- Lee Abbamonte visited many major cities in the US during his quest to visit all 50 states.
- While he enjoys certain aspects of all major US cities, some left him underwhelmed.
- Although he's often in Atlanta for sports events, he wouldn't visit otherwise.
Travel blogger Lee Abbamonte has seen more of the US than most people do in a lifetime.
Since 2001, the former Wall Street banker has completed an array of travel bucket list goals, including visiting every country in the world, the North and South Poles, and every state in the US.
During his travels across the US, he's formed firm opinions on the most popular destinations. Back in March, his ranking of all 50 US states, based on his love of outdoorsy activities, sports, and history, stirred up chatter on Instagram. His list order divided those who agreed with his favorite and least favorite states — and those who didn't.
Abbamonte has also been open about his favorite national parks in America — he's visited all 63 — as well as his favorite US cities.
Like all frequent travelers, there are places Abbamonte has stopped by that left him unimpressed.
He shared three major cities in the US that he felt didn't live up to the hype — and why.
He's lukewarm toward Pennsylvania, particularly because of Philadelphia.
There's not a lot of love lost between Abbamonte and Pennsylvania, which he ranked 33rd in his roundup of all 50 US states.
One reason: He said he doesn't feel like there's a lot of "continuity" between Pennsylvania's major cities and rural stretches of land.
But another major reason he ranked Pennsylvania where he did is because of Philadelphia, a city that he is still "not a fan" of despite having visited more than 70 times.
Some of his main sticking points include the fact that Abbamonte, who was raised in New York, isn't a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles or cheesesteaks, the dish the city is best known for.
"I think the cheesesteaks in New York are better than cheesesteaks in Philly," Abbamonte said.
Georgia has a rich outdoorsy scene that Abbamonte thinks isn't represented by traffic-plagued Atlanta.
Georgia may not be among his top 10 favorite states, but there's a lot Abbamonte enjoys about it.
As a golf fan, he loves Augusta because it's where the iconic Masters tournament takes place. Abbamonte, a nature lover, also enjoys the state's beautiful coast, particularly Sea Island and Tybee Island.
Where Georgia loses him is Atlanta.
Abbamonte said it feels like a never-ending city crammed with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
"It just goes on forever, seemingly without any city planning," he said.
The two reasons he said he finds himself in Atlanta nowadays are either because he has a connecting flight through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, or because there is a major sports game there that he doesn't want to miss.
"It's a great 'big event' city for me, just not an everyday city," Abbamonte said.
He's never warmed to Texas and can't wrap his head around why San Antonio is so popular.
According to the Census Bureau, San Antonio was the seventh-most-populous city in the US in 2023, with about 1.5 million residents.
Abbamonte, from his two visits, doesn't completely understand why.
"The place is just this big conglomerate," Abbamonte, who last visited San Antonio in 2017, said.
While there, he checked out the San Antonio River Walk, a well-known pedestrian path along the water lined with restaurants and bars. While he felt it had the "potential to be nice," he couldn't get over the fact that the area smelled like "old stale cheap alcohol."
A self-proclaimed history buff, Abbamonte thought the Alamo, the site of the 1836 battle between Mexico and the then-republic of Texas, was "one of the most underwhelming touristy sites" in the US.
Abbamonte's opinions on San Antonio generally match his sentiments about Texas as a whole, which he ranked 24th in his roundup of US states.