When Lonely Planet asked members to name the most hated cities, Detroit was the speediest contender, ending up at No. 1.
Why? “Crime, pollution and crumbling infrastructure.”
In second place was Accra, Ghana, described by readers as “ugly, chaotic, sprawling and completely indifferent to its waterfront location..”
The No. 3 spot was Seoul, South Korea, which one reader wrote:
“It’s an appallingly repetitive sprawl of freeways and Soviet-style concrete apartment buildings, horribly polluted, with no heart or spirit to it. So oppressively bland that the populace is driven to alcoholism.”
No. 4 was Los Angeles. Described by a reader this way:
“Placed here because of its uncontrolled sprawl, pollution, appalling traffic and ugly freeways.”
San Salvador, El Salvador, also emerged as among the top cities: “Widely acknowledged as the grubbiest of the Central Florida American capitals.”
By David Wilkening
