Best and Worst Places you've Been

[J-2739]

New thread time!

What's the worst and best place you've ever been? It can be in the UK or International.

Best Place - Richmond, London. Seriously, if I ever become rich, I'm gonna buy a house in this area. Really pleasant place with Kew Gardens nearby to visit on a lovely summers day.

Special mention to Harrogate. Probably the highlight of Yorkshire, tbh.

Worst Place - Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Okay, this is a bit crazy of me, since I live there, and it's recovered a bit, but like the rest of South Yorks, a nasty post-industrial shantytown, with the only nice areas being near Manchester.

Special mention to Peckham. I go there every time I go to London. Literally the rear end of the UK, along with other parts of South London. However, this place is also very vibrant, and the nightlife is simply unbeatable. I'm also quite nostalgic about the place.

Every time I've been overseas, I've always had a good experience, so not really listing that.

What about you guys?

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I'll do this in terms of favourites, as 'best' is far too subjective!

In terms of cities, I really liked Galway when I visited there. As for the UK, I've got a strange love for Nottingham that stems from a time I had a decent pub crawl there! Also quite taken by Sheffield, Newcastle, Glasgow and Bristol when I've visited them.
For towns, Llandudno is a lovely, lovely place that I seem to end up in a disproportional amount of times compared to other settlements! Also fond of the area around Cromer and Sheringham and many towns I've visited in Northern Ireland.
I do a lot of walking, so for rural areas, I really love getting out and about as often as I can around the Vale of White Horse and across the downs around Berkshire and Wiltshire. No idea why I like it so much but I do!

The worst place I have ever visited is Newport (South Wales). Absolutely awful place, with apologies to its residents!

 

[507021]

It'll probably be easier to just list the places in terms of favourites and least favourites.

Favourites:
Cardiff, Chester, Glasgow, Hereford, Liverpool, Sheffield and Warrington.

Least favourites:
Birmingham, Hull, Newport (South Wales) and Wigan.

 

[Merseysider]

Best places:

Toronto - it simply overwhelmed me stepping out of Union Station how massive the place was, and later on how friendly the people were. Spent a week there and didn't once get bored.

Inverness - beautiful city, especially along the canal.

Paris - I could have spent weeks there. Probably the most vibrant city in Europe (in my experience anyway!). Found that Parisians were happy to attempt English, as long as you attempt French first

Honourable mentions go to Edinburgh, Philadelphia, Niagara Falls and Camden.

Worst places:

Cleethorpes - it has a lot of potential (as in, if enough money was poured into the place it could become Blackpool 2.0) but I just got the impression it had been abandoned in favour of nearby Grimsby. Half the town was alright but the other half was a dump. Which brings me onto...

Blackpool - the rides are good. The town is crap.

Bratislava - nothing to do with the residents - they were lovely. Plenty of culture too, with free art gallery admission etc. The problem was, it was so. goddamn. cold. that it made me ill. I thought Iceland was cold. That was nothing in comparison.

 

[Howardh]

Best? Sat on the wall at Cafe del Lago overlooking the setting sun glistening over s'Estany des Peix (La Savina, Formentera).

Worst, many parts of Bolton can apply - but in reality Manchester Airport. Horrid, horrid place.

 

[Gathursty]

Best
Plockton - near Kyle of Lochalsh
Tenby, Wales
Hastings

Worst
St Helens
Grimsby
Attercliffe, Sheffield

 

[Drsatan]

Best places

San Francisco. I'd happily live there if I could afford the ridiculous cost of housing there.
Edinburgh
Hamburg
Berlin.
Exeter.

Worst places

Barry, South Wales. The town feels neglected and run-down.
Newport, South Wales. I lived there for just over 18 months. There are nice parts of Newport north of the station (Alt-Yr-Yn, Queen's Hill) which are more salubrious, but the city centre, despite Friars Walk shopping centre opening, suffers from too many empty units. Some of the surrounding housing estates (Ringland, Maesglas) aren't particularly pleasant.
Wakefield, Yorkshire.

 

[yorksrob]

New thread time!

What's the worst and best place you've ever been? It can be in the UK or International.

Best Place - Richmond, London. Seriously, if I ever become rich, I'm gonna buy a house in this area. Really pleasant place with Kew Gardens nearby to visit on a lovely summers day.

Special mention to Harrogate. Probably the highlight of Yorkshire, tbh.

Worst Place - Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Okay, this is a bit crazy of me, since I live there, and it's recovered a bit, but like the rest of South Yorks, a nasty post-industrial shantytown, with the only nice areas being near Manchester.

Special mention to Peckham. I go there every time I go to London. Literally the rear end of the UK, along with other parts of South London. However, this place is also very vibrant, and the nightlife is simply unbeatable. I'm also quite nostalgic about the place.

Every time I've been overseas, I've always had a good experience, so not really listing that.

What about you guys?

Yes, Peckham and South London generally have never been as good since the EPB's went.

As for best places, so many it's hard to choose from. Personal favourites, Lancaster - happy times living there, good pubs, nice journey over the Little North Western to get there. Always look forward to a visit. Also Appleby. Ideal place to while away a few hours in the pub, and of course a wonderful journey.

Worst place, Reading. Lived there for half a year and was never happy. Work, living arrangements and everything else didn't seem to work out. And it seemed to rain a lot, although that might be pathetic fallacy on my part.

 

[fowler9]

The best and worst places I have been are both Bolivia. It was a mixture of the most magical place I have been and also the most nightmarish. It is an amazingly beautiful country with a lot of variety from the Andes down to the Amazon. We arrived on a bus from Puno in Peru to to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca.

Right from the start it was a bit nuts. Our bags were on the the roof of the bus which to be fair we had experienced in Peru. At the border crossing we had to get off the bus and walk under an arch which was guarded by a few soldiers with AK's. Lake Titicaca was stunning, Copacabana was very pretty to but rough around the edges, it is a poor country. We left there for La Paz a couple of days later. We had to get off the bus to cross the Straights of Tiquina, the bus goes across on a motorised raft and you go on a glorified fishing boat. From there as you get closer and closer to La Paz the scenery is amazing but you see more and more poverty. When we reached El Alto which is like a city just above La Paz we were basically driving through a shanty town, I mean a real one, not like the way people take the mick out of my home city. That was the first time I saw real poverty on a massive scale.

La Paz itself was quite a nice city in a spectacular setting, you are high up anyway but the mountains around it are higher than anything you can imagine, the city itself is several times higher than the top of Snowdon. Our visit also coincided with both the festival of Alecitas and also the second anniversary of their new constitution. We got to see the President, Evo Morales and a massive parade of all the armed forces and the various ethnic groups that make up the country. Our hostel cost £2 a night and was a bit like the one at the start of the film The Beach, Ha ha.

From there we got a bus to Potosi which is the highest city in the world. It was very cold and as bleak as it was spectacular. The Cerro Rico was impressive as was some of the colonial architecture but on the whole it was like being on the set of Prometheus.

From there we got a bus to Sucre which was a bit lower in altitude. The journey was really nice and along one of the only paved roads in Bolivia gradually dropping down from the Altiplano. Sucre was noticeably warmer and greener whilst still being quite high up. It is known as the white city and has some amazing buildings.

From there we had a 15 hour bus ride to Santa Cruz De La Sierra which is the biggest city in Bolivia. It was a proper drop down from the Andes to the Amazon area. We saw some amazing sites and in parts the bus journey was like Ice Road Truckers Deadliest Roads in Nepal. Shear drops off the side of the road. At one point there were road works and all the traffic dropped down in to an almost dried up river bed. The regular buses aren't air conditioned so you have wide open windows and all of the dust just blows in. The last few hours as we reached lower altitudes were stifling.

Our last stop was Santa Cruz. We spent 4 days there waiting for our 36 our coach journey to Buenos Aires. It was basically very hot and humid every day. Loads of warning signs about Dengue Fever everywhere. Me girlfriend had picked up a bug on the bus from Sucre so it wasn't much fun. At the same time it was a fascinating place. Again stunning architecture but it was a bit flat for me, very tropical. We spent loads of evenings in the Placa De Armas listening to some kind of protest band. Ha ha.

The last day we wet to get the coach to Argentina. As I had a last ciggy I was approached by 2 men who asked for my passport. Having done my reading I assumed they were fake policemen trying to nick my ID. After refusing to show my ID for a couple of minutes several other men in Interpol flack jackets carrying machine guns joined them. Ha ha. I apologised profusely in Spanish and they told me to "Take eet eeeeasy".

So yeah. In short Bolivia. The best and worst place I have ever been. Stunningly beautiful, a bit scabby, and at times terrifying.

Something I forgot, and this goes for Peru. You could tell you were getting towards a city because you would be driving down a beautiful valley, suddenly the valley would just have all kinds of rubbish just dumped down it like some kind of landfill free for all. Very sad.

 

[Railops]

Best - New York
Worst - London

 

[sk688]

Best : Loved LA and SF when I visited last year

Worst : Also last year had a Geography residential field trip to Port Talbot and Porthcrawl ( on the week and day of the EU Ref ) .

I found it horrible . Dirty , polluted and run down , as well as all the locals ( esp in Porthcawl ) dismissing us as soon as we said we were from London while doing questionnaires , calling us " Bloody Londoners " and calling us " lucky to get all the government money "

Unsurprisingly , the day we did this survey was 23 June 2016 , and almost all the people we surveyed , were leave voters , but this is getting off track , so ill leave it there

 

[northwichcat]

Worse ones - UK places beginning with R.

Best ones - Ronda, Spain and Lucca, Italy

 

[J-2739]

Wakefield, Yorkshire.

Wakey used to be pretty nasty, but now it's a satellite city for Leeds, so not too bad, I suppose.

Better than Barnsley, though.

Yes, Peckham and South London generally have never been as good since the EPB's went.

As for best places, so many it's hard to choose from. Personal favourites, Lancaster - happy times living there, good pubs, nice journey over the Little North Western to get there. Always look forward to a visit. Also Appleby. Ideal place to while away a few hours in the pub, and of course a wonderful journey.

Peckham always seems to be the place that I have to go, to complete a stay in London. We always seem to go to that area. The smell of Peckham Rye is so nostalgic to me, I love it.

Been near Lancaster before, beautiful area. To be honest, most of the North West of England never fails to amaze me!

Worst : Also last year had a Geography residential field trip to Port Talbot and Porthcrawl ( on the week and day of the EU Ref ) .

I found it horrible . Dirty , polluted and run down , as well as all the locals ( esp in Porthcawl ) dismissing us as soon as we said we were from London while doing questionnaires , calling us " Bloody Londoners " and calling us " lucky to get all the government money "

Unsurprisingly , the day we did this survey was 23 June 2016 , and almost all the people we surveyed , were leave voters , but this is getting off track , so ill leave it there

We also went on a geography field trip on Referendum Day! Coincidence, much?! Although we went to Flamborough Head, and it was a nice experience, the coast was nice, the weather was nice and the residents were friendly.

I'm sorry for your experience, must have been quite awkward for you. Trust me, not everyone out of the capital is like that! We evern have some nice right wingers...

 

[EM2]

I don't get the downer on Newport. I've only been there once, and that was for the day, but I really didn't think it was very bad at all. An indoor market, which is always a plus point for me, cheap caffs, a couple of decent record shops. A nice little town.

 

[AlterEgo]

Best - Vancouver
Worst - Billingham, Teesside

 

[yorksrob]

What about you guys? [/QUOTE]

Wakey used to be pretty nasty, but now it's a satellite city for Leeds, so not too bad, I suppose.

Better than Barnsley, though.



Peckham always seems to be the place that I have to go, to complete a stay in London. We always seem to go to that area. The smell of Peckham Rye is so nostalgic to me, I love it.

Been near Lancaster before, beautiful area. To be honest, most of the North West of England never fails to amaze me!

:

Yes, I have family in the Catford area, so it holds memories from my formative days.

I agree, the North West has some amazing areas, some of which I am only beginning to explore. The City of Lancaster is wonderful in it's own right (and I would recommend a tour round the castle).

Wakie is fine. I still identify more with Leeds though.

 

[Darandio]

Worst - Billingham, Teesside

Surely you didn't consent to travel there?

 

[AlterEgo]

Surely you didn't consent to travel there?

I used to do urbexing and visited Billingham House before it's demolition. Some years ago now!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Toronto - it simply overwhelmed me stepping out of Union Station how massive the place was, and later on how friendly the people were. Spent a week there and didn't once get bored.

Yes, I too was impressed with Toronto, but on balance I slightly preferred Vancouver. (And took the train between the two - 5 days/4 nights - an excellent classic experience).

Paris - I could have spent weeks there. Probably the most vibrant city in Europe (in my experience anyway!). Found that Parisians were happy to attempt English, as long as you attempt French first

Paris I find to be an overpriced, dirty, crime-ridden dump. Brussels is definitely the superior of the two Eurostar options in my book.

Honourable mentions go to Edinburgh

I'd say Edinburgh is my favourite city in the UK (for now, at least ). As for less nice, Bracknell is an abject dump, and Slough barely better, but there are plenty of other such places...

 

[DarloRich]

There is a common theme behind all off the "worse places" listed above : economic destitution and the destriction of working class communities and the large employers who supported them

Billingham, for instance, was massively reliant on ici - nothing replaced that as the large eemploye and what you see today is the result

You could name any number of north east towns eg hartlepooh seaham easington middlesbrough darlington redcar conset etc in that list - all damaged vastly by the failure to replace once dominant industry

 

[Bletchleyite]

The City of Lancaster is wonderful in it's own right (and I would recommend a tour round the castle).

Yeah, I do like Lancaster. Carlisle is similarly pleasant (and I did like being welcomed to the "borderlands city of Carlisle" when the train arrived from London...it felt like there was real pride in the arrival of the "big train" in their little city).

 

[yorksrob]

Yeah, I do like Lancaster. Carlisle is similarly pleasant (and I did like being welcomed to the "borderlands city of Carlisle" when the train arrived from London...it felt like there was real pride in the arrival of the "big train" in their little city).

I generally don't give Carlisle the attention it deserves as I'm usually changing trains. I did see Carlisle FC play once, which was a great day out.

 

[cf111]

Best -
Portree, Skye in general
Lochmaddy
Lerwick
York
Washington D.C.

Worst:
Peterhead -lovely people but a cold, wet, windy, grey hovel with nothing to do
Athens - smog filled, too busy

 

[cactustwirly]

As for less nice, Bracknell is an abject dump, and Slough barely better, but there are plenty of other such places...

Agreed, although I would say that Slough was worse than Bracknell.

Though I would rate Birmingham, Knottingley, Castleford & Newhaven as bad as well.

As for nice places there are too many to mention but I would say Lincoln, Lewes, Bridgnorth & Reading.

Also a special mention to Leicester, it really surprised me especially the area around the cathedral.

 

[bramling]

New thread time!

What's the worst and best place you've ever been? It can be in the UK or International.

Best Place - Richmond, London. Seriously, if I ever become rich, I'm gonna buy a house in this area. Really pleasant place with Kew Gardens nearby to visit on a lovely summers day.

Special mention to Harrogate. Probably the highlight of Yorkshire, tbh.

Worst Place - Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Okay, this is a bit crazy of me, since I live there, and it's recovered a bit, but like the rest of South Yorks, a nasty post-industrial shantytown, with the only nice areas being near Manchester.

Special mention to Peckham. I go there every time I go to London. Literally the rear end of the UK, along with other parts of South London. However, this place is also very vibrant, and the nightlife is simply unbeatable. I'm also quite nostalgic about the place.

Every time I've been overseas, I've always had a good experience, so not really listing that.

What about you guys?

Worst has to be Luton and Slough. Luton is a total dive in every respect, no redeeming features at all. London has declined in the last decade too, sadly. Aside from that some of the ex mining towns in South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire are pretty unpleasant too.

As for best, too many lovely places in Britain to single out!

 

[96tommy]

I've been to most major cities in Europe but my favourite place abroad has to be Cadiz in Spain. A very vibrant city and feels like a home from home. In the UK it is a tough choice between my hometown of York, London where I live now or Edinburgh

Growing up in Yorkshire I used to detest the place but now living in Central London I love it more than an ever. It will always be home. Don't get me wrong I feel honoured to live in the middle of such a major world city but the North has something to it which the south will never have. Cities like my hometown of York and the beautiful Newcastle to the industrial cities of Bradford and Manchester.

My least favourite place I've been to is a hard one. Of the places I've been to possibly Copenhagen. It is a beautiful city but lacks character. It's almost like a toy town.

 

[bramling]

There is a common theme behind all off the "worse places" listed above : economic destitution and the destriction of working class communities and the large employers who supported them

Billingham, for instance, was massively reliant on ici - nothing replaced that as the large eemploye and what you see today is the result

You could name any number of north east towns eg hartlepooh seaham easington middlesbrough darlington redcar conset etc in that list - all damaged vastly by the failure to replace once dominant industry

You have a point, although none of those places I would regard as being so bad. Sure there's deprivation and a run-down appearance, but most people are still friendly and most of these places are still reasonably neat and tidy. Luton on the other hand is a filthy congested tip, and can hardly be described as deprived.

 

[Merseysider]

For anyone who hasn't heard of it, the book Crap Towns may be of interest.

There is of course a Crap Towns II.

Available on Amazon or at your local library*.

*Assuming that your library hasn't been closed due to Tory cuts.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Agreed, although I would say that Slough was worse than Bracknell.

For me the town centre throws it - Slough has had a lot spent on it, and is more of a traditional town centre, while Bracknell just demonstrates everything that is bad about New Town era architecture.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You have a point, although none of those places I would regard as being so bad. Sure there's deprivation and a run-down appearance, but most people are still friendly and most of these places are still reasonably neat and tidy. Luton on the other hand is a filthy congested tip, and can hardly be described as deprived.

Luton at least is very well provided with ways to get out of it.