This Online Community Shares The 41 Most Boring Cities They’ve Traveled To

"I really found Dubai to be incredibly boring. It's not as big as you'd think and it's so artificial that it's soulless. After a week there you really do feel like you've exhausted all possibilities. It's just malls."

"Being one of these newly built Middle Eastern cities, there's nothing aside from the government and corporate offices - no cafes, no places to walk around. The "downtown" is a cluster of skyscrapers (all of which are offices) that don't even have sidewalks, just roads directly to the underground parking. And it doesn't even have the abundance of activities that other Middle Eastern cities do - there are literally 4 or 5 purpose-built tourist attractions. They're making a big push to expand tourism and it's supposedly getting better (a metro line opened the day after I left) but it has a long way to go before it can be considered remotely tourist-friendly."

"The coolest thing was the goddamn fish market. Let that sink in. The coolest thing in the entire city of Seattle is a FISH MARKET."

"Not really huge... but everyone thinks it’s great because of The Office."

"Infrastructure and a basic standard of living things are good enough, but it's one of the most soulless places on earth. No to little feeling of community or culture whatsoever."

AffectionatePanic said:

"My god it was completely soulless. Yeah, there's NASA, but NASA does not a city make."

 

TheJesseClark replied:

"Drove through Houston a few years ago. Couldn’t stay but Id never been before and wanted to at least see it on my way to visit family in Austin. A few things stood out to me:

A) the urban sprawl was insane. Like, way too much. I’m talking 30-50 miles of strip malls and gas stations and Walmarts surrounding the city in every direction, with no breaks.

B) Killer skyline.

C) Really empty downtown. Reminded me of a Minecraft city. Super clean and modern looking but there was just nothing happening and almost nobody around. No urban grit or feel at all. But I’m heading back there this month to give it a better shot because I’ve heard too many good things to dismiss it."

"Don’t get me wrong, I actually really enjoyed it. It was clean, the saunas were very nice, the flowers planted everywhere were gorgeous and the people were all friendly. I would even go back to reassess my opinion of it. But it just didn’t feel like there was anything that stuck out about it to me. It seemed more like a nice place to live than a cool place to visit if that makes sense."

aeh19 said: 

"It feels like a big collection of suburbs instead of an actual city. I feel like there’s nothing to do if you’re not into theme parks."

 

mistersmiley318 replied:

"You can thank the interstate system and white flight for that (among many other things). Post WWII development of America was building suburbs for middle-class whites to flee the cities for. This was accompanied by bulldozing large sections of lively city districts (often minority neighborhoods) to put highways in for suburbanites to commute in for city jobs. As a result, a lot of American cities nowadays are hollow shells of their former selves surrounded by miles of suburbs. We're just now starting to see that trend somewhat reverse with transit-oriented development and talk about upzoning single-family suburbs. Not everyone wants to live in a suburb without any character, but many are forced to since city living is so expensive due to the underdevelopment of denser housing."

User №1 said:

"My brother calls it a 'wide suburb' and that's exactly what it is."

 

User №2 replied:

"I've always felt like it's just... not a city. I grew up in a small town in Indiana and when I was a kid Indianapolis was "the big city," and when I visited there I never understood the appeal of cities. And then I got older and traveled more and realized, ohhhhhhh, THIS is what a city is supposed to be like."

Aspynisnotatree said: 

"There is literally nothing to do there. I'm a Michigan native, and I gotta say, it's not even a city really, just a big collection of low-income neighborhoods."

 

shooting replied: 

"I had a work trip in Ecorse, MI, and flew into Detroit. I've got to say Detroit has one of my favorite airports to travel through, and the city itself did have a very impressive skyline as I was driving through. I stopped at Founders Brewing's taproom and had a pretty good time, despite them coming under controversy last year. Outside of that though, there wasn't much in Detroit proper and I definitely see why it's mentioned here."

"People who live in Dallas love Dallas. I get it. Relatively low cost of living, great selection of jobs, "good" weather (too hot for me), and diverse food. People love living there.

 

My wife spent 10 years in Dallas and kept telling me just how great the place was. I was ready to love it too. Yeah, not so much. It is so spread out, so drab, so boring. Blech. It is like Dallas decided to go corporate, make sure the cost of living stayed low, there were good jobs for people and gave up on tourism. There was nothing compelling or interesting about the city. The best part about Dallas was the food (Mexican, Tex-Mex, BBQ, etc.) but you can get just as good food in Austin."

"Went there for a conference. There was literally nothing to do but attend talks. The hotel was the only place for breakfast for 700 people. There weren't even any grocery stores/mini marts!"

"I can see why my aunt hated living there and moved back to Chicago. The nature part is pretty but the city life is boring."

BackAlleyKittens said:

"Is a big nothing sandwich and it's only a few blocks."

 

Kevin_Uxbridge replied:

"Great place to go to grad school, there's basically nothing to do. Great hiking if you like that kinda thing but not much else."

User №1 said:

"It's very hot."

 

User №2 replied:

"Yeah, there is ZERO to do. Plenty of restaurants, but No nightlife unless you're a college student majoring in drinking. Not much to do with children either. 1 kids museum and let's be honest, how many times can you go to the same kid's museum before they are bored with it. Definitely regret moving here. "

canucker78 said:

"Now don't get me wrong I like the city, I'm a big fan of their Royal Art Museum, eating moules and fries, the beer scene, etc. But if I had to spend more time there I would be at a loss for things to do."

 

sregtbaenen replied: 

"Brussels is a tough city for tourists. There's plenty to see and do, but apart from Grand Place I feel there's not a clear tourist circuit you have in most other cities. A lot of stuff is also not well known. For example, one of the museums has an Easter Island statue, but they hardly advertise it and keep it in a back room behind a random furniture collection."

Schoonicorn replied: 

"Mother of god. I've been there twice. What do y'all do? I couldn't even find a bar with a pool table. (Assuming you are from Toledo)."

"Just so artificial, I mean I am not into shopping, the food was great, but after hawkers, there was not much for me.."

Australie replied:
"Agree with this! But Singapore is still worth a stopover for the food and awesome gardens by the bay attraction."

SloopyDoops said:

"I’m sure in the summer it's a great time, but I’ve only ever been in January, where all there is to do is run from heater to heater."

 

GovtSurveillanceBirb replied:

"Yeah, winter sucks but you can't call Calgary boring.

 

In the winter you can go skiing and tubing at Winsport (old Olympic infrastructure), skating, the mountains are close, and there are lots of interesting cultural events indoors and outdoors during non-pandemic times. In the summer, the city is beautiful with gigantic parks, many outdoor heritage events, festivals, amusement parks, and The Calgary Stampede (the biggest outdoor show on earth with rodeo, fair, and carnival, parades with free pancakes, and threesomes in the street)."

haebigou said:

"It gets bad reviews all the time but I've found it to be quite a lovely place."

 

CarolineElise95 replied: 

"I live in Canberra at the moment. Yes, there isn't a whole lot to do here if you're staying any longer than a weekend, but there's something about the way it looks in Autumn and Winter that I just love (especially being from Brisbane where 'winter' is 15C) plus being a small and spread out city, it's quiet and much easier to experience nature (I had never seen kangaroos or rabbits in the wild before moving here, now I see them constantly)."