Major cities that are weirdly overlooked and nobody seems to care about

[samne]

Not sure if already mentioned....Mississauga.

6th Largest city in Canada. Larger population than Winnipeg, Vancouver and Quebec City proper.

San Antonio....7th largest city in US. Wierd one too. Only 1 major sports team.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by RC14

In the US I think El Paso/Juarez is overlooked. Internationally, most of the large South American cities are overlooked. Especially Santiago and Buenos Aires. I think the main reason for all three of those is there remote locations. They are not only far from other major cities but they are also out of the way.

El Paso just gets straight-up forgotten. I forgot it existed until this morning when I ran across some Old El Paso chili seasoning at my local Japanese import shop.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by samne

San Antonio....7th largest city in US. Wierd one too. Only 1 major sports team.

Aww, not this again. The natives should be restless (I'm referring to members of this board).

[xzmattzx]

Of all the cities I've been to, Reykjavik is the most overlooked. People that I know, or met in Iceland, just see Reykjavik is a staging point for the natural beauty of Iceland. But Reykjavik has great cultural amenities

In Canada, I think Montreal and Quebec City are only mildly overlooked. People generally know to get a French Canadian fix in either city. Toronto used to be overlooked, but I think people (in the US) know about Toronto and how nice it is now. Actually, all of Canada, besides Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are pretty much overlooked by Americans. Ask an average American to name five cities in Canada and they'll name between 1 and 3.

In the US, Albuquerque is overlooked. There's a ton of open space (some of it with streets graded out in the dirt). Their climate is more temperate than Phoenix: you can get some snow in winter, and experience all four seasons, and summer isn't as hot as the big Arizona cities. Then, New Mexico has cheaper land. I cannot understand how Albuquerque has not become the next big retirement destination, like a western version of North Carolina (also a more temperate alternative to the most popular retirement destinations).

In North America, I think Mexico City is overlooked. For such a huge city, it is completely overshadowed by Cancun and Cabo San Lucas. Also, just about all Caribbean cities are overlooked because people head to all-inclusive resorts. How many Americans and Canadians have gone to Nassau or Kingston instead of places like Sandals and spent a few days seeing how native Bahamians or Jamaicans live their lives?


Some of all of this is differentiating between "overlooked" and "underrated".

[MolsonExport]

Okotoks. There are a number of things to do in Okotoks.

[Maldive]

Originally Posted by samne
San Antonio....7th largest city in US. Wierd one too. Only 1 major sports team

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

Aww, not this again. The natives should be restless (I'm referring to members of this board).

San Antone could easily Spur a massive image spike, without spending any promotional Bucks (though they won't likely challenge the longest single season championship title in history ;-)

[suburbanite]

Lots of European second cities. Not major on a global scale in the way that a Taipei or unknown Chinese city of 8 million people is, but also would surprise many North Americans who probably could only name the largest/capital city in numerous countries.

Lyon for France
Porto for Portugal
Krakow for Poland
Antwerp for Belgium (haven't been to this one so conjecture on my part)

Obviously Asia, and to a lesser extent Africa are king for truly massive cities that can go virtually unnoticed on the western radar.

Karachi is larger than any English-speaking city except New York at ~16 million

Hyderabad is just another city of 10 million in India.

[Acajack]

In terms of the UK I'd have to say that as the second city, internationally Manchester really outguns Birmingham. Which is surprising because they are so close in terms of demographics and other metrics that no one can truly say with certainty which city is number 2.

I'd say that Manchester's oomph comes from sports and also pop culture.

Manchester United and to some degree Manchester City splash the city's name all over the world, whereas Birmingham's top club is called Aston Villa.

Manchester seems to have had more recent rock bands that have entered the consciousness like Oasis, whereas Birmingham's greatest seem to be from the 70s: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath.

I'd say globally even Liverpool is more renowned than Birmingham, due to Liverpool FC and the Beatles.

[muppet]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Karachi is larger than any English-speaking city except New York at ~16 million

Hyderabad is just another city of 10 million in India.

Yep the unofficial population of Karachi is actually 23-27.5 million

[muppet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

In terms of the UK I'd have to say that as the second city, internationally Manchester really outguns Birmingham. Which is surprising because they are so close in terms of demographics and other metrics that no one can truly say with certainty which city is number 2.

I'd say that Manchester's oomph comes from sports and also pop culture.

Manchester United and to some degree Manchester City splash the city's name all over the world, whereas Birmingham's top club is called Aston Villa.

Manchester seems to have had more recent rock bands that have entered the consciousness like Oasis, whereas Birmingham's greatest seem to be from the 70s: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath.

I'd say globally even Liverpool is more renowned than Birmingham, due to Liverpool FC and the Beatles.

Also Manchester has much more surviving history than Birmingham, which lost most of its centre during the war + postwar idiocy.

[Segun]

Originally Posted by Twin Citian

It has a much smaller black population than three other Midwest metros. It also has one of the fastest growing black populations in the US.

It's interesting how even before George Floyd, Prince and the MPLS sound gives the Twin Cities a much higher profile among Black people than its population.

[Segun]

How about Monterrey, Mexico?

It's the third largest Metro area in Mexico, and is within a day's drive from parts of Texas.

I've only seen some footage of it. It has a cool looking Elevated transit system too.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Segun

How about Monterrey, Mexico?

It's the third largest Metro area in Mexico, and is within a day's drive from parts of Texas.

I've only seen some footage of it. It has a cool looking Elevated transit system too.

secondary mexican cities to be sure!

[jd3189]

Mexico had great cities when I was down there a few years ago. I went to Cancun, Tulum, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico City, and Puebla. Puebla was a very pleasant surprise. Before going, I thought it was just a suburb of Mexico City. If it was in the US, it would be a top 10 for sure. Great core, beautiful architecture. A bit rough around the edges and does have sprawl/gated communities, but the city is beautiful. It's in a valley between two volcanos and has a church on top of an alleged Aztec pyramid on top of a hill that overlooks the whole city.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Segun

It's interesting how even before George Floyd, Prince and the MPLS sound gives the Twin Cities a much higher profile among Black people than its population.

For the longest time, up until his death, I always thought Prince was Puerto Rican.

[cabasse]

manchester's metrolink is the far better rail system as well (8 lines, 99 stations) vs west midlands metro (1 line, 29 stations)

[Crawford]

I found Manchester more interesting than Birmingham, from a visitor perspective. Yeah, neither are traditional tourist cities, but Manchester seemed to have better urban fabric and more substance. Of course, tourist appeal doesn't necessarily correlate with importance.

[Acajack]

It's notable also that Manchester suffered a much steeper decline in terms of de-vitalization and de-population than Birmingham did in the latter part of the 20th century.

I remember watching the Commonwealth Games (can't remember the year) in Manchester and the runners and cyclists competing in races in the city were passing by abandoned buildings much more often than I would have liked had I been the mayor. I guess maybe they couldn't be avoided.

[wg_flamip]

Originally Posted by jd3189

Mexico had great cities when I was down there a few years ago. I went to Cancun, Tulum, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico City, and Puebla. Puebla was a very pleasant surprise. Before going, I thought it was just a suburb of Mexico City. If it was in the US, it would be a top 10 for sure. Great core, beautiful architecture. A bit rough around the edges and does have sprawl/gated communities, but the city is beautiful. It's in a valley between two volcanos and has a church on top of an alleged Aztec pyramid on top of a hill that overlooks the whole city.

I also really enjoyed Puebla. There's a nice mix of colonial and Porfirian architecture in the city centre, and its Zócalo is quite charming. It's fairly sedate relative to Mexico City, but that's to be expected.

Are you talking about the pyramid in Cholula? If so, it was built way before the Aztecs, I believe around the same time as Teotihuacan many centuries earlier. In any case, Cholula is an interesting city in its own right.

[saybanana]

Montevideo