8 Extremely Overrated Travel Destinations, And 10 More You Probably Haven't Heard Of But Might Wanna Check Out
Recently, Reddit user u/lookinsidemybrain1 posted in r/AskReddit asking: "What city is overrated?" Unsurprisingly, people had a LOT of opinions. Here's the top eight cities Reddit users had issues with:
1.Los Angeles, California
"I live in LA and every time someone comes out to visit, they want to go to Hollywood to see the touristy stuff. I don't mind indulging them, but as a huge fan of movies and old Hollywood, etc., the real thing is insanely disappointing."
"LA in general is disappointing. It's a great city in the sense of the variety of things to do, the diverse communities, and restaurants, but the infrastructure's trash. I specifically remember some Korean tourists in Hollywood and them commenting that the whole of LA looks like Seoul from the '80s. This was in the 2010s."
2.San Jose, California
"People come here thinking it's Silicon Valley and expect to see all kinds of cool advanced stuff, but it's just an urban sprawl. I know someone who came here from Shanghai and wanted to travel to San Francisco. She asked me why we don't have high-speed bullet trains that will take us to the city in like 15 minutes. I didn't know what to say."
3.Dubai, United Arab Emirates
"Concrete city. Terrible roads. Over 80% population are expats/migrants. Even if you stay there for your entire life, you will never get citizenship or you have any rights whatsoever."
"Never has there been a city with less culture than Dubai. It was built by slaves, and the Burj Khalifa isn't even connected to a proper sewage system."
4.Niagara Falls, New York
"Niagara Falls is ridiculously corny. Niagara-on-the-Lake, on the other hand, was fantastic. Baby, it's wine country!"
"The American Niagara Falls is a typical rust belt city: lost industries and economically depressed. The Canadian side, however, is owned by large corporations. All of Clifton Hill is pretty much owned by one company."
5.Pisa, Italy
"There’s a building that’s slightly wonky in an enclosed tourist trap, and then the rest of the city is an absolute shit hole."
6.Nashville, Tennessee
"When I was in college, Nashville was still a fun place to visit because the 'boom' hadn’t happened yet. I even considered moving there after grad school because cost of living was so similar to where I was at the time. Now it’s totally unaffordable, overrun by tourist traps and influencers, and the charm is totally gone. It went from being a chill place with character to an overcrowded commercial trap."
"Nashville is just one huge continuous bachelorette party at this point."
7.Charleston, South Carolina
"What was once a charming old southern city has now completely priced out locals and driven native culture out (or else just commercialized the shit out of it.) Our famed culinary scene tries so hard to be eclectic and high concept that it’s almost generic. Tourists litter our beaches and their poor behavior has made it so we can no longer enjoy a beer with our toes in the sand. Our roads suck, yet are increasingly clogged with traffic. Property values are through the roof, but never mind how woefully unprepared we are for any natural disaster. Our rich history is just racism playing dress up."
8.Sydney, Australia
"I live here and there’s nothing much to do in the centre for someone who lives here. All the stuff here is for tourists, such as Harbour Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and Bondi Beach. It’s hella expensive here. The only things I like is Chinatown because it has some of the best and cheap food in Sydney. The aquarium as well, but that’s my personal preference since I like looking at fish."
And now for the underrated cities, according to this separate Reddit thread:
9.Porto, Portugal
"Porto is beautiful. People skip it and do Lisbon usually."
10.Quebec, Canada
"Charming as can be, especially in the winter time. It's basically the only city in North America that has a real old world European vibe. The surrounding landscape is gorgeous too."
11.Vilnius, Lithuania
"Incredibly beautiful old town with amazing history and everything is cheap."
12.Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
"Pittsburgh is such a beautiful city. Coming through that tunnel from the airport reminds of the scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? when the tunnel opens up to Toontown."
"Pittsburgh is severely underrated, in my opinion. The food scene is really good (Gaucho, anyone?). The arts and cultural districts are also very interesting, and the Warhol Museum is very unique."
13.Traverse City, Michigan
"Traverse City has an amazing food and arts culture as well as gorgeous outdoors! It has the bluest water I've ever seen, and sand dunes not too far away! Plus, it's the cherry capitol of the world!"
—sydrobinson1
14.Portland, Maine
"Great downtown. Unbelievable amount of restaurants and breweries. Close to other small quaint coastal towns. People are great."
"Some of the best meals I've ever had were in Portland. The hardest part when visiting is agonizing whether to go to your well-established favorite spots, or try the new ones that are currently being raved about."
15.Washington D.C.
"People think it's just a wretched hive of political scum and villainy, but it's got a great arts and entertainment scene. Plus free museums."
"So many free things to do as well since it is a government funded state. There's the Library of Congress, the Abraham Lincoln statue, the Natural History Museum...it's very wallet friendly!"
16.Buenos Aires, Argentina
"Buenos Aires is a really, really cool city. It's expensive to get there, but once you're there, everything is very cheap. Amazing amounts of public art, a really cool opera house, a beautiful famous cemetery, great food and wine, and very much doable with public transportation and walking, so no need to have a car. I very much enjoyed it."
17.Girona, Spain
"People always go to Barcelona, but just 100 kilometers away you have a beautiful small city with an impressive old town. Plus, they used its cathedral and other places in some Game of Thrones scenes."
18.Savannah, Georgia
"Beautiful architecture, interesting history, great food, fun entertainment, access to the beach, and interesting museums. Quite haunted if you believe in that."
"One of the best walking cities there is. Plus it's an open container city. My wife and I would just go from bar to bar, grab a beer, then go sit in one of the squares, then go get another, and go on to the next one. Probably not a city that kids would love, but it's great for adults."
Answers have been edited for length and/or clarity.
