Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

PregnantAndEngaged Tue 02-Aug-16 10:39:16

What a nightmare scenario I have never been anywhere that allocated two sheets of loo paper and to find that place when you have dirohera

I loved Marrackech and went to some amazing bars and restaurants there, with luxury loos and no loo roll enforcement

I witnessed much racism to the Aborigines there.

*Nothing to do on LA!!!

Loved it - west hollywood, if your into films and stuff you can enjoy all the wonderful hotels and bars. I loved thinking of Liz Taylor etc in the Polo Lounge, Mr Chows etc thats what i did there also love santa monica and totally agree with Carls, Shutters hotel, gorgeous...

The final straw was paying £40 for a donkey ride and my friends donkey died with her on it. Bad enough but she's a vegetarian animal lover type so was really upset.

Lanzarote was heaven - don't understand the snobbish sneering from a few when we told them we were going. Stunning empty beaches of every type.

Egypt is a hell hole full of vile sexual harassers ime. Went in my early twenties with a female friend. Despite dressing carefully and respecting local customs every other man either hissed, spat or called us whores or made obscene sexual comments. I will forbid my dds from going there - dangerous and unpleasant.

I love Germany. Berlin and Munich were both amazing, so much to do.
Just got back from the Isle of Wight which was lovely.

I'm not suprised about some of the Australia comments, i'm Australian and even i cringe at some of the crap that gets spewed out over fbook etc. I have never encountered it in 'real life' though.

I'm jealous of you guys being able to take of on holiday everywhere. The furthest i got was Tasmania which was beautiful and freezing (to me anyway).

What a shame about copenhagen sounds awful.

Agree on "Oh and Cannes, which I went to for a work do and was really excited about. Hugely disappointing. It's the fact that the whole beach is divided into tiny segments belonging to each hotel that annoyed me most"

i too was so disappointing by it, you can barely see the beach. So many other far lovelier towns around there.

What a shame about copenhagen sounds awful.

Agree on "Oh and Cannes, which I went to for a work do and was really excited about. Hugely disappointing. It's the fact that the whole beach is divided into tiny segments belonging to each hotel that annoyed me most"

i too was so disappointing by it, you can barely see the beach. So many other far lovelier towns around there.

*another

I absolutely hated Dubai, although to be fair I didn't expect to like it as its really not my kind of place. I was only there as ex-boyfriend was on a business trip for 5 days before we flew on to Kenya/Tanzania (which were amazing).

On the flip side though, I loved Las Vegas when we stopped there on a road trip from Phoenix to San Francisco. It was so kitsch and tacky it was hilarious, although 4 days there was enough.

I've travelled extensively in Latin America and spent periods living and working there and although it overall contains almost all of my favourite places in the world, there are also some truly grim and dangerous towns and cities there, particularly in Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Despite what people usually think, Colombia is stunning though, and the people are lovely.

My 'unexpectedly better' place is probably Bolivia - after spending a lot of time in Peru I thought it wouldn't compare. I was so wrong!

Bali is ok but I vastly preferred Lombok and the Gili Islands. I spent a month in Australia and found it enough but 3 months in New Zealand went by in a flash.

Anither place I was keen to leave was Zimbabwe, it felt seedy, unwelcoming and dangerous. Zambia, Malawi and Botswana are all amazing though, especially Botswana.

In the UK I never tire of Dartmoor, the beaches in Cornwall and the north coast of Northern Ireland.

Lots of Australians that we met had a real axe to grind about being part of the commonwealth. It was boring and rude. We were tourists not delegates from Buckingham palace. In fact if you mention Australia to dh he immediately says (in terrible Oz accent) "we don't want your bloody queen' which was the sentiment we got from several random Australians.

BitOutofPractice. I think it is probably the best on the Strip, DH pushed the boat out as it was my birthday and booked a suite. The bellboy said everyone who stays are pleased they picked it - you only have to look at the checkin queues in the other hotels . Was quite expensive but we had good wins on the roulette wheels on the last day - enough to cover half the bill which DH was very pleased with. He also bought me a very niace handbag

Las Vegas is kitschy, but fun. You have to just go with it.

I think in the UK, many of the worst areas for racism like Mansfield, are not places where tourists would visit.

Countingto10 we stayed at the mandarin oriental in Vegas as well. Gorgeous isn't it?

I won't say I hate the UK, but I hated the blatant racism and denial of it existing. Never experienced such a degree of denial anywhere else I've been.

Oh and no, racism is not socially acceptable in Aus. Far fucking from it! sick of this lazy rhetoric on MN. There is so much to be done to overcome and improve on in terms of the still terrible repercussions of British colonialism on the Indigenous populations and the impact of racist government legislation, a very, very small minority will deny this. The Australian government is embarrassing, disgusting, inhumane and its policies will one day soon be recognised as what definitely fucking not to do to protect human rights. But socially, the Australian people are in the vast majority very aware of our terrible history and very inclined not to repeat it. I have never heard racism be socially accepted in Australia, rather, it is recognised and called out on.

Anyway, not the point of the thread, everywhere I've been has been lovely, particularly places I expected to dislike.

I do dispute that racist behaviour is socially acceptable and that saying Australia is racist is a reasonable summary
I worked there - racist jokes were circulated to All Staff - that to me indicates how socially acceptable racism is.

I have never been to Australia. But reading people's experiences here of racism, I am not sure I would want to go. Yes racism is everywhere. But if you are black it makes sense to go somewhere on holiday where you are personally unlikely to experience at least overt racism.

Lanzarote also has lots of buildings designed by Cezar Manrique. We discovered that most of these had very reasonably priced and delicious restaurants. It was hot when we were there, so we got into a bit of a routine where we visited one of these beautiful buildings in the morning, had a long relaxed lunch inside when it was at its hottest, and then did something else in the afternoon.
There was also an amazing bar a short walk from our villa. Really luxuriously styled with sofas you were encouraged to lounge on outside, a beautiful view of the sea and brilliant cocktails.

Sidari is truly horrible. However, kassiopi which isn't far away is absolutely stunning. Perfect, clear water with a view of Albania. Always get a hire car on Greek islands. Corfu town is nice but ruined by beggars, women holding drugged babies out to you so you give them money. Little girls sent over to beg. While groups of men who are coordinating the begging sit round on motorbikes smoking.

Our worst family holiday destination without a doubt was Crete. I think we chose the wrong resort (can't remember which...it was over 10 years ago.) The self catering villa was awful, so we spent the entire holiday sitting on the balcony....but the actual "resort" seemed like it had it's day back in the 1980s. There were disused old "dead pedalos" piled up on the side of the road. The were a couple of tavernas and bars, but they were barely open. The beach was covered in used tampons and other rubbish.

However, one of the main problems was finding places to buy food for the self catering aspect of our holiday. We couldn't really find anywhere to buy food like a small supermarket or even a market, despite travelling around the island quite extensively. We ended up shopping in corner shops which had dubious frozen meat which looked like it had been in the freezer for 5+ years. Heard it is a place you either love or hate...

I didn't like Dublin much either. It was just quite boring.

Loved goa, ubud in bali, some parts of Australia,berlin, Brittany, verbier out of season.

Hated some parts of Australia, some of France is desperately dull. A lot of bali isn't nice.

I don't dispute that there is racism in Australia. I do dispute that racist behaviour is socially acceptable and that saying Australia is racist is a reasonable summary. And yes, I have marched and protested against both the in humane detention of refugees and the inequities in the lives of indigenous people.

EGYPT - hated. Had food poisoning all week. Everything is man made and there is an air of danger.

MAJORCA - went to Cala dor for a cheap weekend away with my Mum and loved it, beautiful place, lots of cove beaches, a gorgeous harbour and lots of shops and resturants (without it being too busy or tacky)

Majorca. Had to go for work and thought it would be awful. It wasn't it is the most beautiful island.

Kenya. Thought it would be the holiday of a lifetime - awful place, desperately poor, dangerous and full of terrible ex pats.