Anonymous wrote:Any place in Europe is better than US. Seriously, much of US is a dump now and very littered.

So true— Albania, Kosovo, and Moldova are so much better than the US!

Anonymous wrote:tourism killed the charm, as it does every where once a location becomes a destination.

I had my honeymoon in St Lucia back in 97. nice cutsie island, was a popular destination for Brits. but not overrun.

went back 10 years later for an anniversary, and it was completely different. I'll probably go back on my 25th just for the sake of it. but Yeah tourism really kills an area.

I feel the same about Costa rica. I visited when it wasn't a trend and was unspoiled. Now it's so so different. Complete change.

I, too, expected sooo much and was disappointed. They seemed very stuck on themselves, the place stunk kind of like sewage, and it was very cheap and overpriced. I liked Siena better

Anonymous wrote:Any place in Europe is better than US. Seriously, much of US is a dump now and very littered.

Only the big cities.

Anonymous wrote:tourism killed the charm, as it does every where once a location becomes a destination.

I had my honeymoon in St Lucia back in 97. nice cutsie island, was a popular destination for Brits. but not overrun.

went back 10 years later for an anniversary, and it was completely different. I'll probably go back on my 25th just for the sake of it. but Yeah tourism really kills an area.

What about you the tourist? How come you can go multiple times but when other tourists go they ruined the charm? Funny how that works.

Any place in Europe is better than US. Seriously, much of US is a dump now and very littered.

19:43 here. Also, agree about the Dolomites.

I've been thinking some more about Venice. I went there four times--once in October, another time in April, June (I think), and December.
I was living in Germany. This was over several years.

The time I went in December, our hotel lobby flooded. (It was quite an experience--all the workers in the hotel had on thigh high boots.) The water quickly receded from the lobby, but we decided to cut our visit short. The other times were all fine. I would not recommend winter because of my flooding experience.

Anonymous wrote:I heard Verona is an alternative.. similar to Venice but not at overrun with tourists. Anyone been there? DW wants to go to Italy next year.

Agree with the criticisms of Venice, but we found solace away from the crowds at our VRBO in the Dorsuduro neighborhood.

We found Verona boring.

And completely agree with the pro-Dolomites poster.

Went to Venice several times a while ago and loved it. One of my favorite places in the world to visit. At that time, you could get lost and wander around where the clothes were hanging above the "streets" and kids playing. Is that over? Do people still live there or is it totally AirBnB? The part I loved about Venice was just wandering around and maybe stepping into an obscure church off the beaten track. That was the charm--not San Marco.

A PP asked about Verona. I've been there and remember it as being lovely (we just stopped for lunch), but nothing like Venice. It is a place I would consider visiting. It's also near Lake Garda which is a beautiful area. I prefer northern Italy to southern Italy.

Venice is going under. Visit now before it's gone.

The only reason to go to Venice is to see the novelty of a city built on the water. I never buy anything there, other than food, and I don't stay there. We stay just outside the city and take a bus in. And yes it smells of the sea because, well..

I still cherish the memory of drinking a Bellini while sitting at a cafe on the Piazza San Marco...

Of course, I'm still paying it off.

It’s like Disney for adults

Anonymous wrote:I remember hearing this from the mid 80s and 90s as well, but more complaining it was crowded, overpriced, and smelled bad. It always seemed like it was everyone’s least favorite spot in Italy.

it did smell bad while now it doesn’t. but now there is a police constantly patrolling the steps so that nobody sits on them. the st Marcos cafes are so overpriced their occupancy is about 20%.

I just went for the 3rd time earlier this year (the first time was in the 80s, the second time in the mid 2000s) and actually had the opposite reaction. It’s always been super touristy, even back in the 80s. But I enjoyed it much more this time. We even had some great meals which used to be surprisingly hard to do in Venice. We were there 3 days and that was about the right amount of time but there were still a couple of things we wanted to do that we didn’t get too.