Worst Cities in Europe: Our Unfiltered Take

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The Broke Backpacker team have spent too much time in some of the worst European cities. We’ve spent our savings on overpriced dorm beds, stuck in traffic, breathing in poor air pollution, and losing valuables to thieves. 

• Value for Money – Swiss prices for Scandinavian restraint. Emotional warmth not included.
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – Efficient, orderly, and quietly expensive. No scams — just the slow financial bleed of existing.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Polite but distant. You’re not unwelcome, just not particularly included.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – Immaculate. Water, symmetry, clean lines. Feels a very tasteful screensaver.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Low on the surface, but with a faint background tension. Headlines remind us things aren’t quite as serene as the brochures suggest.

Stockholm is what happens when a city confuses “functional” with “fun” and decides that joy is a design flaw.

On paper, it Stockholm sounds idyllic: water, islands, clean streets, sleek design. In reality, it’s an emotionally refrigerated showroom where everything works perfectly and yet nothing feels alive. The city is spotless, efficient, and about as warm as its February sunlight — which, incidentally, lasts roughly nine minutes.

The locals are surely polite but in the way a bank lobby is polite. Conversations are quiet, smiles rationed, and social interaction feels like something that requires prior approval in writing. All considered, you would have to have Stockholm Syndrome in order to fall in love with this place…

And then there’s the cost…. Stockholm is eye-wateringly expensive — not in a “special occasion” way, but in a “why is this sandwich €14 and still depressing?” way. Beer prices feel punitive. Food is minimal to the point of cruelty. Everything tastes fine, looks fine, and leaves you wondering where your money actually went.

And lurking beneath Stockholm’s immaculate surface is a problem the city would very much prefer you didn’t bring up at dinner. In recent years, Stockholm has been grappling with an unprecedented wave of gang-related shootings and actual bombings — yes, bombings — mostly tied to organised crime.

Tourists are rarely the targets (yay!), but the constant police presence, cordons, and casually “explosive” headlines have done a remarkable job of murdering whatever hygge-adjacent calm the city once pretended to have. Nothing quite kills a minimalist Scandinavian vibe like armoured vans and another grenade story in the evening news.

There is also the controversial suggestion that this is linked to the last few decades of high immigration so politically, this blonde haired blue eyed nation is very worryingly lurching right-wards. Yikes…

Tomás: Brand Specialist & Whizz-Kid

I like Ikea, I am less fond of flat packed gang violence though. 5/10.

• Value for Money -Like being mugged politely by a city in a GAA jersey. €9 pints, €200 hotel rooms, and somehow you’re still standing in the rain.
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – Less “scam city,” more “stag-do-ageddon.” Temple Bar is a long queue for the same pub 47 times.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Warm in theory, loud in practice. Friendly until closing time, then it’s all elbows kebabs and famine talk.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – Georgian doors? Lovely. Liffey at sunset? Nice. Temple Bar at 11:30pm? Piss and Guinness…
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Moderate. Not dangerous, but you’ll clutch your phone tighter after dark and step around at least three public arguments.

Ah yes, Dublin — the plucky little EU tax haven that successfully rebranded itself as “craic” while charging London prices.

Once a gritty, literary, semi-dangerous capital with charm and character, Dublin is now a polished theme park for Americans on ancestry pilgrimages and tech bros. The city centre feels less like a living capital and more like a stag-do conveyor belt but one sponsored by Google…

Temple Bar remains the beating heart of the problem. A single square kilometre where every pub is the same pub, every musician plays the same two songs, and every drink is priced like it was personally brewed by Arthur Guinness.

If you’re hoping for cosy Irish cafés, quiet corners, or some actual cultural immersion, then feck off! What you’ll mostly find are vape clouds, hen parties, lads in skinny jeans shouting about “the sesh,” and streets that smell permanently of stale beer and regret. By nightfall, the city transforms into a coked-up, open-air urinal with a side of dreadful acoustic folk covers.

Housing? Apocalyptic. Hostels are either fully booked, extortionate, or feel like temporary holding pens for the recently evicted. Hotels charge five-star prices for rooms that look like they were last renovated during the Troubles.

Are there positives? Yes. The literary history is real, the coastline outside the city is genuinely lovely, and the pubs outside the tourist core can still be warm, weird, wonderful and almost affordable. But Dublin itself? An overpriced, overhyped city, actively hostile to both residents and visitors alike.

Aiden: Gear Manager & Senior Editor

I’m actually an Irish Citizen with live roots in the old country. My aunt tried to “return” a few years ago but couldn’t afford – maybe if Eire taxed all those US tech firms (or maybe taxed virtue signals…) they could lower prices for locals (or at least pay their share for NATO…).

• Value for Money – The most expensive city in queue in Europe. £7 pints, £18 burgers, £250 “boutique” hotel rooms the size of a walk-in wardrobe.
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – The Tube is a competitive sport. Every attraction requires booking, queuing, pre-booking, or emotionally preparing to queue.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Efficiently indifferent. London doesn’t hate you — it simply doesn’t care that you (or the rest of the United Kingdom) exist.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – Incredible architecture sitting next to a Pret and a crane.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Higher than the tourism board would like to admit. Knife crime headlines aren’t rare, and while visitors aren’t the target, you’re still subconsciously clocking groups of teenagers.

Don’t get me wrong, I actually like London. I grew up here, so of course I have a soft spot for London Town. 

I firmly believe that everyone should travel to London at some point in their lives (if possible). For a fleeting visit, it is surely one of the most iconic cities up there on most foreigner’s bucket lists.

With the fluffy shit out the way, now I can ramble on about what I HATE about London – brace yourself.

London is incredibly eye watering expensive. Food, drinks and accommodation are insane (a cardboard box in the gutter will set you back £1,500 per month). Added to that London is also one of the most dangerous cities in Europe too (although the Mayor’s Office insists that Crime is falling…).

Know the wrong people, say the wrong thing, or be in the wrong place at the wrong time and London (in parts) is scary. Knife crime in London is notoriously high, with around 50,000 incidents involving sharp objects in 2023.

The traffic in London during rush hour is so infuriating that you want to pull the skin off your own face. To combat these extremely attractive self-destructive thoughts, you must take public transport….

YAY THE TUBE. If you want to feel like a battery-farmed chicken, experience sensory overload, and violate your nose with the stench of sweat and urine, you’ll love the tube!

If you decide to visit this hell hole of a city, you’ll probably need somewhere to stay. Staying at Wombat’s City Hostel improved my experience in London as I met some epic travellers. Its a lot nicer than that gutter box I mentioned and you may get a bed for £50.

Joe: Editor & Lover of Life

Weirdly enough, London is one of my favourite cities in the UK, so imagine how I feel about the rest of my home country in parts. I will leave you with my favourite quote from the internet today about my least favourite place in the UK, and that is… “If the universe had an anus, it would be Slough”. –  Anon

• Value for Money – You will pay Swiss-level prices for the privilege of feeling absolutely nothing. €8 coffees, €20 lunches, and hotel rooms priced like an equity stake in the EU.
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – None. Zero. Except for the the entire nation committing tax evasion of course.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Polite, multilingual, financially solvent… and emotionally unavailable. 
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – To be fair, the old town perched above the gorge is genuinely beautiful. Dramatic cliffs, stone bridges, medieval walls.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) –  Almost none. It’s one of the safest cities in Europe. You’ll feel secure. You’ll also feel mildly bored by 7:45pm.

Ok, so I don’t mean no major shade on Luxembourg City as a whole. I mean, it’s honestly a very pleasant place to go, it’s got a super low crime rate and public transport is free. Luxembourg is far from being the worst country in the world to visit.

So, why has it made this list? Because in being pretty much perfect, it’s honestly so dull and probably one of the most boring cities in Europe outside of Milton Keynes.!!

Once the novelty of visiting one of the smallest countries in the world wears off, there’s actually not a whole lot to see and do. I did a full day tour and sure – there are some interesting city walls, a nice enough church next to the river, and a non-offensive city square. But that’s it! To be fair, Luxembourg only even exists as a tax haven so perhaps if you are an accountant or a Gary Barlow you will find Luxembourg to be some kind of paradise.

Give me the grimy streets of Paris, the roaring traffic of bustling London or even the threat of being stabbed with a kebab skewer in Bradford over such a non-eventful place! I need excitement and action… and this ain’t it!

When it comes to accommodation in Luxembourg City it doesn’t get much better. It’s expensive, dull and the hostel scene is pretty much non-existent. However, my trip was slightly redeemed when staying at the INNSiDE Hotel. Or if you want to check out the only hostel in Luxembourg, be my guest.

Nic: Editor & Roaming Renegade

Oh, and it’s a good job public transport is free because this city is bloody expensive!

• Value for Money – Used to be Europe’s bargain-bin capital of chaos. Now? “Affordable” if you arrived in 2009. 
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – Less scams, more gatekeeping. The real line you’ll queue in is outside Berghain Spoiler: It’s shit inside anyway, so shit I shat myself waiting for a toilet cubicle cos everybody was in there hiding from the shit music (or doing ket).
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Open-minded but emotionally blunt. Berlin doesn’t sugarcoat. It’s tolerant, diverse, and radically free – you are free to wear any shade of black you wish that is.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – Brutalist, scarred, graffiti-coated, perpetually under renovation. It’s gritty in a curated way now — the rebellion feels scheduled between yoga and co-working.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Not especially dangerous, but petty theft is alive and well. Keep your bag zipped on the U-Bahn and don’t look too lost at 3am.

Some people are gonna kick off at me here: Berlin is fiercely defended by the alternative, underground, anarcho-pierced-raver crowd – and for good reason. The underground scene in Berlin is unrivalled in Europe and people flock the world over for some good old-fashioned rave and drug tourism. 

Others come to see and learn about the horrific effects of war in Europe. A huge wall to divide and conquer to forever remind people of Berlin’s grisly history before my very eyes? Well, when you put it like that!

The Berlin Wall is obviously grey, repetitive, and yes, pretty melancholy. Yes, there’s East Side Gallery – but that’s littered with tourists taking profile pictures for FaceTube. One of the most “popular sights” of Berlin is a Memorial to the Fallen Jews of Europe… Heavy stuff, man. 

It takes time to dig below the surface in this city. And if you don’t have time, you end up standing in front of an underwhelming Brandenburg Gate knowing that the next thing to see on your itinerary is also something sorrowful and downcast.

Go to Cologne. Go to Hamburg. They’re much more fun for tourists on a short visit. The hostel scene in Berlin is wild, if you’re searching for crazy nights and techno raves, you’ll find it in Berlin. If that’s your jam, check out the best party hostel in Berlin.

Laura: Senior Editor & Chill Goddess

Unless you’re a hardcore techno head, you’ve got a good friend to show you the hidden gems, or you’re riveted by complex and sad historical events, Berlin’s actually one of the most boring European cities.

• Value for Money – Technically cheap. Emotionally expensive. You’ll save money on rent and lose it in willpower.
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – None. You will not queue for anything. Ever. The city centre has the foot traffic of a Tuesday afternoon during a strike.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Not hostile (not withstanding the Serial Killers). Just… tired. Like a place that remembers better days and would rather not talk about it.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – Grand Victorian architecture surrounded by closed shutters and aggressive concrete. The town hall is genuinely beautiful. Everything around it looks like it lost a bet.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Higher than you’d like in parts. It’s not warzone-level, but you’ll stay alert after dark and avoid certain areas.

Any guesses as to which city has been awarded the accolade of European Capital of Culture 2025? Yes, of course, it is Bradford, everybody’s favourite shithole up in the North of England.

The awarding is clearly a desperate, last ditch attempt to stave off the bulldozers for another generation and revive this embittered corpse of a town with some insincere attention and a fresh wedge of taxpayers’ change. If you fancy a life-changing experience, why not visit Britain, no, the world’s worst city!

Bradford is just sad. A former industrial behemoth that died fast and hard when they closed the mills. It has produced 2 serial killers in my lifetime (and let’s not mention 7/7) and last week made National Headlines as the city where female runners feel the least safe.

Are there any positives? Yes. The surrounding Pennines are some of the most beautiful places to visit in the UK, the town hall is glorious, the National Media Museum is great and the city does have the best curry scene perhaps in the entire world.

Good luck finding yourself a hostel in this glorious piss stain of a city, you’re best bet is staying as far away as possible, failing that, get yourself a decent apartment (I stayed here if you’re wondering).

Aiden: Gear Manager & Senior Editor

In his 1990s travelogue “Notes From a Small Island”, Bill Bryson describes Bradford as “palpably forlorn”. That’s perhaps the kindest thing that can be said about it.

• Value for Money – Technically cheap. Spiritually costly. €2 pints, €5 fry-ups, and your dignity thrown in for free. If you measure value by alcohol-to-euro ratio, you’ve hit the jackpot..
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) –No scams — just saturation. Endless crowds of sunburnt Brits moving in packs between buffets, beach loungers, and karaoke bars.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Welcoming in a “have another shot or I’ll slap you love” kind of way. It’s not unfriendly — it’s just aggressively loud. Subtlety checked out in 1994.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere
  Concrete towers looming over a beach that could have been beautiful lined sun burned fat Brits. Lovely.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Low in terms of crime. High in terms of avoiding hen parties and stray karaoke microphones.

Ah, the beautiful Spanish coast, sun, sea, and sangria. Sounds like a dream, right? Wrong. Benidorm is a shithole full of sunburnt tourists, groups of drunk wannabe karaoke stars, and ugly skyscrapers.

My experience in Benidorm was brief, but even that was too long spent in this soulless pit of Spain. I was searching for a café to sit and watch the world go by. Instead, I was greeted by a group of mums, grannies, and lads on tour, already plastered, belting out Abba and Wonderwall in the middle of the street at 10 am.

If you want to try the delicious Spanish cuisine, and feast on Tapas and Paella, you’re in for a whole lot of disappointment. All-you-can-eat buffets stretched as far as the eye could see, serving the finest ham, egg, and chips. Because who travels to Spain to eat Spanish food?

Surely the beachfront would be better? Wrong again.

My optimism was crushed by the depressing strip, lined with clubs full of tourists slumped at the bar still going from the night before. The smell of stale sambuca shots and regretful decisions filled the Spanish air.

Opting not to join in Karaoke or drink sambuca shots before lunchtime, we went on a day trip to explore some nearby waterfalls. A refreshing reminder of the beauty of Spain.

Overall, Benidorm is a sorry sight. This beautiful coastal town has lost its charm and become a playground for sunburnt Brits drinking their body weight in cheap alcohol and murdering “Wonderwall.”

The accommodation? Well, once you have filtered through the piss-stained mattresses, bed bugs and smelly bathrooms, you’re left with limited options. I’m going to save you a whole lot of scrolling and give you my top recommendations to make your trip to Benidorm slightly more pleasant.

Harvey: Junior Editor & Double Protein Champion

My highlight? Leaving this shithole – and it’s fair to say I won’t be going back any time soon.

• Value for Money – You will pay Paris prices for the privilege of feeling underdressed. €6 coffees, €18 aperitivo plates featuring three olives and a cube of cheese. Then theres the hotels…
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – The Duomo queue is biblical. Around the station, the bracelet “gift” guys and clipboard merchants will circle you like fashion interns sensing weakness.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Stylish, efficient, and faintly judgmental.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – The Duomo is outrageous. Genuinely one of Europe’s great “wow” moments. The Galleria sparkles. But everywhere else is like the bin men are on strike (again).
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard)  – Moderate. Not dangerous, but pickpockets and organised bag thieves are working shifts, especially near Centrale and tourist hubs.

Much like Samantha (you’ll see what’s coming further down), I wasn’t lucky in my introduction to Italy either. But I was young, wild, and… well, dumb.

Interrailing my way around Europe with friends, we decided to time my friend’s birthday with a little visit to Milan. Fashion capital, we figured, that’s gotta be debauchery central as well.

It was peak summer, so we were expecting big parties, lots of drinking, and hordes of sexy women that we’d be too shy to even start talking with. But well… It was the exact middle of August which in Italy apparently means everyone closes shop and goes on holiday.

We spent heaps of money trying to get somewhere only to find every bar closed. The city is expensive, not easy to navigate, and there’s not much to do besides… well, spending money. We roamed the city streets with a local historian, which was pretty cool as we learned about the city’s past.

It doesn’t help if you’re a cash-strapped backpacker, that’s for sure. We obviously booked the cheapest Milan hostel and ended up in a rather weird, dodgy area.

Tomás: Brand Specialist & Whizz-Kid

The Duomo is beautiful but besides that, unless you’re into extreme materialism and opulence, there’s not much in store for you in Milan. I’ve since then returned to Italy several times and can recommend going pretty much anywhere else in the country.

• Value for Money – Not outrageous, but no longer the bargain it once was. €4 coffees, €7 beers, €20 tapas that used to be €12. You’re paying a “global city with a beach” surcharge now.
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – Elite-tier chaos. Las Ramblas is a slow-moving river of selfie sticks and cruise passengers. Pickpockets operate with Olympic-level coordination.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Complicated. The city is beautiful, energetic, and culturally rich — but visibly tired of visitors. Anti-tourism graffiti isn’t subtle. You’re welcome… just not too welcome.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – Architecturally outrageous.
• The Gothic Quarter is atmospheric if you can see past the souvenir shops. The beach at sunset still delivers. But the centre can feel like a theme park.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Higher than most Western European cities. Not violent, but you will think about your pockets. Metro, beach, nightlife — all prime hunting grounds for light-fingered professionals.

My friend, if you are planning your European summer trip bear in mind that Barcelona can be a glorious stop or a shit experience. Let me tell you why I think Barcelona is one of the worst European cities to visit in summer.

To be very honest, no Catalan likes tourists. So you are not going to be very well welcomed. They are tired of the loud tourists, dirty streets by morning (that smell like piss on every single corner of the old town), high rent values, inflated prices due to the tourist boom, and increasingly dangerous and insecure streets.

Barcelona is one of the most unsafe cities in Europe for tourists, especially during the night in old town alleys and in some neighbourhoods on the outskirts. They have professional pickpockets working 24/7 everywhere that’s crowded. So summer is easy-pickings for them. 

I mean, a summer trip to Barcelona can be a wonderful experience, full of parties and long days with young people full of energy. But you pay high prices for a night in any of the shitty places that abound to attract sightseers.

Good luck exploring the famous Gaudí’s Sagrada, I spent my time dodging an obscene amount of tourists and straining my neck from staring at the magnificent architecture.

When doing your must-see places in BCN, you’ll have to fight with hundreds of tourists trying to get the same picture in front of every single monument/house/church. In addition, it can get annoyingly hot during the day (over 35 degrees).

I’ll tell you this: I love that city but the amount of tourists in summer just makes it shit. If you want a unique experience go in shoulder season. Budget Backpackers be warned, accommodation can be PRICEY, I stayed in the cheapest hostel I could find (that didn’t look like I would catch a disease).

• Value for Money – Heroic prices. €5 coffees, €9 beers, €25 for steak-frites that may or may not be worth it.
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – World-class queues. The Louvre requires military planning. The Eiffel Tower requires emotional resilience, you may give in faster than the French Army.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) Cool, stylish, faintly irritated. Paris doesn’t hate tourists — it just refuses to pretend it needs them. It helps to learn a bit of French.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – Unfairly beautiful. Boulevards, balconies, golden light on limestone buildings. It’s cinematic even when it’s raining. Just mind the traffic and the strikes.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Moderate. Not dangerous in a dramatic sense, but you’ll guard your bag on the Metro and keep an eye out in crowded areas.

Yes, I know… why is Paris on this list? Mon dieu!

Beyond the sold-outs: Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Versailles, romanticism, cafes, wine, and baguettes, Paris has the reputation of being one of the worst cities in Europe in terms of welcoming tourists. And from my personal experience, I can say that is 95% true.

With a markedly sour and unfriendly character, the locals have no intention of helping you – and in fact you are almost a nuisance. Of all the beautiful things that Paris has, perhaps, in opposition, what stands out the most is the bad vibes of the citizens.

One more thing, Paris, is one of the most touristic cities in the world, common crimes such as pickpocketing, robberies, and scams, of course, target the naive visitor.

Contrary to the romantic vibe or scene that is portrayed about the city, Paris has a cringe nightlife in some areas, so don’t be surprised to find people living on the street, the use of drugs in public, and a dodgy and dangerous vibe. Paris, to me, could be one of the worst cities in Europe for drugs from what I’ve seen.

As we always suggest at The Broke Backpacker, ensure safe travels by staying out of areas you don’t know and reduce risks by not wearing flashy clothing or shiny expensive jewellery. To avoid staying at the ridiculously overpriced, below-average accommodations, I stayed at the cheapest hostel I could find. Or find a hotel just outside the city.

Seba: Digital Wizard & Latino Legend

Let’s be honest, this historic city has seen millions of tourists in the last 600 years. You’ll just be one more who is going to do the same, speak bad French, consume and interfere with the daily life of Parisians.

• Value for Money – Banker prices without banker charm. €8 beers, €22 schnitzels, and hotels that assume you’re here on an expense account. If you’re paying your own way, it stings.
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – Minimal queues, minimal crowds, minimal excitement. Around the station you’ll dodge a different kind of hassle though.
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Polite, efficient, emotionally neutral. Frankfurt feels like it’s mid-conference at all times.
• Aesthetics / Atmosphere – Glass skyscrapers, financial district glare, and then — suddenly — a quaint reconstructed old town that feels slightly copy-pasted. It always feels like Tuesday.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Concentrated. Most of the city feels safe and orderly. The area around Hauptbahnhof, however, can be grim.

Disclaimer: I visited Frankfurt for less than 24 hours. I arrived on an overnight train through Europe that I didn’t sleep a wink on with my heavy-ass bag to leave again at 1 am. I was tired, and I had poorly planned to sleep the next night on a train too. 

But that wasn’t why it was shit. 

I wish I could offer you some light on Frankfurt, but I genuinely got nothing. It was a waste of time on an already expensive Europe backpacking trip. It is also easily the most ugly city in Europe that I’ve ever visited.

It’s got the second-highest crime rate in Germany – and it shows. It felt sketchy as and I thanked my lucky stars that my poor planning meant I was catching a train out in a few hours.

To be honest, I didn’t see much outside of the park I slept in – but I’ve slept in way better parks. To make it worse, it was Sunday, and everything bar a weirdly quiet town market serving obscenely expensive sausages was closed. Don’t be like me, book yourself a hostel and you might have a better experience in Frankfurt than I did.

Laura: Senior Editor & Chill Goddess

If cities had LinkedIn profiles, this one would be “seeking growth opportunities.

• Value for Money – You will pay €6 for a coffee, €9 for a beer, and €25 for pasta that tastes suspiciously like it came a supermarket.
• Tourist Hassle (Scams, Crowds, Lines) – Biblical. St Mark’s Square is less a piazza and more a slow-moving human tide. Cruise ships unload thousands at a time. Gondola prices feel like ransom demands. 
• Vibe (Welcoming vs Hostile) – Resigned. Venice doesn’t hate you — it’s just exhausted like its slowly sinking into the sea (it is…)
• Aesthetics / Atmospheren – Unfairly beautiful. Dreamlike canals, faded palazzos, golden evening light bouncing off the water. But it smells and is rammed.
• Safety Friction (How Often You Need to Be on Guard) – Low for violence, moderate for pickpockets in peak season. The real friction is logistical.

I visited Venice during my absolute first trip to Italy (unfortunately), and while I’d certainly give the country another go, you couldn’t pay me to come back to this dump.

I went on a restored historic boat cruise to marvel at the beauty of Venice and see what all the hype is about, whilst it was stunning, no piece of pretty architecture can convince me this isn’t one of the worst cities in Europe.

Despite it being Italy, the food was sub-par, to say the least. And before you accuse me of only going to touristy spots – that couldn’t be further from the truth.

I’ve quite literally had better Italian food in my family home where not a single drop of Italian blood resides. Otherwise, everything was criminally overpriced, locals and staff were not friendly (I guess I wouldn’t be either if I had to live in such a place), and really – I just could not wait to leave.

If you’re planning a European trip, trust and believe that you’ll be much better off avoiding Venice. Perhaps it was nice a few decades ago, but there’s nothing left to love about the “City of Serenity” if you ask me! If you do end up visiting this tourist trap of a city, save yourself the pain of spending silly amounts on overpriced accommodation and stay in the same hostel as me.

Samantha: Travel Writer & Adventure Expert

When I’ve spoken about my strong opinion on Venice in the past, I’ve had people come out with pitchforks. But frankly – I couldn’t care less – the reality of this mass-tourism hell-hole deserves to be known!

Get Insured Before Your Travels

OK so a lot of the cities covered are just shit but some are actually a little bit dangerous. Whether it’s exploding Ikea Meatballs in Stockholm, knife crime rhymed to grime in London, or phone theft in Paris like my friend experienced, some bad shit does happen in these badly shitty cities. For that reason you abso-bloody-lutely should think about getting yourself some good travel insurance.

I mean, if you do end up in a hospital in Stockholm or Luxembourg you don’t want to be worrying about hospital bills when you are already stressing about missing your flight to Bradford do you? For these reasons we use SafetyWing who have been our go-to travel insurer since 2020.

ALWAYS sort out your backpacker insurance before your trip. There’s plenty to choose from in that department, but a good place to start is Safety Wing.

They offer month-to-month payments, no lock-in contracts, and require absolutely no itineraries: that’s the exact kind of insurance long-term travellers and digital nomads need.

SafetyWing is cheap, easy, and admin-free: just sign up lickety-split so you can get back to it!

Click the button below to learn more about SafetyWing’s setup or read our insider review for the full tasty scoop.

We wish we’d known earlier about the worst cities in Europe. As well as it saving us collectively a small fortune, it would have also left us with room on our European itineraries to see the real stars of the show. 

It might initially feel wrong to skip over Paris and Venice and drop them from your Euro tour. But from personal experience, and from speaking with countless other highly experienced travellers, the risk to reward of visiting them is seldom worth it.

That said, we all have different tastes. There’s every chance you might go and LOVE some of these places. Many people are so passionate about some of these metropolises that it often just comes down to who you are and what you enjoy. 

Well… not Bradford. Bradford is shit.

Sometimes meeting the right people, finding a good place to stay, or avoiding the peak seasons can change everything. 

So don’t just take our word. But you have now been warned…