Milan (except possibly to see a performance at La Scala)
Brussels
Rotterdam
Geneva

Never is a very strong word, but I've seen what I wanted to in each city and don't remember just enjoying being in any of these. It was hard to come up with even these few.

Bucarest
Sarajevo
Thessaloniki

Madrid- but my feelings may be skewed. The night before we departed for Madrid from SFO, I woke during the night sick and barfed all the way to Madrid. I didn't feel well enough to appreciate much.
Florence
St. Emillon
Bagnoreggio
Guernica

I think there's a huge difference between liking a place so little you'd never return (on the one hand) and having once visited a place you liked you'd likely not return because there are too many other places to go ( on the other hand). I'm not sure I've ever truly disliked any of the places we've been, but there are many we likely won't ever return to for the second reason -Bruges comes to mind - loved it for the day and a half we were there, but not likely to return). I guess the wine road (Strasbourg to Colmar) might meet the first criterion - we were bored after one day and returned to Paris several days earlier than originally planned.

Bratislava
Brussels
Amsterdam
Kutna Hora

SF- agree about the wine road and Colmar. Maybe all of mine would fit that category.

Brussels
Monte Carlo.
Liverpool
Mexico City

I have to concur about Monaco/MonteCarlo (overpriced pile of rocks)

and Colmar

and St-Emilion

But I might need Monaco to get into the Traveler's Century Club. It's a cheap one.

I am shocked. I am really, really shocked.

The posters mentioned so many beautiful, interesting places. Many mentioned whole countries, one poster even three large countries.

What happened to all these travellers? Why have they missed the beauty of the places they visited?

Wrong guidebooks? Wrong advice? Wrong attitude to other cultures? A case of diarrhea? Mosquito bites? Victim of scam? An unfriendly receptionist? Spending a couple of nights in a local jail?

I can absolutely not understand all these posts. Even on my craziest business trips I found something beautiful or exciting or interesting, whereever I was.

Okay, except of Croydon.

Probably Naples that we would never return.

For my 80th in 2015 we have no need to Monaco and we will be in a villa overlooking Nice.

Luxemburg was not a favorite.

We usually like everywhere we have been.

Ronda, Spain - Beautiful, but not "magical at night" as many told us. Just boring at night. The whole place closes up at 9 pm! Except for a couple of places that were so crowded with locals, it's hard to get in... Many advised us to stay overnight, and we stayed 2 - I normally hate one-nighters when traveling, but this was a mistake on my part. We were so bored, we joked about jumping off the bridge and into the gorge for a little excitement...

San Gimignano, Italy - a pretty little hill town from Medieval days that's been thoroughly Disney-fied. In my opinion, anyway... It's ironic that the town is authentic, because I honestly felt like I was strolling through the Epcot center version of Italy and not an actual place. It's hard for me to describe, but I think it's the lack of everyday real-life establishments (in the areas that tourists frequent, anyway) like laundromats, groceries, schools, etc. or even restaurant signs with Italian words on them. We did see a butcher shop with a boar's head nailed above the entrance, but I think it was only because that's something Tuscany is famous for, their wild boar sausage... The place just felt tacky and cheap. Didn't care for it. I loved Siena, because it was obviously a real place where people resided and worked, and there was evidence - little food markets, a school, laundry hanging out windows, a bank, etc. - of everyday life scattered everywhere among the historical sites.

>We were so bored, we joked about jumping off the bridge and into the gorge for a little excitement...

Thank you for my laugh of the day, BumbleB6. I have always felt guilty that we didn't get to Ronda for a night.

Ian

bilboburgler .... Who in the name of Hades suggested you should visit Kilmarnock in the first place !?

Basingstoke was a place I was glad to see the back of.

I HATE HATE HATE Vienna. I would not go there again unless I got free airfare 1st class and a free suite at the Hotel Sacher.

I thought the food was disgusting and I could not stand the officiousness of the Viennese.

If it weren't for the delicious coffee, I would have fled the first day I was there.

O Gucci, and the horrid smell of Weiner schnitzel!

What an awful city.


Zurich is a pleasant city, but it is so BORING. A battery chicken lends itself to more excitement.

I only fly in/out of Zurich to visit my beloved Wengen.

I would never go back to Prague. I liked Prague, but I think I saw everything that I wanted to see.

Same for Istanbul. Liked it, but would not go back.

Would not go back to Lisboa. Beautiful city, but I had enough.

Other than the Prado, I hated Madrid. LOVED Toledo and Segovia.

Would not go back to Thessaloniki, but I thought the archaeological museum there was FABULOUS! One of the best I have ever seen.

Monte Carlo is boring, but there is a lot of eye candy there.

I hate Edinburgh, too.


Thin

Zurich
Geneva
Barcelona
Monaco
Cannes

And I can't believe I am saying this, but Aix-en-Provence. I went to school in Aix 30 years ago, and absolutely loved it. I was so excited to return this summer. I couldn't believe how much it had changed--a Foot Locker on the Cours Mirabeau??!! The winding old streets are now filled with Rolex and Sonia Rykiel stores. What was a charming town has turned into a designer store shopper's dream. I don't ever need to return.

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. Cute town but now ruined by tourism in my opinion.

Olomouc, Czech Republic. Kind of the opposite of Cesky Krumlov: few tourists at all, and in the downtown core areas, few locals, either, at least the nights I was in town! What a dead town, at least in September.

Amsterdam. Been there twice; gave it the 2nd chance in 2011, 2nd time wasn't a charm, either. Just seems dirty and unappealing to me.

Split, Croatia. Didn't find it to be an interesting town, even though it's a "real" city not a tourist mecca like Dubrovnik.

Zagreb, Croatia. The place just didn't grab me.

Graz, Austria. One night was plenty; I didn't dislike it but I can't imagine why I'd ever return.

Sorrento, Italy. Another place that seemed built for tourism and tourists. Really disliked it. Day tripped to Naples, wished I'd stayed there instead!

"I have always felt guilty that we didn't get to Ronda for a night."

Ian - don't feel guilty! If you saw it during daylight hours, you saw it! It is true the bridge is lit up at night, but that's it!

Mallow. I have been there 3 times and was hopelessly lost trying to leave all 3 times. Well, not hopelessly because I'm not still there but when you start to recognize the pebbles by the side of the road....

Gibraltar - I think I was meant to go there so I could warn others not to.

Cordoba - Sorry.

Dublin - Wanted so much to love it.

Rhonda - I did think it was beautiful and amazing but one day was enough and I know I'll never go back.

How could I have forgotten?

St-Cirq-Lapopie. Nice geographical setting with the most extensive collection of Made in China items in any village in France.

Montauban - city of absolutely not a single left turn. Good if you like that merry-go-round feeling when you're driving.

Zagreb
Pisa
Florence
Athens

Florence was so crowded both times I was there that it was miserable. Athens was hot, noisy, dirty, chaotic. Zagreb was just dull. Pisa was tourist hell.

<< St-Cirq-Lapopie. Nice geographical setting with the most extensive collection of Made in China items in any village in France. >> Very droll.

Brussels
Wels
Vienna
Salzburg

Naples
No ifs,no buts,no maybe
Never again

La Bourboule
Greoux-les-Bains
Vienna
Colmar
Brussels

Madrid. I was there for a week 8 years ago and would never go back. Rude people,(to a middle aged F traveler, traveling alone) bad food.

Rhonda - I did think it was beautiful and amazing but one day was enough and I know I'll never go back.

That is the Beach Boys song, the town is called Ronda.

What's the Traveler's Century Club, Big A?

Do I have to go back to a lot of horrible places to qualify?

I wish I had enough travel experience in Europe to list places where I'd never return. The only place in the world that comes to mind for me is Galveston Texas. Ugh.
Ann Marie

http://travelerscenturyclub.org/

http://www.listology.com/guy-cockin/...club-countries

It is a group whose members have visited at least 100 countries and territories. They have list from which you must qualify. They are fairly liberal. For example you get credit for a visit to Madiera, Puerto Rico, or Sicily.

I am only 98 away from entry. But next week I plan on visiting 17 countries in 3 1/2 days.

I'd go back to Vienna. If I had business to do in the city at least then it would be interesting.

Going back to Bruges isn't on my list either. Lovely but it was boring. We had booked 2 nights in Bruges and the next morning we took the train to a little town on the coast to see a casino where Magritte had his 1st paid commission, also they have a Keith Haring wall. We had to wait until 3pm in this seaside village that was already closed up for the season and we still had a more interesting time than we would have had in Bruges.

Pisa
Bratislava

I would go back to Vienna, too, but it wouldn't be very high on my list. Actually, I think I would say that I wouldn't avoid Vienna; if I were passing through, I'd stop for a night maybe. It was a pleasant town, just not very awe-inspiring compared to Prague and Budapest which I saw before and after Vienna on that trip.

My first impression of Pisa was quite negative, too. Mostly I saw either the area around the Central Station (run down) and the Field of Miracles aka the Field of Touristy (where the Tower of Pisa is), on a day trip. But I decided to go back and give Pisa another shake a few years ago and spent a few nights there. Honestly, away from the Field, there are few tourists in Pisa - it's kind of a lively town with a lot of students. And there are some neat churches and buildings on the Arno River running down the center of town. I stayed at neat old (but run down) hotel, the classic Royal Victoria. I still wouldn't call Pisa a warm, inviting town, but I liked it quite a bit more on my second visit.

I wouldn't go out of my way to return to:

Nordlingen
Lucca
Pula
Rovinj
Zagreb
Kutna Hora
Caen

I enjoyed while I was there, but I have no need to return to:
Trieste
Monte Carlo
Brighton
Naples
Milan
Lausanne

Kilmarnock, I had to work there and I believe the local population is the ugliest I have ever seen. Walking down the High Street is like a scene from Shaun of the Dead.

I ought to add Lille, which has a "central interjection" where the single slow lane you are driving on pops up in the middle lane of a motorway, it had me screaming.

cigalechanta, I was all but ready to call you a soulmate and you go and dump on Liverpool, practically the only city I was really excited about on a cruise of the British Isles. There was a time I'd also have taken you to task for listing Brussels as it was my favorite city after our first trip to Europe in 1973. Returned many times shortly thereafter, then gave it a rest and went again as a day trip from Paris a couple of years ago and could not rediscover whatever I had seen in it.

Overall I've found this an enormously interesting thread. To pose the question in a Carrie Bradshaw kind of way--I wonder, what is it about a place that causes us to take an instant like or dislike to it and what is it that can change our minds on a subsequent visit? And can we ever change back again?

Several of the places mentioned here are in some instances places I can't imagine not loving. Others make me wonder why I ever went to see them in the first place--and then I recall the many places I did not enjoy on a first or even second exposure and now have come to really love, as well as those I loved and now can do without. I think there is a lot to be said for expectations. Sometimes they are so high that almost no place could live up to them. Other times we bump into a place that we hadn't even expected to stop at and fall in love. Sometimes its even our own expectations formed from an earlier trip that are too high causing disappointment on a second exposure or too low causing new excitement at things seen in a more interesting light. I'd be interested to hear about experiences travelers have had that changed their minds about places and if there is anything in particular they can trace the change in mindset to--weather, personal circumstances, actual change in the place, etc.

Besides my change re: Brussels from wonderful to meh, I've changed from meh to pretty darned good re: Florence, similarly Rome, and I've changed from total hatred for Paris on a first trip (wouldn't even return to the city for many years) to regard it with the same adoration you hear burbling from the mouths of teenage girls and we now return almost annually. We never could see what our guidebook raved about in Nordlingen or Charleville Mezieres but then we've never been back to either and probably never will return. We loved Barcelona on our initial visit and have only enjoyed it more each time we've returned even after enduring a purse snatching and an attempted mugging on subsequent visits, though we were really tested on a trip with a lot of rain while staying in an apartment with never dry towels--sometimes it's the little things that can almost turn you around on a place. Sometimes being forced to spend more time than you intended in a place will also force you to see more interesting things than you'd expected to find and leave you with a positively improved perception of it--or even greater hatred/annoyance at it, e.g. when we go on ski vacations with our son, we may spend days in a tiny town that we think we'd exhaust and grow tired of in a day only to find that being forced to slow down, relax and really explore every nook and cranny enhances our enjoyement of the place and even causes us to want to return.

I'm no longer sure where I'm going with this rant but I'd be interested to hear from others about places where subsequent exposure caused them to change their minds and to what they attribute the change.

Definitely Dublin - even the Celtic gold in the museum isn't enough to make me want to go back

Also Malaga - except for the Picasso museum and the fact that most flights to Andelucia fly there

You make several good points. This sort of thread is a bit silly and only slightly better than "Your favourite European cities". Most tourists get a very superficial look at any town or city and often overlook the parts where the inhabitants live, enjoy themselves and eat. Impressions are very subjective and as you say, one can be put off a place by a bad meal in a tourist restaurant, a downpour or a poor hotel.

Wasnt crazy about Scotland. If we are ever back in that area of the world, would much much prefer England again.