What's a city significant and well known in your country, but will raise an eyebrow to anyone outside of it?

[u/dphayteeyl]

[u/[deleted]]

I'm from Ireland, for Ireland I'd say Kilkenny. I live in Slovenia, and tbh for Slovenia I would say the entire country of Slovenia. I love it here

[u/RowingMonkey → u/[deleted]]

Why did you move to Slovenia if you don’t mind me asking

[u/[deleted] → u/RowingMonkey]

My girlfriend is from here, I visited a couple times then moved here

[u/amorphatist → u/[deleted]]

Moved for the ride. That’s focus, you’ll go far in life

[u/PhariseeHunter46 → u/amorphatist]

I did the same thing. I can't stand the country I'm in but I love my wife more than anything so it was worth it

[u/FiveDaysLate → u/RowingMonkey]

Work, love, or the sausage (or any combination of those)

[u/[deleted] → u/FiveDaysLate]

Love, and using me sausage I suppose lol. My girlfriend is from here😂

[u/Panda-768 → u/[deleted]]

I knew it the moment Sausage came up 😅

[u/RevivedMisanthropy → u/[deleted]]

Slovenia is absolutely incredible. I did not have a single complaint about the entire country. Quiet, incredible food, unbelievable scenery...

[u/doingthehokeypokey → u/[deleted]]

“Where the fuck is Maribor?” A Slovenian buddy gifted me a shirt with that on it like 15 years ago. Still have it. Treasured place in my heart

[u/SomethingOrdinaryOK → u/[deleted]]

I'd agree as a fellow Irishman. Same with Slovenia, I've passed through it many times while travelling on holiday and where I bring up any city I stayed in, nobody knows what country it's in unless I've mentioned it. Even Ljubljana, despite it's beauty is still unknown by many people I've talked to.

[u/Deep_Conversation896 → u/SomethingOrdinaryOK]

Hope it remains a relative secret. Last thing they need is an inundation of tourists.

[u/Magomaeva → u/[deleted]]

I'm from Russia, and Slovenia is a criminally underrated country. I'm glad you love it. The village life here is unmatched.

[u/RobinsonRanger1945 → u/[deleted]]

Oh my God! They Kilkenny!

[u/thejudge1000 → u/RobinsonRanger1945]

You Bastard!

[u/No_Astronaut3059 → u/[deleted]]

A res! Slovenija je najlepše! Kje živiš? I think Slovenia has slowly infiltrated the sphere of "countries to visit in Europe" but still retained quite a lot of its charm and (relative) obscurity.

Also, for us British Isles types (with some stunning nature and beautiful towns / cities of our own), when you first land at Pučnik / drive or train over the border, you get that kind of "wow" moment. All the natural beauty, some beautiful towns and cities, and generally very friendly, patient people. Which comes in handy with the impossible language and almost 50 regional dialects...

Edit: I also meant to big up Ireland. I explored a little outside of Dublin (I know, I know) for the first time this year, going back soon, and your countryside is gorgeous. And, in particular given the historic strife and ongoing banter, I was made to feel very welcome in spite of being a f**king English tourist idiot.

[u/justaBranFlake → u/[deleted]]

I’m from south east Michigan in USA, my mom and i traveled to Kilkenny in 07 randomly

[u/Rovsea → u/[deleted]]

Is there even a major city in the country outside of Ljubljana?

[u/DifficultWill4 → u/Rovsea]

Maribor has a population of 150k in the urban area and 350k in the metro while the coastal agglomeration (Koper, Izola, Piran) has around 100k all together

[u/[deleted] → u/Rovsea]

You could say Maribor, but that's just relatively speaking. Going by broader European standards, even Ljubljana isn't a major city

[u/brianmmf]

Canada has a city called London with a metro population of over 500k. But other than being a significant population centre sharing a name with London, England, there is absolutely nothing noteworthy about it.

Halifax maybe a better answer. A gem of a city on the East Coast in Nova Scotia. Not well known outside Canada, except maybe for anyone interested in marine disasters due to the Halifax Explosion.

[u/admiralfilgbo → u/brianmmf]

Bostonian here - sorry about that deadly explosion in 1917, but thanks for that yearly Xmas tree and your support of the Sox.

[u/Immediate_Dog1392 → u/admiralfilgbo]

Sox, Bruins, Pats… it’s always been interesting to me how the Maritime provinces of Canada are basically just an extension of Boston/New England - and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Enjoy the trees, friends; and thank you for all the events!

[u/admiralfilgbo → u/Immediate_Dog1392]

wish we could join your time zone :)

[u/penguin_torpedo → u/Immediate_Dog1392]

They support New England teams? And they dare call themselves the new Scottish? Smh

[u/j_smittz → u/Immediate_Dog1392]

I mean, Boston is the closest city with major sports teams to Nova Scotia, so it kinda makes sense.

[u/CaptainCanuck001 → u/brianmmf]

Halifax is Canada's 4th biggest port and as the largest city in the Maritime provinces it has a lot more culture than you would expect from a 500k city.

[u/sycgeek → u/CaptainCanuck001]

you say, "A lot more culture..." and I say, "Oh the year was 1778!"

[u/MarioMilieu → u/sycgeek]

“OH I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOWWWWW”

My university drinking days downtown Halifax made it so I can’t not shout this upon hearing it.

[u/penywisexx → u/CaptainCanuck001]

On top of all that the lobster is dirt cheap!

[u/lkngro5043 → u/brianmmf]

Oh come on anyone who’s seen Trailer Park Boys knows about Halifax!!

[u/millijuna → u/lkngro5043]

The way she goes…

[u/bradleyd82 → u/brianmmf]

Fake London... I only know it because of Jason from Not Just Bikes, who is originally from there and always calls it by that name

[u/NinjaEagle210 → u/bradleyd82]

Yes same with me lol

[u/michaelmcmikey → u/brianmmf]

I was going to say Halifax!

London is so aggressively average it’s often used as a test market for new products before they’re widely released.

[u/[deleted] → u/michaelmcmikey]

lol Columbus Ohio is used in a similar role

[u/citronnader → u/brianmmf]

There is this yb channel "Not just bikes" (1.26m subs) which is about urban planing and its owner and creator it's from this "fake London" as he likes to call it. He always emphasize the lack of noteworthy stuff american (US + Canada) suburbia usually offers giving his home town as an example. So at least there are around 1m ppl all around the world who know about this city just because this.

[u/bradleyd82 → u/citronnader]

I'm one of them, and had commented similar just above before seeing this 🤣🤣🤣

[u/villager_de → u/citronnader]

haha I was gonna say, I learned about Fake London from this guys Youtube channel

[u/BrentBolthouse4Prez → u/brianmmf]

I think Americans know Halifax. Especially if you’re a Trailer Park Boys fan or were around for 9/11

[u/Daddy_Milk → u/BrentBolthouse4Prez]

Julian: "Somebody call 911"!

Bubbles: "Never forget."

[u/TrickyWalrus → u/brianmmf]

London Ontario also has a Thames River too

[u/bombswell → u/TrickyWalrus]

Then there’s Ontario, CA, meaning California, which was named after of Ontario, Canada. 🤔

[u/GharlieConCarne → u/brianmmf]

Halifax also sharing a name with Halifax, England

[u/eltortillaman → u/brianmmf]

It's notable for being the place Not Just Bikes is from (youtube)

[u/NotSoFlugratte]

Bielefeld, because it's a Germany wide in-joke that Bielefeld doesn't exist, but to anyone outside Germany no one would know what the fuck Bielefeld is

[u/whistleridge → u/NotSoFlugratte]

The irony being, it’s actually pretty well-known because of this joke. Unlike, say, Essen, which is much larger but probably completely unknown to almost every non-German not from within 250km of the city. There were no famous battles there, no big polities there, it wasn’t a major Hanse city, etc.

Edit: I have apparently angered the board-gaming and Western European fandoms.

[u/sour_individual → u/whistleridge]

I love the city of "To Eat".

[u/whistleridge → u/sour_individual]

In German orthography, the verb essen (“eating/to eat”) is always lowercase, while the noun Essen (“food”) is always capitalized. So strictly speaking, it’s the city Food, not the city Eating.

[u/Maniadh → u/whistleridge]

Funny enough, Eating sounds like it could be an English city.

[u/whistleridge → u/Maniadh]

English is a Germanic language at its core, so this makes sense.

If read a wiki that said Sir Henry Padgett-FitzHenry, 4th Earl of Hounsmarsh, was born in Great Eating, I wouldn’t bat an eye. It completely scans with older English place names.

[u/Maniadh → u/whistleridge]

The closeness to "Eaton" probably helps quite a lot as well in terms of that word specifically. Some other verbs like Diving or Lighting wouldn't be as easy to believe I feel.

[u/whistleridge → u/Maniadh]

Those are more American place names. I could complete see Lightning, Kansas being a real place. Or Diving, Michigan. Something like that.

[u/four024490502 → u/whistleridge]

Lansing, MI and Wheeling, WV come to mind.

[u/aotus_trivirgatus → u/whistleridge]

Boring, Oregon.

[u/gregorydgraham → u/whistleridge]

I like Food. It’s a lovely city

[u/Rovsea → u/whistleridge]

Perhaps I've played too many map games (or looked at too many maps), but I've known about Essen since I was a kid (I'm a random American with no connection to the city).

[u/tkfu → u/Rovsea]

Essen appears in a lot of board games because it is home every year to (by far) the world's largest board game convention/fair. 200,000 people or more typically attend!

[u/Squ3lchr → u/Rovsea]

I know of Essen, from the game Pandemic. Literally, have no other context. In the list of German cities I know I think it would be right after Magdeburg and before Dresden. I am a young American for context.

[u/Falcao1905 → u/NotSoFlugratte]

anyone outside Germany no one would know what the fuck Bielefeld is

We don't know, because it doesn't even exist!

[u/matfalko → u/NotSoFlugratte]

unless you follow football, and you know about Arminia

[u/willard_price → u/matfalko]

I have an extensive knowledge of mainly industrial European towns that most people haven't heard of due to football.

I shared a house with a girl from Bochum who was amazed that I had heard of the place (VfL Bochum), let alone the fact I could place it on a map.

[u/Brief-Preference-712 → u/willard_price]

I like how Bochum, 1 FC Koln, Schalke 04, Bayer Leverkussen, Monchengladbach, Duisburg, Dortmund are all clustered in the same place

[u/expendable_entity → u/NotSoFlugratte]

Another Honorable Mention: Flensburg. Outside of Germany probably not well known, but this northernmost major city in Germany is probably one of the most often talked about city within Germany simply because it is where the "Federal Motor Transport Authority" is. So if you get penalty points on your driving licence they are called "points in Flensburg" because that is where they will be processes and recorded.

[u/NanderK]

Even the second largest city of basically any African country.

• People will know Lagos, but how many know Kano or Ibadan?
• People may know Accra, but how many know Kumasi?
• People likely know Dakar, but how many know Thiès?
• People maybe know Dar es Salaam, but how many know Mwanza?
• People may know Kinshasa, but how many know Lubumbashi?

etc.

[u/SafeUSASchools → u/NanderK]

As a Moroccan many know our cities. But they confuse our capital for being Casablanca, Marrekech or Fez while in reality the capital is Rabat.

Africa is huge and people forget about it alot but it needs the appreciation as well.

[u/onderslecht558 → u/SafeUSASchools]

I knew it's Rabat because there is joke about asking for discount at travel agency and getting answer that Rabat is capital of Morocco. Rabat means discount in my language.

[u/dphayteeyl]

Pictured is Newcastle, Australia. Located North of Sydney, it is my pick for cities obscure to people outside the country. North of Sydney, it is quite a significant city, and is the largest coal port in the world, and boasting 500k people in it's urban area. I love Newcastle, especially for it's beaches. It is the second largest urban area outside the capital cities and gold coast. All of this is why its my pick

[u/NeighborhoodOk9630 → u/dphayteeyl]

My best dumb American moment happened about 10 years ago. I met a guy from Canberra. I had to ask him where that was because I had never heard of it. He then says “It’s the capital of Australia, mate.”

[u/Maniadh → u/NeighborhoodOk9630]

For some reason the belief that Sydney is the capital is really strong in the UK too. Most people likely know it's Canberra or would just say they don't know, but I swear I was told it was Sydney by someone as a kid too.

[u/Slow-Prompt-7819 → u/Maniadh]

I think this is a universal thing to be honest… maybe Canberra has to step up their marketing

[u/crb11 → u/Slow-Prompt-7819]

I went there once. It felt like the Milton Keynes of Australia.

[u/Affectionate_Log6816 → u/crb11]

It is a dull, boring, expensive, bureaucratic shithole.

[u/Aetra → u/Affectionate_Log6816]

I have a friend from Canberra who came to visit me in Brisbane for a week and he was shocked anything was open after 8pm

[u/coffee_map_clock → u/Slow-Prompt-7819]

They should build an iconic opera house.  Bet that'll work.

[u/[deleted] → u/coffee_map_clock]

But Canberra has the sky titty whales!

[u/Ok-Philosopher8888 → u/[deleted]]

I’m from California and many people think the capital is Los Angeles or San Francisco (it’s Sacramento).

[u/giraffebaconequation → u/dphayteeyl]

I know of Newcastle, Australia because I worked in Newcastle, Ontario, Canada for years. And the town was in an organization called “Newcastles of the world”. Every few years representatives from each Newcastle would travel to a convention hosted by different Newcastles. 2015 our Newcastle hosted and my work gave tours to these reps from all over the world.

[u/uhbkodazbg → u/dphayteeyl]

When I think of Newcastle I think of urban decay and deindustrialization. I know there’s more than just that but reputations can be hard to shake.

I don’t really see having the world’s largest coal exporting port as a selling point but that’s just me.

[u/TheGuyThatThisIs → u/uhbkodazbg]

A good local economy is easy to undervalue until you don’t have one

[u/GLADisme → u/uhbkodazbg]

Decay not so much anymore. Most of central Newcastle has been revitalised over the past decade.

[u/TemporaryAd5793 → u/uhbkodazbg]

Newcastle has changed a lot in the last decade. Its CBD is undergoing a massive gentrification and renewal phase. Some of the Cafes in Newy are as good, if not slightly better than most in my old home of Balmain.

[u/Kanaima31 → u/dphayteeyl]

Why does it raise eyebrows to non-Australians?

[u/DreamingElectrons → u/Kanaima31]

People are probably just confused that it isn't in England. The only time most people hear about Newcastle is in sports, but there Newcastle is an English team.

[u/sacky85 → u/DreamingElectrons]

We managed to take /r/Newcastle before the Brits. They have the much longer /r/NewcastleUponTyne

[u/uhbkodazbg → u/Kanaima31]

A bit of a reputation (fair or not, most generally are not) as being a bit of a shithole.

[u/dphayteeyl → u/uhbkodazbg]

I meant more raising eyebrows in confusion since I doubt anyone outside Australia would know what Newcastle is (but then again I'm going off my relatives) but yeah that works too.

[u/[deleted] → u/dphayteeyl]

You are right on two things.

1. When I think of Newcastle I think of the UK
2. The largest coal port in the world is significant and again I won't think of Australia for this let alone a relatively unknown city.

So I fully agree with you

[u/MrIceyGuy]

For Brazil, we got Belo Horizonte. Major city in the second largest state, Minas Gerais, and has like 7 million people yet I’ve rarely seen a foreigner know about it.

[u/machomacho01 → u/MrIceyGuy]

Any city that is not Rio de Janeiro.

[u/michaelmcmikey → u/machomacho01]

Rio is mega famous but come on, anyone who isn’t totally geographically ignorant also knows São Paulo, it’s the 4th largest urban area in the world and the largest outside Asia (bigger than Mexico City or New York)

[u/knightshire → u/michaelmcmikey]

Also anyone who loves pub quizzes will know that capital of Brazil is Brasilia (along with the capital of Australia, Canberra)

[u/donNNASD → u/machomacho01]

People don’t even know about the capital

[u/ReticulatedPasta → u/donNNASD]

The fact that no one knows the capital of Brazil was literally the basis/presumption for the big plot twist in I Know What You Did Last Summer 2 lol.

[u/gettinchippywitit → u/ReticulatedPasta]

But also like if you knew it… you knew the twist from the beginning. Always bugged me! They could have used any question. It’s not like they were going to Brazil! It was the Bahamas!

[u/pewterbullet → u/machomacho01]

I believe most people know of São Paulo.

[u/Melonskal → u/machomacho01]

Sao Paolo: Am I a joke to you?

[u/11160704 → u/MrIceyGuy]

It's where the 7:1 victory of Germany against Brazil took place.

[u/ShinjukuAce → u/MrIceyGuy]

São Paulo gets surprisingly little attention despite being one of the largest cities in the world.

[u/pinkocatgirl → u/MrIceyGuy]

Everybody loves the beautiful view in the general mines

[u/[deleted] → u/MrIceyGuy]

Brazil is filled with megacities no one has heard of outside of the country, but I'd nominate Manaus instead of BH.

I saw a video titled "why did Brazil build a city in the middle of the Amazon" and the comments where genuinely surprised that the Amazon rainforest has major population centers, they thought it's only home to small villages and natives, Belém is similar as well.

Honorable mention to Altamira, a city the size of Florida

[u/Electrical_Stage_656]

Assisi the city of San Francesco

[u/Aggressive_Owl4802 → u/Electrical_Stage_656]

I agree. In Italy also Matera is super known in Italy as a masterpiece but not so known outside of Italy, also because quite remote.

[u/Mattavi → u/Aggressive_Owl4802]

Basilicata in general is very underappreciated. Maratea (though admittedly more of a town than a city) is pretty well known in Italy, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone outside of Italy that knows about it.

[u/11160704 → u/Electrical_Stage_656]

At least in the Catholic world it's pretty well known.

[u/Shevek99 → u/Electrical_Stage_656]

Assisi is very well known outside Italy, at least in Catholic countries. The same happens, for instance with Padova because of San Antonio.

[u/foggy__]

Daegu, home to unbearable summer weather, an aggressive dialect, and the most conservative voters of our nation. Somehow the third largest urban area of sk.

[u/OverKeelLoL → u/foggy__]

For some reason Daegu is among the first words that Korean Duolingo teaches you, without ever using it in any context.

[u/_China_ThrowAway → u/foggy__]

I asked some Korean students what are some famous cities in Korea besides Seoul, Pusan and Inchon, and they actually struggled to name any. Eventually, one offered Deagu.

[u/Arumdaum → u/_China_ThrowAway]

Pyongyang

[u/concentrated-amazing → u/foggy__]

Always takes me a minute when someone uses SK, because I'm Canadian and SK = Saskatchewan, the province next to me.

[u/Jaxxxa31 → u/concentrated-amazing]

I'm from Europe and I was wondering how tf did they name a place Daegu in Slovakia

[u/fiveht78]

Am I the only UEFA-head that every time one of these threads come up I’m like “okay, but… thanks to football/soccer I know almost all of these?”

[u/Jjez95 → u/fiveht78]

my theory is the only reason why brits aren’t as geographically clueless as americans is because we grew up knowing places like donetsk, dortmund, valencia, porto etc from the champions league

[u/applex_wingcommander → u/Jjez95]

The only reason I know so much about the geography of the USA is because I am a baseball fan. Milwaukee? Just north of Chicago.

[u/alphasierrraaa → u/applex_wingcommander]

for someone from the west coast, green bay would literally be just a random midwest city if not for the packers

[u/pzschrek1 → u/alphasierrraaa]

Ikr, you’d never have heard of it, it only has like 120k people. The core population of their fan base is in southern Wisconsin two hours away or more

[u/SirHC111 → u/fiveht78]

Yes, FIFA and the UCL act as a good way to learn about random cities scattered across Europe. Shout out to Qarabağ FK.

[u/Jjez95 → u/SirHC111]

Sheriff Tiraspol gang

[u/BrasCubas69 → u/fiveht78]

I find this with names and languages. I’m really good at knowing how a language sounds or is pronounced and how to pronounce foreign names, if they’re a country that play football. But Indian and Chinese names? can’t remember them.

[u/Shevek99 → u/fiveht78]

For instance, Turin may not come to mind so easily, but when you say "Juve" then is "Of course!"

[u/HypedUpJackal → u/Shevek99]

"Oh, so you're from Juventus?"

[u/Hasbro-Settler → u/fiveht78]

It was football manager for me, I have some really quite absurd knowledge when it comes to football geography all due to that game.

[u/jaunmilijej]

For Turkey it might be Eskişehir. Within the country it’s known for being a pretty city with a good student and night life and an awesome river park. I don’t think any foreigner who isn’t deeply interested in Turkey would know it.

[u/Loading_Internet]

Surabaya, Indonesia

Literally the 2nd Biggest City in Indonesia, but I don’t think y’all knowin this city existence.

[u/Sza_666 → u/Loading_Internet]

I knew about it only because I'm a huge ww2 naval nerd.

[u/GlenGraif → u/Loading_Internet]

And it used to be bigger than Jakarta in the colonial days…

I know it because a great aunt was a nun there!

[u/Witty_Physicist]

Probably Luton, UK, because it's best known for its airport. In other words, you only travel to Luton to get out of it again.

[u/coffeewalnut05]

I’d say Leeds for England. It’s probably the most economically prosperous city in northern England, and is a popular place to live in. There’s some beautiful, grand Victorian architecture in the centre. Many areas have been regenerated. There’s good nightlife (if you’re into that), food and cultural activities. Locals seem proud of their city.

Leeds is also centrally located in Britain which is very convenient to visit other cities including London and Edinburgh, and you’re never far from some of the most beautiful countryside and coastline the UK can offer.

[u/SirHC111 → u/coffeewalnut05]

This is an interesting one. Not being from the UK, cities like Birmingham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester immediately come to mind. Didn't realise that Leeds is one of the largest cities/metro areas in the country.

[u/Maniadh → u/SirHC111]

As someone in Northern Ireland, I've always been aware of Leeds but it took me by surprise too to learn how big/significant it is compared to cities like Manchester and Sheffield, which I'd always presumed were magnitudes larger.

[u/crucible → u/SirHC111]

It’s apparently the largest comparatively sized city in Western Europe without any kind of tram / metro system.

[u/BrianInAtlanta → u/coffeewalnut05]

You would think having the name of the town be part of the title (and the recording location) of the greatest live rock album ever recorded would make it famous.

[u/Inferno_Trigger]

Thessaloniki probably. Relatively known in the world, but nowhere near as popular as Athens. Second largest city, important enough to earn the title of "co-capital", a title going back to Byzantium as it was the second most important city behind Constantinople.

[u/torrens86 → u/Inferno_Trigger]

Relatively well known in Australia, as the third largest Greek city in the world; Athens, Melbourne, Thessaloniki.

It's only true with select use of statistics though.

[u/SpiderGiaco → u/Inferno_Trigger]

I would have said Patras for Greece, as it's even more obscure for non Greeks

[u/fearofalmonds → u/Inferno_Trigger]

It’s well known in Turkey, maybe even more so than some Turkish cities, because it’s the birthplace of Atatürk, our founder.

[u/Massive_Emu6682 → u/fearofalmonds]

Plus it was an important economic hub for the Ottomans especially during the late era. It was like Izmir of Ottomans, which there's even this twin cities approach where people generally see Izmir and Thessoliniki (or as in Turkish, Selanik) as twin siblings.

During the Ottoman era the city has a very plural demographics which Jewish people were actually held the majority but Turks and Greeks were really close in numbers too. After the population exchange the city become to a fully Greek city and continue its importance in modern Greece as the city become more populated than before.

[u/Absolutely-Epic → u/Inferno_Trigger]

It had a basketball team 

[u/Plug_5 → u/Inferno_Trigger]

Isn't there a whole book of the Bible named after it? I feel like tons of people would have heard of it that way.

[u/Apptubrutae → u/Inferno_Trigger]

Historically also the biggest Jewish urban population in Europe for hundreds of years too

[u/Host_Horror]

Utrecht - it’s the 4th biggest city in the Netherlands and its main station is busiest in the country. It got a very pretty city centre and in the Netherlands it’s considered a major place but before I lived here I had only vaguely heard of it. It’s also very famous demolishing a motorway to rebuild a canal.

Eindhoven is much better known and it’s a smaller city but as others have mentioned probably because of football as PSV is much bigger club than FC Utrecht.

[u/Alvoradoo → u/Host_Horror]

/r/fuckcars masturbates while watching videos of cyclists in Utrecht

[u/RogCrim44]

Zaragoza, Spain. With around 700k inhabitants it's like the fouth/fifht biggest city in the country but I feel its pretty much unknown outside, at least way less known than similar size cities like Malaga, Alicante or Seville.

[u/Shevek99 → u/RogCrim44]

I was thinking of Murcia, but Zaragoza is a better example.

[u/Captainjook]

Graz for Austria. While it’s the second largest city, major industrial and university hub and one of the biggest metro areas in Austria, everyone knows Vienna and the smaller cities Salzburg and Innsbruck.

[u/GaiusCosades → u/Captainjook]

True, I imagine that 50% of people who ever heard the name Graz on the planet, did so while reading or listening to one of the many biographies on Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[u/TiaxRulesAll2024]

I had to think about a city that has no professional sports team.

Omaha, Nebraska.

It is where the College World Series of Baseball is played. Thus making it an almost annual vacation destination for SEC baseball fans.

[u/hewkii2 → u/TiaxRulesAll2024]

Somewhere like Savannah Georgia probably fits too

It’s notable if you’re familiar with the area or US History but it’s not as (in)famous as its neighbors in Florida or Myrtle Beach

[u/MouldyBobs → u/TiaxRulesAll2024]

I would also add Oklahoma City to the list - due mostly to the Musical and Song, which make it recognizable to non-natives. We have one sports team (NBA, Thunder), but also have the Women's Softball Hall of Fame and World Series every year. Lots of other interesting stuff if you know your way around, but largely, it is flat and featureless.

[u/Der_genealogist → u/MouldyBobs]

I know OKC because of the OKC bombing

[u/[deleted] → u/TiaxRulesAll2024]

I’ll throw Tucson, Arizona or Amarillo, TX into the mix

[u/High_on_Mayonnaise → u/[deleted]]

Louisville, KY

[u/Sarkarinaukar-89]

New (Navi)Mumbai, India ! Everyone knows about Mumbai but no one accepts that a planned and prosperous city resides alongside Mumbai. It is listed in the top three cleanest cities of India.. can anyone believe that such a Mumbai exists!!

[u/Novel_Advertising_51 → u/Sarkarinaukar-89]

also adding to this , cities like gurgaon and noida are satellite cities of delhi, they are household names in most of north india idk about south and NE

[u/spaltavian → u/Sarkarinaukar-89]

In India, are they thought of as separate cities? 

[u/Novel_Advertising_51 → u/spaltavian]

it is thought of as a satellite city; a separate city but having considerable influence from the main one.

it is a planned expansion of mumbai but if expansion is big enough, it develops into its own city.

[u/k0lored → u/Sarkarinaukar-89]

Tbh, cities outside of top 8 would raise an eyebrow. Eg, massive ones like surat, vizag, Lucknow are big industrial centres with pop of 10M+

[u/knoxeez]

I think Belo Horizonte - Brazil. Its metropolitan area has 6M people, but when people think of Brazil they only think about Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasília.

[u/willirritate → u/knoxeez]

Fortaleza is quite big also.

[u/Goth-Detective]

Poole Sandbanks in Dorset, UK. Looks almost Mediterranean with some of the most expensive addresses outside of London. Lined up with hundreds of yachts in the natural harbour/marina behind Sandbanks. If you passed out and woke up in Sandbanks, you'd be hard-pressed to guess this was England.

[u/Tendaydaze → u/Goth-Detective]

I’m shocked you think this as Sandbanks looks super English to me

[u/torrens86]

Geelong everyone in Australia knows it. Nobody outside knows it.

[u/Hungry_Battle_397 → u/torrens86]

I feel like I It's the same reason Hamilton ON , Canada isn't well known outside Canada bc it's being overshadowed by Toronto, an international destination.

[u/Unable_Bank3884 → u/torrens86]

Everyone who asked me on my travels where I was from received the same answer "down near Melbourne" because if I said Geelong is just get blank stares

[u/SalSomer]

I guess Kristiansand, Drammen, or Fredrikstad. Oslo is known since it’s the capital, Bergen has a lot of connections to the UK, and Trondheim has a fairly well respected university and is also known among soccer fans because of Rosenborg. Stavanger has the whole oil thing and Tromsø is the hub of Arctic tourism. So that leaves Kristiansand, which doesn’t really seem to have anything in terms of international appeal (Norwegians go there to spend some time in the sun, which isn’t why any non-Norwegian would go to this country), and Drammen and Fredrikstad, which are both too close to Oslo to be noticed, I think.

(I understand that for most foreigners, not a single town in Norway is what you would consider well known, but the ones I listed first are the ones where I wouldn’t be surprised if a foreigner mentioned them, whereas a mention of Kristiansand, Drammen, and Fredrikstad would prompt me to ask how they know that town)

[u/gregorydgraham → u/SalSomer]

Lillehammer had the Winter Olympics and is … 3 people and a husky?

Tromsø is great though: spectacular but lived in

[u/Unabletotakeadookie]

Quezon City. Most populous city in the Philippines and also has arguably the 2 best Universities in the country but it's literally right next to Manila so most foreigners don't even recognize that they're in a separate city when they visit.

[u/Select_Professor3373]

As a Russian -- I'd say Omsk. The city is kinda memetic (kinda "our Ohio") and known here as city with Schrodinger's underground cuz it exists and doesn't exist simultaneously but Omsk is not well-known abroad.

[u/ColdEvenKeeled]

Edmonton Alberta Canada.

The nicest people in a tidy urban area split over a massive river valley, surrounded on two sides by extensive industrial parks related to oil, then hobby farms. Excellent recreation centres including indoor soccer, tennis and swimming.

It may raise an eyebrow for being there, and so large, when, to Americans, it's impossibly remote or to Australians who could never imagine a large inland city. (Not to a Russian though, it would seem perfectly in keeping with large remote cities such as Novosibirsk or Irkutsk.)

[u/a_trane13 → u/ColdEvenKeeled]

Edmonton is quite well known to Americans. Not that most could point to it on a map, but the name is familiar.

[u/[deleted] → u/a_trane13]

Americans of the North and hockey fans. Americans of the South could give two shits. When the Oilers were in the SCF this year, I had to explain where that city was to many many dumb country brethren

[u/Embarrassed_Ad_6594 → u/ColdEvenKeeled]

Most northern city in the world with a Metropolitan area population over 1M. One of the most affordable cities in Canada with some of the best paying jobs in the country too.

I would think most Americans would have heard about us and our famous hockey team, especially due to their heyday in the 80s with Wayne Gretzky. However, I've been to Europe a few times now and nobody ever has had a clue where I live when I tell them

[u/EvenAd1314]

Hungary:

Debrecen. 2nd largest city with airport and highway connections. Everyone knows this city in Hungary, and it is the most important city after Budapest. People barely know it even in Central Europe or neighbouring countries.

[u/ProblemSavings8686]

Cork. It’s called the real capital of Ireland but most people outside of Ireland don’t realise we exist except if they watched the Young Offenders. Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland after Dublin and third on the Island behind Belfast.

The city dates back to a monastery founded by Saint Finbarr though it was the Vikings and later the Anglo Normans who properly made Cork into a city, Cork getting its city charter in 1185. The city gets its name from an Irish word for marsh, the city built between on the marshy estuary of the River Lee.

Cork had one of the largest pharmaceutical industries in the world and the European headquarters of Apple.

Cork historically had the largest butter market in the world, as well as what was the largest prison and second largest gunpowder mills of the British Empire. Much of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War happened around County Cork, including the Burning of Cork in 1920.

Cork harbour is said to be the second largest natural harbour in the world and is very strategic with various historic forts. The British even kept Spike Island after the Irish Free State was created as one of the Treaty Ports. Cobh, formerly Queenstown, in Cork harbour was the last port of call for those on the Titanic. The Irish navy is based in Cork Harbour at Haulbowline.

[u/leshmi]

Brescia, Italy with its 1.2m provincial population. Mainly known for lake of Garda and rifles like Beretta, Benelli etc. it's an industrial / post-industrial city with an High cost of living. Most of the time paired with Bergamo due to similarities in languages and history they make up almost 3m ppl.

[u/Goth-Detective → u/leshmi]

Wow,, I've been to Lake Garda and never passed through Brescia. The competition for tourists in northern Italy is pretty rough. I guess few people are gonna cut out Milano, Venezia or Firenze to make room for Brescia :)

[u/n1cl01]

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada has more than 700,000 people but it's directly adjacent to Toronto and forms one continuous urban area with it pretty much

[u/sour_individual → u/n1cl01]

I am from Quebec and while we know about Mississauga being its own city, it's just Toronto to us. You wouldn't specify you're traveling to Mississauga, you'd just say you're going to Toronto.

[u/michaelmcmikey → u/sour_individual]

It’s probably similar to Laval and Montreal, as someone from Ontario, if I was going to Laval I’d just say I’m going to Montreal. But in Laval’s case there is a body of water between the two islands, in Mississauga’s case there’s no physical separation between it and Toronto at all.

[u/michaelmcmikey → u/n1cl01]

Mississauga is a Toronto suburb, if you don’t notice the sign on the road telling you you’re crossing the border you’d never be able to tell where one ends and the other begins.

[u/Equivalent-Act-5202]

I used to live in Canada and people would ask where in Canada. "By Ottawa" I'd say, and then when they gave me a blank look "it's the capital of Canada".

[u/Responsible_Ice3476]

Clermont-Ferrand, Besançon, Amiens, Pau, Nîmes, Châteauroux...

[u/McIntosh812 → u/Responsible_Ice3476]

You could literally list any French place that isn’t Paris Calais Dunkirk or Marseille and pretty much no one has ever heard of it

[u/jake_robins]

I live in Mérida, Mexico.

More than 1M people, rich Spanish colonial and Mayan culture, low cost of living, great beaches, hot weather, yummy food.

Most of my Canadian friends and family have never heard of it.

[u/voxtronic]

Dildo, Newfoundland.

It’s the part that holds the oar to the boat, you perverts.

[u/death_by_papercut]

China be like “we’ve got a quaint little town of 2 million…”

Remember when Covid put Wuhan on the map? 13 million people.

[u/cintyhinty]

I feel like a lot of US cities fall into this category like Spokane, Tacoma, Portland, Billings, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Taos, Charleston, Savannah etc

[u/saugoof → u/cintyhinty]

As a non-American, I think the largest important city that few people outside the country know anything about is Baltimore. Most people might have heard of the name, but couldn't tell you anything about the city.

[u/spaltavian → u/saugoof]

Funny; I'm from Baltimore and last month I was on vacation in Scotland. I kept running into people who knew or had been to Baltimore, mainly because of Johns Hopkins. One person said she always wanted to go to Baltimore because her favorite band (All Time Low) is from here.

[u/whistleridge → u/cintyhinty]

Uh, Taos has a population of like 6,000 people and it’s in the middle of nowhere. It was always going to be unknown to everyone who isn’t a skiing addict or not from NM. Ditto for Billings, which while larger than Taos is still only like 120k.

Austin, Texas has 2.5 million people in the metro area and is the 11th most populous city in the US if you use city limits, and the 24th largest metro. Similarly, Jacksonville FL is 1.7m in the metro.

Those are real cities Americans will know, but literally no one outside the US will even have heard of.

[u/Quick-Context7492 → u/cintyhinty]

I'm French and I know Indianapolis and Portland way before I get interrested to geography

[u/toolenduso → u/cintyhinty]

My vote is for San Jose. Gets overshadowed by San Francisco (and most of the other big California cities) but it’s one of the largest in the US and is more or less the tech capital of the world? Or at the very least the tech capital of the US.

[u/Three_1st-Names → u/toolenduso]

I was thinking about Sacramento, maybe. Sacramento may not be a famous tech capital, but we are a powerful political capital. However, you've made a good case for Silicon Valley.

[u/TyMoonyt]

scream if you love łódź

[u/FishCool1749]

Turkey, batman.

edit: watch internet historian's video about online polls to get some context

[u/max_frowning]

In Germany my pick is Karlsruhe.

It is home to the 2 highest courts of law in Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht und Bundesgerichtshof).

[u/briggles23]

I have to go with Townsville Australia, with The Gold Coast a close second. Both are big cities in Australia but someone not aware of other cities in Australia outside of Sydney and Melbourne would think those names are just made up, or someone was a massive fan of Gold and The Powerpuff girls.