u/JohnDilliWilly

Hello, tourist from Britain. Visited Miami recently and I have some thoughts on my trip. So I assume much of this was error on my part. I knew much more about cities such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco than Miami before visiting, and so when we went to Miami we mainly stayed in the Miami Beach area. We did also go to Brickell and we briefly went to Little Havana.

So I will say, the beaches and palm trees are gorgeous, and I loved much of the architecture. I know the rest will upset some of you but I want to be fair and honest.

I don't intend to be rude or offensive, but Little Havana was my favorite area, but the rest of the areas we visited felt a little...boring? At least when compared to the other cities I mentioned, Miami to us felt a bit soulless and underwhelming, and I assume we didn't go to the right areas. Sure, there was nightlife but aside from that and beaches we didn't experience much to do. Whereas in New York and Chicago, which have a very different and much more intense feel than Miami, it felt like there was near endless opportunities in each and a much more bustling sense of urban intensity. I would also, as a Londoner, say that both of those cities felt much more cosmopolitan and "global" to me with world class museums and more communities to explore. I did appreciate how Miami was very slow paced compared to New York, Chicago or London. Maybe I'm comparing it too much to those cities and setting unrealistic standards rather than appreciating it for what it is.

Was there something we did wrong or anywhere else you recommend going? I want to give Miami a second chance and see more local sights, instead of writing Miami off completely.

Hello! I visited the USA recently and here are my thoughts on the cities that I visited. First, whenever I thought of the USA, the cities that would immediately come to mind were New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami and maybe Los Angeles. I'm a coaster enthusiast and we wanted to check out some parks in the USA (we did the Orlando parks), but decided to stop in some cities along the way. So we planned to go to New York, Chicago, Miami, and San Francisco, but we added in Washington DC and New Orleans as well. I will try to keep my reviews brief. I plan to be as honest as possible.

New York: Wow! It really has everything and I felt overwhelmed by it. Of course, we went to Times Square but we also tried to get out of there as much as possible. I found people to be surprisingly friendly, and service speeds were fast. It felt very diverse and had the most global, cosmopolitan feel of any of the cities. It was quite dirty and smelled bad, but we felt very safe. I enjoyed Prince St Pizza. We did briefly visit Brooklyn and some people told us to avoid areas called...from what I can recall... Bedford something. The Met and Central Park are great. Some transit stations were very gross and smelled rank. Are there any you recommend avoiding for the future or cleaner ones to use?

Chicago: Incredible city. Jaw droppingly beautiful in areas. Now, I knew Chicago would be massive but I didn't realize just how big it would actually be. It's huge! Easily felt the most global and cosmopolitan after New York without question, and we followed local's advice to try to go into various neighborhoods. How the hell is that a lake?! I was impressed by how clean it was and how much there was to do. Felt very safe and food was fantastic. Favorite restaurants waer Frontera Grill and Kapitan, which was recommended. Both New York and Chicago had great Harry Potter stores similar to what we have in London, although I don't choose to buy anything from them. I loved Chicago's Chinatown because it had a great historical section as well as a newer more modern area to visit. We saw people say to go to an area called Devon Ave and we did make time for it. It was extremely cool and diverse. I was impressed that Chicago had a nice water taxi as part of the transit system. Art Institute was lovely and we did the boat tour which was great. What else should we do next time?

San Francisco: Beautiful city. I loved the hills and was impressed by how colorful it was. I will say it was much smaller than I had anticipated. Quite diverse for it's size, though it did not feel like there was as much to do as the other cities. But the scenery was beautiful and it felt rather calm. My only issue with San Francisco was that it was a bit dirty in areas and there were quite a bit of homeless people, but that felt more sad than unsafe. We were told to avoid The Tenderloin. Is that correct? Also, the Golden Gate Bridge was nice but not really for me. Is there any other sights you recommend more? San Francisco had a beautiful Chinatown. So historic. Chicago's is still my favorite but San Franciscos is the most beautiful.

Washington DC: I loved visiting Washington and did not anticipate it being as pretty as it is. We explored the National Mall area extensively and I found the monuments just lovely. I will say compared to the 3 other cities I listed above, Washington also felt more spacious in many areas to me. More room to breathe. Nicest metro in the states too, in terms of how nice it looks. We mainly stayed near the downtown and National Mall areas. Are any other areas good to see? What are your favorite museums?

Miami: Miami was honestly underwhelming to me. Maybe this was a "user error" sort of situation? It was quite pretty and I loved the palm trees, but aside from nightlife in some specific oceanfront areas, the city felt a bit soulless and deserted. The one area I did enjoy was Little Havana, though, and I thought that was a standout. But overall, aside from the nightlife and the ocean, I just found Miami a bit boring and also at times I found that Miami felt less safe than the cities above. Miami Beach was quite pretty as I said, but are there other areas that you like more to stay in? Are there other cities in South Florida you prefer more as a traveler?

New Orleans: New Orleans was a mixed experience. It was a very beautiful city in terms of its architecture, and the food was brilliant. People in New Orleans were easily the most friendly and hospitable people we met in the states. The issue with New Orleans is that it also felt the least safe to us. And from our discussions with locals, it appears safety is very big issue in New Orleans. Loved Cafe Du Monde. We were told to avoid Bourbon St. A local said it's dangerous and to not go there and go to Frenchman instead.

Hello! I visited the USA recently and here are my thoughts on the cities that I visited. First, whenever I thought of the USA, the cities that would immediately come to mind were New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami and maybe Los Angeles. You may have seen my post regarding some people calling certain cities "warzones" but I felt this would be a good follow up. I'm a coaster enthusiast and we wanted to check out some parks in the USA, but decided to stop in some cities along the way. So we planned to go to New York, Chicago, Miami, and San Francisco, but we added in Washington DC and New Orleans as well. I will try to keep my reviews brief. I plan to be as honest as possible.

New York: Wow! It really has everything and I felt overwhelmed by it. Of course, we went to Times Square but we also tried to get out of there as much as possible. I found people to be surprisingly friendly, and service speeds were fast. It felt very diverse and had the most global, cosmopolitan feel of any of the cities. It was quite dirty and smelled bad, but we felt very safe. I enjoyed Prince St Pizza. We did briefly visit Brooklyn and some people told us to avoid areas called...from what I can recall... Bedford something. The Met and Central Park are great. Some transit stations were very gross and smelled rank. Are there any you recommend avoiding for the future or cleaner ones to use?

Chicago: Incredible city. Jaw droppingly beautiful in areas. Now, I knew Chicago would be massive but I didn't realize just how big it would actually be. It's huge! Easily felt the most global and cosmopolitan after New York without question, and we followed local's advice to try to go into various neighborhoods. How the hell is that a lake?! I was impressed by how clean it was and how much there was to do. Felt very safe and food was fantastic. Favorite restaurants waer Frontera Grill and Kapitan, which was recommended. Both New York and Chicago had great Harry Potter stores similar to what we have in London, although I don't choose to buy anything from them. I loved Chicago's Chinatown because it had a great historical section as well as a newer more modern area to visit. We saw people say to go to an area called Devon Ave and we did make time for it. It was extremely cool and diverse. I was impressed that Chicago had a nice water taxi as part of the transit system. Art Institute was lovely and we did the boat tour which was great. What else should we do next time?

San Francisco: Beautiful city. I loved the hills and was impressed by how colorful it was. I will say it was much smaller than I had anticipated. Quite diverse for it's size, though it did not feel like there was as much to do as the other cities. But the scenery was beautiful and it felt rather calm. My only issue with San Francisco was that it was a bit dirty in areas and there were quite a bit of homeless people, but that felt more sad than unsafe. We were told to avoid The Tenderloin. Is that correct? Also, the Golden Gate Bridge was nice but not really for me. Is there any other sights you recommend more? San Francisco had a beautiful Chinatown. So historic. Chicago's is still my favorite but San Franciscos is the most beautiful.

Washington DC: I loved visiting Washington and did not anticipate it being as pretty as it is. We explored the National Mall area extensively and I found the monuments just lovely. I will say compared to the 3 other cities I listed above, Washington also felt more spacious in many areas to me. More room to breathe. Nicest metro in the states too, in terms of how nice it looks. We mainly stayed near the downtown and National Mall areas. Are any other areas good to see? What are your favorite museums?

Miami: Miami was honestly underwhelming to me. Maybe this was a "user error" sort of situation? It was quite pretty and I loved the palm trees, but aside from nightlife in some specific oceanfront areas, the city felt a bit soulless and deserted. The one area I did enjoy was Little Havana, though, and I thought that was a standout. But overall, aside from the nightlife and the ocean, I just found Miami a bit boring and also at times I found that Miami felt less safe than the cities above. Miami Beach was quite pretty as I said, but are there other areas that you like more to stay in? Are there other cities in South Florida you prefer more as a traveler?

New Orleans: New Orleans was a mixed experience. It was a very beautiful city in terms of its architecture, and the food was brilliant. People in New Orleans were easily the most friendly and hospitable people we met in the states. The issue with New Orleans is that it also felt the least safe to us. And from our discussions with locals, it appears safety is very big issue in New Orleans. Loved Cafe Du Monde. We were told to avoid Bourbon St.

Also, even if you aren't American, if you know any of the states in other countries or if this is your first time learning about any of the ones I listed above, feel free to share.

If you didn't know this, is this your first time learning? If you weren't aware, Australia has 6 states, Mexico has 31, India has 28 and Brazil has 26, and Germany has 16, among other countries.

Saw another post that inspired me to want to ask this. I'm a coaster enthusiast from the UK and on a USA trip I stopped in multiple cities. Specifically, I stopped in Washington DC, Miami, New Orleans, Chicago, San Francisco and New York. People that we talked to in Miami, New Orleans, Washington DC and between said that cities such as New York, Chicago and especially San Francisco are war zones right now. They really emphasized San Francisco especially. I wonder if it is because cities such as those three seem to get the most media attention? When I think of America the first cities that would come to mind would be New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington DC. LA as well but we weren't interested in visiting.

This brought up a key question to my mind. Even if these cities have really bad areas, does that make it fair to refer to them as "warzones"? Also it appears many of the same Americans that say this, wouldn't think twice about visiting London, where over the past few years we have experienced hundreds of acid attacks (at times on random civilians) and an unspeakable amount of knife related crimes, which like US cities, are often gang related and mainly in certain boroughs. Yet in 2024 alone, we had over 16,700 knife crimes in London. Over 10,000 of those were armed robberies. When I look up statistics, it shows that the crime rate for the entire Chicago Metropolitan area is about 4-5 per 1000 individuals, whereas in Greater London it is about 40 per 1000. Greater London is our main metropolitan region with a similar population to the Chicago Metropolitan Region.

So we visited them. And personally, I thought they were all lovely. I was sat in my bed after the trip thinking "those cities felt like the most beautiful, big, global cities that we saw in the USA, and I felt the safest in them". Chicago was so clean! I thought it was interesting how both New York and Chicago had Harry Potter Shops (like London) though I choose to not spend my money at them and instead just enjoy the ambience. In those cities, the most dangerous thing we encountered were the amount of calories we consumed. New York and Chicago definitely felt the most global, cosmopolitan and "big city" to me, but San Francisco had a distinct beauty to it that was special to me. The hills were gorgeous and I did not expect areas to be so colorful. Very colorful buildings in places throughout. And well I found some areas to be dirty, I did not find that, or safety to be a big issue in any of those cities. In fact, in those 3 cities, I felt the safest.