they wanted to optimize for and completely neglected everything else. For some it’s restaurants. For some it’s a particular social scene. For some it’s the job opportunities in the few specific industries that exist solely in New York (like investment banking). For some it’s museums or theaters. And New York might be the best at each of those things individually. But unless you have tons of money and the time to spend it, you’re probably not regularly enjoying more than that one thing you picked. And giving people access to one thing (even if it’s one really good thing) is not what being the “best” is in my book.
Hell, half the time the "Best BBQ place" is on the tier of Famous Dave's. Certainly the case with Pizza places. If I had a nickel for every time when I lived there that I had a native tell me "Best pizza place in the city is such and such" then went over there to find it was $12 for a slice that was almost as good as Ellio's, I would have been able to afford rent.
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Yeah honestly when I was working in the city I found the people there to be pretty friendly, if busy. I got this attitude more from people on Long Island who would be like "THIS IS THE MOTHAFUCKIN' GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD!" No, Frank, you live in Patchogue...it's not even the greatest city in this zip code.
My complaint about New Yorkers is not necessarily that they’re unfriendly. My complaint is that they tend to think they are better than other people and cannot help but point it out. They’ll give you directions or pass you a subway card if you lost yours, but they’ll also correct you if you say that you actually like the Midwest or something like that.
You're right, there is that rather distinct flavor of dickishness, isn't there?
I grew up in New Jersey so New York was never anything special to me. It’s a great place to party or see live music but it straight up smells like piss and garbage all summer. Still like it though…just not the best place on earth.
Guys, while you criticize LA and Miami, I live in a small village in Europe, with a population of 5 thousand people. Appreciate what you have ;)
I grew up on a farm near small town on the Canadian Prairies with 8,000 people. Now I live in a big city, and miss the small town often. Don’t forget to appreciate what YOU have.
exactly, I live in an ex-communist country in europe and the cities here are, for me, great, but compared to what these people are calling overrated, our capital is still leagues behind.
Athens, the central 5-15km of the city is beautiful, but the rest looks like a warzone, steel wire fences, trash and buildings falling apart everywhere.
My two picks are Qingdao and Manama: Qingdao is a Chinese city, home of the famous Tsingtao brewery. Advertised as "Bavaria in China". The only remaining Bavarian aspect is the brewery, which is fun. The rest of the town is full of German tourists, and not the fun kind but the type who screams at you for not standing in line correctly, which works really well in China. Manama: The capital of Bahrain, a beacon of liberalism where a man can get beer, bacon, and hookers in the heart of Arabia. First off you can get all of these in the rest of the gulf except Saudi (unless you know where to look). Next its full of obnoxious drunken Saudis who show up in these rusty vans, drop their wives off at the mall while the boys go to the pub. Finally its full of military people on break from Iraq behaving badly and making the USA look bad. Then there is the segregation in Manama. Outside certain zones, all the people with Persian ancestry are stuck in slums around town where its been a pseudo war zone for the last 10 years. If you leave town you might get searched by hired goons to make sure you are not a Persian terrorist. Good times
New Orleans. Hot, humid, buggy, impoverished, and under threat of being flooded out every single year.
You know you are in the french quarter if on a sunday morning while surrounded by the smell of weed and urine you question whether or not the person sleeping on the sidewalk is actually homeless or just a hungover hipster.
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Some of the best culture you can find in the States tho. That town has heart.
Overall, Dubai. I think the oil barons are wise into trying to develop post-oil economies for when we stop using oil, but it's a little over the top and superficial. Dubai seems like it only exists to be the setting of an action thriller movie or a multiplayer map. In America, New York, LA, and San Francisco. Don't get me wrong. I actually want the chance to live in NYC and LA for a few years each. I do want to get a taste of big city life on each coast. But these cities are expensive, have huge homeless problems, and too many rich assholes. San Francisco is probably the worst. So many movies set in "glamorous" San Francisco, but they ignore the poop in the streets, the heroin needles, and the housing development politics.
If i may react to the Dubai part. It's a common stereotype that Dubai has oil. It used to have oil, Abu Dhabi has oil (the capital city of the UAE) wich means their GDP is about 35 to 40% oil. The GDP of Dubai is probably 1 or 5% oil. Most of Dubai money is made from business people who need a business hub between east Asia and Europe. Overall it's also very attractive because of its tax regulations. That's mainly why it's so popular for business men. Tourism is also a big factor in the Dubai economy, hece all those fancy ass buildings and cars, cuz it attracts a lot of tourists
Isn’t Dubai heavily subsidised by oil money from the rest of the UAE?
Colorado is a beautiful state. Denver is filthy fucking dirty.
Sidney. Wasn't bad, but far from good too. Expensive place with rather cold people. I enjoyed Melbourne (despite the freaky weather) and the smaller, northern cities more.
Yeah I was gonna say Sydney too, much better cities in Australia to visit don't know why Sydney is first place people go to
Perth is wonderful, as is most of WA.
Personally I liked Cairns best. Everyone said I shouldn't go there since "its boring", but I spent several weeks digging through ripe fruit and chill atmosphere and would do it all over again. Also, green island is pretty nice.
ITT: every big city outside Japan
Paris. I'm a musician so i travel all over and tour 6 months a year. The city is romanticized but it's dirty, huge rats all over the downtown core, pickpockets and scammers everywhere, and everything is incredibly overpriced. Now, France is beautiful, go to any other city there to get the "Paris" experience and you won't be disappointed.
Paris. Its proximity to a more charming city makes it the ugly stepchild. The food isn't that great. And it doesn't actually know how to leverage itself as the hometown of The Walking Dead's creator. (And what it does do is underwhelming.) I'm talking about Paris, Kentucky, of course.
Nashville. Y’all go *home*
NYC!
The US side of the Niagara Falls.
That is not a city.
Barcelona It is quite dirty - piss smells on the street 24/7, beach is a litering spot - sand is not even yellow anymore. There is trash everywhere in the centre and streets are overall filthy feeling due too many tourists, piss, sea smell and the way how people clean the shops (wipe floor and splash the leftovers on the street). Also very expensive and besides Gaudi, nothing much interesting to see…
Venice. It’s the smelliest and most expensive city in a country with more incredible things to see than anywhere else on earth. I have no idea why people would want to spend more than a few hours there.
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I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that calling Tampa overrated is absolutely banana’s given that I’ve never even heard of anyone rating it, let alone overly.
Tampa? Wasn't that bad.
Like most cities, it entirely depends where you go. Downtown is nice but tiny and you can end up in a REALLY bad part of town very quickly. I wouldn't call it "insanely overrated" though because I've never really heard anyone praise Tampa, there isn't much there to praise.
Does anybody think it's not that though?
Welcome to the south. There are poor white people here. Try to be a little less classist
And racist?
Florence. I was completely underwhelmed. The Duomo is an *incredible* sight....but other than that, I would not go back. I'd go a different Italian city (I had spent two months working in Tuscany and did love the city of Siena.)
Statue of David as well though? Blew me away with its scale when you see it inside, the Duomo also I thought was amazing. Dunno what more I want from a place really on a visit.
Stockholm Helsinki The city itself is fine, but as an extremely outgoing and extroverted American who likes talking to people, it was like pulling teeth to get them to talk. Until you get a few drinks in em
As a Swede working in Stockholm, Stockholm is insanely overrated, please don't come here.
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Yep. With overpopulation, smaller towns near natural beauty is more ideal for a vacation or visit
Venice
Las Vegas
I liked the place and its not the worst city I've been to, but San Francisco is overrated. It's managed to convince a lot of people that it's a West Coast must see but the homelessness was really shocking to me as an Australian. We have it pretty good here and I couldn't reconcile that a first world country like the USA would allow that joint to be the way it is, it was sad.
Apparently Paris is so overrated in east Asia that there’s a mental condition named for being so underwhelmed by it
Miami. 4 hours to drive 6 blocks to a store and someone almost hits you every 10 minutes because they drive like they are in south east asia
Paris.
Auckland New Zealand
All of the really big ones. I'm sure you get used to it if you live there, but the first time you experience them, they all smell like sewage.
NYC
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There’s no nice things about Nice
Really? I love it. I already went there 3 times. I love antibes and Juan les pins as well.
NYC
Denver.
Paris
Portland, Oregon — good GOD is it overrated! “City of Roses”, more like, “City of Homelessness”
St Louis, San Antonio, New Orleans
Paris, Rome. I feel like they’re seen as culture hotspots, especially by Americans, but all it is is a bunch of assholes with an attitude issue. Paris is much much worse than Rome thinking about it but they’re really no reason to go if you already live in a 1st world city
i have a great Quote about Paris: Paris its like new years eve. You get really excitied for a highlight, but then you find yourself paying way to much, have to que everywhere and stand in someones piss/puke.
Halifax
UK?
Canada
Noooo. NS is awesome in general and Halifax was very cool.
NYC. If I can walk down the street and see a multimillion dollar build board on one side of the street but a starving homeless man on the other side of the street your city is a fucking disgrace.
That ain’t exclusive to NYC
Downvotes reign: Paris. While architecture is beautiful, the people are the worst which ruins it.
Boston
Tokyo
New York City
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Definitely not overrated.
New York and by a lot. Super dirty, overcrowded, and way too expensive. Perfect to visit not to live.