It was an honest question. The problem for bussels for me, beyond any reputational issues, is what unique draws it could offer for someone with limited time and money to choose it over somewhere like Italy which has endless cultural sites, great food etc at a cheaper price.
On the topic of the thread to name some great cities I've been to: London, Rome, Paris, Marsellie, Barcelona, Florence, Bologna, Amsterdam, Cologne, the locals friendly, great sites etc but all had the same issues with groups of migrants that ranged from annoying to concerning to the point I worried for my wife's safety. Those experiences combined with what I'd heard about Brussels and it not having any major draw led to it being a fairly easy skip
Okay fair enough.
For me, as a Northern Brit, Belgium is pretty much the easiest country to get to and well worth a visit.
I'm not one for endlessly revisiting the same places, though, so perhaps my scales and reasons are different to other people's.
I can't really remember whether Belgium was expensive or not, I think it was basically the same price as here when I went, so no issues. I found Holland a little bit pricier when I went, but that could just have been me at the time. Didn't really manage to find Amsterdam's culinary scene but that's probably my fault.
Most of those cities you list are fantastic, and much like... well,
anywhere there are certain caveats and things to be aware of. The only place I ever visited where a professional actually told me not to worry about crime was Marrakech, and I found that such a bold statement it's sat with me ever since. I dunno what they do, and I don't wanna know, it's good enough for me.
I won't go to Barcelona again, stuck up twats, I enjoyed Germany and have never been to Italy.
For value for money, it's got to be Thailand and the surrounding countries, I don't get why anyone would ever go to a resort destination that's cut off from the world like you find in Mexico, and while I've been to America 5 times as a child, I won't be going back.
But as far as Europe goes, do as much as you can. As I say, North West is the shit, but Scandinavia is fucking expensive and I'm not going to be doing that any time soon outside of maybe Denmark/Switzerland/Austria if we can count them (think only Denmark is technically accurate). Eastern Europe is on my list and I want to hit up a bunch of places, Bucharest next, hopefully.
I think anyone wanting to go travel to a place, any place, without wanting
any worries just isn't realistic. Whatever you want to worry about, there are people out there that will represent your fears.
