By Lauren Haughey
Choosing the perfect vacation destination can be challenging. With options from serene beach resorts in Greece to vibrant city getaways in Rome, travellers have many choices. An experienced traveller who has visited over 30 countries could offer valuable insights to streamline your list. Tour guide Megan Arz has spent years living in Europe and has firm opinions about certain popular cities she’d prefer not to revisit. Get ready, her reviews are a little harsh on one popular UK hotspot – although others seem to love the place. Taking to TikTok last year, she began her list with a ‘semi-obvious’ city that is ‘so easy to punch down’. “That is Frankfurt, my neighbouring city here in Germany,” she said, according to the Express . “Frankfurt does lack a lot of character, especially when you compare it to other cities in Germany and smaller towns. It’s a banking centre and you can feel that. It’s the centre of the European Central Bank and it just doesn’t have that kind of warm and cosy feeling about it.” Aside from this, Megan also mentioned the scarcity of good local beer and the prevalence of bankers, or ‘financial bros’. She continued: “It just leads to the sense of like ‘eh’ – it’s not that cool.” You might be surprised to learn that a well-known Italian destination was next on her list. Although she visited it quite a while ago, she criticised its ‘cheap souvenirs, ‘ saying it’s more suitable for a ‘day trip’ than a place to spend an entire week. In the 2024 video, Megan went on: “Can’t wait for some super defensive Italians in my comments here, but Italy made the list this time around with Pisa. Now, admittedly, I only went to Pisa once and it was quite a while ago, but I don’t remember there being anything to do in the town besides see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. “And that whole area around there is so mobbed with like cheap souvenirs and people trying to sell you things and pickpockets, and it just didn’t have a very nice feeling about it.” Coming in third was Kiruna — a place you might not be familiar with. It is situated in northern Sweden, and Megan described the city as being in ‘the middle of nowhere’, with a population of just over 20,000. “You go there to hunt for Northern Lights, and you can visit the original ice hotel here,” she continued. “But honestly, other than that, it’s a mining town that’s going through a major transition. “[…] But it’s an odd place and definitely one of the most forgettable places that I’ve visited, sorry Kiruna!” Unexpectedly, Prague also made her list, ranking fourth. Megan blamed her dislike on overtourism, numerous stag parties, and a feeling that all worth seeing could be done in one trip. “Prague in the Czech Republic […] it’s a city that has a lot of bachelor [and] bachelorette parties and it’s suffering a bit from overtourism, which leads to this feeling of just like, ‘What’s going on here?’,” she said. “I’ve only visited once, and while I would consider going back, I would only consider going back if I had a local perspective and someone who could show me other parts of it […] I was there for five days before, and I kind of felt like I saw what I needed to see.” Patriots, beware. The final highlight was a surprisingly unexpected city in the UK. While Megan appreciated her experiences there, she mainly saw it as a ‘launching pad’ for reaching other destinations. She said: “The last European city that I probably wouldn’t visit again is Inverness in Scotland. I absolutely love Scotland and while I did have a good time in Inverness, it’s quite a small city and doesn’t have that much to offer from a tourist perspective. “It’s a great jumping-off point for seeing the Highlands or visiting Speyside, but honestly after a couple of days there, I feel like I saw everything I needed to see and probably wouldn’t come back for a return visit.” Others on TikTok have loved Inverness, however. kalanighosthunter went to visit the Victorian Market there and was blown away with the food he found. He praised ‘really tasty’ fries with peppers on them. He also ate some Korean pulled beef dish that he said had ‘so much flavour’ that he said you could eat the meat on its own and it would still be delicious. And in the comments, others also raved about eating spots in the city – recommending a variety of spots he could visit. As expected, the reviews overall from Megan generated a surge of interest on TikTok, where many viewers shared their opinions about each location. One person wrote: “I super agree with you on Pisa! I was staying there for a day and I got soooo bored after seeing the leaning tower and main attractions and even that wasn’t as impressive tbh.” Another added: “Just got back from Inverness and I agree! It’s a great place to base yourself to see the Highlands, but the city itself just isn’t great.” Despite this, others entirely disagreed with Megan’s perspective, with one viewer writing: “I feel like putting smaller cities, Inverness and Pisa, in the same list as capital cities and big metropoles is a bit unfair.” Someone else also said: “Inverness was our jumping off point to go explore the whole Isle of Skye! We stayed for three days but spent one full day exploring Skye and probably would’ve spent one more day there if we could’ve!” Other travel enthusiasts have also raved about the attractions of Inverness, including Morgan On The Move who previously wrote: “Inverness! I had been told by so many people that this place was not worth the visit. I disagree! I think it’s lovely. Friendly locals and the city is so nice to walk through!”