Yikes . . . Sorry, Austin.
In a piece for the Huffington Post, travel writer David Landsel ranks the Lone Star capital No. 1 in his list of the world's 10 most overrated destinations. He does show good taste by suggesting Houston instead though.
Admittedly, the writer comes across more than a little contrarian as he slams Costa Rica to prefer Hawaii, rakes Vancouver over the coals in favor of Portland and writes off the entire state of Colorado for Utah. Looking forward to that upcoming getaway to Chicago? Forget it — try Detroit.
Landsel calls Austin everything from "legend in its own mind" to a "mildly entertaining university town" to a "state capital with fever dreams of greatness."
A seasoned travel columnist for 15 years, Landsel calls Austin everything from "legend in its own mind" to a "mildly entertaining university town" to a "state capital with fever dreams of greatness." Years of trying to keep things weird, he adds, also appears to be stressing out the general populous.
He even goes so far as to deride Austin as "sprawling," the damning label that's plagued Bayou City tourism for decades. (Welcome to the club, guys.)
"If your precious snowflake mind can tolerate a little diversity of thought, Houston — our nation's fourth largest city, if you didn't know — is currently the place to experience Texas at its most interesting," Landsel explains.
"Sure, this is a city so ugly that sometimes you may be tempted to put a bag over its head, but Houston is also an impressively creative and very fun town, with good museums (the Menil Collection, the Contemporary Arts Museum), plenty of good food — Austin's own golden boy, Tyson Cole, opened Uchi here recently — good drink (start with Anvil and Hay Merchant), plenty of music and — best of all — fun-loving locals who are generally anything but uptight."
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"When you're trying to set yourself apart from a place as large and as bold as Texas, you have to work really, really hard,' Landsel writes.
