Major cities that are weirdly overlooked and nobody seems to care about

[0214685226]

Originally Posted by samne

Not sure if already mentioned....Mississauga.

6th Largest city in Canada. Larger population than Winnipeg, Vancouver and Quebec City proper.

San Antonio....7th largest city in US. Wierd one too. Only 1 major sports team.

Actually, I think S.A. is fortunate to have the Spurs. It's the 24th largest city in the US. Texas has 10 professional teams and numerous other collegiate programs that rival the popularity of professional franchises.

The NBA has seen great success in alternative smaller metros with the Spurs, Jazz, Thunder, Magic, Trailblazers, Pacers to name a few.

[Tom In Chicago]

Mississauga over Winnipeg?!? I can't even. . .

San Antonio is an interesting case. . . on the one hand it's a very one dimensional city with a handful of finely curated tourist-friendly attractions in the city center - and the local vernacular appears to be more tied to the military establishment, but on the other hand it's probably the most unapologetically "Texas" of Texas cities where it's oddly rivaled against nearby Austin (the most over-hyped and unnecessarily-overtly-liberal city in the US IMO). . .

It reminds me in some ways of San Diego, where on the surface you have a preconceived notion of what you'd expect from a military city with a handful of tourist attractions, but then are surprised by some of the more enjoyable regular parts that you should expect to see in any large city (historic neighborhoods dripping with local flavor, adaptive reuse of industrial areas, excellent dining options far away from the city center). . .

I dunno. . . maybe that doesn't make much sense. . . but whatever. . .

. . .

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Segun

How about Monterrey, Mexico?

Monterrey is definitely cool and over-looked. . . has the three tallest buildings in Mexico (including it's first super-tall). . . but the prevalence of US based retail/restaurant chains is kind of an eyesore. . . I was supposed to go there in April, but due to the corona virus, had to postpone those vacation plans. . .

. . .

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I found Manchester more interesting than Birmingham, from a visitor perspective. Yeah, neither are traditional tourist cities, but Manchester seemed to have better urban fabric and more substance. Of course, tourist appeal doesn't necessarily correlate with importance.

Fantastic music came out of Manchester.

[jd3189]

Originally Posted by wg_flamip

I also really enjoyed Puebla. There's a nice mix of colonial and Porfirian architecture in the city centre, and its Zócalo is quite charming. It's fairly sedate relative to Mexico City, but that's to be expected.

Are you talking about the pyramid in Cholula? If so, it was built way before the Aztecs, I believe around the same time as Teotihuacan many centuries earlier. In any case, Cholula is an interesting city in its own right.

Yes, Cholula. I thought it was a neighborhood within Puebla. That pyramid was sublime.

[ue]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

Mississauga over Winnipeg?!? I can't even. . .

San Antonio is an interesting case. . . on the one hand it's a very one dimensional city with a handful of finely curated tourist-friendly attractions in the city center - and the local vernacular appears to be more tied to the military establishment, but on the other hand it's probably the most unapologetically "Texas" of Texas cities where it's oddly rivaled against nearby Austin (the most over-hyped and unnecessarily-overtly-liberal city in the US IMO). . .

It reminds me in some ways of San Diego, where on the surface you have a preconceived notion of what you'd expect from a military city with a handful of tourist attractions, but then are surprised by some of the more enjoyable regular parts that you should expect to see in any large city (historic neighborhoods dripping with local flavor, adaptive reuse of industrial areas, excellent dining options far away from the city center). . .

I dunno. . . maybe that doesn't make much sense. . . but whatever. . .

. . .

Yeah, Mississauga isn't really a city, as much as they like to think, they're a suburb of Toronto. It just so happened that different communities amalgamated in the '70s to become Mississauga which is why it has a very large tract of Toronto's sprawl. It's sort of like zooming in on Mesa, Arizona and viewing it as a distinct entity from the Greater Phoenix region.

It's by this logic that Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg are larger than Vancouver, when that really isn't the case when you're on the ground in any of these cities. Vancouver has the heft of its suburbs on the Fraser Delta and into the Fraser Valley that make it busier, have more stuff to do, and just creating a sense of being 'bigger'.

San Antonio, nice as it may be, does not act or feel like the 7th city of the US. It is clear somewhere like Atlanta or Miami is far bigger even if the city proper is not.

[muppet]

Both cities are sprawly for the UK, but have dense hearts. Manchester's kept many of its greatest hits and a semblance of its urban fabric


Manchester 2.5 million (3.3 million metro)


https://s3.amazonaws.com/medias.phot...14508_uxga.jpg





Birmingham mostly bulldozed its

2.9 million (4.3 million metro)


https://www.onetemplerow.co.uk/location/


It managed to maintain only a couple of its major streets


https://www.onetemplerow.co.uk/location/

[muppet]

Lijiang (pop 210,000, County 1.2 million) is probably the most beautiful city in China - huge Old Town surrounded by beautiful scenery and absolutely riddled with mountain streams and canals.


www.lonelyplanet.com


www.mochileandoporasia.com


www.wendywutours.co.uk

www.yunnan-roads.fr



http://tripfabrik.de









https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUs...ng_Yunnan.html

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUs...ng_Yunnan.html



https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com



Just one thing -it's utterly inundated with Asian tourists the entire year - 14 million, on par with NYC's overseas visitors. To be avoided entirely in peak months and national holidays



It may be a good thing it's unheard of in the West

[lio45]

Thanks for sharing this, super interesting, but doing a tiny bit of research I found that the greater Lijiang metropolitan area only has a population of 211,151 people (which is more what one would expect, seeing your pictures).

1.2 million is the population figure for the prefecture, not the metro area.

That would be like saying Montreal has 8.6 million people. That's actually the population of the province (yes, I'm aware it's all Montreal's catchment area / zone of influence...) and not the same concept as Montreal's urban area which only has ~4.1 million people.

If I go to China that city is definitely on my list!!! What a little gem

[0214685226]

Originally Posted by ue

San Antonio, nice as it may be, does not act or feel like the 7th city of the US. It is clear somewhere like Atlanta or Miami is far bigger even if the city proper is not.

Yep. City boundaries are the worst way to measure the size of a city while trying to compare that city to another. In reality, Miami is the 7th largest metropolitan area and Atlanta is the 9th. Using the same methodology, San Antonio is the 24th largest, not 7th.

San Antonio would have to double in size to become a Phoenix, which has all 4 major sports plus ASU football/basketball. That's why I say S.A. is fortunate to have the Spurs, especially in a state like Texas. Speaking of Texas, even though Austin has the momentum, I hope they aren't a recipient of a professional team anytime soon because of UT.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by 0214685226

Yep. City boundaries are the worst way to measure the size of a city while trying to compare that city to another. In reality, Miami is the 7th largest metropolitan area and Atlanta is the 9th. Using the same methodology, San Antonio is the 24th largest, not 7th.

San Antonio would have to double in size to become a Phoenix, which has all 4 major sports plus ASU football/basketball. That's why I say S.A. is fortunate to have the Spurs, especially in a state like Texas. Speaking of Texas, even though Austin has the momentum, I hope they aren't a recipient of a professional team anytime soon because of UT.

San Antonio has the Spurs because they were an ABA team. The Spurs are older than the Mavericks of DFW. If Columbus Ohio with huge Ohio State can get a professional team, hockey, I don't why Austin could not get one of the big four leagues, although I doubt it would be football. I bet the Spurs eventually start playing a few games a season in Austin, and way in the future relocate to Austin. The Washington Wizards were once the Baltimore Bullets....

[jd3189]

That Chinese city, Lijiang, actually looks like what I thought most of China looked like as a kid. The beauty is truly there.

[muppet]

Originally Posted by lio45

Thanks for sharing this, super interesting, but doing a tiny bit of research I found that the greater Lijiang metropolitan area only has a population of 211,151 people (which is more what one would expect, seeing your pictures).

1.2 million is the population figure for the prefecture, not the metro area.

That would be like saying Montreal has 8.6 million people. That's actually the population of the province (yes, I'm aware it's all Montreal's catchment area / zone of influence...) and not the same concept as Montreal's urban area which only has ~4.1 million people.

If I go to China that city is definitely on my list!!! What a little gem

Thx, I'll edit it.

[muppet]

There are of course other towns similar to Lijiang -Pingyao, Dali, Fenghuang, Tongli, Zhouzhuang, Xitan, Mudu, Wuzhen etc, and pretty much the hundreds of thousands of villages across the country which are still traditionally built, in differing regional styles.

Pingyao and Fenghuang

https://news.cgtn.com

http://cdn.topchinatravel.com/tct/pi...nt-town-03.jpg


In terms of cities, almost all have an old district or three, but the ones with a major, functioning old centre: there's Xian, Suzhou, Datong, Taiyuan, Yangzhou




www.navjot-singh.com

https://www.booking.com/hotel/cn/xi-...ian.en-gb.html

[muppet]

For colonial cities, there's Qingdao, Tianjin, Dalian and Xiamen (and the ex-Russian city of Harbin).


www.globaltimes.cn, https://qz.com/739824/how-one-chines...-tourism-boon/



www.leadtochina.com


https://www.china-travel-guide.net/city/tianjin/

https://www.china-travel-guide.net/city/tianjin/



An interesting one is the Japanese colonial relics of Changchun -Asian colonialism


www.globalphotos.org


www.visitourchina.com


www.chinadaily.com.cn, www.visitourchina.com

www.chinadaily.com.cn

[muppet]

OKee, three real gems from India.

Jaipur, and its endless series of palaces, temples and monuments. It's known as the Pink City. - Pop 3.1 million



www.omkashitaxis.com




https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

https://s3.india.com/travel



www.indulgexpress.com





https://s3.india.com/travel

www.thetimes.co.u

[muppet]

Jodhpur - known as the blue city, has the worlds largest castle at its heart and also littered with monuments. Pop 1.5 million






http://trips-shop.com

https://rajasthantourismbuzz.files.wordpress.com



www.hindustantimes.com



https://576mp.files.wordpress.com/20...t-16-of-17.jpg


http://static.messynessychic.com/wp-...204-174712.jpg

http://static.messynessychic.com/wp-...204-174712.jpg

[muppet]

Udaipur, pop 570,000




https://www.andbeyond.com/destinatio...sthan/udaipur/

https://www.andbeyond.com/destinatio...sthan/udaipur/




www.holidify.com



https://www.travelogyindia.com/blog/...sit-in-udaipur


www.roughguides.com, www.indiaholidayarchitects.com

www.padharo.co

[muppet]

Bonus: the desert city of Jaisalmer (80,000, district 670,000), where India meets Arabia. Known as the Golden City


https://www.visittnt.com/blog/ten-th...iss-jaisalmer/




https://storyateverycorner.com/jain-homes-in-jaisalmer/ https://the365tales.com/wp-content/u...-Jaisalmer.jpg







https://i1.trekearth.com/photos/1592...jaisalmir_.jpg




https://breathedreamgo.com

http://www.whereistheworld.ca/the-pe...-in-jaisalmer/

[Razor]

Originally Posted by ue

Yeah, Mississauga isn't really a city, as much as they like to think, they're a suburb of Toronto. It just so happened that different communities amalgamated in the '70s to become Mississauga which is why it has a very large tract of Toronto's sprawl. It's sort of like zooming in on Mesa, Arizona and viewing it as a distinct entity from the Greater Phoenix region.

It's by this logic that Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg are larger than Vancouver, when that really isn't the case when you're on the ground in any of these cities. Vancouver has the heft of its suburbs on the Fraser Delta and into the Fraser Valley that make it busier, have more stuff to do, and just creating a sense of being 'bigger'.

San Antonio, nice as it may be, does not act or feel like the 7th city of the US. It is clear somewhere like Atlanta or Miami is far bigger even if the city proper is not.

Totally agree with this..A city may be overlooked, but it can also benefit economically by being part of a greater region. Location, Location..Another Cdn city that comes to mind in that regard is Hamilton..It may be overlooked, but it also has that economic draw from Buffalo, and Toronto adding to it's local economy..Ditto for Kitchener/Waterloo..I can imagine that there are a lot of other cases, like Milwaukee, and cities in either Ohio and Texas in the U.S that get a good spin off from being close to a large metro. Heck, even remove Vancouver altogether, and I bet Seattle would feel it in some ways.