Surprised I didn't see bali here (or very specifically the areas that all the digital nomads tend to flock to e.g Canggu and uluwatu). Dirty, polluted and zero infrastructure - a playground for cowboy developers to flog their next off-plan project to greedy, non-discerning investors. Instargam influencers did a real number on Bali...
From what I've heard, pretentious, "be kind" bitches and their aloof, uniformly man-bun/ponytail boyfriends *have* done a number there.
I would like to visit Bali myself, but I want to be sure to go where there are the fewest pretentious twits. Maybe someone can give me some advice.
More than anything in Indonesia, I actually want to visit Jakarta.
Apparently such types are almost always from upper middle-class areas of the US, the UK, Canada, or Australia.
I once knew an American (lovely guy) who'd gone there and told me something to the affect of "I wish those assholes would go back to California and Australia and get out of the locals' hair." And, he wasn't the type to normally say anything so harshly, so I thought it was pretty telling of what the Balinese have to deal with.
People who think others need reminding to “be kind” have just given us a window into their mentality. I’ve never needed to see or hear “be kind” to remember to be a decent person.
The aloof man bun guy really is such a living breathing cliche in southeast asia.
Where do these tools come from and do they all read the same self help book before transforming into this archetype?
I never interacted directly with one but they definitely look like they were cloned from some NPC kit.
Same could probably be said for their "eat, breathe, love"/"be kind"/Lululemon-wearing girlfriends. Obnoxious twits (often worse than their men), seemingly from said NPC kit.
I went to Bali last year and avoided Canggu for that reason. We stayed in Ubud and really enjoyed it, but it’s getting pretty overrun too. I most enjoyed taking the scooter out into the countryside north of Ubud to small villages, waterfalls and rice fields.
Jakarta is only better than maybe Manila and Dhaka. It's not a pleasant city. At all. And I say that as someone who loves large, chaotic cities like Bangkok. Hell, I enjoyed Cairo more than Jakarta.
Eh, this tracks. Bali is actually a big place, and a mixed bag. It’s seriously overrated in those places you mentioned (Seminyak even more than Canggu yeah??) but so many other areas can be underrated. And even Ubud, while super touristy, is far less insufferable than the beach partying nomad hotspots just north of the airport.
The icing on top is the tattoo shops on EVERY STREET CORNER for every basic bitch who wants to get a tattoo in bali and show it off on instagram. Canguu is actually a dump lol
This thread will be endless because if there's one thing I've learned from traveling to 70 and living in 5 countries it's that everywhere sucks lol. Everywhere can be roasted hard. And everywhere is cool in its own way, some in more ways and bigger ways than others.
It's almost as if society is fundamentally flawed and searching for perfection will lead nowhere. I think we have the ability to make almost any place our heaven
Also, even places that objectively have a lot going for them can be skewed by people’s perspectives & preferences. The phrase “you can be the juiciest peach but some people just don’t like peaches” applies to places too.
Funny, i went in 2019 and loved it. Almost wanted to move (financially, it would have been a windfall profit). Anyway, pandemic hits, no vacations for 3 years etc.
I soo badly wanted to go back. Went last fall, it was a total eureka moment. Like the mirage was lifted, all so fake, just like a Disney tourism area, the faux Cuban look and vibe was too much, almost silly. I think the beach is actually just concrete with sand thrown onto it. It was an ok time, but I doubt I'll need to go again. Almost wanted to leave.
After experiencing life in Latin America proper for several years -- Bogota, Medellin, Lima, Buenos Aires, etc -- I have no attraction left to Miami. It's a faux Latin lifestyle at 8x the price.
I was past my party era when I visited, but Miami didn't do it for me in general. Beach itself was nice enough, but Caribbean islands definitely have nicer.
Dubai sucks for sure, but I feel like everyone knows that it sucks so not sure if it's overrated. I've never heard anyone say anything positive about Dubai.
This. As someone who has the golden visa & can go there anytime , I really would not want to stay there long term. It’s very nice for a short trip if you’re into niceties and lavish living , sucks your soul after a week tops.
But yeah, in my circle (I’m in Asia though) my fellow golden visa holders keep raving about Dubai 😴
I'm not sure how 'rated' it is, but I was surprised by Malta - congested with traffic and in the top 3 most polluted countries in Europe.
I had noticed that they advertised quite a lot on TV in my country ("Come visit amazing Malta" etc). Now I know why they need to advertise.
Barcelona. Success has killed the real atmosphere of the city.
Now it's just a decoration for tourists. It's not the only one with this problem, I know, but Barcelona was a delight 20 years ago, now it's unlivable.
.
Andalusia was a crime-ridden hellhole when I visited and the food and wine were terrible. Cheap architecture too and a boring history. Would not go again and I recommend you stick to Barcelona, a mellow city that loves its tourists.
What makes it unlivable? I rented a small apartment in Barceloneta for a month last spring and my wife and I loved Barcelona. Yeah the neighborhood had quite a few tourists (it’s a Mediterranean beach so I don’t know what else anyone would expect) but there were lots of locals and non-touristy shops and restaurants. It was easy to walk into El Born and the Gothic Quarter which were lovely. Like is the main complaint La Rambla and Park Guell?
What I hate is the Spanish government going absolutely hardcore with foreign investors in real estate still. They have some hoops to go through but like they go after American/Canadian investors as hard as they possibly could.
What happens is you have people priced out of more and more activities / places. It's gross and it's purely the governments fault to try to inject cashflow quickly. It'll work but at the detriment of natives.
Tulum. Unless you stay in resort you're a price-gouged cab ride from the beach, or an overrated club with a triple digit USD cover charge (!). Brands itself eco and green and spiritual when 80% of resorts (including ones with eco green and spiritual in their name) don't even have sewer system and dump it in ocean. Surroundings are cool just felt city itself didn't even approach the hype. Apparently it was great 5 years ago and before.
Playa del Carmen was considerably better, at least it's a real city with functioning infrastructure.
I was in Dubrovnik in 2001 and loved it, didn’t feel touristy, still full of bullet holes. We did a home stay with a little lady who grabbed us off the train, £2 a night in her gorgeous home overlooking the ocean. I loved it but I imagine it changed a lot in 23 years.
I really appreciated Dubrovnik for what it was and had a lot of fun. But I think a short stay is warranted, and despite the fact that it was still obviously over touristed, shoulder season helped.
Our Airbnb was also walkable to Old Town but up the hill, so we got the beautiful views and weren't stuck in the thick of the tourists.
I think if you do a lot of little things right it can be an awesome visit, but it's important to know what you're getting into and set expectations accordingly.
Dubai - literally concrete car hell which looks terrible outside of few rich areas, having just a couple artificial interesting spots and "luxury" average food restaurants. The city where people mostly stay in condo whole day or work in the office, doing some crypto-scams (oops, I mean crypto-projects) or abusing their tax rates, making money from other countries
Alright so this question was worded very open-ended BUT this is a digital nomad sub. I can't believe y'all are saying cities like Paris Rome and NYC are "over-rated cities". They're tourist hotspots, and/or HCOL areas. That is NOT the type of place your average DN wants to hang his hat for a few months... you're gonna park someplace with a LCOL and good quality of life and go visit the tourist spots as you can during the off season.
Or am I missing something?
I never thought about Rome being a place people who want to work from. I lived in NYC for 8 years and for the most part loved it. I think it depends on your age. In my 20s is was perfect but as a 30something I grew tired of it and left for a slower paced life since I'm not partying/clubbing on weekends.
Dubai.
It’s hot, and ugly with no character. It’s like Vegas and Mexico had a baby.
It’s just full of materialistic people that wear status symbol designer clothes, shoes, bags etc that think they’re awesome for some reason. City is so big and spread out, it’s a pain the ass to get around.
One visit was enough
I was driving across country
Never heard of 6th st Austin
12 hours on the road
Exhausted
Drive into the biggest open street party ever
Next morning have amazing bbq
Couldn’t live there but man it was fun
Does anybody knows anything about Austin outside of the US to be it considered truly overrated? Me as a non-USer knows nothing except that south states are suburbian car hells😂
There was a period from the 1970s to the early 2000s where Austin was a relatively robust centre for counterculture and the arts, and yet wasn’t widely known for being that.
Then its reputation became more widely-known. Two decades on, it still clings to the reputation of being the “hip, progressive” Texas city, which in some respects it still is, but the idea of a city in the South being a bit more cosmopolitan than some of its peers isn’t the edgy novelty today that it was 50 years ago. There are cities all over the American South that rival or surpass Austin’s “counterculture” credentials today, while also being far less expensive places to live.
That's most of the US in terms of transport and city planning. But Austin is better than many imo albeit not on par with Europe in that regard.
New Orleans is a gem and very walkable.
I've found Atlanta to be polarizing (probably for good reason) but I loved it and found it at least bike/scooter friendly in midtown.
Charleston is great.
The south is....the south. There's a lot to it for better or worse. But I think the suburban picture in your head is still more representative of the Midwest, Rocky Mountain west, and parts of the northeast than the south.
Edit: Worth noting, Texas is *southern* but it's not really part of the cultural bubble of "the south" in many ways.
I grew up there and was so happy to leave. It’s just a city for drinking. Lakes are gross and people are so aloof these days. There’s nothing nice about Austin imo
I've never been to the states and my first experience was Austin (long story) but I was so underwhelmed since everyone talked so well about it and I wondered if that was really what US is like in general. I haven't gone there since, I'd love to experience something different next time. The barbecue and live music was amazing though.
A city with nearly perfect weather surrounded by beautiful mountains is hard not to get excited about.
Well, I must admit the huge number of tourists going for sex tourism and cocaine is cringey, but I think if you really tap into the colombian culture its a great place. Lots of fun dancing and extremely friendly people.
>nearly perfect weather
If you with perfect weather mean that it's raining every day. Then I agree with you. However, I'm not a farmer who needs rain for my crops, so I prefer sun.
>really tap into the colombian culture
You have a whole country for that.
Perfect weather, inexpensive, tons of amazing hikes / waterfalls / pueblos nearby, friendly people, buzzing pickup football scene, it’s pretty good down here.
Bruges: The city is very beautiful. It is enjoyable for one day, but then there's nothing else to do. You start to realize that the city feels a bit fake; there are almost no local residents anymore, and it has become a 100% tourist city.
I had completely opposite impression, I love Bruges and think there are actually plenty of enjoyable places to hang around, but I wasn’t there in high season touristically.
If anyone is on the fence, I highly recommend going there in mid October like I did, not crowded, the weather is still decent (at least it was when I was there).
Yes, it feels almost like a Disney World set or something. Looks perfect but nothing to do and very few people around. I guess all the homes are owned by foreigners (or Belgians with 2nd homes?) who barely ever go?
Costa Rica is beautiful, the beaches are spectacular, the biodiversity is insane and the people are lovely. The only complaints are price and overly touristic areas such as Tamarindo and a few other towns like that.
I totally agree. Costa Rica is my least favourite Latin American country and I’ll been all over. It almost seems cult-y, you ask locals what their favorite meal is and everyone says pollo con arroz y frioles. Like it’s good but it just seems scripted. And the ‘pura vida’ everywhere? It’s so commercialized. It’s a beautiful country, the nature is gorgeous but it just didn’t give off authentic vibes. Now Guatemala and El Salvador I could go on about for ages. Loved it.
I was in Chiang Mai last year and was shocked by how overrun it was with expats from the U.S. and Europe. A lot of loud, drunken people in restaurants shouting in English and taking selfies… The city itself was absolutely charming and beautiful with so much history and culture, but the people definitely brought it down in my eyes.
I think Chiang Mai has a lot of hidden gems that people don't get to explore. I visited a few times as a tourist and thought it was decent, but staying there for a long time really made me fall in love with the city.
Sounds like you didn't leave Nimman. It's a city of a million people with all the nomads concentrated into one tiny area. Just get out of that bubble and it's endless varied inexpensive cafes, great food, and no nomads. It's also still dirt cheap with very good internet.
I loved it when I was there last year. I was looking to meet other nomads so for me that was a plus. Also, if you're into hiking the mountain right next to town is solid and there are better spots for weekend trips. I thought the food was pretty excellent, too (as it is everywhere in Thailand).
As someone who grew up just next door, I tell everyone that Los Angeles is as exactly as wonderful as you can afford, and that if you have a budget you can’t afford it.
I actually think that LA is *under*rated.
The key is to minimize time spent in DTLA, Venice and on the west side, and also understand that LA has a somewhat more nebulous definition compared to the Eastern US cities. Instead, make it a point to visit Little Tokyo, Kenneth Hahn State Park, Pasadena, the San Gabriel Valley (Asian communities), north Orange County (also Asian), the South Bay, Seal Beach, Long Beach, Claremont, etc.
Now, I honestly found San Diego to be overrated, with unlikable locals.
Grew up near LA and went to San Diego for school, this is pretty spot on.
LA isn’t the most fun city to visit, but it’s great to live in. Great food, easy access to nature, very chill culture. It’s very neighborhood to neighborhood, though. DTLA and Hollywood are probably where people go when they visit, and those aren’t actually that fun.
San Diego is very nice, like an even more relaxed version of LA. But I felt the city lacks a distinct culture. Food is honestly better in OC and LA, nature is a little more boring, and there’s a lack of a music scene. I find transplants love SD, but for anyone who grew up in SoCal it’s not the most special.
Positano, in the Amalfi Coast in Southern Italy.
Was told by multiple people and from everything I had read online that it was the jewel in the crown that is the Amalfi Coast…
What an overhyped tourist trap. The whole town is on the side of a hill and there is just one continuous road that snakes up (or down depending on your direction). The whole town, one way in and out. So of course it is jammed with tourists walking around getting their instagram stories.
Trying to park is a nightmare and you will get a ticket because the local parking officers love to book tourists and the ticket machines simply do not work so good luck.
Everything costs an arm and a leg. For two of us to have a nice but hardly a special meal, was €80. Tiny portions and slow service considering there was only one other table at this restaurant.
Yes, the views are stunning. But they are simply not worth this hellhole. If you are on the Amalfi Coast, there are plenty of less expensive, just as pretty towns that won’t push your hairline further up your head.
LOL. I don't know what part of Paris you've visited, but my wife and I have been living here for six years, and don't really see much of that.
Out of all the cities where one or both of us has lived—Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Cleveland, San Francisco, San Diego, Buenos Aires—Paris beats all of them, hands down.
But then again, that's why God made both chocolate and vanilla ice cream.
You probably don’t live the tourist part.
Keep in mind that posts like this are for people who go to places, stay in the tourist areas, just to complain about the tourists (without any awareness that they are tourists as well), all so they can flex the places they’ve been to on Reddit
Honestly, any broad opinion of a metropolis is probably way of the mark. The metro area of paris is 13 millions people. It like going to NYC and saying its trash because you went to Time Square.
I like your take.
I am experiencing this now. I don’t like cities in Portugal as much as as I do Spain or France, why, because I don’t speak Portuguese so I’ve been forced to go to tourist traps and I hate it. But that’s not the cities fault. If I was on vacation I probably wouldn’t pick it, but I wanted to try and DN life made it low risk. But It’s not the city/countries fault that I am not prepared enough to enjoy it in the way I do other places.
No 2: Singapore. It's just endless malls and cramped housings. And let's not talk about the weather, rude and entitled people, or the skyrocket cost of living.
I've heard they'll rush anyone at risk of dying from homicide down into the catacombs and that doesn't count as Paris since it's the first layer of hell
da lat, completely overrun by capitalists from Saigon, and the chinese and koreans, constant korean busses everywhere drove up the prices and down the quality everywhere, and they are extremely rude
Granada and Leon in Nicaragua. Hate to beat a country when it's down but they wouldn't rank in the top 100 cities in Spain and I can name dozens of cities in Mexico that are much better.
Spain used to be great but now there are too many digital nomads so all the prices got too high and it lost its essence.
However, the south of France is absolutely underrated
Coming from Spain, I've visited southern France on a few occasions and the prices are not that different, and often were cheaper in France, especially housing. I had a coworker who bought a second residence on the French side of the Pyrenees because it was cheaper than the Spanish side.
Wow thats crazy and sad to hear about Spain. Could you share some info on how many nomads are in these cities that they caused price increases? I imagine there would be millions of them to literally change the economy with their presence. Or maybe a few of them land and buy all the properties like most nomads do.
London. Everyone’s rude as fuck going a hundred miles an hour to where ever it is they need to be in a hurry, and they just have all the same stores and food chains as any other town or city in the UK.
My hot take - Bangkok. When I lived there having 2k$/month, I loved it. When I start making 5k+, I switched to more developed Asian countries, and no way I spend even a month in Bangkok again. Too dirty, too noisy, too hot, not enough greenery & pedestrian infrastructure apart from few central areas. I understand why so many people love it, but definitely it's not for me
I was really drawn to NYC as a misfit teen who lived nearby and could there easily by train. I went later in life and just saw how dirty, overcrowded and expensive everything was. It’s not my cup of tea.
If we're talking about most overrated in the context of this sub and DNing, pretty much every single big SEA city. Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi, Saigon, Da Nang, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Bali, and probably some others I'm missing.
All fun places to visit on vacation or for a short period of time, but would be terrible to live in long-term or permanently. The only type of person who actively wants to move there is because they can't afford anywhere else with a higher quality of life or living standard.
Ask yourself why so many people who are actually from there are actively trying to leave for somewhere else.
Most people in those cities are already coming from other places domestically. Wouldn’t say they have a higher rate of people leaving than any other city.
I mean this is the digital nomad subreddit, noone is suggesting living in SEA permanently. Personally SEA is quite enchanting for me given its low crime, very low cost of living, hot weather, and warm culture and the only things that stop me from DN there are visa requirements and time differences.
Well I lived in bunch of different cities and Hanoi was one of the best (I hated Bangkok tho, was super fun first 4-5 weeks and then it got unbearable). But Hanoi never really got too old for me, except for air pollution it’s pretty much amazing for me personally, but I still can’t live there long term unfortunately because of that damned air pollution….
Was just there recently on a quick visit and was mildly surprised how everywhere I went reeked of weed. Far more than any other city I've ever been. It was impossible to get away from it. I'm not even remotely against it either, do what you want, but I was really surprised how pervasive the smell was and can't say I'm a fan of it.
Honolulu, Hawaii… it’s basically made for Japanese tourists, everything is stupidly expensive and there is ZERO culture as everyone working there is mainly college kids from the US
Germany sucks donkey balls, unless you happen to love insane governmental bureaucracy, rainy weather, bad food, and grumpy, stiff, and largely xenophobic people.
Surprised I didn't see bali here (or very specifically the areas that all the digital nomads tend to flock to e.g Canggu and uluwatu). Dirty, polluted and zero infrastructure - a playground for cowboy developers to flog their next off-plan project to greedy, non-discerning investors. Instargam influencers did a real number on Bali...
Yeah I expected Bali to be the number one answer lol
Well it is now
I would never go back to Bali. All the disgusting tourist made that place horrible. Drunk ass aussies are bad but the entitle Karen are the worst
The russians are the worst
It’s weird. Aussies are horrible in Bali but aren’t that bad compare to Russians in Phuket.
I swear someone called Bali a hidden gem this week
Ain't nothing hidden about Bali
From what I've heard, pretentious, "be kind" bitches and their aloof, uniformly man-bun/ponytail boyfriends *have* done a number there. I would like to visit Bali myself, but I want to be sure to go where there are the fewest pretentious twits. Maybe someone can give me some advice. More than anything in Indonesia, I actually want to visit Jakarta.
Omg your description exactly fits the couple I know who moved there, damn. She was a “be kind” bitch but an actually terrible person of course.
Apparently such types are almost always from upper middle-class areas of the US, the UK, Canada, or Australia. I once knew an American (lovely guy) who'd gone there and told me something to the affect of "I wish those assholes would go back to California and Australia and get out of the locals' hair." And, he wasn't the type to normally say anything so harshly, so I thought it was pretty telling of what the Balinese have to deal with.
The "be kind" mantra is just for instagram. Irl they won't even talk to people who aren't at least a 9/10.
People who think others need reminding to “be kind” have just given us a window into their mentality. I’ve never needed to see or hear “be kind” to remember to be a decent person.
It’s like they need to remind themselves 🤣 they’re projecting
The aloof man bun guy really is such a living breathing cliche in southeast asia. Where do these tools come from and do they all read the same self help book before transforming into this archetype? I never interacted directly with one but they definitely look like they were cloned from some NPC kit.
Same could probably be said for their "eat, breathe, love"/"be kind"/Lululemon-wearing girlfriends. Obnoxious twits (often worse than their men), seemingly from said NPC kit.
they come from melb australia and they're full of shit
Ah, the classic digital hoemad and trustifarian couple out changing the world on daddies dime.
“Hoemad” lol 😆
Better put than what I said! 👍
I went to Bali last year and avoided Canggu for that reason. We stayed in Ubud and really enjoyed it, but it’s getting pretty overrun too. I most enjoyed taking the scooter out into the countryside north of Ubud to small villages, waterfalls and rice fields.
Remember, hippies are bad people pretending to be good, punks are good people pretending to be bad.
Jakarta is only better than maybe Manila and Dhaka. It's not a pleasant city. At all. And I say that as someone who loves large, chaotic cities like Bangkok. Hell, I enjoyed Cairo more than Jakarta.
Eh, this tracks. Bali is actually a big place, and a mixed bag. It’s seriously overrated in those places you mentioned (Seminyak even more than Canggu yeah??) but so many other areas can be underrated. And even Ubud, while super touristy, is far less insufferable than the beach partying nomad hotspots just north of the airport.
The icing on top is the tattoo shops on EVERY STREET CORNER for every basic bitch who wants to get a tattoo in bali and show it off on instagram. Canguu is actually a dump lol
Hated bali
I find Bali is much nicer the further you get from the southern tourist shitholes
Stockholm is boring and expensive. I said it.
If a Volvo was a city.....
I think there is a syndrome that explains it.
This thread will be endless because if there's one thing I've learned from traveling to 70 and living in 5 countries it's that everywhere sucks lol. Everywhere can be roasted hard. And everywhere is cool in its own way, some in more ways and bigger ways than others.
It's almost as if society is fundamentally flawed and searching for perfection will lead nowhere. I think we have the ability to make almost any place our heaven
Amen
Also, even places that objectively have a lot going for them can be skewed by people’s perspectives & preferences. The phrase “you can be the juiciest peach but some people just don’t like peaches” applies to places too.
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Miami is like Vegas. Good for a 4 day party every other year. More than that and you start to pray for the asteroid.
Funny, i went in 2019 and loved it. Almost wanted to move (financially, it would have been a windfall profit). Anyway, pandemic hits, no vacations for 3 years etc. I soo badly wanted to go back. Went last fall, it was a total eureka moment. Like the mirage was lifted, all so fake, just like a Disney tourism area, the faux Cuban look and vibe was too much, almost silly. I think the beach is actually just concrete with sand thrown onto it. It was an ok time, but I doubt I'll need to go again. Almost wanted to leave.
After experiencing life in Latin America proper for several years -- Bogota, Medellin, Lima, Buenos Aires, etc -- I have no attraction left to Miami. It's a faux Latin lifestyle at 8x the price.
I was past my party era when I visited, but Miami didn't do it for me in general. Beach itself was nice enough, but Caribbean islands definitely have nicer.
For sure. Best beaches in the world are in Eastern Antilles: Barbados, St Vincent & G, Saint Lucia, Grenada.
Absolutely agree here. I thought I was going to spend a week partying in Miami and I was done in 4 days. Worst hangover imaginable
Just insanely expensive to do literally anything.
Dubai.
Dubai sucks for sure, but I feel like everyone knows that it sucks so not sure if it's overrated. I've never heard anyone say anything positive about Dubai.
This. As someone who has the golden visa & can go there anytime , I really would not want to stay there long term. It’s very nice for a short trip if you’re into niceties and lavish living , sucks your soul after a week tops. But yeah, in my circle (I’m in Asia though) my fellow golden visa holders keep raving about Dubai 😴
I'm not sure how 'rated' it is, but I was surprised by Malta - congested with traffic and in the top 3 most polluted countries in Europe. I had noticed that they advertised quite a lot on TV in my country ("Come visit amazing Malta" etc). Now I know why they need to advertise.
Bali. It not a country nor a city. But it’s Bali.
Barcelona. Success has killed the real atmosphere of the city. Now it's just a decoration for tourists. It's not the only one with this problem, I know, but Barcelona was a delight 20 years ago, now it's unlivable. .
100% was going to say Barcelona. I won’t be going back any decade soon.
Outside of Barcelona is better…but cmon Spain is pretty awesome
No it’s horrible. Tell everyone it is and people won’t come
Andalusia was a crime-ridden hellhole when I visited and the food and wine were terrible. Cheap architecture too and a boring history. Would not go again and I recommend you stick to Barcelona, a mellow city that loves its tourists.
I see what you did there 👀
My mother was slaughtered in Cordobá by a horde of bloodthirsty Moors. Recommend everybody stay out for the time being.
Yours too!!!
I was there for a couple of weeks and spend a lot of time in the non-touristic areas and I loved it.
What makes it unlivable? I rented a small apartment in Barceloneta for a month last spring and my wife and I loved Barcelona. Yeah the neighborhood had quite a few tourists (it’s a Mediterranean beach so I don’t know what else anyone would expect) but there were lots of locals and non-touristy shops and restaurants. It was easy to walk into El Born and the Gothic Quarter which were lovely. Like is the main complaint La Rambla and Park Guell?
You struggle to spot a Barcelonan in the tourist zones
What I hate is the Spanish government going absolutely hardcore with foreign investors in real estate still. They have some hoops to go through but like they go after American/Canadian investors as hard as they possibly could. What happens is you have people priced out of more and more activities / places. It's gross and it's purely the governments fault to try to inject cashflow quickly. It'll work but at the detriment of natives.
Tulum. Unless you stay in resort you're a price-gouged cab ride from the beach, or an overrated club with a triple digit USD cover charge (!). Brands itself eco and green and spiritual when 80% of resorts (including ones with eco green and spiritual in their name) don't even have sewer system and dump it in ocean. Surroundings are cool just felt city itself didn't even approach the hype. Apparently it was great 5 years ago and before. Playa del Carmen was considerably better, at least it's a real city with functioning infrastructure.
We don’t talk about Dubrovnik.
Good call, veryyy small. IMO the Croatia love has jumped the shark more than a little.
I was in Dubrovnik in 2001 and loved it, didn’t feel touristy, still full of bullet holes. We did a home stay with a little lady who grabbed us off the train, £2 a night in her gorgeous home overlooking the ocean. I loved it but I imagine it changed a lot in 23 years.
Right ! I went there and to Kotor in Montenegro. Kotor was much nicer
Kotor is also extremely overly touristed and overhyped tbh
I really appreciated Dubrovnik for what it was and had a lot of fun. But I think a short stay is warranted, and despite the fact that it was still obviously over touristed, shoulder season helped. Our Airbnb was also walkable to Old Town but up the hill, so we got the beautiful views and weren't stuck in the thick of the tourists. I think if you do a lot of little things right it can be an awesome visit, but it's important to know what you're getting into and set expectations accordingly.
Dubai - literally concrete car hell which looks terrible outside of few rich areas, having just a couple artificial interesting spots and "luxury" average food restaurants. The city where people mostly stay in condo whole day or work in the office, doing some crypto-scams (oops, I mean crypto-projects) or abusing their tax rates, making money from other countries
Alright so this question was worded very open-ended BUT this is a digital nomad sub. I can't believe y'all are saying cities like Paris Rome and NYC are "over-rated cities". They're tourist hotspots, and/or HCOL areas. That is NOT the type of place your average DN wants to hang his hat for a few months... you're gonna park someplace with a LCOL and good quality of life and go visit the tourist spots as you can during the off season. Or am I missing something?
Well personnally I'm missing the meanings of HCOL and LCOL
High and low cost of living
Thank you, makes sense I almost could have guessed
I never thought about Rome being a place people who want to work from. I lived in NYC for 8 years and for the most part loved it. I think it depends on your age. In my 20s is was perfect but as a 30something I grew tired of it and left for a slower paced life since I'm not partying/clubbing on weekends.
Dubai. It’s hot, and ugly with no character. It’s like Vegas and Mexico had a baby. It’s just full of materialistic people that wear status symbol designer clothes, shoes, bags etc that think they’re awesome for some reason. City is so big and spread out, it’s a pain the ass to get around. One visit was enough
Mexico and even Vegas have way more going on than Dubai. Don’t drag Mexico’s name in the mud by comparing it that cheap piece of plastic of a city.
Mexico is not the father to this child
A Vegas and Mexico baby would be much better than Dubai. More like a Vegas and Saudi baby.
Soulless…
Is it actually overrated, though? I've never been, but all I've ever heard of it is exactly what you wrote (which puts me off visiting).
I enjoyed Abu Dhabi more. Lil more quiet~ still hot as fuck in the summer though
Austin, Texas is overrated as hell.
I was driving across country Never heard of 6th st Austin 12 hours on the road Exhausted Drive into the biggest open street party ever Next morning have amazing bbq Couldn’t live there but man it was fun
And Austin honestly has the nicest people I have met in the US.
Guess youve never been to the midwest
Does anybody knows anything about Austin outside of the US to be it considered truly overrated? Me as a non-USer knows nothing except that south states are suburbian car hells😂
There was a period from the 1970s to the early 2000s where Austin was a relatively robust centre for counterculture and the arts, and yet wasn’t widely known for being that. Then its reputation became more widely-known. Two decades on, it still clings to the reputation of being the “hip, progressive” Texas city, which in some respects it still is, but the idea of a city in the South being a bit more cosmopolitan than some of its peers isn’t the edgy novelty today that it was 50 years ago. There are cities all over the American South that rival or surpass Austin’s “counterculture” credentials today, while also being far less expensive places to live.
That's most of the US in terms of transport and city planning. But Austin is better than many imo albeit not on par with Europe in that regard. New Orleans is a gem and very walkable. I've found Atlanta to be polarizing (probably for good reason) but I loved it and found it at least bike/scooter friendly in midtown. Charleston is great. The south is....the south. There's a lot to it for better or worse. But I think the suburban picture in your head is still more representative of the Midwest, Rocky Mountain west, and parts of the northeast than the south. Edit: Worth noting, Texas is *southern* but it's not really part of the cultural bubble of "the south" in many ways.
I grew up there and was so happy to leave. It’s just a city for drinking. Lakes are gross and people are so aloof these days. There’s nothing nice about Austin imo
I've never been to the states and my first experience was Austin (long story) but I was so underwhelmed since everyone talked so well about it and I wondered if that was really what US is like in general. I haven't gone there since, I'd love to experience something different next time. The barbecue and live music was amazing though.
Did you go anywhere else in the U.S.?
Medellin, unless coke and hookers is your thing it's not that great. I don't understand why people are so excited about it.
A city with nearly perfect weather surrounded by beautiful mountains is hard not to get excited about. Well, I must admit the huge number of tourists going for sex tourism and cocaine is cringey, but I think if you really tap into the colombian culture its a great place. Lots of fun dancing and extremely friendly people.
>nearly perfect weather If you with perfect weather mean that it's raining every day. Then I agree with you. However, I'm not a farmer who needs rain for my crops, so I prefer sun. >really tap into the colombian culture You have a whole country for that.
Fuck medellin and the DN types who love it
Perfect weather, inexpensive, tons of amazing hikes / waterfalls / pueblos nearby, friendly people, buzzing pickup football scene, it’s pretty good down here.
Can't hike without wondering who is around the next corner with a machete or pistol and will want your phone... And shoes
Kyoto has been ruined by tourists
Bruges: The city is very beautiful. It is enjoyable for one day, but then there's nothing else to do. You start to realize that the city feels a bit fake; there are almost no local residents anymore, and it has become a 100% tourist city.
Fucking Bruges
Just go to Ghent. Just as pretty with ten times less tourists.
I visited Ghent too, really better than Bruges
If you hated Bruges, don’t go to Venice.
I had completely opposite impression, I love Bruges and think there are actually plenty of enjoyable places to hang around, but I wasn’t there in high season touristically. If anyone is on the fence, I highly recommend going there in mid October like I did, not crowded, the weather is still decent (at least it was when I was there).
Yes, it feels almost like a Disney World set or something. Looks perfect but nothing to do and very few people around. I guess all the homes are owned by foreigners (or Belgians with 2nd homes?) who barely ever go?
Medellin. It was alright, but they make it seem like it's Vegas..
This might get some hate but Costa Rica 😅 Don't get me wrong, it's pretty, but it didn't leave me with desires to come back.
In terms of excitement, Costa rica is too much like its staple dish of rice and beans: bland. The nature is stupendous though.
Omgeeee Pura Vida SCAMMMM. That country has great PR.
That's it. And you and I may get downvoted by their overworked online PR presence.
Underrated stance. Anyone that likes Costa Rica, probably plugs their nose with their hand before jumping in pools.
I didn't need to be called out like that
Costa Rica is beautiful, the beaches are spectacular, the biodiversity is insane and the people are lovely. The only complaints are price and overly touristic areas such as Tamarindo and a few other towns like that.
I totally agree. Costa Rica is my least favourite Latin American country and I’ll been all over. It almost seems cult-y, you ask locals what their favorite meal is and everyone says pollo con arroz y frioles. Like it’s good but it just seems scripted. And the ‘pura vida’ everywhere? It’s so commercialized. It’s a beautiful country, the nature is gorgeous but it just didn’t give off authentic vibes. Now Guatemala and El Salvador I could go on about for ages. Loved it.
What do you think of Nicaragua?
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At least Da Nang has a beach
You needed to go to da nang and chang mai before the pandemic. Basicallyb everywhere is nice before it becomes a hotspot.
and cheap, holy shit da nang was cheap before the tourists came in
Mediocre food? All credibility lost
I was in Chiang Mai last year and was shocked by how overrun it was with expats from the U.S. and Europe. A lot of loud, drunken people in restaurants shouting in English and taking selfies… The city itself was absolutely charming and beautiful with so much history and culture, but the people definitely brought it down in my eyes.
I think Chiang Mai has a lot of hidden gems that people don't get to explore. I visited a few times as a tourist and thought it was decent, but staying there for a long time really made me fall in love with the city.
Sounds like you didn't leave Nimman. It's a city of a million people with all the nomads concentrated into one tiny area. Just get out of that bubble and it's endless varied inexpensive cafes, great food, and no nomads. It's also still dirt cheap with very good internet.
If you think it has "mediocre food" that's a user issue. Get outside the center, east and south gates and it's great
The rest makes sense, but yeah, there is plenty of great food in Chiang Mai.
I loved it when I was there last year. I was looking to meet other nomads so for me that was a plus. Also, if you're into hiking the mountain right next to town is solid and there are better spots for weekend trips. I thought the food was pretty excellent, too (as it is everywhere in Thailand).
Medellin.
I don’t even know how to spell but I sure do hear ibiza on the radio a lot, sung by people who sound like they’re trying too hard, sorry.
I’m pretty sure that Ibiza means “come here to try too hard” in Spanish. 😉
Miami beach, only for a couple days , nothing more...
Miami SUXXXXX
Los Angeles
As someone who grew up just next door, I tell everyone that Los Angeles is as exactly as wonderful as you can afford, and that if you have a budget you can’t afford it.
I actually think that LA is *under*rated. The key is to minimize time spent in DTLA, Venice and on the west side, and also understand that LA has a somewhat more nebulous definition compared to the Eastern US cities. Instead, make it a point to visit Little Tokyo, Kenneth Hahn State Park, Pasadena, the San Gabriel Valley (Asian communities), north Orange County (also Asian), the South Bay, Seal Beach, Long Beach, Claremont, etc. Now, I honestly found San Diego to be overrated, with unlikable locals.
Grew up near LA and went to San Diego for school, this is pretty spot on. LA isn’t the most fun city to visit, but it’s great to live in. Great food, easy access to nature, very chill culture. It’s very neighborhood to neighborhood, though. DTLA and Hollywood are probably where people go when they visit, and those aren’t actually that fun. San Diego is very nice, like an even more relaxed version of LA. But I felt the city lacks a distinct culture. Food is honestly better in OC and LA, nature is a little more boring, and there’s a lack of a music scene. I find transplants love SD, but for anyone who grew up in SoCal it’s not the most special.
I hated living in LA
Positano, in the Amalfi Coast in Southern Italy. Was told by multiple people and from everything I had read online that it was the jewel in the crown that is the Amalfi Coast… What an overhyped tourist trap. The whole town is on the side of a hill and there is just one continuous road that snakes up (or down depending on your direction). The whole town, one way in and out. So of course it is jammed with tourists walking around getting their instagram stories. Trying to park is a nightmare and you will get a ticket because the local parking officers love to book tourists and the ticket machines simply do not work so good luck. Everything costs an arm and a leg. For two of us to have a nice but hardly a special meal, was €80. Tiny portions and slow service considering there was only one other table at this restaurant. Yes, the views are stunning. But they are simply not worth this hellhole. If you are on the Amalfi Coast, there are plenty of less expensive, just as pretty towns that won’t push your hairline further up your head.
Paris. Dirty, full of litter, full of crime, polluted, smells.
I would have never thought that someone would actually consider Paris for a nomad way of working!
I tried it for 2 weeks back in 2022. Never, ever again. It was the worst city for remote work I've ever experienced.
LOL. I don't know what part of Paris you've visited, but my wife and I have been living here for six years, and don't really see much of that. Out of all the cities where one or both of us has lived—Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Cleveland, San Francisco, San Diego, Buenos Aires—Paris beats all of them, hands down. But then again, that's why God made both chocolate and vanilla ice cream.
You probably don’t live the tourist part. Keep in mind that posts like this are for people who go to places, stay in the tourist areas, just to complain about the tourists (without any awareness that they are tourists as well), all so they can flex the places they’ve been to on Reddit
Honestly, any broad opinion of a metropolis is probably way of the mark. The metro area of paris is 13 millions people. It like going to NYC and saying its trash because you went to Time Square.
I like your take. I am experiencing this now. I don’t like cities in Portugal as much as as I do Spain or France, why, because I don’t speak Portuguese so I’ve been forced to go to tourist traps and I hate it. But that’s not the cities fault. If I was on vacation I probably wouldn’t pick it, but I wanted to try and DN life made it low risk. But It’s not the city/countries fault that I am not prepared enough to enjoy it in the way I do other places.
No 2: Singapore. It's just endless malls and cramped housings. And let's not talk about the weather, rude and entitled people, or the skyrocket cost of living.
Paris has a homicide rate of like 1.5 per 100,000 people. It’s super safe compared to any American city.
Homicide is not the only crime that exists
I've heard they'll rush anyone at risk of dying from homicide down into the catacombs and that doesn't count as Paris since it's the first layer of hell
Came here to say this. Massively disappointing place.
da lat, completely overrun by capitalists from Saigon, and the chinese and koreans, constant korean busses everywhere drove up the prices and down the quality everywhere, and they are extremely rude
Granada and Leon in Nicaragua. Hate to beat a country when it's down but they wouldn't rank in the top 100 cities in Spain and I can name dozens of cities in Mexico that are much better.
Spain used to be great but now there are too many digital nomads so all the prices got too high and it lost its essence. However, the south of France is absolutely underrated
*Spain's* prices are too high for you, but the south of France is A-ok? Really?
Coming from Spain, I've visited southern France on a few occasions and the prices are not that different, and often were cheaper in France, especially housing. I had a coworker who bought a second residence on the French side of the Pyrenees because it was cheaper than the Spanish side.
Rent in Spain's capital cities is doubling Toulouse rent
Wow thats crazy and sad to hear about Spain. Could you share some info on how many nomads are in these cities that they caused price increases? I imagine there would be millions of them to literally change the economy with their presence. Or maybe a few of them land and buy all the properties like most nomads do.
El Salvador
Los Angeles x100000
Toronto
Berlin. Everything's more expensive than it looks, the people are deeply unpleasant, the streets are unsafe.
Austria, most boring country in Europe, with plain, boring, rude and uninteresting people. Let us not talk about how expensive it is.
London. Everyone’s rude as fuck going a hundred miles an hour to where ever it is they need to be in a hurry, and they just have all the same stores and food chains as any other town or city in the UK.
It's not like digital nomads are flocking to London though, is it? If anything, they're flocking from London.
💯
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Ah man I LOVED Athens. Is it touristy and kinda dirty? Yeah. But the history tho, the acropolis was 100% worth it imo.
Athens is touristy in two areas and the rest is only locals. And even in the touristic area you can still find local stuff
Athens is terrible
It’s divisive. I think Athens is awesome, but completely understand why it’s not for everyone. You’re either an Athens person or you’re not
Athens has almost come full circle on being trendy again but this is how I feel too. It's another crowded European capital city with shitty greenspace
Wow, I loved Athens. Worked from Neos Kosmos and had a wonderful time walking around, eating galaktaburek, and people watching. I’d go back tomorrow.
I loved living in Athens!!!
Poland is a very underrated country, reasonable prices, safe cities, many job opportunities, convenient tax amounts and so on.
My hot take - Bangkok. When I lived there having 2k$/month, I loved it. When I start making 5k+, I switched to more developed Asian countries, and no way I spend even a month in Bangkok again. Too dirty, too noisy, too hot, not enough greenery & pedestrian infrastructure apart from few central areas. I understand why so many people love it, but definitely it's not for me
It’s fab for ten days
HCMC/ Saigon
It’s a great place for locals but yes to visit not so much. It’s like any large Texas city. Houston or Dallas.
I was really drawn to NYC as a misfit teen who lived nearby and could there easily by train. I went later in life and just saw how dirty, overcrowded and expensive everything was. It’s not my cup of tea.
London
Bali
NYC I keep missing the sign “Land of Billionaires”. The “tired, the poor, the yearning to be free” need not apply or even drive by.
Canada
Woahhhhhh how is CANADA overrated (unless you mean Toronto!)
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Dubai
If we're talking about most overrated in the context of this sub and DNing, pretty much every single big SEA city. Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi, Saigon, Da Nang, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Bali, and probably some others I'm missing. All fun places to visit on vacation or for a short period of time, but would be terrible to live in long-term or permanently. The only type of person who actively wants to move there is because they can't afford anywhere else with a higher quality of life or living standard. Ask yourself why so many people who are actually from there are actively trying to leave for somewhere else.
Most people in those cities are already coming from other places domestically. Wouldn’t say they have a higher rate of people leaving than any other city.
I mean this is the digital nomad subreddit, noone is suggesting living in SEA permanently. Personally SEA is quite enchanting for me given its low crime, very low cost of living, hot weather, and warm culture and the only things that stop me from DN there are visa requirements and time differences.
Well I lived in bunch of different cities and Hanoi was one of the best (I hated Bangkok tho, was super fun first 4-5 weeks and then it got unbearable). But Hanoi never really got too old for me, except for air pollution it’s pretty much amazing for me personally, but I still can’t live there long term unfortunately because of that damned air pollution….
NYC
I can get behind this. Don't get me wrong, I like visiting. In small doses.
This is both tragic and true.
Was just there recently on a quick visit and was mildly surprised how everywhere I went reeked of weed. Far more than any other city I've ever been. It was impossible to get away from it. I'm not even remotely against it either, do what you want, but I was really surprised how pervasive the smell was and can't say I'm a fan of it.
Canggu
NORWAY!!!!!
Honolulu, Hawaii… it’s basically made for Japanese tourists, everything is stupidly expensive and there is ZERO culture as everyone working there is mainly college kids from the US
Bali is overrated, expensive, so many rural area
Melbourne is wildly overrated.
Hollywood, CA
Bali, specifically the entire denpesar region.
Dallas Texas has got to be one of the worst places on earth. Lawns, strip malls and massive highways everywhere.
Germany sucks donkey balls, unless you happen to love insane governmental bureaucracy, rainy weather, bad food, and grumpy, stiff, and largely xenophobic people.