There’s nothing quite like packing a bag, hopping on a plane, and jetting off to a new destination full of culture, charm, and overpriced cappuccino. For most of us, traveling is the ultimate mood booster, a temporary escape from daily monotony.
But not every vacation ends with a glowing Instagram post and a heart full of memories. Sometimes, it ends with a half-eaten sandwich, a confused sense of direction, and a city so dull you wonder if joy took a detour.One Redditor asked folks online, “What’s the most depressing European city you’ve ever visited?” And let’s just say netizens didn’t hold back.
1, Lelystad, Netherlands
There’s probably many worse, but first that comes to mind is Lelystad in the Netherlands. Visited it in around 2004 on a sailing trip, and it was just so …lifeless? Afaik it was basically a pure “sleep city” for people working in Amsterdam. Everything was the same style, everything build out of red Klinker, walls and ground. No cafés, no shops outside of a supermarket.
edit: I did not expect this anecdote from a school trip twenty years ago to make top reply in the thread 🫣 sorry to all Dutchies.
2, Grimsby, United Kingdom
Grimsby.
Not just the name, the s**t buildings, the rubbish choked city centre that feels like an open air flat top pub but honestly the sheer sense of just hopelessness that permeates the whole place and makes f*****g Cleethorpes seem like the french riviera in comparison.
3, Blackpool, England
Definitely Blackpool
I went there to see double-decker trams but ended with the sight of a dead city and people without hope. The city looked like it was in a dying state and nothing or no one was able to help it.
A few days later I found an article about unfulfilled dreams from London who are moving to the English seaside. Pretty accurate.
Before we start naming names (and plenty were named), let’s talk about why some cities can feel like they’ve had the life vacuumed out of them. Because here’s the thing – traveling isn’t just about ticking landmarks off a list. It’s about the vibe, the buzz, the feeling that the place you’re in is alive and pulsing with stories, even if it’s a sleepy village or a hidden alleyway café.
When that’s missing, it can hit hard, especially when you’ve just paid 200 euros for a hotel room that overlooks a parking lot and smells vaguely of mop water. Still, even the most “meh” destination has its silver lining. Traveling isn’t just about racking up passport stamps – it can actually rewire your brain in the best way possible.
4, Narva, Estonia
Narva, Estonia.
Before WW2 it was the best preserved example of Nordic baroque architecture in Europe. The Soviets bombed it to rubble, bulldozed the remains, forbid Estonians from returning to the city and built commieblocks on the remains of the truly amazing Nordic baroque architecture from Swedish times.
If Narva would be intact then Estonia would have several cities with the most preserved Nordic architecture by time periods. Tallinn remained mainly intact and is a Nordic medieval fairy tale where the street networks in the old town are older than anything in the New World.
5, Chișinău, Moldova
Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. It’s an empty husk of a Soviet planned city. And it’s their capital, the best, largest and most representative city they have.
Zhytomyr in Ukraine felt like that too, but I can let that slide, it’s just a regional centre.
Science backs up what our itchy feet have known all along: traveling is good for the soul. Research shows that experiences (like travel) bring more lasting happiness than material things. Why? Because they become part of who you are.
The pros say that exploring new places disrupts routine and boosts creativity. Plus, stepping out of your comfort zone reduces cortisol (the stress hormone). It’s like therapy but with better views and fewer couches.
It’s all about feeling alive again, reconnecting with the world, and realizing there’s life after microwaved office food. So, where does it all go wrong?
6, Milton Keynes, England
Milton Keynes, England. I just couldn’t get on with the layout of the city. To me it looked like it was designed for aliens by aliens.
7, Almere, Netherlands
When I think of depressing cities I would think of other places, but going by your definition of
>lifeless city without anything noticeable
Almere in the Netherlands would be the closest match. It just appeared very soulless and bland, everything kind of looked the same without any flavor or character and the city was dead quiet in the evening, which felt even more noticeable and weird because I walked around the place tripping on ac*d my way back to my AirBnB from a concert when I visited.
Imagine the stereotypical drawing/mockup design of a new minimalist development that construction companies like to put on websites/posters for new flats being built, but come to life with exactly as much life, individuality and soul as you can see in the drawing and that’s pretty much the vibe of the city.
8, Naples, Italy
Neaples. Camorra criminals glorified, wall paintings of teenagers dead in gang fights, unfinished public works everywhere, concrete, stone, asphalt and almost devoid of green. And topping everything: rubbish and its corresponding smell.
Perhaps the most amazing thing is how high opinion locals have of themselves and the city. Self criticism is not popular over there, so it will stay as it is forever.
9, Västerås, Sweden
Västerås in Sweden… Depressing and ugly city (apart from the river picture with the little wooden houses by the river, but it is literally just a picture). City is ugly as hell, it has zero life (even for Swedish standards on that) and the people have got to be the most NPC that I have ever encountered in my life.
Well, sometimes, instead of finding yourself, you just find a Lidl supermarket, a boarded-up bakery, and existential dread. Take Châteauroux in France, for example – the Redditor who posted this thread described their visit as “draining their will to live,” which, frankly, sounds more like a breakup than a weekend getaway.
Then there’s Kiruna in Sweden – cold, grey, lifeless. And Athens… oh, sweet Athens. One person described it as “Endless concrete and excessively drab architecture.” Yikes.
But before we judge too harshly, let’s get real – sometimes it’s not the city, it’s the timing. Visiting a quiet town on a rainy Sunday in February is like showing up at a nightclub at 10am – you’re not going to get the full experience. Plus, some towns just don’t cater to tourists, and that’s okay. Not every place has to be Paris.
10, Kiruna, Sweden
Kiruna 100%
It’s a lifeless mining city in the far north, it looks decent in pictures online, but in reality it’s a sad existence
There’s absolutely nothing to do in Kiruna, the buildings are all depressing, and the people are ‘awkward’.
11, Didcot, England
Wouldn’t call it a city, but Didcot, a town between Oxford and Reading. It’s basically a collection of run-down houses next to a power station.
The most depressing place I’ve *lived* in in Europe was probably Grenoble. The city centre isn’t terrible (though nothing special) and obviously it’s lovely once you get out into the mountains, but for the most part once you leave the centre it’s just an ugly, polluted LA-style concrete sprawl.
12, Duisburg, Germany
Duisburg. I was in the neighbourhood and thought, “why not?”
Turns out, there were plenty of reasons why not.
