Italy is an extremely heavily touristed country, and nearly all of the large, medium cities attract tourists.. and even many much smaller ones.
Probably somewhere like Messina,in Sicily… quite a lot of tourists drive through it but I’d say very few go there as a destination (though the province has a lot to offer, the actual city doesn’t have much at all).
Wouldnt say it gets no tourists but the 3rd biggest city Trondheim gets relatively few foreign tourists. Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø and Stavanger city centre can be dominated by tourists but I lived in Trondheim for many years and rarely experienced that.
Oslo gets tourists for being the capital and the hub that most tourists go through when entering the country, Bergen gets lots of tourists, and so does large parts of the north and the west due to the scenery. Trondheim is a bit forgotten in the middle between the west and north tourist wise.
Trondheim is nice though, and certainly worth spending a couple days in. But Trøndelag as a region cant really compare to the west and north so its understandable that tourists with limited time in the country would skip it.
Trondheim does have some tourists though. If talking about cities with virtually no tourists then it would be Drammen, which is the 5th largest city. There’s really no reason for a tourist to visit Drammen.
Especially the top 4 or 5 are super tourism magnets, both foreign and domestic. And even for Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Leipzig I can see the appeal.
But unless you’re a football fan I can literally not think of a single reason to visit Dortmund (pop. 600k), a (formerly?) industrial city in the middle of the Ruhr valley. Though note that I’m not from that area, so I’m willing to be educated on awesome things to see and visit there.
In Sweden , most tourist will go to the south, so any town up north will have less tourist, except Mora, Leksand, Rättvik and Orsa that will be filled with tourist. That is where a lot of Northerners goes when they go south.
Eindhoven and Almere. One is an industry city and the other a newly build city. Also some commuter towns turn into cities like Zoetermeer for example wont attract much tourists.
Probably Linz, our third largest city. It used to be a lot of heavy industry, they diversified a bit into art in the last decades. Still I rarely hear people visiting there.
Trbovlje, I would say. It’s an ugly and depressing city and it is a bit out of the way. The only interesting thing there is a chimney of almost 400m height – the tallest in Europe.
In Poland: Łódź. Unloved even by many Poles, but a quietly impressive story of revival is gradually taking place and the city is entirely worth a weekend of anyone’s time
Ålborg probably. 4th biggest city (120k inhabitants). There are definitely attractions there, several Viking Age sights, and tourists. But not a whole lot.
I think it’s Székesfehérvár. It’s the 9th largest city with 95.000 residents. It has a nice old town section, but the most important landmark, the thousand year old cathedral was destroyed in the Ottoman wars in the 17th century. Most kings were crowned there, most kings were buried there between 1000 and 1550; and it is gone, you can only see some ruins. All the royal graves were looted. If it still stood, it would be an important touristic centre like the basilica of Esztergom.
Székesfehérvár is too close to Budapest having too little to offer. The lakes Velencei-tó and Balaton are also quite near with more attraction. It’s a more or less prospering town with strong industry, maybe nice to live there, but I don’t think anybody would say “Let’s go to Székesfehérvár for the weekend.” Maybe to an isolated wellness hotel that happens to be there.
Charleroi (3rd to 5th biggest depending on how you count)
It’s the only major city that wasn’t already a major city before the industrial revolution. So it has all of the ugly industrial parts without the beautiful historical parts that cities like Liège have. And since the mines are now closed and a lot of the industry is also gone, it’s kind of run down.
I’m thinking Stara Zagora. Sofia is capital, Plovdiv is ancient, Varna and Burgas are at the seaside, Ruse is very close to Bucharest. Zara (as we call SZ) is known for the character of people there but I really haven’t heard of anyone visiting it as a place of tourist interest.
For Northern Ireland, it would be the area around Lurgan-Craigavon-Portadown. Unlike Belfast and Derry/Londonderry which has historical sites, and Newtonabbey which is suburban commuter town of Belfast. Those three which are basically a single urban area, are just basically a load of houses and commercial buildings.
In Romania people mainly visit Transylvania and a few of the core regional cities (Iași, Craiova, Suceava, a few others) + Bucharest. But we have several large cities (top 10-15) that don’t attract many visitors. Brăila and Galați on the Danube , 20km apart with 150k and 210k (11th and 9th) come to mind. Ploiești (180k) as well
Osijek. Actually a pretty beautiful city with great food and some cool nature around, but… quite far away from the sea, and culturally very Central European. Not something your average tourist would make a considerable detour for when visiting Croatia, which is generally perceived only as a Mediterranean country.
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Italy is an extremely heavily touristed country, and nearly all of the large, medium cities attract tourists.. and even many much smaller ones.
Probably somewhere like Messina,in Sicily… quite a lot of tourists drive through it but I’d say very few go there as a destination (though the province has a lot to offer, the actual city doesn’t have much at all).
Wouldnt say it gets no tourists but the 3rd biggest city Trondheim gets relatively few foreign tourists. Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø and Stavanger city centre can be dominated by tourists but I lived in Trondheim for many years and rarely experienced that.
Oslo gets tourists for being the capital and the hub that most tourists go through when entering the country, Bergen gets lots of tourists, and so does large parts of the north and the west due to the scenery. Trondheim is a bit forgotten in the middle between the west and north tourist wise.
Trondheim is nice though, and certainly worth spending a couple days in. But Trøndelag as a region cant really compare to the west and north so its understandable that tourists with limited time in the country would skip it.
Trondheim does have some tourists though. If talking about cities with virtually no tourists then it would be Drammen, which is the 5th largest city. There’s really no reason for a tourist to visit Drammen.
Probably Eindhoven (5th largest). Not very picturesque and not too much to do.
Hmm, good question.
The Top 10 cites by population are:
Especially the top 4 or 5 are super tourism magnets, both foreign and domestic. And even for Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Leipzig I can see the appeal.
But unless you’re a football fan I can literally not think of a single reason to visit Dortmund (pop. 600k), a (formerly?) industrial city in the middle of the Ruhr valley. Though note that I’m not from that area, so I’m willing to be educated on awesome things to see and visit there.
In Sweden , most tourist will go to the south, so any town up north will have less tourist, except Mora, Leksand, Rättvik and Orsa that will be filled with tourist. That is where a lot of Northerners goes when they go south.
For the UK that city is surely Birmingham; the UK’s 2nd city. I cannot think of a good reason why any tourist would want to go there!
Limerick is unfairly maligned, it has excellent pubs and chippers and a great sense of humour .
Eindhoven and Almere. One is an industry city and the other a newly build city. Also some commuter towns turn into cities like Zoetermeer for example wont attract much tourists.
Probably Linz, our third largest city. It used to be a lot of heavy industry, they diversified a bit into art in the last decades. Still I rarely hear people visiting there.
Trbovlje, I would say. It’s an ugly and depressing city and it is a bit out of the way. The only interesting thing there is a chimney of almost 400m height – the tallest in Europe.
In Poland: Łódź. Unloved even by many Poles, but a quietly impressive story of revival is gradually taking place and the city is entirely worth a weekend of anyone’s time
Ålborg probably. 4th biggest city (120k inhabitants). There are definitely attractions there, several Viking Age sights, and tourists. But not a whole lot.
🇫🇮 Lahti is a city no-one visits. Kouvola is probably another big one.
Most likely the correct answer would be Vantaa and Espoo, but they are basically just Helsinki suburbs.
I think it’s Székesfehérvár. It’s the 9th largest city with 95.000 residents. It has a nice old town section, but the most important landmark, the thousand year old cathedral was destroyed in the Ottoman wars in the 17th century. Most kings were crowned there, most kings were buried there between 1000 and 1550; and it is gone, you can only see some ruins. All the royal graves were looted. If it still stood, it would be an important touristic centre like the basilica of Esztergom.
Székesfehérvár is too close to Budapest having too little to offer. The lakes Velencei-tó and Balaton are also quite near with more attraction. It’s a more or less prospering town with strong industry, maybe nice to live there, but I don’t think anybody would say “Let’s go to Székesfehérvár for the weekend.” Maybe to an isolated wellness hotel that happens to be there.
Osijek for Croatia, not many things you can do there.
Probably Nantes (6th largest in France)… but it’s not that bad to visit.
Charleroi (3rd to 5th biggest depending on how you count)
It’s the only major city that wasn’t already a major city before the industrial revolution. So it has all of the ugly industrial parts without the beautiful historical parts that cities like Liège have. And since the mines are now closed and a lot of the industry is also gone, it’s kind of run down.
I’m thinking Stara Zagora. Sofia is capital, Plovdiv is ancient, Varna and Burgas are at the seaside, Ruse is very close to Bucharest. Zara (as we call SZ) is known for the character of people there but I really haven’t heard of anyone visiting it as a place of tourist interest.
For Northern Ireland, it would be the area around Lurgan-Craigavon-Portadown. Unlike Belfast and Derry/Londonderry which has historical sites, and Newtonabbey which is suburban commuter town of Belfast. Those three which are basically a single urban area, are just basically a load of houses and commercial buildings.
Zaragoza, 5th largest city in Spain. For comparison, Málaga, similar size, its airport had 22 million passengers in 2024. Zaragoza had less than 700k.
Łódź. There’s a reason it’s known as “Detroit of Poland”.
I don’t actually know, but if i where to make a guess i would guess Drammen.
In Romania people mainly visit Transylvania and a few of the core regional cities (Iași, Craiova, Suceava, a few others) + Bucharest. But we have several large cities (top 10-15) that don’t attract many visitors. Brăila and Galați on the Danube , 20km apart with 150k and 210k (11th and 9th) come to mind. Ploiești (180k) as well
Probably Essen or Duisburg. Big but not much going for them.
Disappointed not to see the Czechs’ arguing about if Brno is a city or a village. For the record Brno and Ostrava are better than Prague
Osijek. Actually a pretty beautiful city with great food and some cool nature around, but… quite far away from the sea, and culturally very Central European. Not something your average tourist would make a considerable detour for when visiting Croatia, which is generally perceived only as a Mediterranean country.