BadgerBoi

Thing about Brisbane is that it's exactly as you describe it, and everyone feels that way about the place. So it's not over-rated...

ThePointsCollector

Pffft. You should rent a car next time you go to Dublin. Bay area - best sea food ever ans scenery.
That national park where they filmed "Vikings" show is amazing.
We were there during Rugby Championship and retirement of #13 (team Captain). St Helens hotel went nuts and then we hit the city.
Just visiting small pubs and having a beer with crisps and talking to locals!!!
You must be a fan of NYC or something. Dublin is one of my favorite places to visit.

nineworldseries

Anyone that says NYC is overrated (compared to other American cities) needs his/her head examined or needs to get out of the Times Square nightmare.

Hating on NYC is the new smug, self-righteous thing that people say to make themselves feel better. It's the travel version of "I don't own a TV."

Domat

Or they just disagree with you.

mapleg

Well of course it is big, noisy and flamboyant. That's the whole point of being the worlds the world's most populous metropolitan area with over 30 million people. You were expecting small and rustic?

As for the xenophobic part of it, does not bother me at all.

manstein58

Thanks for that comment. I grew up in NY and think I know it well. Right now-for me- best comparison is old and new Yankee Stadium. Old place was genuine, tough, loud. Think Stan's! New place is a clip joint

mapleg

Isn't that the way most sport places have now become? A sad trend

pinniped

I don't know if NYC is overrated or not: for me, it's exhausting. When I travel there for 3 days for work, I'm completely wiped out when I leave. I often sleep all the way home, even if I'm on Southwest or on an RJ in coach. It's been so long since I've been there as a tourist, I kind of forget what that's like.

I avoid Times Square of course. I try to stay over near Tudor City, which kind of helps (especially if I can get out for a quietish run in the morning). If I go back as a tourist, maybe I'll try to VRBO something up on the Upper East Side. I've gotten to the point where I really don't like many NYC hotels. No matter what brand or quality of hotel I book, I feel like I get an irritated, non-standard, overcrowded, needs-to-be-deep-cleaned, expensive, inferior version of that product. (Maybe the true 5-star brands are filled with idyllic solitude...our trips tend to book in the Marriott/Hilton range.) I tolerate the Renaissance 57 and Hilton Manhattan East because they are too small to attract a huge cacophony of people (conventions, etc.). I sing their praises w.r.t. other Manhattan hotels, but neither are a truly exemplary version of their brand.

I'm always left with a feeling that "it's New York, so the rules are different, and that's never going to work in my favor." It leaves me weary.

Proudelitist

The whole "food scene" thing is a global phenomenon. Every city on earth is trying to go nuts with the food scene and promote itself as a foodie destination. I think the proliferation of television "food porn" travel based shows like Anthony Bourdain's various shows are largely responsible for it. It is especially acute in cities that have little else going for them and need an angle.

Toronto fits that description in many ways because it is an industrial/financial based city. I think of it like "North America's Frankfurt"...It is there because of banking and business, so on the tourism side there was little to see. No major geographic/climate based attraction like Rio, no deep cultural heritage attraction like Rome, No unique old vibe like Montreal or New Orleans, and aside from Niagara Falls being within driving distance, very little in the way of natural wonders like Honolulu or even Seattle. That leaves foodieness. I always felt Toronto was big enough and multi-cultural enough to have a wide variety of choices, even back in the 80's you could get authentic Indian or African cuisine along with standard Burger/Fries fare..and Toronto always had way more "pubs" than other North American cities...but now they push the city as an emerging foodie location.

San Diego, where I live, is doing the same thing with Craft Beer...hell, Craft Beer is the new "Foodie". It has to do this because our old attractions like the Zoo and Sea World are less and less popular because of..you know..captive animals.

I think the one true Foodie city is London. Famous for having terrible terrible food for centuries, London has leveraged it's South Asian preference into a rich, new food scene because let's face it, even Londoners hated the old food.

neuron

Interesting how you descrive London as a foodie town and Toronto as an emerging foodie town. Having lived there, I can tell you the multicultural breadth of the city also transcends to food. It may not be high brow like NYC or London but it has many a gem, some established for generations, others with a newer vibe. As for tourism, I think the cultural aspects are as big as Montreal, certainly not as old or traditional, but Toronto has its share of museums and festivals.


Toronto is certainly more than beer and chips, you just have to be in the know.

doraemonkerpal

I loved my trip to Taipei. I went to Taiwan a few years ago with friends for a week and we regretted not staying longer. We did quite a few things within Taipei, but there was a lot of things to do anywhere from 1-3 hours outside the city too. We did the following all within a one week period:

1) Shi Fen mountains to hike and take a tour of the coal museum. It might sound boring, but the open-air, mini train ride with the crazy grandma pushing the engine to it's limit was wild. Later that night, we painted our wishes onto floating lanterns and released them into the air.

2) Jiu Fen mountains to drink tea, take in the views of the coast, souvenir shopping, and lots of eating.

3) National Palace Museum and also fishing for shrimp nearby at Yang Ming Shan mountain. You can bbq the shrimp that you catch. We caught a total of 3 shrimp in an hour! Some nice locals caught about 30 shrimp and gave them all to us. Delicous!

4) Countless night markets (Shilin, Raohe, Shida, etc.). The most interesting one was near Longshan temple that we called "Snake Alley". It's gruesome, but you can have a snake killed for food and drink it's poison, and blood, mixed with alcohol. We gave it a try thinking we would never be able to try that anywhere near home.

5) High speed rail and train rides to Sun Moon Lake where we rented scooters and drove around all day, stopping at temples, a pagoda and restaurants along the way.

6) Beitou hot springs.

7) Wulai hot springs, hiking to the waterfall, mini-train ride, food, gondola ride, and cheesy (but fun) theme park at the top of the mountain.

8) Taipei zoo and nearby Maokong gondolas. Admission was only $0.75 USD for the zoo at the time and we got to see the pandas on loan from China.

9) Hiking Elephant mountain behind Taipei 101 for spectacular views of the city at night.

10) Danshui pier for games, food, and also to visit the local beaches.

11) Lots of shopping, eating, drinking, and sight seeing within Taipei at Ximending, Zhongxiao Fuxing/Dunhua area, Taipei 101 (formerly tallest building in the world), Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (very impressive during the day or night), Longshan Temple, Ding Tai Fung restaurant (the original), and more.

Just my two cents. Everybody has their own valid reasons

BuildingMyBento

I went to a beer festival in Balboa Park a few weeks ago. With "flavors" such as peanut butter, passion fruit and banana, it's going to be a weird next few years...

(p.s. have you been to the restaurant Aquí es Texcoco in Chula Vista? Not bad...if you don't mind lamb bbq.)

BuildingMyBento

On second glance, I think Taipei deserves a place on this list.

(OTOH, I kinda liked Kinmen, and non-Taiwanese food offerings in Kaohsiung.)

Crampedin13A

I live in Toronto. I didn't even know we were rated as a tourist destination never mind over-rated. I know it wouldn't be on my bucket list of places to visit but it's a very nice place to work and live in if you can afford to live in one of the expensive inner city areas.

WRCSolberg

As do I.

The north shore is absolutely gorgeous, unfortunately, as you point out, there's next to nowhere to stay up there.

My wife is full Irish, so I do know a bit more about Ireland other than Dublin. I'd much rather hang out in the neighborhood pub in a little village somewhere than Dublin. That is the *real* Ireland.