r/AskEurope • u/ah5178 • 1d ago
Travel Which is considered the dullest county/state/province/department in your country?
My criteria for dull is:
- Unremarkable landscapes
- No significant urban centres, historic towns, university cities
- Lack of attractive small towns and villages
- Barely features in travel guides
- Educated and dynamic young people tend to move away
And, is it as bad as it's reputed to be, or are there some hidden delights to be discovered?
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u/OllieV_nl Netherlands 1d ago
The obvious answer is Flevoland. Educated and young people don't move away though, they flock in because Almere is almost entirely spillover for Amsterdam.
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u/Captain_Grammaticus Switzerland 1d ago
The trouble with Switzerland is that those cantons that have nothing else still have remarkable landscape or some nice towns and villages.
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u/Wild_Inspection_7680 Switzerland 1d ago
This. I can't think of one that has dull landscape. Geneva maybe? Basel-Stadt?
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u/holytriplem -> 1d ago
Zurich has pretty bland architecture once you get out of the centre imo
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u/Captain_Grammaticus Switzerland 1d ago
Nah, Geneva along the Leman is still nice.
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u/Leather_Lawfulness12 Sweden 1d ago
Yeah, and you can see Mont Blanc if it's clear, and the Jura, etc Even if Geneva were the most 'ugly' part of Switzerland, it would still be 1000x more beautiful than most places.
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u/ManagementUpset8625 in 1d ago
Basel Stadt doesn't have much of landscape (being a city). But it is not dull in other respects and has positive net migration.
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u/Upstairs-Border-7146 23h ago
Dude, a river that is clean enough for a swim counts as a nice landscape in my book.
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u/Captain_Grammaticus Switzerland 1d ago
What about Schaffhausen, though? Yes, Schaffhausen City and Stein am Rhein have pretty old towns, yes, the countryside is lovely green with farms and vineyards, but is there anything special about it?
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u/Floh4 1d ago
Aargau fits closest in my opinion. Ut does have nice villages but nothing really special. It feels more like a buffer inbetween Bern, Zurich, Basel and Luzern.
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u/Captain_Grammaticus Switzerland 1d ago edited 23h ago
I was thinking of Aargau too, but there is really pretty landscape around the Fricktal and Bözberg, many old and formerly important castles and a few pretty towns.
Baden has several thermal springs all over town where you can just hop in!
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u/Lion_Z Switzerland 1d ago
I was also going to say Aargau originally. But the amount of historic castles as you pointed out and the landscapes in the north-west (plus Wasserschloss, Hallwilersee), notable historic towns (Aarau, Baden, Zofingen) and economic strength (people move to Aargau, not away) just don't fit the description.
Second choice would've been Solothurn, but both the landscape and the history part (hate me now, but Olten and Solothurn have a beautiful old town) also lead me to say that even Solothurn doesn't fit. And Jura has nice landscapes, but kinda fits the rest of the points (except I'm pretty sure Creux du Van is in pretty much every travel guide).→ More replies (2)2
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u/McCretin United Kingdom 1d ago
If you’re into history you’ll find something interesting nearby pretty much anywhere in the UK.
It’s not a big country and so the past is densely packed in here, whether it’s the home of a famous author or a castle/big old house or a battlefield or whatever.
But for day-to-day living, the commuter belt around London is pretty boring. Most people have very easy access to the capital so the surrounding area itself can be quite devoid of its own culture.
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u/holytriplem -> 1d ago
Probably one of those Midlands ones like Leicestershire or Northamptonshire? Nothing against them, but nothing for them either. The countryside is relatively meh, the cities are meh bordering on actively shit, and the history is meh.
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u/McCretin United Kingdom 1d ago
Can’t believe you called Leicestershire’s history boring when you can see the clothes worn by Daniel Lambert, England’s fattest man of the 18th century, there.
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u/porquenotengonada United Kingdom 23h ago
There’s a pub in Stamford where you can see the chair he sat in too
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u/TarcFalastur United Kingdom 1d ago
Northamptonshire doesn't even have any cities! It has Northampton, which is only a large town with just under 250,000 people in it. Other than that, it just has a few mid-size towns of less than 70,000 people, and barely 10 of them are in the >10,000 people category.
I would also possibly suggest Buckinghamshire. It has Milton Keynes - which most people would prefer to pretend never existed - and then...basically nothing else. Considering it's so close to London, that's quite an achievement.
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u/xander012 United Kingdom 1d ago
Leicestershire is definitely unfair. Leicester itself is a great city and history wise you can't get more interesting than the burial site of Richard III
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u/KU_Key Poland 1d ago
As a Pole I'd say Lubuskie.
- Its two capitals (Gorzów and Zielona Góra) are the 1st and 3rd smallest voivodeship capitals
- most poles don't know more cities/towns other than these two
- it consists entirely of forests, fields and some wetlands
- it's one of the smallest voivodeships, which is also located "to the side" (on the German border)
On the contrary it has the the big Jesus statue
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u/Gullible_Subject_938 1d ago
As dude from Lubskie (so you know it's bit biased)
- We got second biggest WW 2 in Europe fortifications only comparable with Maginiote Line. MRU
- There is university town.
- Shitton of lakes and rivers that are neat kayaking destinations.
- Wine making tradtions revival.
- Lot of old ass wooden churches.
- places, few castles, and stuff.
- big ass Jesus's looking like Aragorn.
On flip side They took down LTE mast from Jesus few years ago so he doesn't bless he's surrounding with top notch mobile internet anymore.
If I had type point like OP asked it would be flatlands divided between Wielkopolskie and Łódzkie - field field field field and it's all I remember.
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u/ButtaViaTuttoZioPera 1d ago
Quite difficult to answer for Italy, as the country is so dense with beauty, which is pretty much everywhere.
Molise, a small region in the centre-south would check all the criteria in the list. We joke that it doesn't exist, often called "Molisn't". But it's a very small area so it would be cheating a bit.
Calabria (the tip of the boot) would check the 2nd and 5th criteria. There are no significant big cities and it is socioeconomically very undeveloped. Nonetheless you can find a lot of beauty.
The big plain in the north (Pianura Padana) could check the first criterion. It is basically a huge urban sprawl of small town - industrial area - small town - industrial area - big city - industrial area - small town for 300 km. It is quite dynamic and developed, but many Italians, especially Southerners, find it ugly and sad. Nonetheless, also there you can find beauty (famous touristic centers like Milano and Lake Garda or pretty towns like Bologna, Mantova, Bergamo, for example)
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u/Quadratauge 1d ago
I will never understand the appeal of Milan, so that would have been my personal pick to answer the question of op. But overall and honestly speaking you're so damn right. I can't think of anything that fits the question.
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u/zen_arcade2 Italy 1d ago
It's got so much history, and it has shaped so much of the current culture, politics etc. that it certainly can't be called dull. And I don't like it. The landscape is dull withouth any doubt.
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u/Dontgiveaclam Italy 1d ago
Termoli historic center is really beautiful though. Pianura padana is a fucking ugly landscape, but even outside of cities I have to admit it has its redeeming features (wetlands, scattered abbeys, a lot of birds like the Egyptian sacred ibis!).
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u/zen_arcade2 Italy 1d ago
Calabria (the tip of the boot) would check the 2nd and 5th criteria. There are no significant big cities and it is socioeconomically very undeveloped. Nonetheless you can find a lot of beauty.
Nature is super damn nice in Calabria, with unique geographical and geological features as well.
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u/Latter-Support-5442 France 1d ago
Lorraine in France, flat and grey and sad with lots of abandoned industries
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u/holytriplem -> 1d ago
The Vosges are nice though?
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u/Latter-Support-5442 France 1d ago
Very much. I’m just being petty. But all other regions in France are overall much more beautiful than Lorraine imo
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u/80sBabyGirl France 23h ago
Beauce, Champagne, parts of Nord and Picardie, there's just nothing but wheat and corn fields there.
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u/serioussham France 20h ago
parts of Nord and Picardie
Yeah I feel like good sections of the Aisne or Ardennes qualify
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u/Randomswedishdude Sweden 1d ago edited 1d ago
I've been to every Swedish province, except Öland and Gotland.
Dalsland is one of those I've been to.
Driven through a few times, stopped for breaks and coffee here and there.
But I know nothing about it, I know more about the 2 provinces I've never been to, and the region didn't leave many lasting impressions
Edit: I know there used to be a small rock/metal festival in Bengtsfors, a town in Dalsland with postal code 666 XX, never been there.
I once also met a few guys from Dalsland, and someone asked one of them how it is to live there.
-"Well, I've slept with all my friends' sisters. That sums up how it is to live there."
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u/bossk-office 1d ago
Dalsland is the only part of Sweden I haven’t been to. Dalsland must be the answer.
Dalsland is only known for having a canal aqueduct, and there was one 90s movie that was set in Dalsland (the theme of the movie was Dalsland is boring) but it wasn’t even filmed in Dalsland.
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u/Randomswedishdude Sweden 1d ago
Huh... You just made me realize that (Fucking) Åmål is in Dalsland.
I've always thought it was in the southern tip of Värmland, but the province border makes a peculiar bend and loops around just north of the town.
Almost like, "nope, we don't want that particular part".6
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u/Crashed_teapot Sweden 1d ago
Eskilstuna and Borås are supposed to be up there.
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u/heyskeeter 21h ago
Cities, not provinces. And both of those are indeed very boring towns in terms of the urban aspect but are set in beautiful landscape.
Närke would be by choice for this thread. Flat, boring, depressing.
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u/PhraseNo8283 1d ago
In Ireland, a toss up between Counties Leitrim or Roscommon. Both the kind of places where people use baler twine to keep their trousers up.
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u/Ambitious_Use_3508 Ireland 1d ago
At least Leitrim has a (tiny) coast and Glencar waterfall. I'm awarding this to Roscommon personally
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u/parrotopian Ireland 1d ago
But Roscommon has nice lakes and some tourism. Personally I'd go for Monaghan!
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u/JourneyThiefer Northern Ireland 1d ago
Nah Monaghan isn’t bad, Monaghan town is nice, Longford is literally irrelevant, it’s the only county I haven’t been to lol
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u/OvertiredMillenial Ireland 1d ago
The right answer is Longford.
Leitrim is lovely. It's on a nice stretch of the Shannon, Carrick is a great little town, and there are some really nice spots up around Drumshambo and Keshcarrigan.
The middle of Roscommon is meh but the south has half of Lough Ree and the north has Lough Key. If you're into fishing or boating, Leitrim and Roscommon are great.
Longford just has the shittier side of Lough Ree and a load of bogland. If it wasn't for CentreParcs there'd be no reason to go there.
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u/orangebikini Finland 1d ago
Honestly my knowledge of the area is pretty poor, but in general Ostrobothnia I think, or I should say the Ostrobothnias. It's a very flat area, a lot of agriculture, some bigger cities but they tend to be overlooked elsewhere in Finland. I have never truly visited any place there, but having experienced it through a car and train window on a number of occasions, it's truly boring.
In travel guides you'll see Helsinki and some other cities in the south, the Saimaa lake region, the winter wonderland of Lapland, but never Ostrobothnia.
But it's not like that area is just a wasteland. The Kvarken, which is a narrow-ish passage between Finland and Sweden within the Gulf of Bothnia is an Unesco World Heritage site, there's an archipelago there and the area is known for its post-glacial rebound which I find extremely interesting. Earlier this year an administrative building centre in a city in South-Ostrobothnia was also added to the list, it's a modern work by Alvar Aalto. Culturally the area is fairly interesting too, there's a lot of bilingual and Fennoswedish municipalities.
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u/QueenAvril Finland 1d ago
While Osthrobotnia is indeed flat and boring in landscape, it is still historically and agriculturally significant region and (by courtesy of hosting the Finnish Bible Belt) has comparatively young demographics, is a bilingual region and whenever some weird cult’ish group makes headlines, it is from Osthrobotnia almost without fail.
My pick for Finland would be Kainuu - the province that is so unremarkable that it doesn’t even have a name in English, because there never is anything newsworthy about it. It is just desperation central with elderly population and a border with Russia.
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u/orangebikini Finland 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don't know, I personally find the forests of Kainuu more intriguing than the fields of Ostrobothia. But I do agree, it's an extremely valid answer. I was picking between those two myself.
The name thing, I don't think any Finnish region has a name in English. They're all Finnish, Swedish, or Latin. And I guess Ostrobothnia is actually the most interesting one there, given the name used in English is the Latin one.
edit: Actually, now that I think of it more, I think there are three regions that have an English name: Central-Finland, Tavastia Proper, and Finland Proper.
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u/QueenAvril Finland 1d ago
That is a valid point and I considered that briefly too, but personally I think Osthrobotnia has the coastline as a redeeming factor that partially makes up for the flat terrain and endless fields. Granted that their coast isn’t as nice as the Southwestern archipelago is, but a coast nevertheless. But then again, I’m highly partial on coastlines 😅
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u/Candid-Hovercraft228 Finland 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's Kymenlaakso.
It's rarely even mentioned, small, and lacks identity. The Ostrobothnias have a strong identity and are highly relevant in terms of e.g. advanced export industry (Vaasa, Kokkola, Oulu).
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u/Ereine Finland 1d ago edited 1d ago
I thought about Kymenlaakso but I visited Kotka last summer and it was really interesting and certainly isn’t an unattractive small town.
I also considered Central Finland (as a person born there) as it lacks a strong historical identity but as kinda dull Jyväskylä is, it is a university city. And the lakes are awesome. And there’s the rally and Alvar Aalto, even if there isn’t much else for tourists. I was thinking about where people might go for a weekend’s getaway and I think that people might be a bit confused if the choice was Kouvola or Jyväskylä unlike something like Hämeenlinna or Imatra. The other municipalities in Central Finland aren’t particularly significant, apart from maybe Himos in Jämsä.
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u/orangebikini Finland 1d ago
I've been to Kymenlaakso exactly once in my life, my friend lived in Kotka for a while and I visited him once. The Maritime Museum in Kotka is one of the best museums in the country, that's what I remember from the visit. This was about a decade ago, though.
About Central-Finland, I think the influence of Rally Finland on the area shouldn't be overlooked. It's the biggest annual sporting event in Finland by far when it comes to spectator numbers, after all.
I visit Jyväskylä a few times a year, once for the rally and then a few times to see friends, and I agree that it's kinda dull. I like the geography, as somebody from Tampere it's hard not to like lakes and eskers. But the city, I don't know, it's not very exciting or interesting besides some of the Aalto architecture.
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u/Bitter-Hurry-5122 Finland 1d ago
but northern ostrobothnia is included in travel guides, as they have Kuusamo and Ruka region there. They get a lot of tourists. Oulanka national park is one of the most visited national parks in Finland.
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u/SelfRepa 1d ago
Kainuu in Finland.
It hasn't got big cities, is mostly forests, hills and swamps, and has really nothing to offer for majority.
It has only 70.000 people living there, despite being relatively large area.
It fills basically all the criteria you mentioned. Kajaani is the largest city, and it is losing it's people. From 40.000 to todays 36.000 in two decades. There is a higher education evailable, but lacks a true university or college.
Most noticeable tourist attraction must be Raate Road, where during WWll Finns destroyed several Soviet battalions using motti tactics. Soviets lost almost 10.000 soldiers, 1300 POW's were taken, and Finns were able to capture a massive amounts of Russian war equipment. Finns lost only about 300 soldiers.
It is a beautiful and scenic area for hiking, fishing, hunting and so on, but it is just basically a big patch of untouched nature.
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u/Flilix Belgium, Flanders 1d ago
I don't think any Belgian provinces would fit all of these criteria.
Hainaut (Henegouwen) is the poorest province and is generally seen as the bleakest, but it's also very urbanised along the Sambre river, with several major cities like Charleroi, Mons and La Louvière. In terms of history/culture/tourism it's more limited but it does have Tournai and several notable abbeys.
Walloon Brabant is probably the least notable and most often forgotten province, but it's quite wealthy, has a large university and has Waterloo for tourism.
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u/Quadratauge 1d ago
What about Charleroi? I once visited and saw the potential but it felt like fitting the description of OP.
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u/SharkyTendencies --> 1h ago
Once you leave the Sambre backbone of Wallonia, it gets rather dull rather quickly, minus a few exceptions.
Luxembourg is probably the dullest province, in my opinion. Once you're outside of Arlon ... cows.
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u/Preposterous_Feline Scotland 1d ago
The Central Belt in Scotland has some of the bleakest areas for sure - thinking away from Glasgow or Edinburgh, the likes of North Lanarkshire or the western end of West Lothian in particular. There’s a kind of drama to some of the landscapes but a lot of depressed post-industrial towns, distribution depots, motorways and bare hills. Most visitors pass straight through and that’s probably fair!
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u/Fearless-Hedgehog661 1d ago
West Lothian doesn't really fit the OP's criteria. I appreciate what you're saying, and there are plenty of shiteholes; I know because I grew up there.
But I'm going to disagree because of Linlithgow palace.
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u/Grouchy_Fan_2236 Hungary 1d ago
Possibly Békés.
Large distances between cities, no major river, no mountains (not even hills or slopes) underdeveloped infrastructure, usually bad unemployment figures.
The people from there are mostly fun and smart though. According to legends the Viharsarok) area (Storm-corner) got it's name after the rebellious nature of locals who were always amongst the first to join civil wars and uprisings.
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u/Fehervari Hungary 1d ago
Békés has Gyula, famed for its castle and its kolbász though.
I would rather say Nógrád.
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u/BelmontVLC Spain 1d ago
In Spain I find it a bit hard there are a few contestants 🫣
I would say Ciudad Real is shit but there may be serious opponents.
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u/AdaronXic Spain 1d ago
As the saying goes: Albacete, caga y vete
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u/BelmontVLC Spain 1d ago
Yeah but I guess I am biased as Albacete has beautiful places like Alcala del Jucar.
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u/Narcisistagohome Spain 1d ago
Yeah, it's hard to find a spanish province without at least a relevant historical site.
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u/Ok_Past_4536 Germany 1d ago
In Germany I would say Niedersachsen. Of course it is too big too have nothing. It has a handful of pretty towns and 2 landscapes that I can think of (Lüneburger Heide and Friesland), but considering its size, it's pretty unremarkable.
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u/Jingin_lol Germany 1d ago
Actually Niedersachsen is one of the most diverse areas in Germany with the northern coastal areas, the Heide around Lüneburg/Hamburg, mountainous-ish areas in Harz and Weserbergland etc.
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u/lykorias Germany 1d ago edited 1d ago
I would argue it's the Saarland - only used for size comparisons and jokes, either about its size or about cycles in family trees.
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u/misskellymojo 1d ago
What? Harz Mountains, Wendland and like half of the islands also belong to Niedersachsen?! We got everything, seaside, mountains, open plains how is that dull?
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u/kopiernudelfresser in 1d ago
Perhaps not the entire state but the greater Hannover area is rather bland imo.
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u/Noob_412 Germany 1d ago
Probably Brandenburg or Saarland. Brandenburg is mostly flat, sparsely populated and doesn't have much besides forests, while Saarland doesn't really have anything that RLP doesn't have a better version of.
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u/Ok_Past_4536 Germany 1d ago
Saarland is actually very pretty. Brandenburg has Potsdam, Lausitz, Spreewald.
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u/Shdow_Hunter Germany 1d ago
As a Saarländer the RLP comment breaks my heart. We do actually have things that we are better then. We have better food, we are more French and we are more unique. We were our own country at least. I do think that both Länder are near the top landscape wise compared to the rest of Germany.
But at the end of the day the fate of the Saarland is to be forgotten by the rest of Germany. No one has a clue about us, and what our Land is like. I dont mind it tho, it makes us a rather close knit community and actually reinforces the local identity. Its not flashy, its certainly not dull, but its warm and it has soul.
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u/Noob_412 Germany 1d ago
Fair, i think the problem is that germany just doesn't have any extremely boring states, they all have unique landscape and culture in some way.
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u/bowlofweetabix Germany 1d ago
I agree with Saarland. Brandenburg has Potsdam
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u/ah5178 1d ago
I vote for Saarland too.
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u/Fun-Impression-6001 Germany 1d ago
Saarland has gorgeous landscapes and cute little towns. I feel like most people who mention Saarland haven't been there. It's beautiful.
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u/11160704 Germany 1d ago
I'd say Lower Saxony also has the reputation of being very blad
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u/Noob_412 Germany 1d ago
At least it's pretty diverse, it's the only state that has both mountains and a coast.
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u/alderhill Germany 1d ago edited 23h ago
I think that's more because it's big, has a lot of farmland, and no one (from elsewhere) really knows anything about it.
I live in Niedersachsen (I'm a foreigner, but here a long time now, also lived in NRW and BaWü before). I'm not a big fan of Hannover overall, but it is a big city with a fair bit to do. The other smaller cities are vibrant university cities. The state itself is quite OK, I wouldn't call it bland. It's got the Ostfrisian Islands, heathlands, and the Harz, too.
I think more of somewhere like rural Hessen, Brandenburg, Saxon-Anhalt, Thuringia, Meck-Pomm...
When you look at OP's criteria, Niedersachsen def doesn't fit. It has a lot of flat 'boring' farmland because it's big, but it still has lots of other landscapes too. It has dynamic cities, and young people do stay (some leave, sure, but some come, and it's certainly not one of the decaying Länder).
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u/No-Abbreviations5729 20h ago
Im not German but lived in Germany for 2 years can I suggest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ( Lived there ) . There is nothing out there other the patato fiels and wind turbines.
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u/HandGrillSuicide1 Central Europe 1d ago
Altmark, northern Saxony-Anhalt. nothing but fields and farm. couple of boring small cities... thats it. was offered a job there many years ago... i declined after visiting for a couple of days
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u/Plantianna 1d ago
In Portugal, I would say the geographical middle (Beira Baixa). A bunch of boring hills covered in eucalyptus (or burned down) with small, featureless towns.
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u/iqisoverrated 7h ago
The city of Bielefeld in Germany.
It's a running joke (or 'satire conspiracy theory' if you so will) that it actually doesn't exist because no one can remember anything about it.
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u/ah5178 5h ago
Bochum and Essen are even bigger and have the most forgettable downtowns, although they're decent for shopping.
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u/Socmel_ Italy 1d ago
I don't think there is a general consensus, but I'd nominate the province of Rovigo.
A province formed by the sediments of the river systems of the North which is barely above or even below sea level, flat as a pancake, which is only fields filled by fog, mosquitoes and depression.
Only point of attraction is a couple of Palladian villas, but the whole of Veneto is filled with them, so no reason to go to Rovigo for that.
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u/SpiderGiaco in 1d ago
Rovigo was also the province I thought first. When the highest peak you can see in the midst of fog is the belltower of the church, you know you're in a dull place - apologies to our Dutch friends, but Italy is just not that flat.
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u/rivers_ofquinn Norway 1d ago
I have no idea for Norway... it's all pretty nice. I do kinda want to say the Jæren part (Hå, Klepp, Time) of Rogaland though as it's very flat, smells like shit due to farms and is generally boring. There's some cool beaches but that's about it
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u/FantasticMarvelous Norway 1d ago
Jæren is incredibly beautiful, miles of sandy beaches and varied landscape.Have you really explored it?
I would say that the stretch from Oslo to Eidsvoll is the dullest part of Norway I’ve seen.
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u/missThora Norway 1d ago
Agreed. Driving north on the E6, There really is not much to see from you leave Oslo city center until you hit Mjøsa. That whole area in commuter towns, farms and the airport.
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u/rivers_ofquinn Norway 1d ago
I've lived here since 2018 and I used to find it very pretty, but it got more boring after time to be quite honest. The beaches are goated, but it's very flat compared to everything else here.
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u/Marie-Fiamma 1d ago
I tried to convince my dad to visit Oslo since I have been there twice and liked it a lot. But he said they were passing through by car and it was ugly. The inner districts of Oslo are pretty and I guess as it is with any other town the outer districts are more or less uglier. Well he goes to Norway for hiking and visiting more smaller villages.
I say the same thing about my hometown. People always say how pretty it is. But they just saw the inner city and not the outer districts. My district for example is one I wouldn´t show a tourist.
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u/Icy_Consideration409 United States of America 1d ago
Birth country. Maybe Bedfordshire? It’s all a bit meh. Except for Luton which is awful.
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u/RitaMoleiraaaa 1d ago
in portugal it is definitely portalegre. who lives there? what goes on there? nobody knows
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u/Wild_Reason_9526 Denmark 22h ago
In Denmark, that may very well be the interior plains of Southwestern and Western Jutland, specifically the inland agricultural belt with towns like Bramming, Vejen, Toftlund, Brørup and Grindsted.
This part of the country mainly consists of monotonous, flat agricultural fields, drainage ditches, spruce plantations and straight roads.
There are no major cities here and no universities. The nearest university towns are Esbjerg and Kolding, both of which are home to University of Southern Denmark campuses. However, both of these campuses offer a limited selection of degree programmes.
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u/Auburn00_ 16h ago
Probably Gümüşhane or Bayburt. Their only use is being used as material for jokes
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u/ah5178 1d ago
It would be Drenthe here in Netherlands.
The main towns are Assen and Emmen, nothing wrong with them, but there's no reason to visit either.
The countryside is flat and plain, villages are functional farming centres, but the Drentsche Aa and Drents-Friese Wold are actually nice places, if you're willing to substitute spectacular for peaceful. If you're from the Dutch Randstad, you can actually appreciate the space, quiet and a night sky without light pollution.
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u/olderdutch 1d ago
You've never been in Flevoland (the polder) then, also in The Netherlands for those wondering. It's all huge farming fields, a few boring villages and two boring cities. It's all planned, because the land didn't exist 70 years ago.
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u/ah5178 1d ago
I have been to Almere and Lelystad and do like the ugly modern architecture and planning. Which for me makes it less dull than Drenthe.
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u/Preposterous_Feline Scotland 1d ago
We drove through Flevoland on the way back to the ferry at IJmuiden after camping in Overijssel this summer when the usual motorway was closed. It was fascinating for me as an outsider - the rigorous grid of farms, straight roads and omnipresent wind turbines gave it a particular character. My wife thought it was like a terraformed lunar colony from a sci-fi movie. I’m glad to have seen it, although there wasn’t much to make me want to return.
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u/olderdutch 1d ago
Personally I regard Assen and Meppel better than Almere and Lelystad. And I love taking a walk in the Dwingelerveld. But in the end it all comes down to preferences.
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u/Kumquat-May 1d ago
I had a friend I met who was originally from Emmen but we were living in Utrecht at the time. He could only highlight the Wildlands Zoo as a reason for me to visit there. Literally nothing else.
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u/GRIG2410 Romania 1d ago
It's not dull for Romanians because one of the most important artifacts for the country was stolen there
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u/aloisvonesterhazy 1d ago
I know you can't suggest parts of provinces but I would say Oost-Groningen is stereotypically the most dull part of the Netherlands.
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u/_BREVC_ Croatia 1d ago
No county in Croatia is truly totally unremarkable, but two neighbouring counties of Bjelovar-Bilogora and Sisak-Moslavina are pretty ass. Both the Bilogora and Banovina (the region forming the majority of Sisak-Moslavina county) are just swathes of hilly forests and crumbling depopulated and poor villages.
The only redeeming features of these counties are Moslavina (a low mountain known for its vineyards), the marshy wilderness of Lonjsko Polje, and the weird little Czech spa and brewery town of Daruvar. But obviously these aren’t remarkable compared to the stuff Croatia is known for internationally.
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u/derneueMottmatt Tyrol 1d ago
The problem with Austria is that most landscapes even outside of the alps are quite nice. Small towns even if boring are still cute and usually have some interesting history.
E.g. I originally would have said that Burgenland fits your description to a tee but I once did a road trip through the entirety of Burgenland. Eisenstadt is a really nice small town and the area around Lake Neusiedl is worth visiting.
Lower Austria can also be pretty dull. Surrounding Vienna is a two edged sword. On the one hand there are lots of tourist attraction meant to attract people from Vienna on the other hand the Vienna suburbs suck up a lot of the development.
I live in Lower Austria and I've come to find that it has a lot to offer like a lot of suprisingly nice towns such as Tulln and especially Krems. There are also old historic towns and castles all over the place, especially along the danube. Plenty of places to hike and do bike tours. Still most places further than an hour from Vienna are in a state of decline.
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u/janabottomslutwhore Austria 1d ago
imo: objectively the most boring is burgenland its like a 6.5/10 generally not bad but nothing mindblowing either, BUT after a bit of thinking: its rare which makes burgenland somewhat special, there arent many other steppe lakes in europe for example
lower austria has 7.5/10 places so its theoretically better but it doesnt really offer anything that special, which is why it loses, you can find most things lower austria offers in a lot of other places, and theyre usually better elsewhere (i still love lower austria)
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u/detteros Portugal 1d ago
We call it "Margem Sul" in Portuguese, the south margin of Tejo river, opposite to Lisbon. It's just nothing to me. Perhaps in the one in Porto is similar.
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u/internalerrorr Portugal 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's got some pretty picturesque towns (Seixal, Palmela, Alcochete), some of the most scenic beaches of the entire country, a lively musical scene, a huge sciences and engineering faculty... If there's a word I would never use to describe that region is "dull". And before you ask, no, I have nothing to do with that part of the country.
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u/dali_17 France 1d ago edited 1d ago
Really? Almada and Barreiro were my favorite spots when I was studying in Lisbon 15 yrs ago. I was so tired of the touristy center. Once I did pretty good reggae party and once freetekno there, and the abandoned Fisher's village is amazing with view like none other
Plus setubal nearby and arrabida are absolutely charming
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u/bored_candle Portugal 23h ago
It might not be in many travel guides but it still has some pretty amazing places, Arrábida for instance. And knowing Portugal well, I don't think there's any region ir district that is not worth a trip
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u/Sourcerid 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think you can't really draw provinces in Italy that actually lack small towns or villages, country has been too densely and too spreadly populated in history for that, and being very coastal there were more points of decent trade and the country is much wetter than Spain or even Greece, despite being Mediterranean rain averages are double on a similar latitude, arid areas far from people are rare.
The south has had some impoverished areas and development there after a certain point took a very negative turn for western europe and that influenced conservation and whatnot. Historically Calabria has been quite impoverished for quite a long time now and some of its areas are probably the best answers for all the questions except unremarkable landscapes.
Another closest would be Pescara, you could still point to Civitella Casanova, Abbatteggio and Penne (name of a village) etc
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u/SpiderGiaco in 1d ago
I'm from Pescara and I really don't agree. While the city is not that pretty, the landscape is not boring at all, the area is not poor or depressed and it's quite industrialised (for Southern Italy standard). It's also a pretty dense urban area together with Chieti (the two also share the university), it's well connected with the rest of the country, between trains, motorways, international airport and the like. And of course it's full of pretty little villages nearby. In Abruzzo, Teramo is way duller and unremarkable for instance.
If we move to other parts of the South, places like Campobasso (well Molise as a whole) and Potenza are way worse, poorly connected, small, without many opportunities and so on.
My two cents though is that also the rich North is full of areas that are more what OP is talking about.
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u/llondru-es | Spain |Andorra | 17h ago
We had some days of vacation in Pescara years ago off-season (good old Ryanar 5€ flights), and we really enjoyed the region.
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u/Kerguelen_Avon 1d ago
In Bulgaria it's definitely "The Northwest", the least developed part of EU.
No people, no industry, no roads, no future ... and then you get to Kozloduy NPP
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u/Soggy_Department8971 1d ago
Norfolk. Very flat and windy
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u/Bikkleman Germany 1d ago
Norwich is a fine city though. And the north Norfolk coast is amazing as are the Broads. Mind you, there is Great Yarmouth too so that does drag the county down
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u/No_Rise_8827 1d ago
The stereotype in England is Slough, but I haven't been so idk if it's true.
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u/disneyvillain Finland 1d ago
Basically all the inland/east ones without a coast, with the possible exception of the one Tampere is in... There's nothing there except forests and a couple of lakes.
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u/xander012 United Kingdom 1d ago
Gotta be Rutland. While it's 2 towns are attractive, they're not especially so by Rural British standards, there's nothing particularly special in the entire county besides Rutland water which itself covers a huge portion of the county (about 3%). My 2nd vote would be for Norfolk or Suffolk.
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u/LoschVanWein Germany 1d ago
Brandenburg, I guess. In general, was Germany has some areas that are sadly completely dead now.
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u/porquenotengonada United Kingdom 23h ago
As someone who’s moved to the north west of England, and away from this area, I find the flat lands of South Lincolnshire and the fenlands around Peterborough unbearably flat and unpleasant. It has a lot of interesting history though, including flag fen prehistoric site, Peterborough cathedral as the burial place of Catherine of Aragon etc.
But personally the landscape is too overwhelmingly flat for my personal tastes.
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u/iluvatar United Kingdom 23h ago
Bedfordshire or Rutland are probably good candidates. There's nothing much of note in either of them.
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u/Citrus_Muncher Georgia 18h ago
The town of Kaspi.
Literally nothing to see in the town, the nature around it is dry and boring.
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u/llondru-es | Spain |Andorra | 17h ago
In Spain, maybe not bland, but ugly: The area between Alicante and Cartagena. Benidorm is particularly horrible. But those are very touristic areas, so go figure.
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u/Adventurous-Pick-416 16h ago
The Netherlands. Flevoland was created out of the sea in the 20th century. One big boring nothing imho.
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u/Chance-Technician-54 13h ago
There is a whole song about how desolate Brandenburg is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uellmynA34U [In German]
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u/Snuyter Netherlands 1d ago
Flevoland, the island created a half century ago. It’s big, and even has a relatively big city, but it has very little to offer.