Just curious: What is the seediest area you found yourself in and why did you consider it seedy? Define seedy however you like, and I for one am sometime fascinated by deteriorated areas, assuming my safety isn't jeopardized too much. I found the area around Franfurt's Hauptbahnhof seedy. It had large sex shops (and, I've read, prostitution areas) nearby and at least one of the many people loitering around started following us (he'd stop when I looked at him, then start when I looked away).

The Hamburg train station at like 3 in the morning by myself. I was afraid to snooze with some weird guy following me whose only English word was "hotel" and a couple carrying on a domestic fight (woman actually hit man hard) in some strange language. Quite an experience!
I wasn't so pleased with the Gar du Nord in Paris either or the subway stop near there with guards with big oozies. I know-there for my protection but still.
Train stations and the immediate area are usually the seediest I think. I thought the people asking for money around the stations in Scandinavia were interesting with their plea for money so they could stay longer on their refugee status. That was a new one for me!

Downtown Detroit takes some beating.

Peter
http://tlp.netfirms.com

Tiburtina station in Rome was seedy - wouldn't want to be there at night.

Try taking the bus up TIBURTINA towards Tavoli. Notice all the working girls on the street.

Go to the Pigale area of Paris. There are many bars with working girls waiting for tricks. Funny, my husband wanted to walk down this street a few times.

like the poster above - globally you can't beat Detroit for overall seediness..... but Les Halles does come close....

Donnae_B message: Try taking the bus up TIBURTINA towards Tavoli. Notice all the working girls on the street.

Hmmm...I did think of going to Tivoli to check out the Villa d'Este, but from what you just wrote, I'm having second thoughts.

As for seedy, can't beat some sections of Philly. I remeber walking down Walnut St. (which is a major east-west street) and seeing some ladies of the night hanging about some alley near the "good" section of the street.

On some "bad" sections of town, the area would look like a war zone, and one block over the houses will be well-maintained. Go figure...

Lil

I once ended up in a Best Western in downtown L.A., having booked it by toll-free number and promised a "central" location. It might have been central for the low-lifes of the city, but for us it was downright scary. The motel had a plexiglass partition in front of the "reception" desk. I don't know if they rented by the hour, but they might as well have.
The furnishings in the room were stained and I didn't want to touch anything. Sheets appeared to be clean--we slept in our clothes and were out of there by 7am.

A perfect example of why relying on a franchise chain's name doesn't necessarily promise anything, good OR bad.

Lil,
Tavoli itself is a real nice quiet town. The road to the town at night, however, is desolate, and seems to be where the hookers hang out.
I would not hesitate going to Tavoli if I were you.

The Patpong area of Bangkok had wall-to-wall crowds and was full of strip clubs, ladies of the evening, and hawkers trying to entice men into the clubs. I heard one hawker enthusiastically exclaim, "We have the most disgusting shows of all!"

The Kings Cross area of Sydney is one of the few areas in Sydney that I feel uncomfortable in--lots of prostitution and shady-looking characters. And while Las Vegas Blvd. can be very pretty at night with all the neon lights, during the day it just looks dreary and run-down.

I was just trying to think of the seediest place I had stayed as I was reading this thread and finally came up with the Kings Cross area of Sydney, only to see walkabout's post above at what was then the end of the thread. Strangely enough, we did not realize we were staying in the red light district when we booked at the Cross Court Hotel, which had perfectly acceptable rooms. We checked in during the day and were out and about mostly during daylight hours, often retiring to our room after a somewhat early dinner. There were a couple of very nice restaurants in the area. But oh, did we get a shock when we were out after dark. The street people pretty much left me (female) alone, but my poor husband got invited to participate in everything under the sun.

As much as I LOVE Italy with all of my heart, I have to say that I found Pisa a little seedy. Not that I wouldn't go want to go back, but I'd of been just as satisfied taking pictures of the leaning tower from the bus, rather than getting off and walking around. Too many people around trying to sell you their wares and I didn't feel safe branching out on my own in Pisa.

Calcutta, India and Lahore, Pakistan. I was with an ex-peacecorp friend in Calcutta, and she almost flipped out there. Lahore was particularly bad as the border guard asked me (I was around 26 at the time and with my husband of 3 years) what method of birth control I practised! Actually, Kabul, Afghanistan was rather seedy too, though I imagine it's even worst now than when I was there in 1972!

Mora, Spain. We ended up there because we stupidly left Madrid without reservations planning to spend the night in Toledo but couldn't find a hotel.
When we did find a place to stay, it was in Mora, in a "rooming house." People were coming and going all night. There were motorcycles and bicycles parked in the hallways. There was a used condom in the drawer of the bedside table, next to the Spanish equivalent of the Gideon's Bible. The sheets were plastic. The room stank. The church bells rang every quarter hour all night long. We got up at dawn and hightailed it out of there as fast as we could!

Ah well, if we're not going to stick to Europe...
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Yikes. I'm not even going to describe it because it was so sad and depressing.
A "love hotel" outside of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. The place was actually clean and cheap, but people were arriving and leaving at all hours of the night and channel 3 on the television showed non-stop porno. Actually, I think this was the only Mexican hotel I've ever stayed in that had a bidet.

StCirq, that sounded pretty disgusting. All the more reason why one should not just show up at a place without a reservation that one has researched extensively.

StCirq. That sounds dreadful! How scary! Before kids we never made reservations adding to the "adventure" of it all. We always had great luck and good fortune. Some of my worst experiences have been with reservations!

The seediest place I have ever stayed at was in Athenes when i was 17 traveling with my best friend. The room smelled like dead, rotted fish. The light bulbs barely had any wattage. I found my way to the shower, turned on the water, got undressed and started taking my shower. Suddenly a bright light went on and three men were staring right through the wall at me. Note WALL, not window. There was a huge hole in the wall about the size of an average window. YIKES! Gave a new meaning to the phrase "a Hole in the wall" for sure!

Oh my, Calamari! Do you think they had to pay extra for a room with a view?

Calamari, after your dreadful experience, I dont think that I can come up with a seedy place at this moment!! ..Nothing cant compare to That!!