Favourite City

[well fan for life]

Berlin or Barcelona for me.

Berlin is so bloody interesting. The history around just about everything and the fact that they show it, warts & all. Rarely have I had a better day out than hopping on one of the Donkey Republic bikes and going for a big cycle round Treptower Park, Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg then all the way up to Tiergarten. Stopping for pints & scran at appropriate intervals. 

Barcelona is just an excellent place in the summer months. If you avoid Las Ramblas and get yourself to different parts of the city then you can have an absolute stormer of a holiday and a beer won't cost you about €6 a bottle. I think a large part of it is having good memories of being there with my pals. Just a great, great place to be. 

[Jute]

Europe - Prague when I first went 20 odd years was an amazing city as others said not so much now. Budapest was is amazing place and loved everything about the city. Berlin, Barcelona and Copenhagen are also up there. 
 

US - San Francisco is my favourite city anywhere. Great atmosphere and probably safest feeling city I have been in. Can walk everywhere if you don’t mind hills but has a European style public transport system if you don’t fancy walking. Would move there in a heartbeat if I had spare few million. 

Edited December 17, 2020 by Jute

[Hampden Diehard]

On 13/12/2020 at 18:55, welshbairn said:

You can say that about every Eastern European town that got in the way of either the German or Soviet war machines. You have to admire the way they rebuilt them, look at Coventry.

Aye, Coventry would be improved if the Luftwaffe had a comeback tour and tanned the place again.

[Hampden Diehard]

Saw Seville in 82 when Scotland played there; beautiful.  San Sebastian in Spain has an excellent faded grandeur about it. Tokyo's busyness is terrific.  Moscow is magnificent and St Petersburg has to be seen although neither have a great pub culture. Seoul is worth a visit too.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Hampden Diehard

[Savage Henry]

11 hours ago, Jute said:

Europe - Prague when I first went 20 odd years was an amazing city as others said not so much now. Budapest was is amazing place and loved everything about the city. Berlin, Barcelona and Copenhagen are also up there. 
 

US - San Francisco is my favourite city anywhere. Great atmosphere and probably safest feeling city I have been in. Can walk everywhere if you don’t mind hills but has a European style public transport system if you don’t fancy walking. Would move there in a heartbeat if I had spare few million. 

San Francisco and Austin are my favourites in the US.    Far more enjoyable than New York, to my mind.  
 

Always felt comfortable in Tokyo and Paris, and enjoy Barcelona in the warmer months.  

[AmericanFan]

On 09/12/2020 at 04:34, amidst-tundra said:

I was lucky enough to visit Hong Kong before everything started to go to crap. I generally don't enjoy megacities but there was something about Hong Kong that felt more alive.
For me I love the architecture of Eastern Europe. I really enjoyed Tallinn, especially its old town and old Soviet history, and Kiev. I really enjoy visiting old Soviet states, but I don't much care for the politics.
Haven't visited many places in America, but I've always wanted to visit New York but I suspect I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I think I would.
A much smaller city, but I really like Luxembourg City as well.
I have a bit of an interest in Nordic Saga's. We were due to visit Reykjavik prior to lockdown. For my missus it was more about touring where Game of Thrones is filmed. Either way, Reykjavik looks like a pretty cool city.

Tallinn is spectacular.

Also enjoyed Riga and Vilnius.

[AmericanFan]

27 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

San Francisco and Austin are my favourites in the US.    Far more enjoyable than New York, to my mind.  
 

Always felt comfortable in Tokyo and Paris, and enjoy Barcelona in the warmer months.  

That's where I'm at. I'm not a big fan of NYC, either.

[AmericanFan]

On 16/12/2020 at 03:42, atfccfc said:

Another vote for Naples from me. I've lived in Italy (Bologna and Milan) and loved it and Italy is a fantastic country. But the south is a lot different from the north and I found Naples to be just the most vibrant and colourful and authentic city I've visited in that country and in fact anywhere. It's big, it's dirty and it's poor. But the people are fantastic and down to earth. It's not a touristy city but it's a city worth a visit. It's also a cheap city and I found hardly anyone spoke English. So for me who wanted to learn Italian when I first moved there it was Ideal. 

In other parts of the world I Loved Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia as well Queenstown and Auckland in New Zealand.

Concur on Naples. Great town and great access to Amalfi Coast and Isle of Capri if you desire.

In a somewhat humorous story, I ran into a former US presidential candidate on the Isle of Capri.

[welshbairn]

4 minutes ago, AmericanFan said:

Concur on Naples. Great town and great access to Amalfi Coast and Isle of Capri if you desire.

In a somewhat humorous story, I ran into a former US presidential candidate on the Isle of Capri.

Michael Dukakis?

[Enigma]

4 hours ago, Hampden Diehard said:

Saw Seville in 82 when Scotland played there; beautiful.  San Sebastian in Spain has an excellent faded grandeur about it. Tokyo's busyness is terrific.  Moscow is magnificent and St Petersburg has to be seen although neither have a great pub culture. Seoul is worth a visit too.

I really liked Seville. Great food! We went on a wee day trip from there to Cadiz which is a fantastic wee city, one I’ll be looking to return to once we’re rid of the Covid. It’s also the hometown and birthplace of Antonio Calderon!

Seoul is a fantastic place too, we spent a lot of time there just walking about, all the street markets are fascinating.

[AmericanFan]

10 hours ago, welshbairn said:

Michael Dukakis?

No sir. But Jon Lovitz did a fantastic portrayal on SNL.

[vikingTON]

8 hours ago, Enigma said:

I really liked Seville. Great food! We went on a wee day trip from there to Cadiz which is a fantastic wee city, one I’ll be looking to return to once we’re rid of the Covid. It’s also the hometown and birthplace of Antonio Calderon!

Would like to go to Seville or Cadiz yet but Granada is a wonderful place as well, superb architecture and views to the mountains: free tapas with your drinks is a nice bonus as well. Málaga is more than just an airport for gammon resorts as well, the local wine bar/food scene is excellent. About 18-20 degrees felt tropical in November compared to the usual shite over here.

[stevieKTID]

11 hours ago, Savage Henry said:

San Francisco and Austin are my favourites in the US.    Far more enjoyable than New York, to my mind.  
 

Always felt comfortable in Tokyo and Paris, and enjoy Barcelona in the warmer months.  

Austin is a fantastic city i love it there, I'm a big fan of South Texas having spent a lot of time there in the last 10 or so years visiting my mate in San Antonio, the Hill Country is lovely. 

[Enigma]

8 minutes ago, virginton said:

Would like to go to Seville or Cadiz yet but Granada is a wonderful place as well, superb architecture and views to the mountains: free tapas with your drinks is a nice bonus as well. Málaga is more than just an airport for gammon resorts as well, the local wine bar/food scene is excellent. About 18-20 degrees felt tropical in November compared to the usual shite over here.

It was in November we went as well. A great time to visit, I certainly wouldn’t want to be in Seville when it’s pushing 40 degrees in the summer but the 18-20 was lovely at that time of year.

We made it up Córdoba too on that visit, the Mezquita being well worth anybody’s time. It’s got a lovely old town to boot, and shows it’s long and illustrious history through it’s architecture well. 

[vikingTON]

I forgot to mention Cordoba as I only visited for the day, absolutely superb as well.

[AmericanFan]

On 18/12/2020 at 02:45, stevieKTID said:

Austin is a fantastic city i love it there, I'm a big fan of South Texas having spent a lot of time there in the last 10 or so years visiting my mate in San Antonio, the Hill Country is lovely. 

We're unfortunately becoming a bit like Prague in that it was better 10 years ago because now too many people are coming here and development is getting rid of the places/vibe that people move here for.

Still a great place, but the best time to live here was probably 15-20 years ago.

[stevieKTID]

9 minutes ago, AmericanFan said:

We're unfortunately becoming a bit like Prague in that it was better 10 years ago because now too many people are coming here and development is getting rid of the places/vibe that people move here for.

Still a great place, but the best time to live here was probably 15-20 years ago.

Think that's a problem in most places, I'm in Amsterdam and it's changed a lot in the 20 years i've been here. 

Hey random question, have you ever been to Alamo Springs cafe? Its on a back road near Luckenback, had the best burger ever there. 

[AmericanFan]

45 minutes ago, stevieKTID said:

Think that's a problem in most places, I'm in Amsterdam and it's changed a lot in the 20 years i've been here. 

Hey random question, have you ever been to Alamo Springs cafe? Its on a back road near Luckenback, had the best burger ever there. 

Can't say that I have. But next time I'm out in Fredericksburg I'll be sure to stop by.

[Torfason]

Munich is probably the best city I have lived in. Lots to see and do, great beer halls and really friendly locals. Plus it is really well located for visiting other places/countries. Some other great cities are lesser known places like Lugano in Switzerland, Vitoria in Spain and Varese in Italy that were beautiful and not full of tourists.

In the US, most big cities are fine but none really stick out except LA that was just a freak show, so I would say the best town I have visited is LaJolla , just up from San Diego. It is a stunning place and gets a lot less tourists than most.

Edited December 24, 2020 by Torfason
Edited to add, anywhere other than my living room would do right now.

[paul-r-cfc]

Rome. Love the place. Dripping in history and just a great place to walk about.

Honourable mentions go to Dunedin in New Zealand. Great pubs and nice scenery.very Scottish too which is a bonus.

Antigua in Guatemala is amazing too. Lovely colonial architecture, some earthquake ruins and overlooked by about three volcanoes. What more do you want!