What is one city that you specifically think is overrated and doesn't live up to the hype? For me it would definitely have to be Nashville. I've been there 3 time snow at differing times of the year and I just don't get the hype. The city is much smaller than you would expect, food was just ok outside of really higher end, and there just isn't a lot of cultural stuff to do (museums, art, etc.). Sure, Lower Brroadway is fun and the live music is great, but its really just a couple hundred yards of bars on each side. Outside of binge drinking, I don't think Nashville offers all that much. What are everyone else's thoughts?
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Paris, it's a complete shithole. Americans often think it's a romantic city, I think it's one of the least romantic places in Europe. Immigration has made it exponentially worse over these last 20 years, but not like the authentic Parisians are anything to write home about.
There are some people who are so disappointed with how much Paris sucks that they have to be hospitalized. This is true.
Very interesting, thanks.
Literally French, and this is a fully accurate statement... Paris is a total shithole. Thinking about vacationing in France? Go south to Provence, thank me later.
I agree and disagree with you on Nashville. I lived there for two years, and it genuinely was a blast, but I eventually did everything I really wanted to do and met everyone I wanted to meet. I've been in Atlanta for two years now and the wealth of things to do and see is overwhelming - there are entire areas of the city I still haven't tried out.
That said, there is much more to Nashville than "tourist Nashville" and if binge drinking downtown is your only experience, you need to get out of the areas with cowboy hats and boots. Locals don't dress like that, don't really listen to country music much, and don't go downtown (although I've heard downtown is improving from just being a tourist trap).
My answer is Charleston, SC. It looks neat on Instagram and wins all sorts of city and travel awards, but I hate the place. Doing business there is painful, the weather is awful, the entire city stinks because of the mud, and while there are some fantastic restaurants, I've been to all of them multiple times over by just spending a night there every two weeks for a year and a half.
I agree with you on Charleston. It was voted top city in the nation by Travel and Leisure for 7 years in a row.
https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/city-vacations/charleston-b…
I don’t think the mud is that big of a deal as I don’t really smell it. Also, there are pretty good restaurants around where I live, but think NYC is miles ahead for restaurants versus Charleston.
Disclaimer: I grew up and currently live in Charleston. It is definitely overrated. I have family responsibilities here, but otherwise would be in NYC or SoCal. I don’t think Charleston weather is that bad either. It doesn’t get that cold in the winter versus Chicago or something and you learn to deal with the heat. It is muggy sometimes though, but I’m used to it.
Also, lots of people talk about Charleston being a LCOL city, but prime location downtown or Mt. Pleasant is more MCOL unless you’re willing to go way out in the boonies like in Summerville. And North Charleston sucks and has a high crime rate, so you don’t want to live there. Living waterfront on the beaches will also cost you millions.
New York.
/thread
In what way, though? I've never lived in NYC except for a summer, but I think NYC is one of the few cities that 100% lives up to the hype, but I could never live there because the lifestyle doesn't match what I'm looking for.
It's freezing, dirty, expensive, overcrowded, alot of douches, lacks natural scenery etc.
NYC is the best city in the world. Disembark from the hate train
NAH
My dude - you are correct. Greatest city in the world. ‘murica
In terms of job potential in finance, its unparalleled. Would I love to live in San Diego on the beach? Sure, but there's no jobs in my line of work there.
So its hard to call it over rated.
I didn't know we were discussing this from a career perspective, was discussing it from a lifestyle perspective. Ofc NYC, from a finance perspective, has no equal.
Nope
Nashville is a city? I thought the only cities in the US were NYC, LA, and San Fran.
you deserve all the MS just for failing to include Chicago, not to mention the disrespect towards other cities.
Also for calling it San Fran
Are you from China or India where all the cites have 10 million people or something?
Vancouver.
I can keep going but I just finished taking my dump so I'll stop.
What the fuck?
Look, I get the hate on Vail, but there's no need to invent artificial issues. The EPIC pass is significantly cheaper than what Whistler Blackcomb prices were pre-Vail and that doesn't even take into account the massive inflation of lift passes over the past few years.
As an example, season passes in 2012 started at ~$1,500! - See the below link https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/whistler-ski-pass-prices-rel…
An Epic pass is what - $900 max? Plus you get access to every other resort when you travel? Now with Ikon as a competitor, massive annual increases in the cost of an Epic pass are less likely to be an issue. .
It's upsetting and concerning to see certified users spreading this type of misinformation.
Look, fuckwit. You might be speaking from a perspective of a person living outside Vancouver, which would likely benefit from epic pass, but not for locals who want to go to Whistler several times a season.
I love how you then proceeded to talk about certified users spreading false information. Just what in the fuck are you talking about?
This thread is clearly talking about overrated cities to live in, not overrated cities as vacation destinations. NY may be considered a shit hole to live in by many but few would call it a shit hole to spend several days during vacation.
Vail is mediocre.
Hit up Steamboat where the real OG's are at.
Agreed on the housing/income issue. It makes Vancouver an increasingly terrible place to do business. I like living here but the networking opps are terrible which means I get stuck flying to SF/Chicago more than I'd like.
The beaches are fine to swim in, at least the ones by UBC and overpopulated isn't really true. What makes you think that? Haven't run into "uncultured swine" when walking my dog in the forest at all. I barely run into people at all on the trails other than joggers and this cool old japanese guy that plays flute in the forest at like 7 AM.
I'm talking about popular locations. Chief trail, deep cove, Lynn valley, or any places with a name. There are tons of trails here and there locally but they aren't exactly fun to frequent unless you are there for a purpose (walking your dog, or if you're a jogger).
Before you turn this topic to "the city i really dislike" please elaborate on why the city you post here is "overrated".
Examples:
New Yorkers brag about NY water, NY bagels, NY pizza... NY water needs to be filtered to drink it, Bagels are from Poland, Pizza is from Italy - none of those things are something to brag about as being from New York or best in New York. Simply overrated.
Regarding tourist landmarks - I think that Times Square is the most overrated tourist place in the world.
NYC is a great city by the way. Where do you put it on your list depends on your age, preferences, etc...
I specifically think that that's what makes NYC special. It's hard to get that arrangement of international everything unless you're in a very large city, in which case it tends to be the norm.
Also I'm a native New Yorker, so my opinion might be very slightly biased...
Since you are a native New Yorker I have a question for you.
What do you think are main advantages AND disadvantages to being from NYC as opposed to: - smaller US town - Paris - smaller German town?
In which borough did you grow up?
I've never heard of anyone filtering NYC water..
t's actually our water that makes our pizza, bagels et. al. soooo darn good. I can also add our whiskey, Kings County, can beat many Bourbon Trail distillers. It does not need to be filtered and it tastes good.
Times Square isn’t overrated. It’s a tourist attraction that all the locals know to stay far away from it.
If it wasn't for the clever people there, SF is pretty dull.
I think New York is impossible to rate. It has everything you hear about, both good and bad. There's Broadway but there's puke on the streets, there's excellent food but there's garbage everywhere, there's JPM and Goldman but there's also Jefferies, there's a beautiful mix of cultures but there's also old gypsies stealing your wallet while they pee on you on the D line. Okay, maybe the last part only happened to me.
As far as being overrated goes, I'd say D.C., Houston, and L.A.
D.C. is, as Kennedy said, a city with Northern charm and Southern efficiency. The nicest guy in DC is still worse than the most brutal asshole at your bank. If you want a friend in DC, get a dog - but even then, watch your back. The neighborhoods are alright, Georgetown is okay if you're old money and don't mind walking 2 miles to the closest metro stop, H street is where you go to pay $12 bucks for a mediocre DC Brau beer and where you stay because you've been stabbed, and Adams Morgan has sucked ever since all the Log Cabin Republicans scared away my favorite gays.
Houston is a glorified collection of suburbs. There's no there there. I know all the guys in O&G are having the time of their life with their McMansions and their BMW 3 Series cars, but if I was in Houston, I'd invest in a boat. Thanks to oil and gas, that coastline is getting closer every day. I'm sure scuba diving to work will be a fun experience. I don't care how good your brisket is (okay, I admit, it's excellent), I'd rather not live in a city whose urban design was done by Michael J. Fox playing with refrigerator poetry magnets.
L.A. is just like Houston. Downtown is like two blocks. Yes, the people are beautiful, but they also look like Barbie dolls left out in the sun once they hit 30. The tiny "metro" has three stops and none of them drop you off anywhere cool (North Compton, South Compton, Pershing Square), eating a Danger Dog has a 50% chance of giving you herpes, and if you don't enjoy spending three hours of your commute in traffic each way, I don't know why you'd live here.
Bring on the monkey shits, haters, you know I'm right.
So you wouldn't describe Times Square as highly overrated tourist landmark?
Man, I'll be honest - I love Times Square. I lived in New York for 2 years, and I would take any chance I could to walk through Time Square. Yes, there were weird Elmos trying to take photos and sell me crack (it was always such low quality stuff, disappointing), but I enjoyed the people watching and sitting on the red steps and just watching the city. I was the only New Yorker who liked Time Square, so you're asking the wrong guy.
Don't ever disrespect Houston like that again. MSed.
This thread was titled "most overrated city". I'm not sure who is rating Houston that highly. Appropriately rated I think.
Venice if we are talking about international. What a tourist trap.
Agreed. People who think New York smells bad have never been to Venice.
Houston AKA Strip mall capital of the US
Houston AKA Strip mall capital of the US
Know this was already mentioned, but really not a big fan of NYC. It's incredibly expensive, always smells like shit, and way overcrowded. The weather is nothing special, and humid af in summer. No doubt a good place to start a career, but not worth the shitty quality of life imo. Also has a decent dating scene, but let's be real so do most major cities. Can't wait to do my two years and gtfo. The Big Apple is rotten.
I think to answer this properly, you’d have to have a rating first then compare reality to the ranking or indexed scale. For example, Cleveland is a horrible town, but very few people would rate it as good.
LA as another example I would think is highly rated, but I think it sucks due to how far you have to drive for everything and every waiter/bartender thinking they are the next Robert DeNiro.
Where do you place some random town like Tampa or Jacksonville? Houston, Dallas, or Atlanta? Philly or Boston? I don’t know what the expectations are for a town like that to say whether or not it’s ‘overrated’.
Amsterdam -- literally went there because it was a bucket list item. It was okay but nothing to write home about. Not saying it's horrible, but it's really overrated IMO. Too expensive for what it is.
nkhan1?
Amsterdam was awesome when I went there a few years ago. When I went back this summer, it was too pristine and sterile, it went from being quirky to being boring, like when you move out of the city and into the suburbs. Something changed.
I tend to agree it's Vancouver, for these reasons：
Seriously, I grew up in that city and still found it to be unattractive. It's a beautiful place sure but it's just so overrated.
San Francisco
/end
Miami. I grew up there. Is not as great as this site portrays it to be. Fantastic for a vacation, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
you are def just a tremendo gringo
San Fran. I am a CS guy and I keep up with the latest innovations in tech but if everyone is the same way it's annoying. Must be even worse for an MBA type or any other career for that matter, because of the constant tech worship
Boston. May not be very highly rated on this forum but I know way too many people who think it's the best place in the world. The people are rude and racist af, the city isn't that big or special whatsoeverv, and the only thing to do is go to the Cisco brewery and hang out with kids from Mass who think they're God's gift
Boston- weather sucks, real estate extremely overpriced, shitty transit, not clean city, sport teams are overrated, people generally rude (albeit funny), weird drinking culture (feels like knock off London)
pros are seafood
Los Angeles is a city that's all style, but it's also the one with the smallest amount of substance. Dubai is also overrated, there's nothing but high-rise buildings, high-end shopping malls, and upscale restaurants. It is for travelers with deep pockets.
All of them you soulless consumerist urbanite.
The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.
London
Never visited yet but have always wanted to go. What didn't you like about it?
Miami fucking sucks. I’m from SoFlo and there is nothing good about it. The weather is horrible and humid almost all year. During the summer it rains almost everyday. I dont think there has been a day that hasn’t rained in over 3 months. Miami Beach has become so goddamn ratchet that there is never a reason to go. Our “downtown” is just Brickell and it’s only a few blocks. Traffic is horrendous all around and the people are pretty fake. Before you call me a gringo, I’m Hispanic and speak Spanish.
My goal in life is to be rich enough to spend winter in Miami at my $10mil condo on Miami Beach. Sorry you don’t like it there Bruv. Winter weather is amazing. There’s great food, A few cool neighborhoods, Beautiful Mami’s, I could go on
Miami Beach? At least have it be brickell. Like I said, Miami Beach is horrible. It’s such a bad and ratchet crowd that it’s almost worth it to go to a beach almost 30 minutes north. Neighborhoods? What neighborhoods? The only nice one I can think of is Brickell and it’s only a few blocks. Hialeah? Yea dude pretty nice.
Relative, not absolute
Global: London
USA: NYC
Absolute
Global: Kabul
USA: Baltimore
Seattle
Its not the rain that sucks, but the darkness and cloud cover for 9 straight months
Feels like half the city is legitimately gay/lesbian / terrible straight dating scene
Lax H1b visa policy has lead to EVERY park, ski resort, and natural scenery destination within 2-3 drive being overrun with uncultured swine (theres bumper to bumper traffice now on I90 going into snoqualmie pass almost every weekend). Can't park at alpental anymore
People dress like trash
Tons of annoying white limousine liberal NIMBY boomers here (that are passive aggressive as hell) / people HATE direct confrontation here
How bad does Stevens get for crowds? Looks like a killer mountain.
stevens is the worst for crowds.
cant park anymore, horrific crowds on the lifts. was not like his before
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