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

[jbermingham123]

Also does anyone here know anything about Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania or Kinshasa/Brazzaville? These are some pretty large, fast-growing cities

[muppet]

Another one is Mexico City, which oft suffers the yellow, dusty 'poverty filter' in films for anywhere outside the Western world, that invariably prefers the seamy bordellos, slums and ranches on the outskirts in keeping with writers/ audience expectation. Rather than the sparkling city centre, with its huge Old City and the world's new epicentre for contemporary starchitecture.

https://supermouse.blog/2020/05/20/a...e-year-day-62/


https://supermouse.blog


https://supermouse.blog



https://supermouse.blog



https://assets.rbl.ms



https://baysidevacationshuatulco.com


https://www.musement.com/it/citta-del-messico/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1JIiQOHrk4

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qy75fD4R37...co.CityMap.jpg


As mentioned before Quito , Ecuador also, one of the world's largest Old City's.


https://www.geodyssey.co.uk/ecuador


www.intrepidtravel.com/adventures



https://supermouse.blog


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...2%2C_DD_39.JPG





https://res.cloudinary.com/selina/im...d3b7/QUITO.jpg

[muppet]

Originally Posted by saybanana

I think Suzhou is underrated. It is about 1 hour by car outside of Shanghai, but got there by train as it is along major rail lines and high speed rail now I think. It is known for classical gardens and the grand canal which forms a large rectangle with several smaller canals around the old city. The newer parts of the city is modern. I think many know the giant pants/trousers building, well it is in this city

Yep Suzhou was traditionally famed in China as the most beautiful city (with the most beautiful women), for its classical gardens and network of canals, where the housing sits in the water- aka the Venice of the East.

The inhabitants complain though it's boring -read: not modern enough. But they've recently assuaged that with a new centre away from the historic city.

[muppet]

Also, Wuhan - you might possibly have heard of this place in the news recently.

It's built on another confluence of the Yangzte, where historically three major competing cities met, facing off across the waters -but now've become one.
It's got a stupid amount of massive, record breaking bridges to knit the centres together.




The latest addition is the world's second longest bridge 5,600ft span, 836ft tall pylons)




It also operates the world's biggest lightshow every night, that beats the hell out of the HK or Shenzhen ones -300 LED'd buildings incorporating over 20km of riverfront:

• Video Link

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

On the topic of Montreal from a NA perspective...it is interesting that the majorit of American (anectodal west coast POV here) youngsters only seem to plan on going to Mexico for drinking escapades. You'd think Montreal and its counterparts, super easy to get to, would be a tourist mecca for the 21 and under set. Surprised those cities' tourist baureas haven't really capitalized on that yet.

Anyone who has stayed in a downtown Montreal hotel on a Saturday night knows it is a party mecca for US kids from the NE. I have had more than a few encounters with them over the years. They come in all months as well. Even in the winter.

They are quite infamous for making trouble in Quebec City too.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by muppet

Another one is Mexico City, which oft suffers the yellow, dusty 'poverty filter' in films for anywhere outside the Western world, that invariably prefers the seamy bordellos, slums and ranches on the outskirts in keeping with writers/ audience expectation. Rather than the sparkling city centre, with its huge Old City and the world's new epicentre for contemporary starchitecture

Mexico City is not overlooked. If anything, it seems to be the new ‘It’ city that everyone has to visit, kind of like what Berlin was 10 years ago. Well, at least that’s the impression I have from here.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Mexico City is not overlooked. If anything, it seems to be the new ‘It’ city that everyone has to visit, kind of like what Berlin was 10 years ago. Well, at least that’s the impression I have from here.

Yeah, I get the same feel. Maybe DF is somewhat overlooked from a European perspective, but not in the Americas.

[park123]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Some of those alleys off the Naples central station square are straight up '70s NYC at night. Scale and architecture helps the impression.

I got my backpack opened and rifled through in Naples without my even noticing it within 10 minutes of leaving the train station, and this was in the daytime on a busy street. I'm not a typical looking American, am not fat, and didn't wear shorts or any obvious "tourist" gear. I'm from NYC and I felt scared to walk around the streets with my girlfriend after it got dark.

The seaside there (in the city itself) is pretty crap, the center has a dark and foreboding feel even in the daytime, and it's very dirty and rundown for a developed world city. The local culture seems pretty colorful though.

Outside of Naples, it's a totally different story. The Amalfi Coast and Capri are some of the most beautiful places on earth, Pompeii is obviously very interesting, and even Sorrento(?) was quite nice. Next time I will explore the region from Rome though.

[park123]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

Also does anyone here know anything about Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania or Kinshasa/Brazzaville? These are some pretty large, fast-growing cities

I went to Dar Es Salaam ages ago, but it was really interesting. I was visiting after spending time in Kenya. From an East African perspective Nairobi might as well be Manhattan or something. The closest they get to the first world, and back then it (Nairobi) struck me as nothing so much as a 3 x larger Newark NJ, with nice suburbs complete with modern American-style outdoor malls outside of the city.

Dar Es Salaam on the other hand was super exotic. It was very undeveloped, with a lot of almost abandoned looking Soviet style buildings in the center, and low-rise semi-slums reminiscent to me of Kolkata around. Zanzibar was also really interesting. I don't know how Tanzania is now though.

[park123]

edit.

[jd3189]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

On the topic of Montreal from a NA perspective...it is interesting that the majorit of American (anectodal west coast POV here) youngsters only seem to plan on going to Mexico for drinking escapades. You'd think Montreal and its counterparts, super easy to get to, would be a tourist mecca for the 21 and under set. Surprised those cities' tourist baureas haven't really capitalized on that yet.

I hope they never have to capitalize on that. When I went to Montreal last year, it was bustling already with the locals. It had its own vibe and felt undisturbed. I felt that I was disturbing the flow of the city by not knowing enough French to get by. It reminded me of Brooklyn and parts of NYC off the radar of tourists, the parts with an actual vibe that is inherent to the place. Don't know how to best describe it, but I have an idea of it.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

On the topic of Montreal from a NA perspective...it is interesting that the majorit of American (anectodal west coast POV here) youngsters only seem to plan on going to Mexico for drinking escapades. You'd think Montreal and its counterparts, super easy to get to, would be a tourist mecca for the 21 and under set. Surprised those cities' tourist baureas haven't really capitalized on that yet.

I can think of a few reasons why tourist bureaus don't want to promote their city to hordes of drunk 18-year-old Americans.

All the same, as Acajack already mentioned, Montreal is a popular destination for those in the Northeast.

[niwell]

Echoing the comments that Mexico City is viewed as an "It" city now, at least in North America. I feel like almost everyone I know (including myself) has traveled there in the past few years, stayed in more or less the same location and went to more or less the same bars/restaurants. And a few artists I know have gone down to do some work.

Interesting if it isn't viewed as such in Europe - I guess it's definitely a longer journey. And no slight on the city, it totally lived up to its potential and more in my opinion.

[Zapatan]

In the US I'd say Philadelphia is a major contender, China probably has more than you can count.

Huge Asian cities like Osaka should make the list.

[ssiguy]

Montreal overlooked? That's a first.

If there is one city in Canada I would say is overlooked it's Winnipeg. That's a shame because "The Peg" is a very attractive city with a lot of historical stock and parks. It has a VERY strong cultural, arts and music scene. It also has a real character that other Western Canadian cities lack.

[jbermingham123]

Sacramento, Fresno, Riverside, and San Bernardino are all 1,000,000+ urban areas that are constantly overshadowed by LA, Bay Area, and SD

[jbermingham123]

Also, Edmonton and Calgary, AB are very popular on this forum, but are totally obscure to most people in the US

[Minato Ku]

Cities like Austin, Charlotte, Columbus, Cleveland, Portland... are pretty much unknow outside of North America (maybe South American).
That's the way it's for cities under 5 million that aren't the capital or main city. I don't think that many in America have heard of Turin, Lyon, Valencia, Fukuoka
Even a larger city like Philadelphia is not well known.

[0214685226]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

In the US I'd say Philadelphia is a major contender, China probably has more than you can count.

Huge Asian cities like Osaka should make the list.

In the US, I would say Philadelphia is definitely not overlooked. I'd go with Minneapolis, St. Louis, Tampa, Detroit, Cleveland and Memphis before I touched on Philly.

[jbermingham123]

germany has a lot.. stuttgart, dusseldorf, and even frankfurt and cologne i dont think get much attention