Zhan_Zhuang Posted May 24 Share Posted May 24 Yeah I'm pretty well travelled and agree on Amsterdam, the people are arrogant and it's annoying being asked if I want drugs all the time. My favourite City is Hong Kong, absolutely nuts and vibrant. I've been a few times and I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaAlex Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 Of the places mentioned. I really liked Venice, it was so peaceful at night walking along the water, and really enjoyed getting lost in the alleyways. Of course the food was pretty much dreadful (and a destination is often picked on food), the main sights are heaving with people and the boats are a tourist trap, but it's an experience. I would go again. Pisa was a regret, stayed a night and other than the tower it was a bleak experience, although had a lovely meal cooked by an old lady as if it was her own home. Barcelona again, not my usual cup of tea but there's plenty to do and found plenty of decent food. Not that I would rush back. Delhi, there are many many beautiful cities in India, a place close to my heart, it just happens to be the capital and yes the smog is bad! For me underrated would Verona. I found it absolutely charming, great food, quiet and plenty of interesting things if you ignore Juliets Balcony. Bergamo is another charming city in Italy as well. Overrated for me would be the Amalfi Coast region, I found people less friendly than the north, super over crowded and the whole vibe was just off for me. Particularly Positano in which I couldn't wait to get out of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 5 Share Posted June 5 took me a while to remember this one - Istanbul is overrated, I found the place boring as ****, things to do are basically mosque, mosque, market, mosque, market, market (although I did really like the palace down by the besiktas stadium) also found the looky looky men over bearing, going round markets is one thing but when its every shop and restaurant you walk past its way too much but that said turkey in general I think is underrated and has a bad rep, for 5* all inclusive resorts with the family you cant touch it Dubai is weird, I can see why people like it and I stayed in a really great hotel which helped but its all just so fake, surrounded by towers that dont feel lived in, a metro which didnt really work, the inability to really walk anywhere and explore (both because of the heat and the fac that there's not actually anything interesting to stumble across) seeing as so many said amsterdam is overrated i'll say that rotterdam is underrated, nice little city with then den haag down the road and a surprisingly nice beach town a little bit further, never thought id say i stayed in a beautiful beach in holland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobsons Choice Posted June 6 VT Supporter Share Posted June 6 (edited) On 25/05/2024 at 00:25, Zhan_Zhuang said: Yeah I'm pretty well travelled and agree on Amsterdam, the people are arrogant and it's annoying being asked if I want drugs all the time. My favourite City is Hong Kong, absolutely nuts and vibrant. I've been a few times and I love it. Have you been to Hong Kong recently? I went back in 2008, before it got quite 'fruity' with China, and I also loved the constant motion and activity. I was wondering- how much it has changed in the meantime? Edited June 6 by HKP90 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobsons Choice Posted June 6 VT Supporter Share Posted June 6 Spent a bunch of time in India. Mumbai is like an enormous barrel of f****d up snakes. Can't say I liked it much. I was there for a week, and it was incredibly draining. Hampi on the other hand was incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 11 minutes ago, HKP90 said: Have you been to Hong Kong recently? I went back in 2008, before it got quite 'fruity' with China, and I also loved the constant motion and activity. I was wondering- how much it has changed in the meantime? Not really much change, perhaps others would argue there has been change. I know of the pressures from the Chinese government but I think HK has retained much of its unique vibe. Last time I was there was 2019. I'm moving to China in July so I will visit HK likely September or October. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobsons Choice Posted June 6 VT Supporter Share Posted June 6 3 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said: Not really much change, perhaps others would argue there has been change. I know of the pressures from the Chinese government but I think HK has retained much of its unique vibe. Last time I was there was 2019. I'm moving to China in July so I will visit HK likely September or October. Cool! let me know how it is. I stumbled onto the Stanley Dragon Boat races while I was there, which was awesome. And the Peak. And Yoshinoya! All awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 On 20/05/2024 at 22:53, tonyh29 said: Amsterdam most over rated for me (***)… and the beer is shite as well The city might be not to your liking, fair enough, but they know how to make a good beer. Lagers, Ales, IPAs, they have the lot. And if you don't like Dutch beers, most places also have a great selection from Belgium. It's a country for beer lovers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 On 25/05/2024 at 20:28, VillaAlex said: it was so peaceful at night walking along the water 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 On 06/06/2024 at 14:08, Mic09 said: The city might be not to your liking, fair enough, but they know how to make a good beer. Lagers, Ales, IPAs, they have the lot. And if you don't like Dutch beers, most places also have a great selection from Belgium. It's a country for beer lovers. Heineken, grolsch and Amstel suggests otherwise I'm obviously going to say ze Germans comfortably give the Dutch a run for their money on the beer, Belgium I'd say I've not spent long enough testing it out but the ones I have tried have all been verging on too strong for someone who wants to sit in the sun and drink all day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 9 hours ago, villa4europe said: Heineken, grolsch and Amstel suggests otherwise I'm obviously going to say ze Germans comfortably give the Dutch a run for their money on the beer, Belgium I'd say I've not spent long enough testing it out but the ones I have tried have all been verging on too strong for someone who wants to sit in the sun and drink all day horses for courses isn't it! Give me a bbq and a sunny day and I would happily spend my day with Heinekens. Give me a 2 beer limit is in a nice cafe and I will have some funky dutch invention very happily. But yeah, grolsch or amsetel is not the apex of beer evolution. But it serves it's purpose when you are watching a game with the lads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 20 hours ago, villa4europe said: Heineken, grolsch and Amstel suggests otherwise I'm obviously going to say ze Germans comfortably give the Dutch a run for their money on the beer, Belgium I'd say I've not spent long enough testing it out but the ones I have tried have all been verging on too strong for someone who wants to sit in the sun and drink all day Czechs and Belgians are the best about but Dutch has some good breweries coming up. Germany has very good beer but it has little variation or creativity its a pain to get a licence to brew certain types of beer outside of the regulars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Add bucharest to a under rated city. Probably up there with some of the best looking natural women ive seen. But the xity itself is very good and fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 (edited) 3 hours ago, Zatman said: Czechs and Belgians are the best about but Dutch has some good breweries coming up. Germany has very good beer but it has little variation or creativity its a pain to get a licence to brew certain types of beer outside of the regulars You mean they don't do apple pie and custard IPAs? One thing that maybe isn't that well known or spotted by tourists that come here drinking and get a good beer here is that's there's usually very little choice, when I took my father in a law to an English pub it blew his mind that there was 9 beers and ciders on tap and then bottles in the fridge, his village local has 2 types of bottled beer and that's something I've found quite common, there is an absolute **** tonne of beer choice here but you'll go in a bar and never know it, been to places in Dusseldorf and cologne where they literally had one beer on tap, couldn't even get a vodka or wine or anything like that it was one beer or a soft drink, ive had friends over when i lived in bonn and we were on a session mates missus had enough beer and asked for a gin and tonic at maybe 3pm and the bar said no we dont serve that until after 6pm, Germany is good for beer not much else, hard to go clubbing here too from ky experience partly cos the music is so bad but mainly cos they start so late, my wife used to finish work at 5pm on a Friday, go kickboxing go home shower have a pre drink with mates then leave her flat around 1am to go to a club, english people at work cant get their heads round it and cant enjoy german nightlife cos of it But seriously there are a lot of beers, like most things German they're seasonal too, the Xmas beers tend to be good, winter bocks and Keller biers, then hell in the summer Unfortunately I work in Frankfurt which somehow has the worst beer in all of Germany (binding, absolute piss) it's not really rated either so can't be overrated but Frankfurt as a big international business city will genuinely shock people as to how rough the city centre around the train station is, I think it was the inspiration behind Amsterdam in the Wire, prostitutes and drugs it's proper bandit country, I've never seen anything like it anywhere else, seen people smoking crack in the middle of the street at 11am, it's a mad place Edited June 10 by villa4europe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted July 9 Author VT Supporter Share Posted July 9 Barcelona? Hard pass. Quote Protesters in Barcelona have sprayed visitors with water as part of a demonstration against mass tourism. Demonstrators marching through areas popular with tourists on Saturday chanted “tourists go home” and squirted them with water pistols, while others carried signs with slogans including “Barcelona is not for sale.” Visit England need to remind Americans to visit the waist of the UK. Who needs bad paella and water in your face when you can have a balti pie and green hills? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 A lot of the protest against tourism is caused by Air B and B. People are now able to buy properties and rent them out as and when they want. This makes property worth more and outside of the reach of regular local. It also pushes up rents and this really affects people, especially the younger generation. Governments are too slow and too happy to let property be a capitalist industry with little to no regulation so this is the end result. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 5 hours ago, villa89 said: A lot of the protest against tourism is caused by Air B and B. People are now able to buy properties and rent them out as and when they want. This makes property worth more and outside of the reach of regular local. It also pushes up rents and this really affects people, especially the younger generation. Governments are too slow and too happy to let property be a capitalist industry with little to no regulation so this is the end result. I do get the frustration but surely should be taking anger on landlords and politicians and not tourists. I am sure these protesters are going on holiday somewhere in the summer and not staying all year in Barcelona 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubliner Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 Overrated - Paris. A complete dump that I'll never set foot in again. Honourable mentions for Barcelona and Amsterdam Underrated - Skopje. Beautiful city. Friendly people and cheap as chips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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