Outside of the obvious war, Kaliningrad in certain conditions. If you have local friends there you trust, or you are fluent in Russian, you’ll have a great time. Its got a lot of nice history, some nice views, and its cheap. But if you’re an obvious tourist, they do not treat you kindly. I wore a tank top and shorts in the city on my way from Svetlagorst beach and got side eyes for my tattoos and attire. If you’re used to stereotypically polite service, it’s not as prevalent there in Russia. And if you try to be nice, you’re seen as a weirdo.
Lithuania is also hit or miss. Vilnius and Klaipeda are nice, but are NOT tourist friendly. I used to live there, but when I went back as a kid, my mom and I spoke English and Russian. They tried to overcharge our meal significantly but my mom knowing Lithuanian caught it. The people at the corner store also questioned why I only speak Russian, and hesitantly spoke with me. Plus people on the street would call out appearances if you look different. Really good fuckin pizza though
Can’t exactly blame the Lithuanians for distrusting Russians, tbh. They have been not exactly kind to the country in the recent past, with their russification and whatnot.
Yes, but you can give grace to a 12 year old child who speaks Russian with an American accent minding his own business buying an inch cream cone. Prejudices exist, but so does a brain cell. Still, I have to give grace, this was ~2009
It’s been rough for both due to the tensions. I was supposed to be Lithuanian but ended up born in Russia. My brother is Lithuanian. He would fail classes just because he was Lithuanian in a Russian school (90s). My mom had to pretend to be best friends with the teacher so he could pass. He used to also get into a lot of fights to and from school.
We immigrated to the United States when I was 5, so luckily I didn’t get that treatment in Lithuania. Fortunately, I have good memories from my Lithuanian pre-school
In Sweden/Stockholm:
Avoid Akalla/Hjulsta/Kista
They are all boring and sees a lot of gang crime.
Just avoid Stockholm. Too many stockholmare. Visit Gothenburg instead
True, but Göteborg has its own areas to avoid. Hjällbo comes to mind…
Both Stockholm and Gothenburg are really nice cities - they’re pretty safe too unless you seek out drug lords or park your bike without a decent lock. Just don’t come here during the winter - you’ll be depressed by the lack of daylight.
I don’t think many tourists would head out to the far away suburbs by subway. My recommendation is to avoid Drottninggatan and “City” with the exception of some architecture or particular places of interest because it is just really too much busy people and pickpockets and hot asphalt and concrete and glass and tourist traps and chain stores.
The worst thing of Copenhagen is that you can see Sweden from there
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They have a “no go” zone in the city where I live. I went there. It is nice. The people are poor by Swedish standards but if you’re not from here you would not bat an eye. The only way you believe this is if you have never been to Sweden, or at least not a “no go” zone and/or you get all your news from racist right wing fuckwits who desperately try to convince you that Arabs are destroying European society.
OP Sweden is nice, even Stockholm and Gothenburg, just a bit expensive
Swedes told me that Malmö is a rough and ugly city before I went there. And honestly it was a fairly average coastal city that did not seem rough at all. Also had some beautiful spots.
Sweden is actually pretty nice, if you stay away from bigger cities
Yeah, I visited sweden once, where I camped in nature. The cities were meh, but the nature was very nice.
Ah yes, the famously war torn Sweden.
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Ah yes, the famous “no go” zones of Sweden.
There are no ‘no go zones’ in Sweden. It’s just an intentional misunderstanding by the far right party to fan hatred on immigrants. But nonetheless, there are areas which are for the worse socially and economically.
Gelsenkirchen and Duisburg are kinda famous atm.
I have read of tourists coming to Vienna and thinking there is anything worth seeing north of the Danube.
Unless you count the UN headquarters, there isn’t. All of that is a completely unstructured and boring mix of industrial, commercial and residential zones mostly built after WW2 like you find anywhere in the world.
I visited Vienna in 2015 and that’s one of the places where I’d gladly move if I could.
Don’t come to Greece, over tourism is a huge problem here…
But Im planning a Honeymoon and want to enijoy your history. Can I go if I dont use airbnb?
I don’t think there is any way right now to come without negatively affecting the locals. Essentially, the tourists to locals ratio is out of hand. A few of the problems we are facing:
- Everything is overcrowded. Our public infrastructure is barely equipped to handle the population of 10M, on top of that add the 36M visitors we saw in 2023. It may be fun and exciting if you are here for a couple of days, but living through that all year long is exhausting.
- Everything is overpriced. Most people coming to Greece have expendable income we don’t have, along with overcrowding, this sets prices we cannot afford. Airbnb has definitely exaggerated the housing crisis, but it’s not the only issue. When you are eating, drinking, visiting historical sights, or doing any activity, you are contributing to that.
- Our economy is over-reliant on tourism. As someone else commented, no other type of industry can compete with tourism, every year more places lose their identity as they adapt to the ever-growing needs of the tourism industry.
- Our history is being erased. Visiting a historical sight may a wonderful experience for you, but every step you make, every photo you take, every trash you throw, impacts the place you are visiting, destroying little by little thousands of years of history.
As a personal note, my income is a few times the national average, and yet I cannot afford to go on vacations this year…
As a (not) fun challenge you can try to limit your budget to around 30 eur per day per person. You will fail, probably won’t even find living accommodations within that budget, but it will give you an insight on our struggles.
ΝΑΙ ΓΑΜΩ. Even though my family works in the tourism industry (because my island literally only has that. Any sort of local economy was eradicated and everything is incredibly overpriced and imported), I have felt the negative effects deep in my soul, so much so I wish it would just dissolve even if that means they need to find another way to make a living. I’ll be damned if I ever willingly work for traditional tourism (ecotourism I will consider)
I got dragged to Málaga against my will (family stuff) and it was horrible. More pubs than tapas places to cater to the British crowds…
I feel you lol. I wish less people came to Portugal, especially Lisbon and Porto. It’s a bit ridiculous sometimes. The culture people come looking for is slowly dying or becoming a fake version of itself because legit stuff is being pushed out of historical centers, in favor or tourist attracting alternatives. The issue of overpricing (because all the English, German, French, etc, visiting Portugal earn way better than us here in average) is ludicrous, it’s becoming harder to enjoy the places we used to go 15 or 20 years ago.
sighThat’s really sad, because one day I wanted to go and learn Jogo do Pão. I hear it’s a dying art but they’re trying to keep it alive.
Lmao I was confused but I think I see where I got it wrong. I said “bread game” instead of “stick game”. XD
Apologies for butchering the language. :)
…Lol the machine translation of “jogo do pau” appears to be…Less than polite? Hahaha.
So, clarification: I think rural stick fighting from Portugal would be really cool to learn. :) lol
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This was a hilarious case of language misunderstanding. XD
I’m still laughing at how accidentally switching two similar words meant that comment must have sounded REALLY freaking weird to you LOL. I learned a valuable lesson here.
Yeah, in NA this is called “limp biscuit”…there was a popular band named after the concept. Gross. 🤢
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Actually, the traditional Jogo da Bolacha is also a thing. If you’re in Portugal and someone asks for you to join, YOU JOIN. It’s extremely rude for foreigners to refuse the Jogo da Bolacha. Specially if the inviter winks at you. It’s also good manners to announce you’ll loose the first few times, while you learn. If people are surprised by this just smile, lick your lips and say you’re the Cookie Monster. You’ll be accepted among us very quickly.
Okay. You. You’re a sneaky sneaky one, you. LOL That comment made me laugh so hard.
So, sadly, with my internet-ruined mind, I kinda guessed this when someone said “cookie game.” Over here in NA it’s called “limp biscuit” (like the band), and knowledge of the concept alone is enough to hope it’s just an urban-legend joke and nobody’s actually played it. 😂
“I am the Cookie Monster” ROFLMAO!!!
Messed up, but really damn funny. XD
Oh, you’re a feisty one, aren’t you!
It really is sad. For more than 25 years I’ve been visiting Portugal (so yes, I’m part of the problem…) and every year it gets a bit worse: endless new hotels destroying the beautiful views of the cliffs, villages mostly catering the needs of tourists, …
I just wish I hadn’t told everyone how amazing it is in Portugal 🥲
It is, the the fault isn’t entirely on the tourists (specially if they’re respecting and give two fucks about the places they’re visiting); the governments have been pushing tons of pro-tourism stuff everywhere for years, hence why we grew that industry so much, often without thinking of long term consequences and economic balance. So now, we have an economy overly dependent on tourism (with all the good but mostly bad stuff that brings), which, in addition to other shitty decisions like massive roadway investment instead of railway (we have one of the best road network in Europe, but a shitty railway one, significantly shrinked down in the last 40 years), have led to lots of serious issues preventing good development of a lot of other industry we could have and once had. The classic example is Algarve (the southernmost region) is so dependent on tourist they had a very hard time during COVID. Outside of Lisbon’s (<2M) and Porto’s (>1M) metro areas, every other city has less than 500k people, and the vast majority less than 100k, which presents obvious issues.
Anyway, sorry for the shit dump 😅
Thanks for the insight! I just hope that Porto and Lisbon don’t turn into another Paris or Rome…
Paris, it’s the WORST city in all of France.
Yes, please don’t come to Paris. It’s crowded enough as it is. Also we’re all very rude.
I once had a French co-worker tell me that the rest of France would divorce you if they could.
Paris is 80% people from the rest of the country. Which their former neighbours promply hate as soon as they move there.
It’s traditional.
From what my former Parisian grad school housemate told me, I concur. He once said in reply to a friend (named Roger) asking him why people in Paris were mean to him and hate Americans, my housemate replied, “Oh Rogers, zhee French do not hate Americans, zhey hate EVERYONE, especially zhee other French”. My experience in Paris was that the Parisians were surprisingly friendly. But I speak a little French and say Bonjour and Merci when warranted.
Not to hijack a thread, but what does lemmy consider the BEST place in France? I’d like suggestions.
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Lyon is pretty great. Depending on the vibe you’re going for, Marseille is also pretty awesome. I’d avoid it in the middle of the summer, but shoulder season down south is amazing. The weather is great, the people are friendly (if you avoid the worst parts of town, like anywhere) and the food is a nice mix of traditional French and Mediterranean cuisine. And make sure to get a flight of Ricard.
If you want to stay in Germany and hop across the border, Strasbourg and Colmar are both nice towns. Has German influence but you get the benefits of being near the black forest for a 2 for 1 trip.
Please don’t hate me: Paris, really.
Bretagne
Toulouse is a pretty laid back larger city that is beautiful without being overly touristy
the south, I’m told.
Correct, it’s the worst most popular place
Done. I’ve been on vacation in France many times, visited many regions and provinces. Never been to Paris.
I really liked Paris 🥲 I did go during the end of October though, so that might’ve have been a factor. People still didn’t want to talk to me in French, but they weren’t rude about it.
My favourite place to visit in France was La Rochelle, I feel like I got most of the benefits of visiting Coastal France but without the Marseille/Toulon/Monaco crowds (yes I know, Monaco is not France).
I also liked Paris and I’ve been there twice in summer. People weren’t actively going out of their way to be unfriendly to us, so this was great compared to the rest of france.
Everyone we asked for help did their best to help us, though we have 0 french knowledge. I had very different experiences elsewhere in France (we quickly learned to only speak to arab people outside Paris, if we needed help, worked fine).
We skipped most touristy places and just had a few relaxing days there both times. So that might also be, why we had a pleasant time in Paris.
I’ve been to Paris 3 times, I’m from BC in Canada. April, May and October I went. Had an amazing time every time, people, food, places. It’s one of my favorite cities.
“Nobody goes there, it’s too crowded”
The green dots are all fascinating places that I’ve visited or want to visit in France
Note that none of them are in P🤮ris
Is it possible for you to share your list?
Can’t see a way to do it privately, sorry. Unless you know a way
If you haven’t been to France before, make Carcassonne your first stop. It’s a wonderful village with an exceptional walled medieval hamlet.
Stopped there for a day on the way back from Spain. The walled Hamlet is beautiful, especially nice to stroll through the streets after dark.
Stay overnight next time! The town surrounding the citadel is actually really pleasant and one of the staples of cuisine local to that area is Cassoulet!
The board game isn’t bad either!
Just guessing by the username and domain, they probably heard of it!
I’m French ahah. But sometimes it’s nice to see your country from an outside perspective. Being a tourist in your own country can be interesting!
Paris is pretty sweet - just, for the love of God, don’t fucking drive. The metro and easy access to long distance trains make it a pretty frequent stop for me.
Some people are into extreme sports. Driving in Paris can definitely be classified as such
Driving in Paris is crazy as hell, and I did drive a lot in European cities. Although the worst I’ve ever been to has to be Bucharest. People drive hyper-crazy in Romania.
Eastern Ukraine isn’t an ideal tourist spot at the moment.
The internet has broken my brain.
scnr is a new one on me and in an attempt to figure it out, my brain did not land on the now rather obvious “sorry, could not resist” but “skibidi cap no rizz” as some kind of ironic initialism
I’m gonna go and find some grass now
git commit -m “Zoomer/alpha humor acronym database extended with new entry for scnr”
skibidi cap no rizz
our brains are mush fr 😭
I read it as scenario ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I read it as scenery. Probably because the thread is about travel.
“smoke copium, non-resident”?
Russia in general also.
Andorra. Full of motor bozos, duty free shops, terrible cities in the valleys. A tax haven joke country. Nice mountains i guess.
Passed through earlier this year specifically to visit Caldea mineral springs. Absolutely worth it if you’re nearby.
That’s the same in San Marino. It’s nice but come on, it’s full of duty free shops and shops that sell arms that are illegal in Italy
Hey! I will not tolerate this kind of racism against influencers! /s
Oh influencers. Haven’t thought of those, that fits i guess.
What’s a motor bozo?
It is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy and stop calling me Bozo.
The tax criminals / profiteurs of tax criminality driving their loud fancy sports cars through the andorran valleys and up to the golf courts.
Bude. Don’t go to Bude. There is nothing to see there.
I was disappointed with Paris in my last visit. It’s filthy, dirty and disgusting.
Compared to NYC, Paris is downright spotless.
NYC was also disgusting.
Aah, Paris 🥰
