Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

Loved
Marrakech
Sydney
Peru
Bolivia
Brittany
Gozo
St Lucia
Kathmandu
Jaipur and Varanasi

Meh
Vendee
Malta
Singapore
Miami
Agra and Delhi

Stately

My Love of Ireland started with 'jumping in a car' like yourself and exploring....have been exploring the West Coast each year now for holidays, and always find a different gem off the beaten track. I never want to come back. It's addictive.

Love the place

Jordan stunned me. Particularly the Wadi Rum and Petra. Wonderful. 10 years ago, I don't think I'd go now unfortunately.
Gibraltar was better than I expected. But my expectations were very low!
Istanbul was wonderful, but I expected it to be so that doesn't really meet the criteria of the thread!
Singapore left me completely cold but I was only on a 24 hour stop over en route elsewhere and was jet lagged and not very well so that's probably not fair.
I also didn't get the fuss about Dublin. I didn't hate it by any means, but people rave about it and I felt like I was in Leeds, in about 1994. I am keen to explore Ireland more though, both Northern and Republic. Years ago I went on a work trip to the mountains on Mourne (Sp?) and was utterly blown away. Would love to see that area again and explore Belfast more.

My PILs hated New Zealand.

They did insist on going in the winter and then complained it wasn't warm .

They usually go on those Kuoni tours of SE Asia. I think they were disappointed that a NZ tour didn't offer them the same kind of Orientalist fantasies tbh.

I meant the place was dirty and smelly. Not the children!

Ugh. Forgot Tangiers. The worst place I've ever been. Dirty, smelly, children sniffing petrol. It felt really overwhelming. Couldn't wait to get out. I was with my husband and got so much hassle. Travelling on my own to Marrakech on the other hand was a dream. Loved Marrakech.

Likes: New Zealand: gob smackingly beautiful. The most beautiful vista I've ever seen was on the west coast: snow capped mountains falling into ranforests overlooking black lava beaches. Amazing.

Nepal: amazing lunar landscapes high up in the mountains. It felt so remote and otherworldly.

Tioman island in Malaysia had the most beautiful turquoise sea.

Iceland.

Dislikes: Australia. It felt bland. I really didn't like Sydney. I know it's in a beautiful location, great food, sun etc but I just felt an irrational dislike of the place.

Puglia: really disappointing.

Lille: felt hostile and gloomy.

Dh fancies Vegas for our 50th birthdays im really not keen the thought of slot machines chinging away all day leaves me cold i got bored in the amuesment arcade on holiday was only in it an hour

Found Vegas a bit depressing - all those old people spending all day gambling away their pensions was just very sad.
Dublin - is good for people watching but it has become a victim of tourism. Cork is much more charming and has better food! My best holidays in Ireland have involved jumping in a car, armed with the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide and driving around the coast staying in random towns, our best discovery was Kenmare - no tackiness, beautiful looking town, fantastic restaurants. Mary Ann's in Castletownsend County Cork - was a great discovery too. Very sleepy town - showing no sign of life until we opened the door to that pub/restaurant - it was incredible! Came across a crazy old witch who had her own museum, professed to have dinosaur dung samples, among other teasures - best museum I have ever visited!

I am bemused by the hate for Dublin. Yes, parts of it are like a shamrock-and-leprechaun theme park, but there are some amazing things to do there too. The Chester Beatty library is incredible and worth the trip alone. Kilmainham Gaol too (I seem to have developed a tendency to see prisons on vacations )

Benidorm. Been a couple of times in march due to a sporting activity. It is lovely that time of year.

Yeah Dublin was a bit of a let down for me too, and I have been toured about by a local so I have apparently seen the best bits! I just found it a bit stuffy & staid. However I LOVED Galway and around Connemara. That is a beautiful part of the world.

BitOut - I agree with your comments about institutionalising racism

Dublin really is getting a bashing. I just thought it was me who didn't really get it. And I have been all over the city and the county. Love Ireland in general though, just not keen on Dublin

I don't know because I've not been to Aus but I think the problem it has is that the racism is a. institutionalised (look what has come out in recent days about what's going on in youth detention centres) and b. socially acceptable in a way that it generally isn't in the UK.

But like I say I've never been so I'm only going on what I've read

Hated, hated Turkey. Sleazy place and felt very unsafe.

Loved New York, Maldives

Dublin was boring.

After you've been to the Guinness Factory and to a few bars, what is there?

To be fair this was a £1 Ryanair flight 10 years ago, it was raining, and I lived in a pretty town with old architecture so Trinity College was "just like things I walk past every day".

So many differing experiences
Cannes, Dublin, Barcelona, Niagra did not meet expectations. My DH walked me off my feet in Rome. Did not like Gran Canaria.

Loved Copenhagen, Argeles, NYC, Paris and parts of French Riviera. Disappointed by some of the Dartmouth/South Devon beaches by expensive locations like Blackpool Sands that are always cited - they were gritty!

My favourite place will always be Cornwall though. Beautiful rugged coastline and sandy beaches. Breathtaking. If only we had the weather...

Not keen: Amsterdam
Love: The Hague

I am sorry I clearly have not chosen my words properly (trying to cook dinner). I was not meaning to minimise your experience Jacksalrighty or the experience of others who have encountered racism here in Aus.. As I said I too have seen ugly racism here. I just don't think that it is fair to sum up all the different strands and complexities and initiatives around race by saying it is a racist country, end of.
I would not say 'the UK is racist and classist' even though I have experienced this at many levels myself. It is just too simplistic.
However I guess simplicity is the point of this thread so would like to add that a fab place for a holiday is Portland, Oregon.

UK

Any ways I don't want to derail the thread, so my apologies..

Another favourite holiday that blew my expectations out the water was a static caravan jaunt in Cornwall. I can't remember the name of the place, we weren't far from St Ives. But it was about 10 of us in two caravans, masses of delicious food and booze, wide gorgeous grassy sandunes to the sea, beautiful beach with clear water. We played games, had a camp fire, ate and laughed. It was bliss and I have such fond memories of it.

very uncomfortable and felt unsafe without a man with us which I resent hugely

That's exactly how Tunisia was for me.

Australia has a race problem. It makes you uncomfortable when people point it out. You get defensive. You perpetuate the problem.

And around and around it goes.

I don't think I was making a huge generalisation saffron
My opinion comes from over 4 years experience and I certainly wasn't going on some drunken tourist trail.
I was there to work in a professional capacity. Lived in numerous places including Melbourne, Perth, Broome and Sydney.
My dad is from my Pakistan, I'll let you figure out the name I got called on a daily basis, usually followed with the word 'bitch'
I wasn't hanging out with these people, these were people I had to deal with at work, my neighbours in the suburbs and even people in the local grocery store.
Just because you are in the fortunate position never to have experienced it doesn't mean we're all exaggerating and making it up.
Thanks amifor putting it so succinctly.